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South China Seas Trading on Granville Island or Victoria Dr is my usual spot (I live very close to the Victoria Dr location).

Korean Chicken - I hear good things about Mexican Chicken Hof in Coquitlam - I haven't been. Regional Chinese - Alvin Garden in Burnaby for Hunan, Golden Spring in Richmond for Sichuan Ramen - Motomachi Shokudo

I don't know - I have only been later in the day there. However, I have been to Viva City and Jade at around 9am. For an even earlier opening time - Imperial Court Beijing is open at 8am. I have had dim sum there at around that time. (BTW at all these places, certain items are not available until 11am when the kitchen is in full bore.)

Check a Vietnamese grocer like Supermarket88 on Victoria Dr at 33rd or Asian Way at Renfrew and 1st (second level above T&T). I have purchased cilantro with root at both places in the past.

Viva City and Jade along Alexandra Rd are open at 9:00am. ← Have you tried either/both of them? Just wondering if you have a preference for either, and if either serves hom soi gok (often called "deep fried Chinese perogies). It's my favourite, and I'm going to try to bring an order of that and maybe cha siu bao along on the flight. And maybe some cocktail buns if I can get some. :-) ← I have been to both a number of times - I was at Viva City just a couple of weeks ago actually. My preference is to Jade. I don't recall for sure seeing hom sui gok (deep-fried filled glutinous rice dumplings correct?), but it isn't something I usually order. It's pretty common so it is likely that both will have it. (Jade has their menu on their website...I can't check it right now as I am on my iPhone - I can't connect for some reason.)

Viva City and Jade along Alexandra Rd are open at 9:00am.

I would love to know where is cooking now too.

Ah Beetz most definitely on the list for me. I'm thinking of a roadtrip with a bunch of like-minded pizza fanatics very soon. Did Terry provide you with his starter? I too would love a brickoven....not in the near future for me (though I've been collecting used firebrick for a few years now...I'm probaby half-way there.) I've rigged up something in my BBQ that works fairly well....but I do have to finish the top in my oven's broiler. (BTW...Have a look at the Little Black Egg thread on pizzamaking.com's forum for a cool little weekend project).

I didn't have the gyoza at the Diamond on my recent visit there because I noticed that the gyozas came swimming in the dipping sauce...which is a crime, IMO. To be fair, I will try them (and a few other dishes) next time I'm in. I'll have to keep my prejudices in check. PS...I do agree with the general thesis that one-dimensional restaurants don't corner the excellence market....ramen could be one of the few exceptions IMO.

Only a dedicated ramen-ya can do ramen justice. (Sorry to sound puritanical, but that has been my experience). Now...Sloping Hills pork over at the Denman St places...that sounds interesting.

The typical pizza here is atrocious....even some of the new higher end Italian places don't get it right. Once good pizza joints like Lombardo's have gone downhill of late. Lombardo's owner has left the newer downtown location (which is now being rebranded as Pacific Pizza)...so maybe she can stop the downward spiral at the Commercial Drive location.) I can't get myself to eat at Marcello's even though it is probably the best pizza in my neighbourhood (their brick oven is still charcoal fired while Lombardo's is running gas now). Ah Beetz in Abbotsford is on my sights...I haven't been, but I like what I see. The pizzaiolo there is a real NY pizza fanatic and goes the extra mile to make it authentic. He is running his deck ovens at 700 C and cold-rises his dough in the fridge like the better places in NYC. I have recently heard good things about Steveston Pizza. I may have to pop in one time when I visit my parents there. I have found ways of improving delivery pizza - sometimes for our family rental movie nights we order pizza from Megabite on Commercial Dr. This particular location is the best of the "chain" (more like an aggregate of pizza shops). Their crust has a bit too much oil, but it is good in comparison to the other delivery places in town. I ask for thin crust, easy on the toppings - especially the "cheese"...then when it arrives, I pop it on a preheated pizza stone for a few minutes to crisp up the crust (I turn on my oven to max right before I phone in the order). It's like putting lipstick on a pig.

I have. The crust is fluffy and spongey and the toppings tasted very artificial (sweet sauces, etc.). Not my thing.

RameNazis! That is hilarious (and intriguing).

It's pretty incongruous alright. Any first hand reports?

Thank you for this. I have tried in the past to deep-fry the rice paper wraps and the result was not particularly appealing. So the next time I will try drying them for a while before frying. ← I'd love a report on the results. If drying (perhaps in an oven??) isn't it - then I honestly don't know how they achieve this - it's almost like thin glass.

Not attractive to whom? Looks good enough to eat to me; avocado, crab and tomatos, what could be better? (OTOH, maybe bacon... ) ← Looks great....and inspires me to try to make a deconstructed California Roll. Sushi Rice, Crabmeat, slivers of Nori, wasabi and some Kewpie mayo.

