Qube Lebanese Cuisine

To be completely blunt, I was torn as to if and how I would write this post about my visit to Qube Lebanese Cuisine. Would I be vague and not say what is truly on my mind or should I just let it all out?  After weeks of going back and forth, I've decided to report what I know, what I'm afraid of and how the meal went according to me (and not influenced by outside noise).  So what is this outside noise you speak of?  Well, originally, Qube had a very different menu and direction.  However, they change chefs and the menu was reworked.  There has been a bit of drama relating to this and I will not personally get into it because it doesn't involve me or do I really know the actual story.  All I can say is I will report what I ate and what I thought of it.  Am I a bit worried about any backlash?  Well of course.  However, I cannot judge that as I mentioned, I'm not involved.  Also, this is a warning to any trolls out there.  If you want to leave messages about this, I'm deleting them because I will not be part of the drama.  It is between you and the restaurant.  Period.

Okay getting back to my visit...  So if you recognize the storefront in the picture, you will know that Qube took over the old location of the original Trattoria on West 4th.  The decor inside is nice and it has a prominent bar.  As such, we tried some of their Drinks including QV, QII, QI and QIV.  I'm not going to get into all of them since I tried maybe 2, but l can say I loved the glasses and the presentation.  For the ones I did try, they were balanced and not too strong so that I could taste the rest of the components.

Onto the food, we were served a selection of appies including the Tuna Tartare with avocado puree, tuna, ponzu, shallots and chives.  This featured fresh albacore tuna that was buttery and soft.  It was dressed enough so that there was some salty tanginess from the ponzu.  I would've liked just a bit more acidity, but it was still fine as it was.  Avocado underneath was ripe and creamy providing a nice binding agent when mixed with the tuna.

We also had a duo of Hummus with the first being the classic version tahina and the second, being avocado hummus.  These were blended smooth where the tahini was noticeable in the classic version.  Good quality EVOO added some aroma and silkiness to the hummus.  The avocado was mild-tasting but rich.  To give both a bit of custom acidity, there was a half-lime on the plate.  This was served with house bread.

To keep the house bread from going too far with any dips, we had 2 more in the form of Moutabal and Labneh.  Much like the hummus, these two were on point in terms of texture and taste.  The moutabal consisted of roasted eggplant, garlic, tahini and lemon juice.  Hence, there was a bit of smokiness, plenty of tanginess and aroma.  It was smooth and creamy.  Thick and also creamy, the labneh featured strained yogurt, Himalayan salt and smoked olive oil.  As a result, there was also smokiness as well as a certain silkiness.

So we continued on with our appies with House Grape Leaves stuffed with rice, tomato, parsley and lime juice as well as Makdous featuring oil-aged eggplant filled with walnuts and red peppers atop labneh.  Being house-made, the stuffed grape leaves were bright and delicate.  Definitely enough acidity within the rice and tomato mixture.  That was even more pronounced with the tender eggplant.  They were very tangy with a bit of sweetness from the red peppers.

One of my favourite items was the Homemade Lebanese Sausages sauteed with onion, garlic, lemon, cherry tomatoes and pomegranate.  These were meaty with enough fat to create plenty of aromatics as well as keeping the sausage moist.  There was a good combination of tanginess and spice.  On the topic of tangy, the minted yogurt in the Shish Barak was plenty acidic (maybe a bit too sour).  Good thing too as it kept the heaviness of the dough in check.  It was filled with wagyu beef, onions and herbs.

We moved onto a pair of fish plates including the Salmon Lemoni and BC Halibut.  I found the salmon to be prepared properly being moist and flaky with crispy skin.  Like most of their other dishes, the acidity from the sauce was pronounced and it was further amped by the sundried tomatoes, artichokes and capers.  As for the halibut, it was buttery and soft where it was topped with a nutty tahini sauce and sat on a bed of roasted walnut and pepper emulsion.

The next dish featured Chops 2 Way with one each lamb chop and venison chop.  The larger venison chop was cooked nicely being medium inside, hence the meat was not dry.  However, the accompanying lamb chop was well-done.  At the very least, it was fattier and still ate tender.  The chimicuhurri was bright and helped lighten the heaviness of the meats.  I found this plate to be clunky in terms of plating though.

