Don at Kitsilano

At first glance, Don at Kitsilano looks like a fancy spot with equally fancy food.  Well, that is partially correct.  The decor is IG-worthy and those tables, with the resin in the middle are absolutely stunning.  However, as the name suggests, this place dishes up rice bowls (and also noodle bowls).  Now unlike many places that specialize in this type of cuisine, Don at Kits is considerably less basic and in fact, rather elevated.  This is due to Chef Victor who has worked under Alvin Leung at a Michelin Star restaurant.

So it wasn't surprising to see a Cured Salmon Tartare on the menu featuring prawn dusted rice crisps.  This was quite good with buttery pieces of salmon that had some subtle seasoning from the pickled radish, fried shallots and sesame seeds.  Some might think that this would be too mild, but it allowed the salmon to exude its sweetness and taste of the sea.  The addition of a free-range egg yolk added creaminess and silkiness.  Loved the light crisps as it didn't take away from the natural texture of the salmon.

Even the humble dumpling gets reworked here with the Lobster Gyoza.  Featuring a stunningly tomato red skirt (or tuile), the dumplings were the beneficiary of a hard sear on the bottom.  Hence, dumplings were crispy on one side and sported a relatively thin dumpling skin on the other.  I found the filling to be a little on the dry side with lean pork.  The bits of lobster were great though being its bouncy best and exhibiting classic lobster essence.   This came with an appetizing vinegar sake dipping sauce.

So onto the "Don" part of the meal, we had the 24-hour slow cooked Pork Jowl.  This featured a buttery soft, melt-in-my-mouth pork jowl where the fat and meat melded together into one texture.  It was delicious by its lonesome with umaminess and just the right amount of seasoning.  However, that shiitake rice underneath was so appealingly chewy and earthy, it complimented the meat beautifully.  Add in the silkiness of the onsen egg and we had some real nice textures.  This was finished tableside with a tomato broth which was elegant, aromatic and subtle.

Another mouth-watering dish was the Braised Beef Cheek with nian gao (rice cakes).  Once again, they did a superb job with the protein where it was cooked for 30 hours.  The meat was gelatinous, fall apart tender and full-of-depth. This seemed to be somewhat of a take on TBN (Taiwanese Beef Noodle) except with beef cheek rather than beef shank and rice cake instead of noodles.  I found the broth to be meaty with plenty of body.  The rice cakes were tender but retained a nice chewiness.

If you looked at the next dish, it wouldn't be a bad guess to think "chicken pot pie".  But in reality, it was a Seafood Congee Pot Pie with puff pastry on top.  The pastry acted like the yau tiao (Chinese savoury donut).  This was a really thick congee that had plenty of well-cooked seafood.  It was sweet and full or aroma.  The DIY sides of sweet & salty peanuts, fried shallot and chili crunch oil allowed me to customize the flavour profile.  I went for spicy and the crunch from the peanuts and shallots added the necessary texture.

The most striking item was the Creamy Lobster Bisque Udon.  It featured a large whole lobster tail baked with salted egg yolk.  This was nutty, aromatic and bordering on salty without going over.  The lobster itself was perfectly-cooked being sweet and bouncy.  The udon was excellent and the lobster bisque was full-flavoured with umami.  The addition of roe helped add pops of brininess.  This was super delicious and one of our favourites of the meal.

We ended our meal with a pair of desserts including the Rabbit in the Garden and the White Rabbit Crème Brûlée.  The slightly firm pannacotta-style rabbit was semi-sweet and creamy.  It sat atop sesame crunch and chocolate shavings.  It had good textural contrast and wasn't very sweet.  As for the crème brûlée, it had a textbook torched sugar topping.  It was crunchy and caramelized.  I found the white rabbit custard to be not very sweet, which was great since the sugar took care of that.  It was light and creamy.  Loved the addition of the salted peanuts.

For drinks, we had the Spicy Peach Margarita, Fairy Wing. Hojicha & Yuzu Iced Tea and Spark of Charm.  These were all non-alcoholic but tasty nonetheless.  There was a fruity theme going on where my favourite was the fairy wing.  It had zero-proof gin mixed with citrus, butterfly pea tea, yuzu and orange bitters.  Very refreshing and light.  The spicy margarita was exactly that and good for those who want impact.  Loved the ice tea as it was fruity and slightly tangy.  I found the spark of charm pretty light with zero-proof rum, ginger beer, lime juice and orange bitters.  Overall, the food at Don at Kitsilano is delicious while being elevated.  There is care and pride put into the food and it shows in presentation and taste.  Decor is also quite inviting.  Worth checking out.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Nice dining space, definitely IGable!
- Pretty food
- It is also delicious

The Bad:
- Pricing is on the higher side, but the quality of the food is also high
- Lobster dumplings could be juicier