Postcard from Vancouver

Marina O’Loughlin goes on a culinary thrill-ride

Vancouver’s beauty is startling. From the bedroom window at our first hotel, the sleek Loden in Coal Harbour, we’re awed by glittering skyscraper after glittering skyscraper (not for nothing is it nicknamed ‘city of glass’). But beyond the expensive condos lies a panorama of natural beauty: the waters of the Burrard Inlet, mountains, green forests, the fertile land that encourages a vibrant farm-to-fork restaurant culture. It’s such a young city, fizzing with energy. And, with over 40 per cent of its population of Asian heritage it’s an intoxicating collision of cultures. It’s hard to know where to start: the atmospheric cobbles of Gastown, all historical buildings and branch restaurants; Kitsilano with its yoga-moms and juice bars; Downtown where every second shop front sells sushi and the streets bristle with foodcarts; grungy Downtown Eastside which sprouts a new, forward-looking restaurant seemingly every five minutes? Thank goodness for expat British journalist Nikki Bayley (‘I came here, fell in love with the place and decided to stay’), who whisks us to the West End, alive with izakayas, bubble tea shops, ramen-ya and Vietnamese bistros. She takes us to Zabu Chicken (zabuchicken.com) for triple-fried KFC – Korean fried chicken – hand-brushed in their secret sticky and addictive sauces: soy, garlic and chilli, and sweet and spicy. The chicken has been described as ‘transcendent’, and I’m not disagreeing. Then to a tiny BBQ joint, Buckstop (buckstop.ca) for hush puppies – fried cornbread with honey butter, Memphis-style dry-rubbed pork ribs, sultry brisket. Buckstop is a labour of love: everything from ketchup to cocktail cordials is house-made and this late-opening joint is exactly the kind of place ‘where everybody knows your name’. In Richmond, about half an hour’s drive from Downtown Vancouver, the percentage of Asians in the population jumps to 60. It’s like another country: signs are in Chinese and the hundreds of restaurants offer specialities from noodles to barbecued duck heads. Without a guide we’d have been lost; hooray for Chinese food expert Lee Man, who takes us to the hectically blingy – those jellyfish chandeliers – Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant (cheftonycanada.com). Lee does all the ordering and the resultant feast is quite something: lacquered little quails, their heads presented for sucking; a pork belly dish fragrant with preserved lemon; local crab – Vancouver seafood is sublime – cooked with egg white and Chinese rice wine, the juices tossed through noodles; curious, rubbery sugar cakes. Then there’s Japan. Outside Tokyo, I’ve never known a city blessed with so many izakayas (Japanese eating pubs); our choice is Suika