Our last 2 savoury items consisted of the Basterma Handheld and the Seared Lamb Belly.  Sporting Lebanese air-dried meat, house pickles, house mayo, tomato, Dijon and melted raclette on brioche, this was a tad hard to eat due to the chewiness of the meat.  However, it did taste good with the combination of ingredients as we got salty, tangy and nutty.  I really enjoyed the lamb belly as it was fatty and tender in only lamb can be.  It was seared well with a smoky caramelization.   Like most of the other dishes, the plating was a bit basic.

For dessert, we were served different forms of Baklava and house vanilla ice cream.  One of the few things not made in-house, the baklava was excellent.  The crispy layers of phyllo were light and blessed with enough sweetness that wasn't overwhelming.  Of course we also had the nuttiness of the pistachios.  Ice cream was quite good being creamy and purposefully sweet.  Overall, the food was not bad with some real highlights.  I do think the plating needs some work and possibly the portion sizes for the larger plates might need to be re-evaluated.

*This post features complimentary food and beverages*

The Good:
- Interesting food as Lebanese isn't too common in Vancouver
- Nice dining space
- Appealing cocktails

The Bad:
- Plating needs work
- Portion sizes for the larger dishes are inconsistent

Superbaba

Superbaba has been around for quite some time, first as a food truck, and now with a B&M location on Main Street (in the old Kam's Bakery location).  I'm not really sure why I never made it out to try their highly-regarded Lebanese fare, but hey, you can only try so many things and yes, this Covid thing kinda gets in the way.  Finally, I made it out with the urging of Mijune.  As per usual, I decided to get "one of everything" to get a good sense of the menu.

In actuality, one can get all options in either a wrap or a bowl.  We decided to get one meat in a bowl with the Steak Bowl (on a base of half rice and half salad).  It consisted of kebab spiced grilled steak, sumac onions, baba ganoush, pickled cucumber, tahini and shug.  I thought this was a considerable amount of food with plenty of tender beef on top.  I did find it a touch spongy though.  Flavours were varied and bright due to the spice, tang and aromatics.  Lots of textures too including crunch, creaminess and meatiness.

Our next bowl was vegetarian with the Falafel Bowl (also on a base of half rice and half salad).  This came with fried cauliflower, tomato & cucumber salad, hummus, pickled cabbage, tahini and shug.  Due to the addition of the tomato and cucumbers, there was an added layer of freshness and crunch.  This was further forwarded with the tangy cabbage.  This helped balance the robust texture of the crispy falafels.  I preferred this over the beef bowl.

For the chicken options, we went for the Chicken Wrap with Shawarma style grilled boneless chicken thighs, fries, shredded cabbage, pickled turnips and sumac mayo.  I found the chicken to be a bit dry especially for chicken thighs.  These were grilled like kebabs so there was depth-of-flavour but I would've enjoyed an actual chicken shawarma instead.  However, the wrap was still delicious where the fries were crunchy and the bright flavours came through again.  The combination of crunch, tang and spice made each bite interesting.

Now the first 3 items were good, but the Sabich Wrap was my absolute favourite.  It sported battered & fried eggplant, seasoned egg, cucumber, tomato, pickled cucumber, tahini, shug and amba.  The light tempura-like batter was crispy while the eggplant was tender but not mushy.  Combined with the made in-house soft pita, once again, this was study of textures.  We had different forms of crunchiness (batter and the veggies).  Coupled with the creaminess and aromatics of the tahini and shug as well as the tanginess from the pickled cucumber and amba, it was a party in my mouth.

As mentioned, they make their pitas in-house, so unlike the store-bought variety, they are fluffier and softer.  In addition to the ones they use for their wraps, they also have a side of Fluffy Pita available.  This smaller pita is thicker and goes well with something like Baba Ganoush (or hummus or yogurt).  We had baba ganoush here and it was delicious being nicely textured with a hint of smokiness.  The soft pita was so airy and light.  Makes a great snack.

