Landmark Hot-Pot House

Landmark Hot-Pot House @ 2043 Cambie St.

Last night I had my first hot pot experience. Kweepo told me this was one of the most highly rated hot pot places in Vancouver, and I was interested in experiencing this classic in an authentic setting.

Landmark is located near the Queen Elizabeth Park near the end of the commercial zone, right by the skytrain station.

The interior is spacious and open. The place was packed when we arrived. Almost all of the tables were big banquet-style tables. Solo diners are clearly implicitly discouraged from eating hot pot. The hot pot is by its nature a communal activity.

People who doesn't read Chinese are also implicitly discouraged. At our table we found a bewildering array of menus, most of which are entirely in Chinese. Luckily Kweepo understands Chinese. Most of the people at the restaurant appeared to be Cantonese-speakers, including the waiters. The food came out promptly, since it doesn't entail any kind of cooking, but they managed to forget our drinks.

Servers run around the place like ants, but it's oddly difficult to get their attention, which is typical of Cantonese restaurants. When you want them, they're suddenly absent. I was staring out at the room for five minutes without being able to make eye contact with a single employee, despite there being about 15 waiters in the place.

On closer inspection, there turned out to be one main menu, two menus advertising special items like Kobe beef, and one special item menu. This was the main menu:

This was the special item menu:

Ordering was a frustrating experience. It was my first time eating hot pot, so I knew nothing of the procedure, or what it entailed, and was hoping for some guidance. Not only does the menu explain absolutely nothing about the procedure by which to order, the waiters aren't helpful either. We found ourselves completely on our own, forced to randomly choose a bunch of ingredients, on the assumption that that is how it's done.

Yeah, sure, it's hot pot, not rocket science, but it's also not obvious, on top of which the Chinese-only menus were a little off-putting. A little friendly guidance would have gone a long way. The waiter asked us what kind of broth we wanted, but we couldn't find anything on the menu indicating broth choices, and instead just followed the waiter's recommendation. I had no idea what it was I was getting into.

There's a lot of choices in terms of ingredients, and I didn't know exactly how much we were getting of each dish, so it was difficult to determine how many dishes to order. You've got a whole page of seafood items, a page of meat items, a page of vegetable items, a page of noodles, etc. I was able to gather from looking at the other tables that we were to pick and choose a number of items, and these would be brought out, uncooked, to the table, individually, on plates, and we would then throw them into the boiling broth in the middle of the table and eat at our discretion.

We wound up ordering five items: lamb, pork, fish, tofu, and rice noodles. We also ordered a side-dish of sticky rice. We hoped this would be enough and not too much. It turned out to be slightly too much, as we barely finished everything and were completely stuffed.

The price: about $60, or $30 each. Considering we weren't completely satisfied with the food, we felt it was a little too expensive, but that's the price at hot pot places I guess.

One good thing is that they brought out a big pot of loose-leaf jasmine tea, which was on the house of course. We had to order cold drinks, though, because the food was so hot, so we didn't drink much of the tea.

In addition, they have a bunch of little sauces on the table before bringing anything out. One is a peanut sauce, one is a satay sauce, and one is soy sauce. We weren't told what was to go in what. We had to randomly try dipping the various ingredients.

The first thing to come out was the broth. The waiter had mentioned satay, chicken and pork, but I assume it was one broth. Only when this arrived did I realize it was actually two broths: satay broth and chicken-pork broth.

You've got to be careful to not have the heat on too high or you can burn your hands on the flame. Pretty dangerous.

Next the meats started coming out. The pork:

The lamb:

The noodles:

In addition to pork, lamb and noodles, we also got one order of fish and tofu, and a side-order of sticky rice. The table was fully loaded once everything arrived:

One serious question I have is about the safety of bringing out and handling raw meat. Your chopsticks are basically touching the raw meat and going into your mouth. I assume the meat is safe, but it just strikes me as going against everything I've ever learned about washing your hands thoroughly after handling raw meat so as not to convey any bacteria that might be present into your mouth. But the Chinese have been eating hot pot for centuries, so who am I to argue with time-tested tradition?

