Dosa Corner

If the name "Dosa Corner" rings a bell, then you aren't dreaming.  The original location was further south on Fraser and now the new location is closer to all the action near the corner of Fraser and 46th.   For those who do not know, a dosa is a super thin and crispy South Indian crepe made from fermented rice and lentils.  It can be eaten plain and served with chutneys and sambar, but for me, best to be filled with a curry of some sort.  Jackie and I dropped by to try some of their menu items.

For our starters, one of the dishes we had was the Prawn Pakora.  This featured pretty large prawns that were coated with a fairly thin batter.  It was mildly spiced where I got a certain amount of earthiness and also some natural sweetness from the meaty prawns.  This was served with 3 chutneys including tamarind, spicy peanut and cilantro.  I liked the cilantro the most as it was bright and a bit spicy.

Our other appie was the classic Chicken 65.  It was served with the same 3 chutneys along with a few veggies.  The small morsels of chicken were tender with a crispy coating.  I felt the seasoning was on the milder side but I did still get some tang and spice.  We also had the Chicken 65 Biryani and it was quite good.  With a crispy texture, the chicken also kept the rice more dry (almost like a fried rice).  But since it wasn't a fried rice (in terms of overall cooking technique), it featured absorbed spices that were earthy and savoury with some heat.

In addition to the aforementioned biryani, we also had the Goat Biryani.  Since the medium-sized chunks of meat were cooked with the rice, it had taken on the gaminess of the goat.  There was also more moisture due to that and hence, the rice was not as dry as the previous dish.  Lots of fall and earthy flavours from the spices as well as a hit of cinnamon.  I really enjoyed this as it was flavourful with tender pieces of meat.

Of course we had to get and order of the restaurant's namesake right?  So we got one each of the Eggplant Masala Dosa and the Butter Chicken Dosa.  These lentil and rice flour crepes were uniformly crispy and light.  Nice aroma too. One of the better dosas I've had in town.  I liked both fillings with the eggplant being soft and well-spiced.  The butter chicken was tender and had a good balance of tang and creaminess.  Nice spice with earthy notes.

Beyond the dosas and biryanis, there is also a considerable selection of curries.  One of our favourites was the Prawn Curry.  Since they cooked the prawns into the curry, there was this natural briny sweetness which was so appetizing.  The prawns themselves were meaty with so much inherent flavour and umaminess.  This came with rice, papadum, naan and raita.  Really a complete meal!

We also had the Lamb Curry which was quite rich and creamy.  Naturally, there was the usual earthy notes, yet they were not as strong as a Rogan Josh.  That made the lamb flavour stand out more.  We asked for this to be medium spice and it was impactful in that respect.  The chunks of lamb were tender and moist.  I thought the naan had nice colour to it, but the texture was a bit hard. 

As an add-on at the end of the meal, we got the Palak Paneer.  This was a textbook version of the dish except that the paneer wasn't cut into cubes.  Rather, they were slices and as a result, had a different texture.  The paneer was more squishy and soft, which was quite appealing.  As for the spinach, it was a bit earthy with some spice.  We found some gingery notes at the end.

For our sweets, we had the Carrot Halwa and Rasmalai.   I personally love carrot halwa and this was a tasty version.  Not too sweet, but full of fall flavours with the crunch from the nuts and sweetness from the raisins.  As for the rasmalai, it also wasn't overboard with the sweetness and had a great cooling effect against the curries we had.  Overall, we really enjoyed our meal at Dosa Corner.  Not only were the Dosas some of the best we've had in the city, the rest of the dishes were solid as well.  Add in reasonable prices and it is a place that we can dine at any day of the week.

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

The Good:

- Light and uniformly crispy dosas

- All other dishes are solid

- Reasonable pricing

The Bad:

- Naan could be softer

Chez Céline

Just because a restaurant is "French" doesn't mean that it necessarily representative of France itself.  Take St. Lawrence for instance, they are French Canadian (Québécois) restaurant with definite French influences, but in reality, a unique cuisine in itself.   Now St. Lawrence is a Michelin-starred establishment which isn't a place that is your usual daily dining spot (unless you are loaded).  Well, they now have such a place named Chez Céline out in the Fraserhood.  More approachable eats, yet at the same time, capturing the charm of bistros found in Montreal, Chez Céline did elicit memories of Montréal (as I was there recently, and yes, the posts are coming!).

To start us off, we got an Amuse Bouche of Fried Chickpea Fritter.  These were well-salted and almost creamy on the inside.  Perfectly crispy on the outside.  Onto our first appie, we had the Croque Monsieur Croquettes.  These were cleverly presented with a creamy béchamel filled croquette topped with ham and gruyère.  This definitely captured the spirit of a Croque Monsieur where it was more crispy and slightly deconstructed.