Finally, for dessert, we tried the Turmeric Cookie which was large, flat and thin.  It was crunchy on the outside and dry chewy throughout.  It was aromatic and fairly sweet.  For some reason or another, the texture resembled a day-old cookie, even though I'm not suggesting it was day old.  As for the rest of the food, it was definitely fresh and incredibly delicious.  I would 100% return and recommend that you give it a try, especially the vegetarian items (I can't believe I said that, but it is true!).

The Good:
- Wealth of flavours
- Weath of textures
- Made in-house pitas

The Bad:
- Meats were fine, but the vegetarian options were the highlights, possibly would like to see actual shawarama preparation?

 

Aleph Eatery

With the prevailing food scene in Vancouver, it is easy to overreact to cuisines that are unfamiliar.  We have such a wide array of Asian options, most people are quite well-versed as to what is good and what is average.  However, when it comes to cuisines less traveled, it seems like we will automatically go nuts for it since we've either never had it before and/or there is nothing to compare it to.  That would be the case with Middle-Eastern food where we do have some spots to chose from, but not all areas are represented.  Mijune and I met up recently at Aleph Eatery out on Powell to experience Chef Haitham El Khatib's take on Middle-Eastern eats.

Highly-recommended and stunningly beautiful to the eyes, the Silk Road featured hummus, eggplant and labneh combined into edible art.  It was finished off with honey, olive oil and zaatar with chimichurri saj on the side.  In comparison to the more well-known Jamjar, the hummus here was infinitely better featuring non-canned chickpeas blended smooth with noticeable hits of lemon and garlic.  Tender and not overprocessed, the eggplant was delicate with discernible texture.  It was lightly dressed in olive oil and was particularly good mixed with the zaatar and labneh.  About that labneh, it was thick and creamy with an appetizing tang.  It was complimented nicely by the honey.  Not to be ignored, the saj was warm, soft and had a mild chewiness.  I really wanted the Ultra Crispy Potatoes and they did not disappoint.  These were akin to the ones found at Pepino's, but dressed differently of course.  It consisted of tahini, aleppo and roasted red peppers.  Such a simple offering, but addictive.  Aromatic and firmly crispy, the potatoes were still soft and fluffy.  Beyond a mild saltiness, the flavours mainly came from the sweet peppers (with some spiciness) and nutty creamy tahini dressing.

Although we were there during lunch, we decided to get the Turmeric Cauliflower (which is on the dinner menu).  Turned out to be a good idea since they were also very good.   Unlike many of the fried versions in town, this one was roasted with turmeric and topped with tahini dressing, sliced almonds, aleppo and parsley.  Despite the repeat of a few ingredients, the cauliflower shared no common flavour profile with the potatoes.  Rather, the turmeric really came through with a gingery tanginess while complimented by the creamy dressing and the slightly spicy and sweet aleppo.  Texturally, the cauliflower was on point being firm with a moist crunch while cooked all-the-way-through.  Another hit was the Falafel with brined beat and carrot, radishes and garlic toum.  By appearances alone, it was attractive with a bright green hue surrounded by dark golden brown.  It ate as it appeared with a firm crunch giving way to a fluffy and soft centre.  There was noted hits of cumin, parsley and spice.

Our last dish was my personal favourite being the Enoki Mushroom Shawarma.  Initially, I was hesitant to order it, but upon Mijune's urging (or forceful suggestiveness...), we got it.  She was right though, it was fantastic from the first bite.  There was so much impact from the spices used on the enoki including nuttiness, aromatic bitterness and earthiness.  Combined with the hummus underneath, we got the lemon and garlic once again.  Eaten with the fantastic saj on the side, this was texturally and tastewise on point.  Okay, I got a little excited with this place (due to some of the aforementioned reasons), but compared to similar spots (in particular, Jamjar), Aleph does a much better job.  Would this be as exciting if we had the same amount of Middle-Eastern restaurants as Chinese restaurants in town?  Probably not, but given the limited options, Aleph is one of the better ones.