Now then, we had all this food on our table, but I was still not sure what to do. So we did the obvious thing and just threw things into the boiling broth one piece at a time, took them out, dipped them in sauce and ate them. We tried every conceivable configuration - lamb cooked in satay broth and dipped in peanut sauce; pork cooked in chicken broth and dipped in satay sauce; etc. You name it. But none of them seemed quite right. The broth didn't impart much taste to the ingredients, and none of the sauces seemed particularly to suit any of the ingredients.

The ingredients themselves were obviously very fresh, and it was pleasant to eat such freshly cooked ingredients. The freshness was in itself appealing to an extent. But without the proper sauce to complement the taste of the ingredients, no matter how fresh, those fresh ingredients felt somewhat wasted. So while we enjoyed the experience to an extent, and it was fun being so busy cooking everything constantly, it was also a bit frustrating and disappointing, because nothing here really blew me away.

Kweepo tells me that the hot pots in Beijing are much better, but I have no point of reference, so I have to judge hot pot based on my experience here, and that experience was good but not great.

I can only say that, if we did things correctly, as you're supposed to do when eating hot pot, then I think the idea of the hot pot itself just doesn't appeal to me. As a culinary experience, it leaves something to be desired. You wind up either overcooking the ingredients or undercooking them, and none of the sauces quite seem to go with the food. Perhaps you have to choose the right ingredients and broth to complement one another, and we didn't do this. I somehow doubt that.

Next time I'm in Beijing I plan to try authentic Beijing hot pot, but until then I'm good. Now I know.

After the meal they brought us each a glass of some kind of drink. Unsurprisingly, they didn't even bother to explain what it was.

I think it was some kind of a plum drink, but it had a smoked flavor that rankled in the back of my throat in a kind of nauseating manner and I was unable to drink it.

There was this funky sculpture next door to the restaurant:

A good landmark by which to look for the restaurant in case you miss the facade.

We had to park a few blocks away because the small parking lot was completely full, and on the way to the restaurant we spotted this funky house:

Wow. The owner of this house must be a real character. Right in the middle of an otherwise ordinary stretch of single-family homes is this strangely inappropriate thing that looks like nothing so much as a replica of the dwarves' house in Snow White, except more psychedelic. The roofer was either on drugs when he did this or is a big Gaudi fan.

TOP PICK: Peaceful Restaurant

http://www.peacefulrestaurant.com/

The next in my series of favorite Vancouver restaurants is one I've been to more often in the last few years than any other restaurant: Peaceful on Broadway near the intersection with Cambie. Access is even easier now with the Canada line right there.

Why do I keep coming back to this place? Let me count the reasons:

◊ The food, first and foremost, obviously. It's good and interesting without being weird. The selection is big. (Peruse their menu here.) Their prices are reasonable. I've tried a lot of items on the menu and I haven't been let down by almost anything.

◊ The service is consistently good. The staff are friendly and helpful every time I go there. They recognize your face when you're a regular there, without necessarily smothering you with attention. The restaurant is laid out in a long shape with the kitchen right behind the seating area, so the waiters are literally right there if you need anything. You never have to wait for a waiter to come around or try to get their attention. They're attentive and professional without being cold and distant, quite a refreshing change from so many Chinese restaurants where the servers literally don't verbally acknowledge that they understood what you just said or even look at you.

◊ The food always comes out extremely quickly. Tonight we went there and ordered five dishes, naively expecting that that would keep them busy and we'd have time to go through each dish before the next came out. No such luck. The first dish came out not even ten minutes after ordering, and at an interval of one a minute, each of the remaining dishes arrived at our small table. I much prefer this to the alternative: waiting forever for each dish.

◊ They provide free tea. The first thing they do when you sit down is bring a big pot of tea. And it's pu-erh tea, not just ordinary jasmine. I'm sure other restaurants serve pu-erh, but most do not, and it helps distinguish them. When the tea runs out, they're very quick to replace it with a new pot. The tea goes very well with the food.

