Have a Break

I am now done with all the September blogging and moving in to catch up on October. But first, time for a break.

Akbar

 Akbar's Own Indian Restaurant has a good reputation in the city.

I have not tried it before but the location was very convenient for a business lunch so in I went.

Mango lassi is my litmus test of Indian restaurants and unfortunately, this was at the bottom of the list of Mango lassis in the city.

The Vegetable Thali was also disappointing - overly garlicy palak paneer and a poor textured dal turka.

Maybe I should give it another try with different order? Let me know my dear readers.

Akbar's Own

1905 Broadway Street

Vancouver, BC

www.akbarsown.com

 

 

 

Cooking from Vij's

After yesterday's somerville kitchen cookbook club meeting, I decided to discover a new cookbook.

I had Vij's at Home cookbook for over 3 years but I am yet to cook from it.

I decided to start simple - a baked mutton curry.

But with no mutton around and in respect to the respect of cows in India, I cooked it with pork.

A simple process once you get the spicing right.

One can easily mess up the combination of spices in Indian cooking by confusing one spice for another or deciding to add more of one spice only to mess up the almost scientific combinations of spices.

But, despite the above, it turned out very good.

Grilling at somerville kitchen Cookbook Club

somerville kitchen cookbook club is not only about books.

It's about all those delicious dishes we get to try at our monthly meetings. This month it was grilled chicken and bread salad from the book Indoor Grilling.

Simple ingredients, simple flavours, filling and tasty. Not to mention the wine, great company and all the other books we discovered. Join us.

Sawasdee; Again

This is the fourth time I blog about Sawasdee. It is so worth it and if you have not tried it yet, let those beautiful pictures tempt you. (Read more at Thai Tonight, Best Thai in the City, Still Best Thai in Town)

Sawasdee Thai

4250 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

sawasdeethairestaurant.com

 

A Catsess Product

This perfect looking dessert came from this box.

The only reason I bought this product is because of the brand name being near and dear to catsess.

And catsess knew something is special about this box.

Despite being white and creamy, catsess opted to stick to her trusted crunchies.

So I had to settle to eating it, with home made blackberry syrup to give it some oomf.

More Trafiq Moments

Trafiq; you inspire me, you relax me, you make me love food more and more.

My favourite Trafiq moments remain with your eclairs and hot chocolate; specially that I can match them - chocolate eclair with hot dark chocolate...

... or vanilla eclair with the amazing hot German white chocolate.

And the surprises never end at Trafiq; now you are baking cinnamon buns.

Read Also A Trafiq Moment and Trafiq Moments.

Trafiq Café & Bakery

4216 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

www.trafiq.ca

 

 

 

Gain Wah, a Favourite

Gain Wah has been a favourite for years.

Excellent quick service, tasty food, dinner for two for less than 2 sandwiches from a fast food place.

That's if you have the heart to venture to Chinatown at night!

The plain congee is the best in the city.

Their BBQ pork is the only BBQ I eat in the city.

The chicken curry may not taste authentic, but it is always delicious.

And a crunchy chow mein is definitely their specialty.

 

Gain Wah 

218 Keefer Street

Vancouver, BC

  

 

 

Cooking With Jamie At Last

It took me decades to buy a Jamie Oliver cookbook.

I was not happy with my choice of Jamie's America but don't know his other books to make a comparison.

Two years after buying the book, I found a recipe to try.

And it was a huge success.

The recipe I tried is Comforting Turkey Stew, but I used chicken instead.

The story behind it is that a woman in the town of Gray made it for Jamie and admitted she used a can of mushroom soup and dumpling mix.

The recipe, of course, did not call for using a can of mushroom soup.

But (hope Jamie does not read this, he will be mortified) I added a can of mushroom soup to the sauce.

However, when it came to the dumplings, I followed his recipe ingredient by ingredient and step by step.

Those were the best dumplings I have ever tasted.

The stew turned out amazing. The dilemma now is should I find another good recipe from the book (any recommendations Jamie?) or make this amazing dish again and again?

 

10 Reasons to Dim Sum at Sun Sui Wah 新瑞華海鮮酒家

1. They have so many people working there that no matter how busy it is, you will get a seat in less than 15 minutes.

2. The food always looks fresh and is delivered within minutes of ordering.

3. Sticky Rice comes in 3 small rolls as opposed to one huge roll, making sharing much less messy.

4. This eggplant dish is to die for.

5. Hot mustard and sauce appear on the table without needing to ask for them.

6. No one complains when you start creating your own dim sum combinations.

7. The best Shumai in the city for sure.

8. The food is conducive to bring out the inner artist in you.

9. All at a reasonable price with excellent value for the money, even if you don't eat everything.

10. It remains, after decades, the 'place' to be at for dim sum in Vancouver.

Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant

3888 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

www.sunsuiwah.com