With all of the available options to accompany the Sourdough Flatbread, we went for the Rillettes de Carnard (Duck Rillette).  First and foremost, the bread itself was fluffy and appealingly chewy in the middle while sporting the ever-so-lightly crispy crust on the outside.  As for the rillette, it was plenty meaty and quite moist.  Hence, it had the desired succulence associated with well-prepared duck.  Unlike other duck rillette I've had, this was not overly fatty.  Flavourwise, it was naturally gamy with balanced sweetness and savouriness.

Sporting the same bread, the Terrine de Campange was a hearty slice.  It was plenty meaty and ate quite well in chunks rather than being spread onto the bread.  In actuality, this isn't supposed to be spread anyways due to its density.  Lots of natural flavours was accented by a touch of earthiness from the herbs and also the background flavour of cooked-down alcohol. 

Topped with anchovies, the Beef Tartare was prepared so that there were discernible pieces of beef present.  This gave the dish plenty of meat chew, yet at the same time being tender and buttery.  It was mildly seasoned where the tanginess of the white anchovies added acidity and also just a touch of salt (as they are not the salty type of achovies).

Really enjoyed the Charred Radishes served atop EVOO and tonnato.  Juicy and tender, the radishes were aggressively charred and hence, were smoky with plenty of depth.  The earthiness of the radish still came through in a sweet and bright manner.  Oh that tonnato was creamy and flavourful with just a touch of brininess.  It was also great with any bread we had left.

We went for both pastas including the Pappardelle with red-wine braised short rib.  The wide ribbons of pasta were al dente but still had a tenderness to them.  Nice bounciness.  They were inherently flavourful for the salt in the water, but the shortrib did add plenty of meatiness and rich braised flavours.  Loved the acidity to the dish from the cooked down wine as it kept it from being too heavy.  The meat itself was super tender.

Even though the Cavatelli was functionally prepared well, the dish itself was quite subtle.  It did have the promised mushroom and earthy flavours, but it was mildly impactful.  Compared to the mushroom pasta I had at Dovetail recently, this was only 1/4 of the impact.  It wasn't as if this wasn't good though as the pasta as al dente and they didn't overdo it with the truffle.

My favourite dish was the 18oz bone-in Pork Chop.  It featured a modest brine which kept the meat juicy and tender.  It also added aromatics in the form of thyme and sage.  However, the maple apple cider sauce was the star as it was sticky, sweet and full of umami.  Nice acidity too as it kept things from being overly rich.  I really enjoyed the bone as it ate like a sweet and sticky rib.

The T-Bone Steak was prepared to medium-rare as we requested.  Pretty even cook despite consisting of both tenderloin and striploin steaks.   If you look closely, this was more like a porterhouse as it had big portions of both striploin and tenderloin. Naturally, the tenderloin was softer and required very little chewing.  Striploin was predictably more meaty, but it was still plenty tender.  Nice char on the outside and the black pepper sauce was creamy with only a hint of pepperiness.

We ended up with 2 of their sides that were the same base ingredient, but ate very differently.  The Frites were excellent being crispy with some fluffy potato left inside.  It was served with a garlicky aioli.  The real star was the Poutine with legit cheese curds and a well-balanced gravy.  Since the gravy had a consistent viscosity, it was able to coat the fries without drenching them.  Hence, the fries were still crispy with the flavour of the gravy coming through and the partially melted cheese curds (with a few that were not, which is ideal) added that unmistakable texture.

With the desserts, it was only logical that they had a Maple Crème Caramel available.  This was predictably sweet and well, "Maple"-tasting.  In fact, it was quite apparent and concentrated.  As for the flan itself, it was smooth and had the desired density.  It was also sweet, but not as much as the maple caramel sauce.  That in itself saved the dessert from going overboard with the sweetness.

Our last 2 desserts both had soft-serve ice cream.  The first was the Profiteroles, which featured some on point choux pastry.  It was crispy on the outside while airy and light on the inside.  It held up to the creamy soft-serve and table side chocolate sauce.  It wasn't as sweet as it looked, which was appreciated.  The best dessert was the Pain Perdue (Bread Pudding) as it was not dense at all and ate quite fluffy.  With reserved sweetness and the hit of fall spices, this was comforting for a cold day.  The contrast of hot and cold with the bread pudding and soft-serve was rather appealing.  Overall, the food at Chez Céline is good and the menu is fairly well-priced.  Since I recently revisited Montreal, this gave me the same vibes.  Would come back.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Decent portion size

- Authentic Montreal bistro vibes

The Bad:

- Loved the sourdough, but too many appies featuring it, need a bit more variety 

 

Bar Asra

As much as I try to keep up-to-date with all of the new restaurants in town, there are a bunch I completely miss.  It can be due to a variety of factors, such as limited promotion whether it be through traditional means or social media.  Also, the place might have not received much coverage from the usual outlets in town.  Well, the one great thing about being asked to check a restaurant out is that I actually get to learn about them.  The most recent one is Bar Asra located in the original Vij's.  This place has a unique decor and vibe.  Rather low-key and relaxed.  Led by Executive Chefs Kanwardeep Ahluwalia and Baldeep Singh, they have crafted a menu this is global but with West Coast connections.  Nice place to grab a drink and some eats.