The Good:
- High-quality ingredients
- Small spot where the chef keeps things consistent
- Impactful flavours

The Bad:
- Some seats are a bit awkward in the small space
- Some creative license on certain dishes which might not work for some people

Jamjar (Granville)

My first ever experience with Jamjar was with their original location on Commercial Drive during a Brunch Crawl event.  I vaguely remember that we had hummus and some other small things.  Suffice to say, this did not fully represent what Jamjar has to offer.  I never made it back despite my curiosity since Lebanese/Middle Eastern fare isn't exactly in abundance in Vancouver.  Well, it wasn't until Nora suggested we all meet up for dinner one night at their new shop located at the old Rangoli spot.  

We ended up sharing a few things to start including the Hummus Trio consisting of original, lemon and red pepper.  I thought all of them were pretty good except the original could've used more acidity.  It was a bit strange as the other 2 had much more tang and hence had more pop.  We also could've used more pita bread since the amount of hummus was generous.  Naturally, we also had to get some of their fabulous Falafels and they did not disappoint.  We got 4 large perfectly fried balls that were firmly crunchy on the outside.  Inside, they were not fluffy per se, but neither were they dense.  They were nicely spiced where they ate well even without the yogurt dip.

Of course we also had to get the Makali (aka deep fried cauliflower) tossed in pomegranate molasses dressing. This was a rather large serving that featured a mixture of large and small florets of smoky cauliflower.  I enjoyed the firm, yet cooked through texture, but it could've been more crispy on the edges.  I loved the sweet and tanginess of dressing.  Next, we tried the Riyah (lamb popsicles rubbed with cinnamon, turmeric and Greek yogurt) which was a little pricey at $17.00.  It was good though featuring a smoky and crispy char.  The meat was cooked a bit more than I would've liked, so it wasn't as succulent as it could've been.

To get a good sense of the menu, we decided to order "A Taste of Lebanon" shared meal.  It started with Olives, Makdous, Feta, Hummus, Muttabel, Mohamara, Spinach Dip, Mujadra, Eggplant Stew, Cauliflower, Falafel and Batata Harra.  Now if this looks strangely like the dishes we'd already ordered, you are partly right.  We kinda goofed here, but the server didn't really tip us off either.  No matter, one of my favourites was the muttabel (roasted eggplant dip with tahini, lemon and garlic) as it was smooth, tart and aromatic.  I also liked the creamy sesame spinach dip since it had some texture even though it was pretty creamy. The second plate was more of the same, so not much to comment on that.

The main event (in my opinion) of A Taste of Lebanon was the plate consisting of Shish Tawouk, Makanik, Beef Kibbeh and Prawns.  I thought the beef kibbeh was the best of the bunch sporting a smoky sear and being well-seasoned with sweetness from the onions.   The shish tawouk (chicken) was also seared nicely, but dry and lacking impact.  It could've used more lemon juice.  I didn't enjoy the prawns as they were rubbery and overdone.  Lean and meaty, the makanik (sausages) were nicely spiced with layers of flavour.  For dessert, we got the Chocolate Rice Pudding featuring coconut milk and aborio rice. This vegan, gluten-free dessert was actually pretty good where it was creamy while thick and rich.  It wasn't overly sweet (even with the rose water) which was fine in my opinion.  Overall, our visit to the new location of Jamjar was decent and reasonably-priced (except for the lamb).  With that being said, some more refinement is still needed, especially with their proteins.

The Good:
- Something different, especially for the neighbourhood
- Generally okay pricing considering the area, but some are strangely overpriced

The Bad:
- Some proteins were overdone

Golden Pita Lebanese

Most of us are familiar with certain "hidden" restaurants that are only known to locals or those who are diehard eaters. I use the word hidden because they may not necessarily be visible from the street nor are they in a normally high-traffic area. Furthermore, some of these only exist to serve the lunch crowd. For me, I generally have my eye out for places to eat, so I seek out these hidden gems. Then I really have no idea how I could've missed Golden Pita (out at Lougheed Mall) all these years. From the times I visited the liquor store and more recently, Dollar Giant, what was I looking at??? A restaurant right in front of my eyes and I conveniently chose to ignore it?