◊ They have a wide variety of uncommon ethnic dishes from regions that are not typical Chinese restaurant fare: Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, Yunnan, Xi-an, Xinjiang, Gansu and Shanxi in addition to the usual suspects like Szechuan. They specialize in northwestern cuisine, which is one of the less well-represented of China's many regional cuisines from restaurant to restaurant. You wouldn't know this if you didn't understand Chinese, because it doesn't say it in English on the restaurant's window, but it does say it in Chinese. Hence they have a number of lamb items on the menu.

◊ They make their own noodles in-house. It's one of the restaurant's big selling points and gimmicks. They can be justly proud of their noodles. You can see the cook spinning the noodles by hand in the kitchen behind the seating area. I took some shots of him at work while I was there tonight. Their noodles are flat out the freshest and best I've had at any Chinese restaurant. I've been to so many Cantonese restaurants where the noodles are literally inedible. I used to think Chinese noodles just weren't for me. But I hadn't tasted what real quality noodles are supposed to taste like. They prepare the noodles a variety of different ways - in the typical thin shape made by stretching the dough out, as well as the blade-sheared style and the gnocci-like "cat's ear" style.

We almost always discover some good new dish whenever we go back. This time around we got four of our favorite dishes and tried out one new dish we've never had before.

Xiao-Long Bao Steamed Buns ($6.50, filled with minced pork, ginger and a savoury sauce - 8pcs)

I get these almost every time I go. You can find these savory so-called "buns" at a variety of Chinese restaurants, but I really like the ones here. Some people have said they didn't like Peaceful's XLB, but I never had XLB before Peaceful, so they form my basis for assessing the dish, and so far I prefer them to any other XLB I've tasted at other restaurants in Metro Vancouver. I'm sure Richmond must have some killer XLB. Other XLB I've tasted either have a flimsy skin that breaks apart as soon as you touch it, releasing the precious cargo of liquid encased therein, or the skin is too thick and pasty tasting, or there's too little liquid inside, or they're dry... None of which have ever happened to me at Peaceful.

Peaceful Beef Rolls ($6.50, five-spiced beef rolled in a crispy green onion flat-bread & sweet hoisin sauce)

Another one I get often. Succulent, juicy and plump - Peaceful's beef roll is almost erotic it's so good. It can be a little bit greasy, but I don't mind. The frying makes the skin really crispy. Long's Noodle House has a nice beef roll that is drier and more wrap-like.

Mustard-Seed Vegetable Salad ($6.95, blanched carrots, celery & vermicelli tossed in mustard-seed oil dressing)

This is Peaceful's signature dish (according to me). I get this almost every time I go there. It's a great light appetizer that's like no other veggie dish I've ever had. The mustard-seed oil is what makes this one. It's crazy spicy and can nuke your nasal cavity if you're not careful, the way a big chunk of wasabi can, but that's part of the fun - inhaling frantically through each bite. It's different from the spice of jalapeno or red pepper, which it complements wonderfully.

This is a great side-dish to order no matter what main you decide to get because it's a good palate cleanser and cooler to have between bites of tangy or spicy mains. This time around I was a little disappointed by the dish because they didn't put enough mustard-seed oil, and it didn't scald your nose good the way it's supposed to.

Xin-Jiang Noodles ($9.95, a traditional blend of chicken, potato & hot peppers in a reduced star-anise spice sauce, served with thick hand-dragged noodles)

Peaceful has a lot of great noodle dishes, but this is one of my favorites. Look at those noodles, all uneven and thick. They're beautiful. This is supposedly a classic Xin-Jiang dish, although I've never been there. I did manage to find this dish in a restaurant when I visited China, but that was in Xi-an. And the amazing thing was that I actually preferred Peaceful's. The chicken was more meaty and tender and the sauce tastier.

What makes this dish is the big chunks of jalapeno and the well cooked pieces of potato. And the smoky, savory sauce. And the soft, delicate, unevenly shaped, freshly hand-stretched noodles. And the big chunks of lightly braised garlic. And of course, lots of big pieces of well-cooked chicken, bone-in, the way it's supposed to be.

They ask you how spicy you want it. I usually say not spicy because I seem to recall this one can be a bit much to manage if you ask for spicy. In the photo on the web site it looks like they've left the seeds in the jalapenos. That will make a big difference indeed. The jalapenos in our dish tonight had no seeds, and were quite delicious, just spicy enough without going overboard.