We ended up getting 3 appetizers to share including the West Coast Crab Cakes.  This came with good-sized crab cakes that were crispy on the outside.  Inside, the amount of crab was more so than filler, hence, it was fluffy and almost crumbly.  This was paired with a sauce gribiche that was creamy and tangy.  Rounding out the compliments, we found avocado mousse and tomatillo salsa.  I thought the mousse added creaminess and colour, but the salsa was probably not needed as the gribiche was already doing the heavy lifting.

Based on first impressions, we didn't know what to think about the Black Garlic Chicken Skewers.  They were certainly black and didn't seem all that appealing.  However, we were very wrong as the white meat chicken was actually rather moist while the flavour emanating from the black garlic ash, yogurt and ginger was full of depth.  We got rich sweetness as well as tanginess and a bit of earthiness.  Some lemon aioli on the plate added creaminess with a touch of acidity.

Shockingly, my favourite item of the meal was the Sweet & Sour Pork Belly.  Normally, I would stay far away from this dish (as this is not a Chinese restaurant), but they did a fantastic job with their version.  First of all, the pork belly had a good mix of meat and just a bit of fat.  The pieces were crispy while tender.  It sat on a bed of chunky pineapple salsa which added a brightness and sweet tanginess to the dish.  However, it was the glaze that did the trick here.  It was lightly sweet, plenty tangy and had the right viscosity.  Super delicious!

Another delicious offering was the Bacon & Mussels Hot Pot.  Good portion size here where all of the large mussels were open and tasted fresh.  A bit creamy and full of depth, the tomato broth was mild with hits of smoked bacon and garlic.  I liked how it had tomato flavour without being too tangy.  The grilled sourdough was crunchy and charred, while helping to soak up all of the tasty broth.  We got an extra order of the bread too!

Our other main dish was the CAB NY Striploin prepared medium-rare.  It was as such and super tender.  The herb compound butter added a silky herb finish to each bite.  I would've liked a bit more char on the steak, but it didn't make or break the dish.  Possibly cleaner plating would've enhanced the dish more so as well.  We added foraged mushrooms ($7 surcharge) and it was a good move as they were buttery and had a nice texture.  Moreover, we also got the charred broccolini ($7 surcharge) and they were definitely smoky while still having a crunch.

Couldn't do without the cocktails, so we had 3 of them and one mocktail.  From left-to-right, we had the Yuzual Please, The Devil Drinks Margarita, Taking the Pisco and Peachy Clean.  Some really dangerous drinks here as they were fruity and went down easy.  The easiest was the Yuzual Please which was bright and citrusy.  There was some spice to the Margarita and definite red wine vibes.  The Pisco had hits of apple and rhubarb but wasn't just fruity as the tequila was still at the forefront.  Lastly, the Peachy Clean was floral and sweet, but at the same time, had elements that made it taste not like a mocktail.

Onto dessert, we had the Dubai Chocolate Bar surrounded by fried vermicelli noodles and dulce de leche.  The bar itself was what Dubai Chocolate is about.  Smooth and silky with pistachio with chocolate ganache, there was also a definite crunch and nuttiness.  It was sweet, but not as sweet as some other versions I've had.  Overall, the meal we had at Bar Asra was a good one and portions were not lacking.  Cool cocktails and a relaxed vibe in a restaurant that seems more Main Street than South Granville, but welcomed as it is something different in the neighbourhood.

 

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

 

The Good:

- Some great flavours

- Great portion sizes

- Relaxed vibe with tasty cocktails

 

The Bad:

- Plating could be re-imagined 

 

Sula (Dine Out Vancouver 2026)

Here we go with Sula again for this years Dine-Out Vancouver festival (from Jan 21st to Feb 8th).  You have heard me have differing opinions about DOV over the years, which has been both positive and negative.  I would say earlier on, around 15+ years ago, DOV was not exactly a draw for me.  The menus were mediocre and we weren't really get good value (since portion sizes were small and the dishes were not appealing).  I would say in more recent years, restaurants have taken it more seriously and the menus have been much better as well as the food.  Of course that has coincided with increasing prices across the board.  If we look at Sula's DOV $45.00 5-course menu, this would qualify as one of the better values.  It includes choice of appetizer, palate cleanser, main (includes rice & naan), dessert and chai.  

