*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*
The Good:
- Excellent wok hei (high wok heat)
- One of the best, if not the best Pad Siew in town
- That crispy pork belly!
The Bad:
- Roti could be a bit less dense
- Not unique to Sen Pad Thai, but the market food court is crazy busy at peak times, finding a table is almost impossible
The last dish was the Steak Frites featuring a 7oz Certified Angus Beef sirloin, peppercorn sauce, fries and truffle arugula. This was asked to be prepared rare and it came out as such. Due to this, the steak ate a bit chewier, but it was still fine. The peppercorn sauce was creamy and lightly peppery. In the end, we thought the food is pretty good, but really, the draw here is the killer location and view. In terms of food execution and quality, I've had better at other Tap & Barrel locations.
The Good:
- Awesome view and location
- Good service
The Bad:
- Food was fairly good, but I've had better at other T&B locations
We were started off with 2 tostadas including the Smoked Salmon Tostada on a crispy corn tortilla topped with locally smoked chum salmon, cucumber-cream, pickle red onions and capers. Loved the combination of Westcoast ingredients in a Mexican dish. The salmon was buttery with a balanced smoke complimented by the classic accompaniments. Flavours were familiar, yet presented differently on a beautifully crisp tortilla.
From these, we moved onto the made-to-order Guacamole. Once again, there was a Westcoast twist where it was topped with feta, pumpkin seeds & pea shoots. So the creamy guac ate well with the side of fresh crunchy corn tortilla chip. With a squeeze of the lime wedge, the whole thing was pretty bright. Once again, the creaminess of the feta added more luxuriousness to the already creamy guac. I found the pumpkin seeds to be an interesting texture that contrasted the avocado.
One of the favourite items was the Albacore Tuna Ceviche with sashimi grade albacore, lime, tomato, cilantro, onion and cucumber. Not overly complex but well-executed, the fish was delicate and sweet. There was enough acidity to "cook" the fish while not being too overwhelming. The whole thing was fresh, bright and appetizing. I also thought the restraint with the cilantro ensured that the whole thing wasn't dominated by one flavour.
Now my actual favourite dish of the night was the Duck Flautas filled with braised duck and roasted squash topped with pickled red onion, cabbage and recado negro. Beyond the firmly crunchy fried tortillas, the shredded duck was super moist and full-flavoured from the spices. I've had duck flautas before and these were by far the best. To bring down the heaviness, there was a refreshing slaw and pickled onions. It also added crunch and tanginess.
One of the most striking dishes was the Halloumi and Grilled Cactus. With its attractive sear, the cheese was aromatic, nutty and squishy. Underneath, the grilled cactus was beautifully prepared where it was not slimy at all. In fact, it still had a bite which was appealing. All of this sat in a charred tomatillo salsa verde with pickled red onion. Bright with a touch of smokiness, the salsa verde provided good balance to the hearty halloumi.
Another solid offering was the Birria Tacos with slow cooked beef braised in dried chilies with onions, cilantro & limes. Loved the tortillas as they were thin and lightly crispy. They were nutty and aromatic. Inside, the braised beef was tender with plenty of punch. As promised in the description, there was some spice, sweetness and overall depth. We could customize it to our personal tastes not only with the side of accompaniments, but also the hot sauces provided as well.
*All food and beverages were complimentary*
The Good:
What do you get when you combine 4 of the most talented chefs in Vancouver with some shipping containers? No, this is not a trick question nor does it imply anything illegal. Rather, Popina has "popped up" in the former parking lot adjacent to the Granville Island Market serving up quality eats crafted by the chefs Hamid Salimian, Angus An, Joel Watanabe and Robert Belcham. The shipping containers refer to the actual structure which it is built from. After a few weeks of their soft launch, I decided to drop by to try a few of their wares.
We ended up sharing the Chicken Fried Humboldt Squid to start. Mixed with onion and jalapenos, there was only a modest amount of squid. The batter was perfect though being crunchy, well-seasoned and not oily. I found the pieces to be cut up a bit too small for my liking though. Okay, the East Coast Lobster Roll has been a rather polarizing item on the menu considering its $26.00 price tag. Some would like to argue that it is overpriced. For me, I would say maybe it should be a few dollars less, but it is still worth the money due to large amount of buttery lobster. There was barely any filler other than a few bits of celery and the lobster pieces were of quality. Buttery and soft, the roll was texturally on point and held everything together. I've had lobster rolls in Boston, Maine, Nova Scotia and PEI and they aren't as cheap as one would think. The only one that blew me away was the one at Neptune Oyster Co. and that is currently $31.00USD (it is bigger though). Luke's Lobster charges $17.00USD and it is half the size of the one at Popina. So my point is, don't be surprised at the pricing because it is that way everywhere or more.