Xi'an White Lamb Stew ($7.95, a traditional lamb dish with napa cabbage, cilantro & bean vermicelli, in a light broth)

This was our first time trying this dish. It was the only adventure we took during our latest visit. It's again a regional staple, this time of Xi-an. (Ironic that I never tried it while there, instead trying a Xin-Jiang specialty.) For some reason they don't list the main ingredient of the stew - the big chunks of bread that dominate the dish. The lamb is quite soft and good, as is the bread and the broth. It's a delicate and interesting dish. The lamb taste is maybe a bit too much for me, though. Not the best thing I've had at Peaceful, but very interesting and good nonetheless.

These are some of the other dishes we've tried in the past:

◊ Yunnan noodles - Kweepo and I visited Yunnan, so we know what Yunnan noodles are supposed to taste like. They typically have either thin or thick rice noodles served separately, and lots of bowls of various things you put in the noodles. This was actually the first thing I ever tried at Peaceful. I was walking down Broadway looking for lunch one day when the word "Yunnan" caught my eye on their placard. I entered the restaurant specifically to try this item, to see if it was anything like what I'd experienced in Yunnan. It's a little different. When I tried it that day, they brought all the little bowls to the table but then they proceeded to mix everything together, which wasn't how I recalled eating noodles over there.

◊ Szechuan Dan Dan Noodles - Quite good and hearty and among the better dan dan noodles I've had.

◊ Szechuan Thousand Chili Chicken - Lives up to its name. There were more chilis than chicken chunks in this dish the one time I tried it, but I recall it being quite good.

◊ Szechuan Broth Braised Fish - I got this together with the Szechuan Hot Chili Wonton once and the waiter thought I was crazy. The heat of the peppers combined with the heat of the soup makes this one quite challenging. Not the best version of this dish I've ever had. There's a restaurant in Crystal Mall near Metrotown that serves a more authentic and tasty version of this, except nobody there seems to speak English, so it's hard for a white boy like me to go there. Well, not really. Their menu has photos, so you can point your way through.

◊ Szechuan Cucumbers - A great, simple appetizer. The big chunks of crunchy sweet cucumbers and go great with the hint of spiciness from the red pepper flakes and the bite of the peppercorn dressing.

◊ Beijing Zha-Jiang Mien - Quite good and less oily than the Dan Dan Noodles, and a good deal at only $6.95. They put a lot of noodles in there. When I order a noodle dish for lunch at Peaceful, I don't need to order anything else and I have a bit left over for another meal.

We've tried lots of other dishes, and we still haven't even tried half of the items on the menu, so we'll definitely be going back to do some more discovering for a good while to come.

Moii Cafe

Moii Café
(free wifi)
2967 West Broadway

This little café is located on Broadway and Carnavon St, sandwiched between a sushi take-out joint and Shoppers Drug Mart. Despite of its limited space, it still manages of getting a petite patio for people watching the world go by. I accidentally discovered this place when I was visiting a used bookstore across the street. And as dinner time rang in, I thought I might go in and have a peek.

Moii Café is a Japanese crepe and tea lounge. My first impression when I stepped in was its tidiness and cleanness. Clean surface and crepe making station, organized counter and shiny espresso machine. Three lovely paintings hung on the wall, fine wooden floor and dining tables fill the air with low-key and homey senses. They also have a take-out window so you can order from there and sit in the patio while waiting for your food. I decided to dine-in. Ayumi, the only barista working that evening, greeted me with friendly smile and a typical Japanese bow.



The tea & beverage selection at Moii Cafe is very girly and Japanese influenced. Aside from the ordinary black tea and coffee beverage, it provides an extensive selection of fruit and milk tea, including mint chocolate milk tea, green milk tea (very Japanese) and coffee almond milk tea. They also have fruit smoothies as well as a Japanese sugar drink, Calpis. With extra 50 cents, they can turn a slush into bubble tea. It is a perfect place for afternoon tea and snack. I opt for lavender milk tea ($4) out of curiosity.

