Hot Chefs & Cool Jazz Gala – April 14, 2023 – The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hot Chefs Cool Jazz hosted by Fairmont Pacific Rim and award-winning Mission Hill Wines The 2023 Hot Chefs & Cool Jazz Gala, in support of Junior Culinary Team Canada, will be hosted by Fairmont Pacific Rim Executive Chef Damon Campbell. Top culinary talent from the Vancouver and Kelowna areas will provide exclusive dishes designed for the event. TICKETS Join us for a night to remember as BC’s top chefs get together for one night only. This experience is one you don’t want to miss. Enjoy…
Author: cassandra
Bagheera Brings a Sense of Theatrical Opulence to Main Street The team behind Canada’s Best New Bar of 2022, Laowai, opened its latest hidden gem: Bagheera* and we visited this opulent and glittering sanctuary, concealed behind an unprepossessing Chinatown betting shop! The cocktails are excellent, and the room blew our minds. (From the press release) Bagheera takes its inspiration from the cultural crossroads of Lewis Hart and Brij Rathi, co-owners and co-founders of Three Kingdoms Hospitality. Whereas Laowai’s Prohibition-era Shanghai vibe stems from Rathi and Hart’s shared love of both the city of Shanghai and that era’s illicit and seductive…
Cocktails with Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey From National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day to International Whiskey Day and National Cocktail Day, March is packed with reasons to celebrate with a creative cocktail! May we suggest you try out Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey? Sounds crazy, but it’s delicious on its own or on the rocks. Here are some themed cocktail recipes below for you to consider ahead of these upcoming holidays. National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day (March 1): We all know someone who is peanut butter obsessed. Most enthusiasts enjoy it daily, often incorporating it into more than…
Aasha Wines Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Rose I was so impressed with the bottles, the storytelling in the tasting notes and the gorgeously designed website of Aasha Wines that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on these mystical bottles. There are gorgeous illustrations on the labels, and they are sealed with wax to protect the corks. I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, nor a wine by its label, but they really did draw me in. It was love at first sight. More on Wineries Aasha is the Hindi name for hope, chance, and prospect, as…
Competition is Brewing at H2 Kitchen + Bar News from H2 Kitchen + Bar – The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver’s smokehouse restaurant, hosts its inaugural ‘Battle of the Breweries’ dinner, on March 22 with two decorated contenders in the BC craft beer scene. Vancouver Island Brewing and Backcountry Brewing will go head-to-head for diners’ votes as they pair brews to complement hearty Southern-inspired dishes presented by Pitmaster and Restaurant Chef Homer Baisa. Craft beer enthusiasts in attendance will be treated to a selection of ten sample-sized craft beer pairings (one per brewery, per course). The interactive dining experience asks guests to…
Celebrate Black History Month Through Cookbooks Penguin Random House has a wonderful list of Cookbooks to celebrate Black History Month. “Food is an important part of the fabric of our lives, and it’s one way we can connect with people from diverse cultural backgrounds from our own. In celebration of Black History Month, they’ve curated a list of cookbooks from luminaries both here in Canada and across the globe that are a celebration of the interweaving of food, experience, and community.” Check out these titles that are all worthy of a spot on your bookshelf. More on Cookbooks My…
The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition: A Cookbook – Hannah Che Author Hannah Che discovered the tradition of Zhai cai, a Chinese cooking technique emphasizing vegetarian cooking using umami-rich ingredients that has its roots in Buddhist temple kitchens. In The Vegan Chinese Kitchen, Che replicates Chinese dishes in a meatless way, without sacrificing flavour. Chili oil, spicy mushrooms, nuts, and seeds add pizzazz to Sichuan chili-oil wontons, dan-dan noodles and scallion pancakes. Che also dives into cultural traditions, identity, and other important conversations around food and sustainable cooking. We’ve got three recipes from the cookbook we…
Dinners and Bar Takeovers at L’Abattoir for Vancouver Cocktail Week Many events have already sold out for Vancouver Cocktail Week, but if you act quickly, you can join L’Abattoir, one of Vancouver’s very best restaurants, complete with a stellar team of front and back house talent for one of two cocktail-paired dinners, a bar takeover and cinq a sept specials. Start the week off with a bar takeover with bartender Kaitlyn Stewart on March 7, March 8 Fords Cocktail Dinner is another reason to put on your best outfit and hit the town and on March 9, the Esquimalt Vermouth…