To counteract the fried food, we got the Salade Niçoise with tomatoes, mixed lettuce, potato, green beans, olives, egg, pickled onion and olive oil poached tuna with a Japanese curry dressing. Beyond the traditional ingredients found in this salad, the dressing changed everything. I thought it went really well with mild hits of curry, tanginess and sweetness. Back to the ingredients, the tuna was perfectly rare with only the slightest of cook on the outside. It was buttery soft and sweet. Egg was not overdone while the green beans were still crunchy. On that note, the same olive oil poached tuna was employed on the Tuna Toast sporting other ingredients including pickled onions, olives, capers, dill, tarragon, parsley and yogurt. There was a lot going on here compared to the description on the menu. We would've preferred a little less herbs, but there was no denying that they went with the concoction. The toast was crunchy and did not wilt under the wet ingredients while the tuna was buttery soft . Despite the plethora of ingredients, the flavours were still subtle. 
My son didn't deviate from his eating habits and went for the Grassfed BC Cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato. On the surface, it didn't really look like much and didn't photograph sexy. However, it ate well with a thick, well-charred patty. It was naturally-flavoured and still moist despite being cooked all-the-way-through. There was plenty of wet ingredients to keep things messy (the patty kept sliding out). The bun somewhere between soft and chewy, so it held everything together without falling apart. That was good, but the Crispy Free-Run Chicken Sandwich was better. This thing was texturally on point. The chicken was aggressively battered, but wasn't heavy nor dense. In fact, the crispy, well-rendered skin was light and almost airy. Juicy and moist, the chicken meat was also seasoned properly. It wasn't actually spicy per se (nothing is as spicy as DL Chicken), but it was flavourful. Again, the nicely toasted bun held everything together without being dry.
Of course we had to get a side of their Crinkle Cut Fries to go with the burger and sandwich as well. Despite the visuals, the fries weren't spicy. Rather it was a mild-tasting seasoning salt that wasn't actually very salty. The fries themselves were hot and crunchy while not greasy. Nothing particularly exciting about these fries, but they were prepared properly at least. For dessert, we tried their Puff Cream which was soft-serve within choux pastry (replaced the cream or custard with soft-serve in a cream puff). Some have said that the choux is too dry, but for me it was fine and in fact, considering the amount of melting ice cream, it softened up quick. The soft-serve was creamy, yet melted quickly as mentioned. We got caramel sauce on top and it wasn't too sweet. Overall, I thought the lobster roll and chicken sandwich were the highlights while the rest held their own. Prices are definitely not cheap, but the ingredients were high quality and prepared properly. Remains to be seen how budget-conscious customers will take to the concept.
It all started with Maenam for Chef Angus An. His upscale Thai eatery has put him on the map in Vancouver. Say what you want about the place, but he has his fans and hence, has expanded his restaurant empire steadily. There was Longtail Kitchen, then Fat Mao Noodles, followed by Free Bird. Now we find Sen Pad Thai located in a food stall on Granville Island. As the name suggests, one will find different versions of pad thai and other stir-fried Thai favourites. Grace and I ventured out to the land of tourists on a fine Summer day to try the place out.
We started with the Fried Chicken Wings with Thai garlic. This is the same one found at Longtail Kitchen, but unlike the ones I had there, these were completely underseasoned. They were crispy though with well-rendered skin. However, the accompanying dip is what makes the dish and that it did with a sweet, tangy and spicy fish sauce. It was super impactful and in fact, made me forget the wings were not flavourful on their own. Next, we had the Papaya Salad which featured fresh and crunchy julienned green papaya and carrot. It was bathed in a tart and spicy dressing that was a bit muted for my tastes. The flavours were bright though, but I would've liked to see a bit more sweetness for balance.
Of course we got an order of the Pad Thai, but specifically the Pad Thai Goong (with shrimp). Although the dish looked rather pale and lifeless, nothing could be further from that. The chewy noodles were not oversauced and were the beneficiary of enough wok heat. The caramelized flavours were deeply sweet and super tangy (from the tamarind) with impactful spiciness. One could add more with the available chilis at the counter. There was enough pickled turnip to add both a crunch and more salty tang. I found the Pad See Ew even more smoky and caramelized from the wok fry, possibly due to the soy and palm sugar. The mung bean noodles were chewy and delicious (absorbed all the flavours), but there wasn't enough of it. We appreciated the abundance of ground pork, but there was too much of it. Adding some Prik Nahm Som (chili vinegar) kicked up the flavours even more so.
