Mooshmouse

Thanks a lot. I love the chewy Yan's coconut candies too! Yet another candy to add to my "not to buy" list.

I'm also rather unattractive and a bit of a drooler. ← eGullet bibs... getchyer custom-embroidered eGullet bibs, emblazoned with the dancing eGullet man and the CFD logo of your choice...

Go you one better. Use cane vinegar and don't forget the chilis! Tastes of home.

Your old standby... or your old "fall down"?!

Thought I'd resurrect this thread to see if anyone has any recent reviews of Pair Bistro now that they've had enough time to iron out any "just opened" kinks. I'm heading out for dinner with a girlfriend on Thursday evening and was considering a couple of new restaurants on my dining radar, Pair being one of them. Comments anyone?

The Philippines is an oft-forgotten country when it comes to Asian cooking, and we have fantastic desserts! Here's a link to the Sweets & Desserts page of The Radical Chef's weblog which features loads of great Filipino recipes and photos. Hope you find this useful.

that I made ... in the microwave ← Ling, watch your step girl! Welcome to the madhouse "Mr. Ling"!!

A chocolate ganache-filled croissant from Pane From Heaven. Admittedly, I've been on a huge dark chocolate kick lately. But a lot of my recent meals have been salad and protein to compensate!

Although I'm Filipino, many of my school friends were Chinese; hence, I had a lot of these candies as afterschool treats. The only candies I haven't seen listed here so far are the strawberry-flavoured lucky candies that come individually wrapped in red and gold foil. Yummy! When we could still find the mini-sized ones in stores, my husband and I would go through those lychee jelly cups by the bagful. Sadly, it's just not the same now that they're not bite size. Swell. Now I've got a craving for haw flakes, Sugus, Botan rice candies and White Rabbit candies. Must resist the temptation to go on an Asian supermarket run tomorrow or our household will be spinning from all that sugar!

Lamb tagine... lamb with dates or prunes. Mmmm!

Aha, in the old Saltimbocca location just up the hill and around the corner from Tangerine. No matter how many restaurants have been in there since, I still think of Saltimbocca when referring to that particular spot.

Vancouver, thanks for the additional info! It's always good to get the heads-up on a new place with a reasonably priced menu. I'll have to add it to my "To Lunch" list and remember to go either early or late to avoid the construction rush.

Oooh, that was definitely one of the best dishes ever. I always thought it was my little secret! Add to our list the house-like building at the northeast corner of Chesterfield and Esplanade in North Vancouver, just up the hill from Lonsdale Quay. It's currently occupied by the Thai House but has seen many incarnations. Ian remembers it as the Harvest House back in the 80s. Any others?

Touche! I'll go back to bowing and scraping now.

A good ole' Frosty from Wendy's to satisfy a craving. And yes, it was everything I wanted it to be and more!

Sign me up one year in advance for the lobster risotto and the black truffled mashed potatoes!! Yeah, you're in an interesting position Neil. You are a neighbourhood restaurant chef whose regular guests bring you kolachies and other food contraband.

Having denied myself a morning coffee for the purposes of an unadulterated tasting, we finally made it over to Caffe Artigiano's West Van store this afternoon. I was shocked and amazed that Starbucks is still doing such a brisk business only 2 blocks east; I personally would walk the extra distance in the rain rather than choosing a coffee from *$s. Artigiano was slammed today. Lots of people sitting with their coffees and lunches coupled with lots of people lining up to order made for a very tight squeeze around the bar. However, I was rather impressed with the baristi's efficiency in processing orders expediently. Got our coffees to go, so I ordered a latte rather than a cappucino, which I prefer when I have time to sit and enjoy it, and Ian ordered an americano. Both coffees were a bit weaker than we like them (i.e., coffee/water and coffee/milk ratios), but the overall flavour was very good. Right now, my preference is for Alistair's coffees at the Elysian Room with Caffe Artigiano running second. I'll have to go back to Artigiano on a day when it's not so crowded so I can sit for a spell and sample a cappucino.

Welcome to the madhouse Vancouver... glad to have you aboard! I'm curious about Tartine. In surfing their website, I noted that they have a tasty-looking selection of soups and pies. Have you ever sampled any of their other menu offerings?

Much as I'd love to say yes, the flavour of black licorice/anise seed is anathema to me. I get a little gagging feeling just thinking about it.