Ignore it no more as Big D suggested I give it a go. Fine, so with no eating companions for lunch, I did the eat-by-myself routine once again. Sure, no one will notice the guy at the window with the big DSLR taking a picture of his Falafels...  Anyways, these were not bad. They were dense (like many falafels are), yet not overly so. There was a good balance of spices while the exterior was really crunchy.  Of course a plate of falafels would not be enough food...  So I also got the Beef Plate which included a veggie pocket, wara' inab tabbouleh salad, humous, tzatziki and pita bread.  The meat was moist and flavourful while the rest of the items were well-prepared.  I particularly liked the veggie pocket as the pastry was soft while the filling had a nice mixture of veggies including sweet corn.  On another visit, I had the Beef Shawarma and it consisted of fresh ingredients, tender beef and a great mixture of flavours.  I'm keeping the description short because of the next item...

I went back one more time to try their famed Chicken Rocket.  You know when someone raves about a particular food item and they give out this "foodgasm" face?  Well, Big D did just that.  It was a bit disturbing, but I got the idea.  Bam!  Yes, that's how the flavours hit me like a luxury SUV running a stop sign in Richmond. The combination of roasted chicken, onion, sumac spice, humous, tahini sauce, tomato, pickled turnip, feta cheese and hot sauce wrapped in a baked pita was more flavourful that I could imagine.  Depending on what was in each bite, there was the immediate hit of the hot sauce (I got spicy), then the tartness from the turnip and finishing off with the sumac spice, sweet onions and roasted chicken.  The humous brought the whole thing together.  Furthermore, since it was baked, the pita was crispy on the outside which added more texture.  I would definitely order this again.  In fact, as you may have already noticed, I keep going back to Golden Pita for eats...  That basically says it all.

The Good:
- Solid eats with good flavours
- Great people, super-friendly

The Bad:
- Not expensive, but not cheap either
- Small place, best to keep your party small 

Nuba (Seymour)

Taking advantage of the fact that Viv was picking up some things at the Downtown Sears, I dropped her off and went in search of food. The mission - to eat something a bit different and also get something for takeout. Hey, Viv needs to eat too! Heck, I'm not going to try something right in the downtown core, parking would be a nightmare. So looking for something a bit more on the fringe, I targeted Nuba on Seymour. Just as I thought! Plenty of parking available around Seymour and Drake.

Looking over the menu board, I was debating what to order. I hate choices. I can never decide what to eat! I can have one thing in mind and when it's time to take my order, I change it at the last minute. That would be probably the explanation for me standing there for at least 5 minutes with a confused look on my face. I finally settled on the Chicken Tawook Platter for myself and the Crispy Cauliflower Pita for Viv. I originally got one of the very few tables near the inside of the restaurant. However, I was scoping out this dude who was just finishing up right at the window. Before a blink of an eye, I swooped over to snap up that window seat when he left. Anything for better lighting!

I got my order shortly after and despite what others have complained about, I found that the portion size to be acceptable. After all, it wasn't that expensive, what do you expect? Resting on a bed of brown rice was a grilled flavourful chicken breast. A salad and pita bread with humus completed the combo. I gotta say that was one delicious humus. Smooth with a touch of lemon and olive oil, I couldn't get enough of it on each slice of pita. The chicken was a bit on the dry side; but it certainly wasn't tough. I really liked the slightly spicy sauce with cool yogurt. The salad filled space on the plate being quite ordinary except for the pickled cabbage.

The signature dish here is the crispy cauliflower and I got it in a pita for Viv. We didn't know how cauliflower could be so good. Just barely cooked retaining a nice crunch, these little morsels had a nice lemon flavour. Gonna have these bad boys without the wrap next time! I gotta say it was pretty good food at Nuba, especially the cauliflower. I'd probably skip the chicken next time to try something else though.

The Good:
- Something a little bit different
- Who would have thought cauliflower can be so good?
- Unique flavours

The Bad:
- Portion size could stand to be a bit bigger
- Not really a lot of seats at this location