Their savory crepe section is pretty safe and traditional – ham, mushroom, sausage, spinach & feta with or without cheese/egg. Sweet crepe selection, however, does have a few interesting ingredient combos aside from the boring banana and nutella – nutella + marshmallow, mango + condensed milk and banana + sugar + lemon juice. The crepe menu also comes with two columns of specialty savory and sweet crepe, among which I chose Granville Island savory crepe ($8.75), consisted of sun-dried tomatoes, olive, spinach, sesame and cheese.

6:30 pm on a Wednesday evening, there were few people dropping by this café. I was the only one dining in, although two girls walked in when I was about to leave. A generous glass of beige colored lavender milk tea came to my table first. The lavender taste is very subtle, and I actually noted some lavender seeds in the tea. It has a natural and not excessively sweet taste, which I adore. The crepe looks cute with sprinkled dried lemon leaves atop. It also came with a little tasty side salad. The crunchy and refreshing nature of the salad is a perfect balance of the creaminess of the crepe. I like nice surprises like that.
The crepe tasted fresh, warm and homey. The milk tea actually goes well with the creamy crepe. With nice soothing bossa nova playing in the background, I think it is an ideal place for students and people work with laptops, also a small group of friends having an afternoon chat. Vancouver is a city full of coffee shops and highly caffeinated fellows. Every newly opened Starbucks is immediately filled with people, making me wonder where these people went before Starbucks came along. It is nice to have a little café that does not just offer coffee, muffin and sandwiches, and there is something refreshing about it to have a cup of milk tea and fresh strawberry white chocolate crepe as afternoon snack, before the sun sets.

P.S. As I walked out, I noticed that Moii Café also serves breakfast daily 8 AM – 11 AM. With $7.99, you can choose any three listed items, and the deal includes toast, salad and a cup of Americano (not just regular brewed coffee) or tea. I might try sausage, corn and tomato next time when I come by for brunch.

TOP PICK: Saravanaa Bhavan

Saravanaa Bhavan @ 955 W. Broadway
http://www.saravanaabhavan.ca/

Starting with this post, I'm going to try to occasionally highlight my favorite restaurants in Vancouver. I'll call this series the 'top picks' series. These are the restaurants I go to on a regular basis because they're good, they're appropriately priced, and they are consistent at what they do.

I'm starting out with the well-known Vegetarian Indian buffet Saravanaa Bhavan on Broadway between Oak and Laurel. I tend to be skeptical of popular restaurants, because in my experience, more often than not, fame eventually gets to a restaurant's head, and they go downhill. Or popularity becomes an echo chamber in which crowds attract crowds, giving the impression of the restaurant being far better than it truly is.

Saravanaa Bhavan justly deserves all the praise that's been sung about it. I've been there probably almost 10 times over the years, and in a first in my entire life, rather than the food going downhill, it feels like the food only gets better every time.

Their buffet is always fresh and constantly renewed. The crowds help to ensure freshness. Every time I go there are some items I've never seen before. They have a huge variety of items on the buffet.

The interior is spacious without being well decorated. It's really a functional interior, with enough space to pack in large families of Indians. It was packed when we arrived on Sunday for lunch, and it stayed that way for most of our time there. Again, the place is frequented by Indians, testament to its authenticity. Having grown up a vegetarian in Houston, where there is a large population of Indians and many great vegetarian Indian restaurants, I ate vegetarian Indian food practically every week for a large part of my lifetime, so I know what good veggie Indian food is supposed to taste like. And apart from Saravanaa Bhavan, I haven't really tasted good veggie Indian food in Vancouver, though I've searched.

The food at Saravanaa Bhavan is very different from all the veggie Indian food I've had before. Perhaps this is because they are South Indian, or perhaps their cooks are particularly inventive. I don't know, but no matter how many times I go, they never let me down, with consistent quality and new surprises.