Lastly, we had the Khao Pad with a wealth of tangy sausage. It was a nice pop of flavour to contrast the pungent fried rice which had the aroma of caramelized fish sauce. There was a smokiness from the hot wok and also a noticeable spice level. The rice itself was chewy while the sausage had a nice meatiness that wasn't overly heavy. Overall, we both enjoyed the food offered at Sen Pad Thai as they were prepared with plenty of wok heat and enough spice. Prices are a little on the higher side, but not unreasonable. It's nice to see something a bit different with real punch of flavours on Granville Island.
There are some things that go together, such as rain and Vancouver, bad driving and Richmond or $2 million dollars for a run-down shack in Pt. Grey. Well, those things might make one question why they live here, but they indeed related to one another. When it comes to cultured activities (if you want to call it that), the combination of a art, food and wine is seemingly a natural match. With that in mind, Viv and I checked out Art, Eat and Sip on Granville Island during the DOV festival.
Our registration point and first stop was at the Granville Island Hotel or more specifically, Dockside Restaurant. We were treated to something a bit different with made-to-order Chili Squid. There was a dedicated chef preparing the squid in small batches that ensured optimum freshness and food integrity. Hence, the little bits of crunchy batter stayed crunchy while the peppers, garlic and seasoning were aromatic being hot from the pan. The squid itself was tender, yet still retaining an appealing chewiness. This was probably the best bite of the night.
After the squid, we ended up at Granville Island Brewing for 2 beer pairings. The first consisted of their signature IPA paired with Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel from ChocolaTas. This worked in our opinion as the creamy and sweet chocolate balanced out the hoppiness of the crisp IPA. Next, we had a Taco topped with cremini mushroom, flank steak, cilantro slaw and tomato jalapeno salsa. It was paired with the Hey Day Hefeweizen. As much as the hef was light and tasty with clove notes, it was completely overshadowed by the spiciness of the taco. We weren't really sure what they were intending, but my guess is the hef was supposed to cool the spiciness? Anyways, the taco was pretty good being spicy as mentioned as well as sporting tender slices of beef and a good amount of acidity.
Finally fulfilling the "art" portion of the event, we made the short walk to the Barbara Arnold Artist Studio featuring a selection of her work. There was an interesting array of textured art that displayed a 3D-effect. This was an interesting way to distract us from food and drink. However, it wasn't long before we turned our focus back to eating as The Lemon Square had set up shop right in the studio. If you haven't had this little sweet morsel before, be prepared for an impactful zing from the lemon balanced out by the buttery crust underneath. If you eat more than one, it does get a bit sweet, but still good in my opinion.
The drinking continued at Liberty Wine Merchants where we were able to sample 2 wines accompanied by little bites from Terra Breads. I sampled the Picpoul de Pinet which was somewhat fruity and floral with some zing to it. Apparently it is one of their best sellers and is reasonably-priced. As for the red, it was the Monterail Costières De Nîmes. This was pretty smooth with only some bite at the end. From Liberty Wine, we headed over to Liberty Distillery for some more booze in the form of a cocktail called the Basford (Endeavour Gin, rosemary-grapefruit cordial and fresh lemon juice). Although this was fruity and bright, the gin was pretty potent. My little taste of their Truth Vodka yielded even more strong results. They are not playing around here with their spirits...
Back to the food, we turned the corner and paid Off the Tracks Espresso Bar & Bistro. There, we were served their locally roasted Espresso paired with Carrot Cake. But before I dug into it, we had the Slow-Cooked Chorizo & Yam Tacos. As evidenced in the picture, the taco was generously filled with soft and slightly spicy chorizo and sweet yams. Sweet and moist, the carrot cake went well with the strong espresso that had a vinegary finish. The boozing continued at our next stop - Artisan Sake Maker. They paired the Junmai Nama with 2 little bites including Paillot de Chevre and SakeKasu Bon Bon. As much as Sake can be pretty strong, this one was fairly light and fruity. The goat's cheese and cocoa dusted truffle didn't hurt things either. 
One last art stop was at Studio 13 Fine Art featuring the works of Alice Rich. As clearly illustrated in the picture, her abstract works are colourful and striking. We were able to peruse the gallery while sipping on a choice of red or white wine with cheese, grapes and other little snacks. We ended the night at New Leaf Creative Solutions where Bon Macaron set up shop. By the end of the night, they were running low in variety, but we were still able to sample a few Macarons. I've tried their Goat Cheese & Fig in the past and decided to stick to the familiar. Sweet and not overly gamy, the macaron featured a lightly crisp shell yielding a soft interior. So this was the end of a 3-hour walking tour of the lesser-known spots on Granville Island. As much as there wasn't a whole lot of food, there was an equal amount of alcohol. So one's enjoyment will depend on expectations.
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