Any man who can work Harold Snepts into a food-related conversation is a good man in my book!

Unless other eGulleters have visited and not posted a review, it looks like I'm the only one to have enjoyed a fine DOV dinner at Bistro Pastis. A few nights have passed since our meal and the details are somewhat blurred, yet I'm still left with more than enough happy dining memories to record them for posterity. For pre-emptive measures, our four-top arrived 10 minutes early for our reservation and were seated promptly as our table had just cleared. Let me just say right off the bat that John Blakely and every member of his FOH staff were really workin' it on Wednesday evening! They were moving so fast that Ian could feel the draft each time a server passed by. Every table was filled, and a steady stream of customers was seated until at least 9:30-9:45 p.m. with others dining at the bar. Still, nothing but courteous professionalism from our food runner and our server, who graciously took a few moments out of his hectic pace to discuss the nuances of our possible wine pairings. Not having had the benefit of adequately tasting alternative menu choices, I can only fairly comment on my own. For a starter, I ordered the Wild Mushroom Soup with Pistou Oil. Earthy, rich, and creamy. Wine pairing was the Tinhorn Creek Pinot Gris... certainly enough roundness and spice to be a nice accompaniment for the soup. Though the soup was lovely, it certainly didn't hold a candle to my enormous portion of Coq au Vin served with pearl onions, mushroom fricassee and smoked bacon atop fettucine. My mouth is watering now just thinking about fishing for every last lardon at the bottom of the bowl. Wonderfully layered yet not overpowering flavour. Deliciously paired with a Cotes du Rhone Perrin. Dessert was, all around, the weakest course of the three. The Creme Caramel lacked a fullness of flavour and seemed somewhat gelatinous, for lack of a better word. And the Mousse au Chocolat wasn't light enough. Truth be told, it was more like a pudding than a mousse. Yet I do know that desserts at Bistro Pastis on any non-DOV evening are far better than the two that we sampled that evening; hence, my willingness to overlook this small dissatisfaction in an otherwise great meal. Grace under fire was certainly the phrase of the evening. We were all impressed with FOH and BOH performance on an extremely busy night, and it speaks volumes about the professionalism of John Blakely and crew. Bravo!

Laksa, your magnificent photos have me veritably salivating as they remind me of the fruits of my childhood in the Phillipines. Beautiful! And keep them coming!

Having been on a dark-chocolate binge as of late, the best thing I've eaten today would have to be a mini chocolate ganache cake that I picked up for a dinner party from Pane from Heaven. Too many glasses of red wine and numerous rum and cokes obscure my dining details, but "Dear God in heaven" should suffice as a description. If I could've licked the plate, I would've.

Chocolate ganache cake. Pane from Heaven. Absolutely insanely good. Picked up a couple of mini-cakes to bring to a dinner party and they were worth every damn morsel. Would've licked the plates if I'd had the opportunity, but the kids stole that chance from me! Pane from Heaven also had some killer-looking chocolate tarts that I'll have to sample sooner rather than later. If the chocolate ganache cake was any indication, the tarts will be insanely good! Go. Run. Try them out. Now. And bring me a couple while you're at it!

I'm not sure about jackfruit. Maybe Joie will help us out. I plan to try all the flavours. Their specialty drink is the Teatini (tea infused vodka or gin is used I think) which I didn't get a chance to try out last night. Mike ← Dear God... a durian martini! Do I have to hold my nose when I drink it?! Jackfruit, known as nangka in Indonesia or langka/nangka in the Philippines, is quite sweet and rich with a slight musky undertone. Not as musky as durian, certainly... almost like a sexy 'al dente' peach perhaps?! As Roo Stew said, "lobey", but I wouldn't necessarily categorize it as fibrous. When canned, it's usually packed in quite a sweet syrup, but it's certainly delicious served with vanilla ice cream. Finding an adequate fresh, ripe specimen here in North America is a tall order, so settling for canned is about the best we can get. Most Asian stores sell it... hell, even Save-On-Foods and Superstore have it in their "Asian" foods section. A taste unlike any other and definitely worth sampling, even if only canned. Back to Ch'i... I hope nothing but good things for them as it'd be nice to have a great restaurant just down the street from home! Will try to swing by for a meal soon.