One of the best things about Saravanaa Bhavan is the variety of fresh breads. In addition to bringing you a fresh Naan, they also have these delicious lentil-based donut-like bread called Vada, amazing steamed rice cakes called Idli, some kind of deep-fried chapati-like bread, and even a whole fresh dosa. And of course, pappadum with great coconut chutney and tomato chutney. Everything is steaming fresh. This is what my plate looked like:

A crazy heaping mess of all sorts of amazing little items! That's why I love this place. I can revel in the delight of sampling all sorts of flavors, rather than slogging through a boring heaping mass of one dish with exactly the same flavor for the same price. I had about 12 separate items during this meal, every one of them perfectly delicious and totally unlike the others.

Even the desserts are amazing and unlike anything I've seen anywhere before. No gulab jamun in sight here. During our last visit they offered a curious spongecake-like confection infused with saffron juice and a wonderful substance that looked like tapioca at first sight but tasted nothing like the typical tapioca pudding dessert you find in Indian restaurants. They clearly are inventing their own new desserts.

Another great little touch is that each table has its own pitcher of water by default, so no having to stretch out that last quarter glass of water or struggle to get a waiter's attention to get some water. And anyway, the waiters here are everywhere and very attentive. Kweepo and I were asked no less than three times if we needed anything else.

The price for the buffet is $10.99 on weekdays and $11.99 on weekends. I don't know why the price increases on the weekend. The bill for Kweepo and I came out to $30 even including tips, which is admittedly a bit pricey for Indian food (I remember the buffets in Houston were $5). But it's hard to find good Indian food OR cheap Indian food in Vancouver, and Saravanaa Bhavan at least is reliably good and fresh, so I don't feel ripped off when I eat there.

I just noticed in the photo that they advertise a "$5 takeout lunch box". Now that's the price I want to pay for lunch. I will have to check this out.

I didn't know this until I checked their website, but apparently this is a chain. They have four locations total. The other three are all in Ontario.

Cafe Xu Hue

Cafe Xu Hue @ 2226 Kingsway

In my continuing quest to explore random banh mi places to see how different restaurants prepare them differently, the other day we randomly picked a spot on Kingsway called Cafe Xu Hue. It was neighbored on the same block by literally two other vietnamese restaurants also serving banh mi. The other ones seemed a little bit noisy and Cafe Xu Hue a little more family-friendly and quiet, so Kweepo and I chose that one.

The place was tiny but every table was packed when we walked in and we had to rush to get a table before someone else took it (the empty table in the photo was vacated midway into the meal). We were the only non-Vietnamese there, if that's any sign of authenticity. It took a while for the very serious-looking waiter and waitress to come over to give us a menu. I don't think they smiled the whole time. When I was paying, she didn't even look at me or say anything. Not exactly the friendliest folks, but I think the small place was a bit overwhelmed with the weekend traffic.

They served us two glasses of tea and one small menu. Though you can't tell in the photo, the tea looked very light. And no surprise, it tasted just like water.

The menu had a few pho selections, spring rolls, etc - the usual. They had only two banh mi items on the menu - house special and chicken - so we chose one of each. I was tempted to order a pho out of habit, but stuck to my guns and ordered banh mi. They came out about ten minutes later. Eating at pho joints is already cheap enough, but eating banh mi makes for a ridiculously small bill. We paid $10 total for the both of us.


In the picture above I've got a half of one of each sandwich in my hand, so you can see what's inside. They didn't contain any pickled daikon, which was disappointing. The chicken banh mi was decent but a little bland, but the house special was pretty nice, with two different kinds of meat on top and some delicious roast pork at the very bottom. The roast pork really made that one special. Not putting any pickled daikon in was a little disappointing though.

Unfortunately they committed a cardinal sin when it comes to banh mi: the bread was stale. Fresh bread is a must for a banh mi. It fairly ruined the sandwich. So I can't recommend this place. At least now I have a point of reference to understand just why it's so important to have fresh bread, and why Tung Hing and Kim Chau are so great. It takes a bit of funding to be really set up to make banh mi the right way, be it with a bread oven or special arrangements with a bakery to have fresh buns delivered every day, and this is too small a shop for such fancy things.

The banh mi here had this mysterious long-leafed herb in it that you can see below on top of the cilantro:

I don't know what it is but it was incredibly aromatic and flavorful and made the sandwiches a lot better.

At the cashier's counter they had this little altar-like setup with handwritten signs that I thought was cute and homey.