Jan-chan’s Tidbits

The annual night market is here. This year, it’s called the Summer Night Market, which is not to be confused with the “Richmond” Night Market as it is put together by another group. The location, however, is at the same place where Richmond Night Market had been held for the past few years, right off Knight Bridge behind Bridgeport Road.

So far I’ve been to the Night Market more than 4 times already since they opened on May 21. Every time I go, I’d see one or two new vendor at the food section. There are old favourites which I’ve been counting on, such as the place for “wheel cakes”, Xin Jiang BBQ, Korean Street Food where they sell fried whole potatos and Dragon Beard Candies. This year there are a few notable additions such as the Roaming Dragon, BBQ Whole Cuttlefish and Sumo Bites. Well a picture is worth more than words so lets get on with the photos (be prepare to do some scrolling…and drooling) :

Dragon's Beard Candy - We waited 15 mins to get ours.

Making of the Dragon's Beard Candy. It's actually just like cotton candy but has peanut fillings.

Wheel Cakes - one of my favourite snacks at the Night Market.

Wheel cakes in the making.

Wheel cake with custard filling. Also comes with chocolate, peanut butter or red bean.

Vietnamese Dessert - it's like a coconut based drink with different fruits. Very yummy.

Some of the fillings for the Vietnamese Dessert.

Xin Jiang Man BBQ - The best Xin Jiang bbq in the Night Market!

Sumo Bites - one of the many new vendors this year. Have yet to try it but looked promising.

Potatoes from the Korean Street Food stall. Prepare to wait at least 10 minutes to place your order.

Another BBQ place. Didn't catch the name but they had bbq quail eggs and it's near the stall for Sumo Bites.

List of their bbq menu. Looks yummy don't they? Bacon wrapped asparagus and quail eggs.

Here's what they look like. The 3 on the left are the bbq quail eggs wrapped with a strip of bacon and drizzled with Japanese mayo. The 1 on the right is the cheese filled fish cakes.

Hong Kong Waffles - for me it wasn't even close to the real thing

Roaming Dragon - located at the back of the food area. You can't miss this unique looking truck.

Roaming Dragon's menu. I've tried almost everything there except for the fried rice balls.

Korean Tacos from Roaming Dragon.

Pork Belly Sliders from Roaming Dragon. Very yummy.

The average price for most of the food is the same as last year. If I were to have dinner at the market it’d roughly cost me $15-20 which isn’t bad at all considering I get to try a lot of different foods. To save money (so I can eat more food instead of spending it on drinks) I usually don’t buy drinks like bubble tea at the night market. Plus I feel that it’s nothing special as I can get that any where. However, I must stay that if you’re in need of a drink after eating all the above yummy food, your best bet is either the Vietnamese Dessert drinks or Roaming Dragon’s Lychee & Basil Lemonade. The bits of lychee adds texture and sweetens the lemonade while the hint of basil gives it a very refreshing taste.  I heard that Sumo Bites has a ginger cooler. I’ll give that a try next time I head down.

Our friend Daniel came up to visit us from San Diego. I know that he’s got a sweet tooth due to all the ice cream stories I heard from him (most of them about the ice cream melting due to the freezing not being cold enough), I tried to plan a lot of dessert trips during his stay in Vancouver.

The dessert trip we went to is for cakes and teas at Berry Good Cake Cafe in Richmond. This little gem located in the Excel Center on McKim Way, Richmond, serves what I call Asian cakes and pastries with a variety of teas and blended drinks. Asian cakes and pastries are generally lighter and less sweet than their original, “Western” form.

The cakes at Berry Good changes daily. You can check our their daily selections of cakes from their display (fridge) by the counter. Here’s what we got that night:

Petite Formage (kind of like a cheese cake, very soft and creaming inside)

Berry Pie - the bottom is actually a cake layer

Strawberry Tea - with real strawberries

The strawberry tea was very good. I looked inside once we were done and found real strawberry bits.

