fmed

Culturally diverse, that's us (until you hit the bureaucracy). ← Just to be clear - I don't think its anything specifically targeting Asian cuisine - the bureaucracy also keeps unpasterized cheeses, med-rare hamburgers, and certain chaucruterie out of the consumer's hands. All for our own good of course - regardless of hundereds of years of food culture in Asia and Europe. Still - terrible choice of words from the prosecuter. ← Terrible words indeed...makes him sound like a total hick.

I'm glad this thread bumped back up. Health inspectors tried to do the same in Vancouver until a local lawyer and aficionado sue the city and won - http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/l...5a-4d0ffe3c47d8 Hey John!...nice to see you around these parts. I never use plastic-packet "soy sauce." It's all hydrolyzed protein cocktail. So is there any particular reason why they are targeting T&T? Is there bad blood? Will authorities try to expand the ruling into Chinatown? I haven't heard updates to the story since it broke. Now my vague recollection of Latin 101 and its syntax in terms of word order tells me: "De gustibus non est disputandum" == "De gustibus non disputandum est" Any native Latin speakers out there?

The new one is around Nanaimo & 1st. The old one is around Nanaimo & Broadway (across from Bon's). They are keeping both locations open. On a related note - Today, I ate pho at Hai Yen (646 Kingsway) based on Knightafter's posting at UDF....the pho was very good...the broth was clear, light, less salty and had less of the sweet spice (anise, cinnamon, clove) flavours. Sadly, they no longer serve the sawtooth herb (culantro) as part of their garnish plate. Super great service. The Banh Mi was also very good.

Thanks Knightafter. I just realized that Song Huong was my family's favorite Pho place...but we just called it "that place across from Bon's". Our family went to the new location today - we ordered four Pho Tai...very good and very cheap. Their deep fried rolls were not too good - new oil, fryer was set too low. They had killer Lime Sodas. I'd go for just those on a hot summer's day. The place is very clean and neat - impressively so. This may be my family's new go-to pho joint since it is about a 10min walk to it from our house.

Thank you Gregsem. I did a bit of Googling and Wikipedia-ing on this topic but found nothing substantial. I ended up at Amazon to purchase Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery by Sri Owen.

anisette, can you describe the differences between Javanese and Sulawesi cuisine. I am intrigued.

Do you recommend their pho Knightafter? I went to the restaurant that previously occupied that location and was turned off because they allowed patrons to smoke. I didn't stay to eat.

I was at Crystal Mall for the first time an quite a while recently. There are two places you can get decent Sichuan Noodles at Crystal Mall (Huaxi is the better of the two)

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/04/30/5434301.html Friends don't let friends eat refrigerated BBQ. Does anyone remember the time Vancouver's health authorities tried to do this? (I have vague memories.) Could you imagine what Vancouver's gastronomic landscape would be like if they were successful?

Do you know if they are now operating with a full kitchen? They were using electric burners when my wife and I went a few weeks ago due to some licensing and mechanical problems with their extractor fans. My experience was similar to yours. I wasn't a fan of the main trio (the pork, chicken and fish) - though the pipian verde chicken was OK. I'm glad they are taking that fish of the tasting menu...it just didn't work...too dry and lacked flavour.

I think that store is called Attison or Atkinson or something like that. I'm not sure the branch in Chinatown is called. I was just there a couple of days ago and the selection is great. I like this place because they have Chinese cooking implements like bamboo steamers at great prices. For example, a 10" steamer costs something like $15-18 at mall stores (Ming Wo, Cookworks, etc.). Here they are $3.95.

Yes that's the one. It's been a while for me too.

This One? (Hu Hu Nan - Main and Marine)

You know, here seems to be a complete hole in the Vancouver scene in terms of truly authentic Sichuan. My old go-to was Szechuan Chong Qing on Commercial Dr...but this is more of that "Nixon era" stuff if you know what I mean. It has been in steady decline over the last decade to the point where I don't even consider it anymore. I think it was actually a "relative" decline -- I don't necessarily think the decline has been drastic...it's just that the level of Chinese cuisine in the GVA has been steadily rising over that decade. For authentic Sichuan food....I just go to her house! Awesome stuff when done right. But once again, she told me that the food she had recently at Golden Sichuan in Richmond "tasted real".

Thanks for the report canucklehead. Xiang has been on my list for a while now...I really have to get over there soon. Too bad you had a bad experience at Golden Sichuan...a very good friend and Chinese Sichuan chef (former Sichuan chef...she does Italian now) gave it the seal of approval...perhaps the Westerner ratio really did affect your meal.

Almost went last night but SO was craving Vietnamese egg pie. I think fmed will win this race -- we are off to San Francisco on Thursday for 4 days of decadent dining, so I've vowed to cook at home till we leave. ← Please report back on your SF expedition.

They accepted last years Van Mag awards for best Japanese Casual wearing tiger masks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24rZaGZYTrY

Were they from Kingyo?

It is fairly different. The cumin beef has a lot more spice kick to it, and I find it much more flavourful overall. The bread is also less greasy than the beef roll from the times I've had it. The cumin beef dish really focuses more on the beef and less on the wrapping. The beef roll seems to focus on the wrapping more, and also gives you the dipping sauce as well. Try it once, it is fairly small and inexpensive. Can't hurt to add one extra dish! ← Who'll get there first greyelf? I'll race ya.

I'm thinking that simulating a sunny climate using fluorescent lights and an aquarium heater will help. Not very eco-friendly, though

Kudos to Barbara-Jo!

Sorry not to get back to you sooner - not sure about wheatless soy. I suspect that flour used as a medium to help mold take hold - and I am not sure what would happen if you ommitted. Perhaps I should suggest keeping one of the disks as a starter in a jar - then sprinkle it over a batch that had no flour to help the fermentation process. That's the part of the process that amazed me - simply leaving out the soy disks to mold - all wild and by chance. Nature is wonderful. ← I'm glad this thread bumped up today. I missed it the first time around. Very cool canucklehead! I have read that Koji is the mold culture that the Japanese use to make sake, miso, and shoyu (soy sauce). I know you can buy a culture of Koji (which I think is Aspergillus oryzae or A. sojae) in tubs (and for Vancouverites - Fujiya has Koji in the freezer section - I don't remember if it was the rice or soy version). Using wild spores and mold is sort of like making Belgian lambic beer....which tastes more complex than regular beer. Again thanks for this canucklehead.

I'm doing a reno right now and I'm considering that exact range (specifically for the continuous grates). BCinBC, do you do a lot of wok cooking? If so, does the 16K burner put out enough heat for wok hei goodness? On cabinets, I'm doing Ikea Akurum/Abstrakt. It seems like a reasonable bang for the buck proposition.

>> um. >> http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2008/02/ra...dumpling_house/ Yikes.

>> fmed, will you be driving or taking the TTC around? That will affect recs. I think we will be renting a car and driving.