Tiki drinks meet Vietnamese in Chinatown
Dream basement bar capitalizes on passion for tiki drinks and Vietnamese cuisine
Calgary’s Chinatown is home to some of the city’s most spectacular food, but few of the neighbourhood’s sit-down restaurants could be described as being modern. This is a great thing when you’re looking for traditional dim sum or a perfect (and shockingly inexpensive) Vietnamese sub. Chinatown has been able to retain its distinct character and unpretentious vibe. But as veteran restaurateurs inevitably start to move on, Chinatown is bound to evolve along with a younger generation of business owners.
This is what Nhi Tran and Tanner Ennis had in mind when they dreamed up Paper Lantern, their new cocktail bar and restaurant. The couple are unapologetic food adventurers, always in search of the city’s unheralded gems but were always disappointed that Calgary’s Chinatown didn’t have a hidden underground bar scene (unless, of course, there’s one that neither they nor I have been cool enough to uncover). After cutting themselves loose of unsatisfying corporate jobs, Tran and Ennis found an empty basement storage space underneath the Ho Wan Restaurant, just east of the Centre Street bridge.
They set to transforming the room into their dream bar, one that capitalizes on Ennis’s passion for tiki drinks and the Vietnamese cuisine that’s played a central role in Tran’s family life. It’s a bit tricky to find (look for a vestibule decorated with an old sewing machine and brightly coloured traditional fabrics), but once you’re inside, Paper Lantern feels like a tropical oasis.
“We always knew we wanted it to be in Chinatown,” Tran says. “We couldn’t figure out why someone hasn’t done a basement bar like this here before.”
While the idea of a semi-secret basement Vietnamese fusion bar hidden behind a faux tailor shop may seem insufferably hipster, Paper Lantern is essentially a mom ’n’ pop shop, just with a younger version of your typical mom ’n’ pop.
The atmosphere is surprisingly homey and the heart that has gone into this place shines bright: Tran and Ennis did a lot of the work themselves, decorating the walls with paintings commissioned from local artists and family heirlooms from Vietnam. Tran’s parents, Nguyen Bui and Nguyen Tran, owned the now-defunct but fondly remembered Orchid Room restaurant in Bankers Hall and Bui is now responsible for the recipes that make up Paper Lantern’s small but impressive menu.
Since Paper Lantern is positioned as a bar that serves food rather than a restaurant, the selections fall into the street food category. Everything is executed perfectly, with specialties like saucy sweet nuoc mam chicken wings ($9), tender marinated beef skewers with onions and house-made coconut hoisin
($8), a turnip cake with egg ($8) and, of course, both spring rolls and salad rolls ($7). Those with a more robust appetite can opt for a banh mi filled with chicken, tofu, or pork belly ($8 each) or bowls, like a papaya mango salad ($9) or shaken beef salad ($12).
The cocktail list is Ennis’s domain and he’s chosen to marry his love of tiki classics with Asian flavours such as pandan, working in spirits like Hennessey cognac, a favourite in the Vietnamese Canadian community. His Mai Tai is among the best you’ll find in Calgary, but it’s also worth trying originals such as the Hennessey-spiked One Month and the tropical Pandan Pain Killer.
Paper Lantern is located at 115 2nd Ave. S.E. on the basement level. The bar is open Thursdays from 5 to 11 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to midnight and can be reached at 403-457-7765 or paperlantern.ca.
In other food news, many of us continue to limit our regular trips to the grocery store, which is fine for stocking up on frozen or shelf-stable items, but it’s much harder with fresh fruit and vegetables. A new local business called Square Rooted just popped up in Calgary to help safely get produce to people’s homes.
Square Rooted is the brainchild of Jenna Kopperson, who has a long resume working in Calgary’s food and events industry. With events-based work grinding to a halt in March, Kopperson had some time on her hands and noticed that her parents were having trouble procuring contact-free groceries. She used her connections with the Doef’s and Gull Valley Greenhouses near Lacombe to put together an order for some family and friends and quickly realized that there was enough of a demand for her to start a small-scale produce delivery company.
Square Rooted delivers to homes in and around Calgary on Tuesdays and Fridays, providing customers with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, cherries, and other fruits and veggies. Since no one ever really leaves the restaurant industry for good, Kopperson is also providing
Craft Beer Market with lettuce for its lettuce wraps. For more information or to order online, visit squarerootedyyc.com.