Our second dessert stop (not in the same day of course, thought if would a bit of sugar over dose if it was) is La Casa Gelato on Venables Street, Vancouver. They have over 200 flavors now. The best thing about having ice cream at La Casa is that you can try before you buy. Out of curiosity, I asked about the Spicy Mango flavor and whether or not it’s really spicy. The guy behind the counter said “ya”, but I didn’t quite believe him since I figured, ice cream are cold, that’d take some spiciness away. Plus it just looked orange, no sign of any spices to add the heat. I guess my skeptical look gave me away as he then proceed to hand me a little spoonful of the Spicy Mango ice cream. The first few seconds after I had the spoonful in my mouth, I can only taste the mango. Then the spicy kicks in and it’s REALLY spicy. The worse part (well worse is because I’m not a spicy food person) is that the spiciness lingers in your mouth for a VERY LONG time. I tried a couple different ice cream after hoping it’d wash away the spiciness. I didn’t work.

After like 20 minutes trying to decide on what flavors to have, we’ve finally come to a decision on our ice cream. I wasn’t able to take photos because I was too busy trying to dig my little shovel (or spoon) into Daniel and Al’s ice cream to have a taste, but I did managed to get a picture of the Akbar Mashty ice cream in Al’s cup. It’s made with a Persian spice and I think mango? It has a very flowery taste.

Akbar Mashty (yellow one on the bottom) - taste like flowers

Rows of ice cream from La Casa Gelato - check out the colours

We also bought 1L of durian ice cream home, which is one of their top 5 best sellers! Next time I’ll try the Death by Mango to see just how “mango-y” it is.

Tripel Karmeliet - Blonde, robust, and smooth with a fruity finish.

Chambar has been one of my favourite restaurant since I’ve discovered it through Food Network Canada. Since June is the month of our anniversary and Daniel had decided to visit us from San Diego, I decided to take the guys to there for dinner & beer.

Petrus Gouden - Tripel - Hazy golden straw colour. Pears & lychees on the nose.

The Drinks

The list of Belgian beer from Chambar has something for everyone, even if they are not beer drinkers. Ken got the Tripel Karmeliet. It was very smooth and fruity, but not too sweet. Al got the Petrus Gouden – Tripel which is also a little bit sweet. I believe Daniel got the Gulden Carolus Classic – a bold dark ale, malty with a touch of bitter chocolate. As for myself, I got “The Grape Within” cocktail – Hennessy vs. pineau des charentes, fresh grape juice & citrus, topped with lustau sherry. It was very refreshing and it went very well with my main course – spot prawns!

The Food

Seared scallops & Kurobuta Pork Cheeks

Grilled Ostrich & Sweet Balsamic Onions

We decided to share 2 appetizers between the four of us: 1) Les coquilles st. jacques – Seared scallops, smoked kurobuta pork cheek, pickled green beans & horseradish vinaigrette; and 2) La brochette d’autruche – Grilled ostrich, sweet balsamic onions, marinated prunes, five herb pesto, crisp potato chips, vin cotto. The seared scallops were as expected, cooked just right. I didn’t get a chance to try the kurobuta pork cheeks but I did try the picked green beans which were quite interesting. The grilled ostrich on the other hand looked a bit too charred, however it wasn’t over cooked. The sweet balsamic onions were superb and I like nibbling on the crisp potato chips made with fingerling potatos (I’m guessing from the shape).

Canard à l’orange (duck breast)

For main course, both Al and Ken got the duck breast and goat cheese spring rolls (or Canard à l’orange as they named it on the menu). The meat looked really tender (I didn’t get a chance to try it). Daniel decided to get Chambar’s signature dish, the braised lamb shank with honey, figs, cinnamon and cilantro (Tajine d’aziz à l’agneau). This is also my dad’s favourite dish. It smells amazing and the meat falls off the bone so all you really need is a fork (sorry, I didn’t get a chance to take pictures).

Les Scampis de Colombie Britanique - Spot Prawn Taster

I got the spot prawn taster as the main course. I love seafood and this dish just screams “pick me” from the menu. There prawns are cooked 4 different ways. Sorry the picture didn’t turn out very good. I was trying to take it quickly so I can dig in and failed to notice my hand appearing on the side of the photo. Here are some close ups of each prawn taster:

Curry & Beer Battered

Citrus Poached

Prawn & Halibut Cake

Sautéed in Absinthe Butter

All of them were really delicious. My favourite would have to be a tie between the curry & beer battered prawn and the prawn sauteed in absinthe butter. The curry & beer battered has a very interesting flavor. The hint of curry is just right. The absinthe butter brings out the sweetness in the prawns which is also why it was one of my favourites.