Choices for the appetizers include the Tandoori Pineapple Chaat, Chicken Tikka Bao and Sesame Garlic Fried Cauliflower.   Although the dish was essentially charred cubes of fresh pineapple, the Tandoori Pineapple Chaat was so refreshing and truly appetizing.  Sweet and juicy, the pineapple was beautifully charred giving caramelized with smoky vibes.  This was further enhanced by the wheat papdi.  It added a light crunch that was the perfect foil for the juicy pineapple.  With chaat spices and accompanying herbs, we got the usual earthiness combined with tangy, sweet and herbaceousness.

Probably the most filling appetizer was the Chicken Tikka Bao as it was a large steamed bun stuffed with shredded chicken tikka, cucumber, red onion, cilantro aioli and tandoori aioli.  Beyond the fluffy bun, the chicken tikka was tender and moist with a good amount of spice (not heat) and mild tomato tanginess.  Naturally, the cucumber and onion provided some fresh and vibrant crunch while the aiolis added creaminess.  In particular, the cilantro aioli did its herbaceous thing.  The Sesame Garlic Fried Cauliflower was solid with crispy florets that were cooked all the way through but not being soft.  The crispy batter remained as such despite the coating of sauce.  It was appealing being tangy and sweet.

In between the appetizer and entree courses, we were presented with a palate cleanser in the Wildberry Sorbet.  It isn't often we get this at an Indian restaurant and it was literally a refreshing change.  Light and sweet, this helped us get ready for the heavier dishes.  There are special cocktails ($14.00 each) available for the Dine Out menu and we had 2 of them including the Bombay Blue and the Lemongrass Lyric.  With a pronounced liquorice essence due to the star anise-infused Bombay Sapphire, this also had elements of red apple and lemon.  The sweetness of the lychee meshed well with the bright lemongrass with the Lemongrass Lyric.  Really nice cocktails that helped bring the heaviness down a notch.

For the mains, one can choose from Mango Chicken Korma, Kolkata Lamb, Mushroom Coconut Curry and Paneer & Green Beans Biryani.  Sweet and aromatic, the chicken in the mango korma was in big tender chunks.  They were juicy despite being white meat.  The nuttiness of cashews came through in both aromatic as well as texture (making the curry thick).

With large chunks of meat, the Kolkata Lamb was full of rich spices that were earthy, fall-tasting and spicy.  I asked for this one to be extra hot and it definitely was, yet at the same time, wasn't overwhelming.  The sweetness of the onions and bite for the ginger were evident. The lamb was tender with that unmistakable gelatinous texture.  It was definitely lamb-tasting with an appealing gaminess (for me at least).

For me, the best option for the mains happened to be vegetarian.  Creamy and rich, the Coconut Mushroom Curry was a flavour bomb that hit all the right notes.  The combination of coconutty aromatics and sweetness with the earthiness of the mushrooms gave out strong umami vibes.  Salt levels were just right as well as the sweetness. Combined with the choice of naan (this went well with the just the plain one), this was a fulfilling dish.

Another vegetarian option is the Paneer and Green Beans Biryani.  Naturally, without any meat, the rice was less robust and ate almost fluffier.  It wasn't devoid of spice though as it was earthy with some heat.  Loved the cubes of squishy paneer as it added body to the dish and the green beans were soft and almost juicy.  This came with some a spicy and creamy peanut salan to kick up the richness and aromatics of the Biyani while the raita on the side cooled things down.

All of the meals included a choice of Basmati Rice or Coconut Rice as well as a choice of Tandoori Naan, Garlic Naan or Onion & Cilantro Naan.  Naan was great as it was fluffy with elasticity while the outside was nicely charred and blistered.  In addition to dessert, a cup of Rose Chai was served as well.  It was fragrant and purposefully sweet.

Desserts include a choice of Macha Rasmalai Cake or Classic Coconut Payasam.  Although the sponge cake was on the firmer side, the Macha cake ate quite well.  It was not overly sweet and was rather aromatic.  Really enjoyed the payasam as the rice pudding was creamy with measured rich sweetness from the jaggery.  Definitely could taste the cardamom and also the sweetness of the fried raisins on top.  Nice textural contrast with that and the cashews.  Overall, the meal was delicious and well-priced considering how many items that were included.  I would do the Coconut Mushroom Curry all day, even if it didn't have meat.  Shockingly, the Tandoori Pineapple Chaat was my favourite appie.  So no meat to be seen in my meal.  If you do that combination and you have a heartier appetite, you might best stick with at least one meat dish.  Be aware that the Dine Out menu is different at all Sula locations.  This particular one is only for Commercial Drive.

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

The Good:

- Well-priced

- The menu includes enough food and sides

- Delicious

The Bad:

- Not that it wasn't any good, but unless you are vegetarian, best not to get the Biryani as it is mainly rice and then it includes more rice and naan