You know... sometimes I forget how much of a food crazed nerd I am until I hang around similar, like minded people and we ALL talk about one thing. Food. T'was the story of this Chinese Bites dinner at Hakkasan Bistro Cafe. Myself, along with almost 16 other food bloggers in the Vancouver area had the privilege of trying out this mom and pop restaurant and their specialty items.
Hakkasan is located in the most obscure place imaginable. It's literally at the end of No. 5 Road near River Road where all the industrial companies are. They've been open since 2007 and have just recently gone through a major renovation with dining room area.
When I first walked in, I marveled at their interior design. Such unexpected contemporary furniture from a little mom and pop shop on No. 5 Road!
We started off with the Honey Roasted Pork Cheeks ($20). It was very well executed and tasted kind of like BBQ Char Siu except with pork cheeks instead. The honey flavour was more prominent and the meat definitely had more 'snap' to it than regular pork.
This, ladies and gentlemen, would be the single greatest reason why I would bring my whole family back to try this restaurant. This is called Chef's Signature Whole Coconut Pork and Snow Fungus Soup ($22/coconut).
Even though this is not cheap by any means, the price is a direct reflection of the quality you'll get in the soup. It's hard to explain the flavour of the broth, but trust me, they were so complex it was like a friggin party in your mouth. You can also scrape and eat all the young coconut meat as well which were filled with chicken-y goodness.
This is another one of Hakkasan's Specialty dishes. The Steamed Specialty Odorless Lobster ($22/ half a lobster) is made with 'odorless' garlic which is less pungent and makes your breath less stinky. Even though this is cool, I actually really like pungent, over-the-top smelling garlic in my food, so I wish it wasn't odorless. It would've been nice to have the option of going with regular garlic! :D
It was served over a huge bed of unflavoured jasmine rice which was good but not flavourful enough to bring the lobster to the next level.
The Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken ($55) needs to be reserved in advance and is made with a technique I don't often see in restaurants.
The chicken is marinated in over ten different herbs and spices, then wrapped and cooked in a traditional clay pot filled with coarse salt.
The salt keeps the chicken moist and juicy, while instilling a type of umami flavour that is impossible to replicate with any other type of cooking style (let's say, just rubbing the chicken with salt prior to cooking).
The chicken was OH MY GOD delicious and oh so tender. I got a breast piece and the white meat was so soft it tasted like dark meat. If I come back for a celebratory dinner, I am so ordering this again.
Another reservation only item, the Braised Pork Hock ($40) was tender and melted like butter in your mouth.
The Mui Choy Stirfry was not bad and filled our veggie quota for the night. I honestly didn't eat much of this because...why waste stomach space on veggies when there's so much meat in front of you!
As one of my favourite dishes of the night, the Steamed Egg with Pork and Duck Yolk ($18) is certainly something I'll order again. It goes great with rice and the addition of duck yolk/ground pork was a nice touch.
I'm personally not a fan of fried fish coated in sauce so I didn't really enjoy the Stir Fried Pickled Cabbage and Fish ($19).
For dessert we had the Steamed Milk Egg White Custard. It looks plain but it was done really really well. It was actually quite similar to the steamed milk custard served at the famous Australian Dairy Company in Hong Kong (post here).
All in all, I thought the food was fantastic and some dishes were truly one of a kind. I am super grateful to have been able to taste test Hakkasan's specialty dishes and I'll certainly bring my family back for more noms!
Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to attend this media event for Hakkasan Bistro. My meal was comped but the opinions are all my own and unbiased.
Service Rating: N/A (we were here for a media event)
Food Rating: 4.5/5
Price: $$-$$$$
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Happy Eating!
that chicken coconut soup was like...
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