I can comment on a few of these dishes since I am familiar with them from my trips to Vietnam (now a fading memory...). The "grape leaf beef rolls" is called Bo La Lot - Bo for beef and La Lot which are often called "pepper leaves." I can actually get these ingredients fresh here in Vancouver. (I can also buy frozen prepped Bo La Lot that you can just toss on the BBQ). The "Steamed "power" rice with shrimp" is a classic Hue-style preparation that uses tapioca starch called Banh Bot Loc La. It is usually wrapped in Banana Leaf then steamed till the tapioca paste turns gelatinous. The orange hue (pun intended) is from a type of preserved shrimp paste. The "Deep fried hue" is some sort of chef's variant of some these Hue "tapas" or "dim sum" (for the lack of a better word). Same with that "Shrimp cake, wrapped in crispy rice cake." You will see many such improvisations from the basic forms. The "thin sheets of rice noodle being steamed over squares of cloth tightly drawn over bubbling stockpots" is called Bahn Cuon - typically a breakfast dish common in the North. Most Vietnamese restaurants in my city use Chinese rice rolls (cheong fun) - but I have found a number now that make it fresh to order. That beautiful specimen of Cha Gio that is crispy yet devoid of any blistering or bubbles on the skin is something I have not yet found here. I believe they achieve that surface texture by drying the skin for a bit before frying it....just a guess. Most of the decent Cha Gio here is crispy but blistered (and many places cheat by using Egg Roll wrappers). Anyways, I love the report and pictures...especially of Vietnam and Thailand. It brings back memories. I love both Thai and Vietnamese food...we have a dearth of Thai food here, but we have good Vietnamese food a-plenty. Thanks again.

The place is called Rock Salt. Chef Rafael Flores worked at El Bulli under Adria...then he went to Pujol in Mexico City. He has a partner Chef Bernice Balbuena who is also an accomplished cook. It's been on my list since I heard about it.

Make a filling (stuffing) for savoury pastries (eg using steamed - as is char sui bao -, deepfried - spingroll wrappers - or baked - puff or phyllo.)

Hot Smoked Salmon.

You may have just sold me - so from the hotel, how long would it take for the water taxi, then the hike to Bluewater? Are reservations necessary (I would most likely sit at the bar, as I will be alone)? But then this means I miss Vij's! Are either of them open for lunch? Edit - I forgot to mention, we went to Okada last time and LOVED it - but that seems like quite the journey from G.I. ← Bluewater's raw bar has some of the best sushi in town. Octopus' Garden is also very good - the offerings are on the more modern end of the sushi spectrum. Their omakase is quite good and varied. It is a short hike from GI as well. Both places are a tad on the pricey side, but well worth it. Rangoli (which is a sort of a "Vij's Express") is open for lunch.

You can sub shredded cabbage, cucumber, daikon, jicama, green mango, carrot, or any crisp vegetable/fruit. Shredded bagged cabbage mix (eg for coleslaw) will work well...the dish becomes a Thai-style coleslaw.

Thai Papaya Salad is my go-to for summer picnic salads. It holds up well.

When I use a charcoal grill (I have an old Weber) I mound some coals to one side so I have more control (I have a "hot" side and a "cool" side). I start on the hot side then when the crust looks like it might start to get too dark, I slide it over to the "cool" side to finish.

Makes sense. I make very good Neapolitan-style pizza in my oven (small Japanese gas convection oven) at 300C. I get nice puffing of the rim of the crust, and bubbles just like my favourite Neapolitan-style pizza place. But I think the secret is more in the dough than the oven (an oven helps, of course). I wish I could make grilled pizza. It would certainly help keep the temperature of my apartment down, but my teeny tiny balcony won't accommodate a grill! (In my opinion, that's really the only benefit to grilling pizza--it doesn't heat up the room/house/apartment like a hot oven does.) ← I can get a decent Neapolitan style pizza in my oven using a Fibrament stone preheated to 550F (about 288C). It needs to cook fast on the stone (ideally under 3 mins which I have yet to achieve). You are right about the dough...it is a critical component. Lehman's dough is very good for this type of pizza. I do find that using this BBQ method is much quicker (preheating my stone in the oven takes about 1.5 hrs...on the grill I can get it to pizza making temps in 20 mins). Also, the crust has more of the charring ("leoparding" in pizza geekese). Compare the undersides from these photos. I now assemeble the pizza in a perforated pan then I slide it on top of the hot stone. These were done in my oven a couple of weeks ago : PS. I have seen some experiments on the web that use a preheated cast iron pan (on the stove) instead of a stone. They put the cast iron pan facing down in the oven and they slide the pizza on top of that. The results looked pretty good. This probably belongs in another thread though.