Greetings folks – it’s been a wee while since there’s been much of an update, however fear not, your trusty correspondent has been quietly dining away in the background. New job and holiday plans have meant writing has taken a bit of a back seat, but believe me when I say I haven’t been going hungry. Au contraire.
My new events job with Innis & Gunn has meant a full diary and belly for most of the summer, and if you have any queries about beer and cheese pairings, I’ve had some fun putting pairings together so drop me a line! I J Mellis are the go-to spot for the fromage, and I had the good fortune to meet Tricia at Barwheys Dairy when we co-hosted an event together. Their mature and smoked cheeses are superb – check them out at www.barwheysdairy.co.uk .
I also spent 2 weeks in my very beloved Vancouver, visiting my sister, catching up with old friends ( I can’t believe how much has happened since I worked out there in 2001) and eating some truly superb food, both at home and in restaurants. The food truck revolution is so well formed there, the Japanese & Korean places continue to steal the heart of my tastebuds, and altogether the dining scene seemed to be healthy and full of even more variety than ever. In line with trends in the US, there’s definitely been significant movement away from the fancy-schmancy, in favour of the relaxed sharing style of eating.
Gyoza King on Robson Street will forever be a firm favourite, and it was a joy to be able to take the Silver Fox for his first full-on gyozafest. We ate there twice and I can’t , with any accuracy tell you how many of those little badboys we ate. A hundred? Easily! The tuna tataki, the beef tataki, the agedashi tofu, the spinach gomae. These are dishes of plain, concise flavour that make me happy, washed down with the obligatory pitcher of Asahi, enjoyed in a chaotic little West End restaurant that we first discovered in 1999 when my sister moved to Vancouver.
It wasn’t all about eating in restaurants (although top mentions should go to The Cactus Club at English Bay, Lift at Coal Harbour, Habit on Main Street, and the Long Table Series dinner at The Irish Heather) as we ate a lot of BBQ on our holiday too. There was beach day bbq, Sam’s Hawaiian themed bbq, bbq at my sister’s, bbq at my friend Siobhan’s. It was grill-tastic. And newest find is something called Maui Ribs (similar to Korean ribs). Marinaded overnight in Bulgogi sauce, they use a special cut of beef short ribs, which so far I’ve been unable to source here in Edinburgh but give me time! To describe, it’s a kind of horizontally sliced beef short rib, all soft, tender and delicious. Craving it right now, in fact.
Lastly, a new experience was the wild, wonderful and extremely exciting Richmond Night Market, which takes place in Richmond, a suburb just south of Vancouver. We went down on a Friday night, and experienced a bright, scented labyrinth of food stalls, knicknack stalls and people. So many people! Food is cooked on grills, in fryers, magic-ed up in tiny little stall tents. And the place is heaving. Food on sticks, in tubs, in bags, bowls. Pork , beef , octopus, Japanese pogos, spiral potatoes, wackywonderful things I couldn’t quite identify. It. Was. Incredible. Oh, and the ‘Richmond Night Market’ theme tune which is piped over loudspeakers is a real hit.
And now, some visuals….
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