The Desserts

The wonderful thing about dining out with a group of friends is that you’d get to try more desserts than if you were going out with just yourself and one other. Here are our dessert picks: Daniel got the Le Bavarois Sale – Salted hazelnut praline bavarois with Caramel, sour apple, fig compote & Calvados ice cream. I love this ice cream. The salted hazelnut praline was good but the ice cream stole the show for me.

Le Bavarois Sale

Ken got the espresso cheesecake with belgian chocolate mousse. It has a very rich espresso flavor. Since I’m not a big fan of coffee, I didn’t particularly like this dessert. However, it is very smooth and I’m sure coffee lovers would really enjoy it.

Le Café Belge - Espresso cheesecake with belgian chocolate mousse

Since it was to celebrate our anniversary, Al and I shared the dessert trio – L’Abeille et son the, which has honey ice crea, chamomile creme caramel & lemon meringue puff. I couldn’t taste the honey in the ice cream but again it was very smooth. The hint of flower in the creme caramel made it very interesting and refreshing. I wish the lemon meringue puff were bigger because I love meringue.

Lemon Meringue Puff

Chamomile Creme Caramel

Honey Ice Cream

I can’t wait for the next chance to dine at Chambar. The have a chef’s selection tasting platter for dessert which I would love to try.

PS: If you haven’t noticed I’ve been using the iPhone camera to take pictures. Thus the quality can be a bit poor at times. For photos with special filters/effects (the square ones) I’ve also been using Hipstamatic.

For those that live or have been to HK, you’d know there are dessert places called “tong sui dim” 糖水店 (literally translated as “sweet soup store”). There are a lot of dessert places in Vancouver that serves a variety of cakes and other baked sweets but I have been looking for a place that sells sweet soups for the longest time. Sure there are those red bean or green bean soup you get after your meal at a Chinese restaurant or the ones my mom makes at home which is usually Coconut Sago (西米露) or sweet potato soup (番薯糖水) but I wanted something different, like  bean curd (or tofu skin) with ginko nuts and egg (腐竹白果鷄蛋糖水) or a mango dessert with tapioca and grapefruit (楊支金露 ).

In the summer I can get my craving fix at the night marketing. There’s a vendor there which sells a variety of sweet soups but I have no idea where their store is located. Last summer, being the foodie that we are (more like “wai sik guai”), Nel and I asked for their address. We didn’t take it down but remembered roughly that it’s behind the Richmond Public Market. Last weekend we decide to search for this mysterious dessert place and found it! Well more like we all recognized the banner it used at the night market with the name 桂花林 and a list of their desserts.

It was pretty busy on a Saturday night. We ordered tofu pudding with ginger syrup (豆腐花), sweet almond soup (杏仁糊) and two mango dessert with tapioca and grapefruit (楊支金露). They were all very very yummy. They also have some light snacks such as pork sandwiches, noodles and bubble tea.

Mango dessert (楊支金露)

Tofu pudding with ginger syrup. (豆腐花)

I also had a pork sandwich.

Info: Bubble Fruity 桂花林 (180-8188 Saba Road) Tel: 604-233-1130

Earlier this month on our anniversary Al took me to the C Restaurant. I’ve always wanted to go there because I heard they have very good seafood. The weather was perfect for dining outdoor, so we ordered a couple of drinks and enjoyed the beautiful view of Grandville Island and the sunset while waiting for our food.

For appetizer, I ordered the scallop tataki. I love scallop and whenever it’s on the menu I usually order it. This is probably one of the most interesting scallop dishes I’ve ever had. The jelly fish and the seaweed along with the thinnly sliced scallop really brought the taste of the ocean to my tastebuds.

Scallop Tataki

Al ordered the lobster bisque. It was very rich but slightly on the salty side.

Lobster Bisque

I ordered a scallop dish for main course too. The potato crusted scallops which came with root veggies and spot prawn were really tasty. I really liked the turnip and the scallops were cooked just right. (Sorry photo is a bit dark as the sun was hiding behind the bridge while I was taking the photo.)

Potato Crusted Scallops

I don’t remember what was the fish that Al had but it was very yummy.

Some fish dish [sorry forgot the name...

For dessert we shared the roasted apples and flower. I picked it because it sounded interested and it was very good. The floral flavored cream filled cookies were actually very light and I love the presentation.

Roasted Apple and Flower

I had a great time dining at C Restaurant. There were also two tasters and some interesting bread served at the beginning of the meal. Here are some more photos.

Oh look! It's spork!

This last photo is an inside joke. Please ignore my silliness.