Hot and Sour Soup!

Hot and Sour Soup! Happy New Year! Since the first time I tasted hot and sour soup which was more than four decades ago, it is a soup if made right, fills the body and soul with all the right taste sensations. Living in BC the many versions that passed my lips has been numerous to say the least. I’m always on a quest to sample an Asian restaurants chef version. Recently I have found two soup makers in the same month that were absolutely worthy of high praise. First to make a good hot and sour soup it takes a dozen ingredients and flavor adding condiments to prepare...

Chinese Pot Sticker Dumplings:

Chinese Pot Sticker Dumplings: thekitchenman loves a good pot sticker wonton. Lots of restaurants serve up the frozen packaged variety. A good indication that a cook is worthy is by his pot sticker. On January 28th Chinese New Year many familys sit around a table and prepare the family celbration for good fortune. My favourite retaurant makes the dumplings that are so lite and tasty. Yum! I was shown this recipe by the chefs grandmother who for some 80 years made the family dumplings each day. Now that’s dedication. My chef friend and myself sat around a table and I...

Fried Egg with Chili Pork Belly Bacon

The Thai, Mandarin, Vietnamese fusion foods are usually found on the Victoria, King Edward corridor in East Vancouver. Literally hundreds of little family run pop-up diners line the streets. Even the market stores have a BBQ or a wok fryer going full steam somewhere in the store. I found that these store cafeteria style eateries are providing cheap eats for the average street New Canadian. Some of these diners use real plate ware and some just a box or a napkin. Like dim-sum,… only hundreds of more interesting tasty options. This simple Fried Egg with Chili Pork...

Dover Beach Barbados

My stay at Infinity on the Beach Christ Church St. Lawrence Gap was most excellent. Had lots of plans to get out and explore but found that Dover Beach had everything one could ask for while on a Caribbean holiday. The food and drink at Sea Fans kept me coming back for more. The cocktails were awesome. It’s true! I found that the food court had so many good places to try island cuisine and experience some cou-cou, fire roasted bread fruit, rice and peas with goat, lamb stew, fried flying fish or grilled yellow fin, snapper, mahi-mahi, dorado and fish cakes. The...

A Good Retro Burger

              Vancouver sure has a great amount of good  Retro Burger restaurants. The dinning_detective likes a good burger and this time at the found a great burger is still found at White Spot who continue to  serve a almost perfect banquet burger with crispy fries. From the toasted bun right down to the fresh pressed ground chuck patty the freshness comes through in great taste. The Legendary has pretty well remained the same for many years. My favourite was a Henning Burger, Carl Henning did the best banquet burger and fries. It so...

Hell-uva Halibut Taco

 I am always on the look out for good tasting food. Many chefs have taken their trade to the open roads and the dinning detective likes to find out a little history about the operator. Last trip to Long Beach near Tofino BC for some R&R  checking out the many inlets for sail bording and kayaking. Lots of nice low tide beach serving up lots of large surf wave action. The miles of beaches and tidal pools are a treasure trove of shells and ocean polished artifacts. After a full morning of activity and the old belly button was calling out for some fuel we found this oasis...