Vancouver Community College (VCC) Foundation is excited to announce the return of Flourish After a two-year pause due to the pandemic, Flourish returns bigger and more delicious than ever — featuring elite wine tastings from Naramata Bench Wineries, local craft beers pairings, food designed and prepared by top local chefs, and music performed by leading industry alumni, all in support of VCC Foundation that funds college programs and supports students. With a unique take on black-tie, the annual green-tie event showcases Vancouver’s leading culinary minds with the opportunity for guests to experience some of VCC’s programs. FLOURISH at VCC Broadway…
Meal Kits Help Make our Meals Healthier and More Sustainable When it comes to dinner decisions, we are always overwhelmed with the choices we have when grocery shopping and end up buying too many things, or items in portions that are too large, and we end up with leftovers that don’t always get eaten. Luckily for us, we’ve discovered meal kits, and fully prepared meal solutions, which are perfect for both getting a healthier meal on the table and reducing food waste. Meal delivery kits are perfect for us on the nights when we don’t want to go out, spend…
Chef Lineup and Gifts of Fortune Announced for Scotiabank’s Feast of Fortune Charity Gala 2023 Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit by Supporting the Future of Health Care The Chinese Restaurant Awards will participate in Scotiabank’s Feast of Fortune Charity Gala at JW Marriott Parq Vancouver on February 11th, 2023. The chefs will create a unique culinary experience during the gala reception and curate this year’s Gifts of Fortune, supporting St Paul’s Foundation’s fundraising efforts for the future of health care at the Clinical Support and Research Centre on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus. More Events Over $8.7 million…
East Van Beer Tasting – Four Breweries Pour 16 Craft Brews Paired with Appie’s Calling all craft beer lovers! The East Van Beer Tasting event will feature four classic local breweries: Luppolo Brewing, Container Brewing, Powell Brewery, and East Van Brew Company; and provide each guest with an exclusive opportunity to try 16 different beers ~ all in one place! Each tasting batch will be paired with delicious appetizers to enhance all the flavour profiles. Enjoy an evening filled with good food, good company, and the best craft beer. More on Booze Here The value of the ticket is equivalent…
BC Ale Trail Launches Five Tasting Passports Throughout Metro Vancouver Looking for an excuse to get out and try some great BC craft beer? During February beer lovers can collect stamps at up to sixty-four participating businesses for a chance to win fabulous prize packages along the BC Ale Trail in conjunction with Dine the Line. More on Beer Dine the Line, is encouraging residents and visitors to get out and explore car-free while supporting local businesses during the month of February by participating in Tasting Passport programs running in five different Metro Vancouver regions: North of the Fraser Ale…
Louisville Angel’s Envy Port-Finished Bourbon You might hear a bit more about bourbon this year as we’re heading to Louisville in October for the Les Dames d’Escoffier International conference and there’s research to do ahead of time. In preparation, we’ve been sampling the Louisville-based Angel’s Envy Port Finished Bourbon this month. Angel’s Envy is among the first American whiskey producers to employ a secondary finishing process, in this case, Port barrels, across its portfolio, and we are digging the smoothness of what can be a little bit of a wilder spirit. Jump down for a recipe for a Manhattan. More…
Crypto Culinary Club Announces First Opportunity for Membership Just when we thought crypto was dead, we just received news about the Crypto Culinary Club, a club that uses crypto as your membership token. Modelled on the Iron Chef concept of using unique and secret ingredients, Iron Chef Chairman Mark Dascascos’s son is behind the platform’s founding, alongside partner Chef Michael Symon, joined by Kristen Kish, Esther Choi, Jet Tila, Eric Adjepong, Cat Cora, Curtis Duffy, Michael Voltaggio, Brooke Williamson, Shota Nakajima, Alan Wong, and Jose Garces. Crypto Culinary Club Announces First Opportunity for Membership The Crypto Culinary Club, Which Will…
Bocuse d’Or Team Canada wins 11th place at the world’s toughest chef competition After winning silver and their golden ticket to the world finals in France, today, our national culinary athletes to the Bocuse d’Or placed 11th, moving Canada up two places from the 13th position in 2019. Proud of their accomplishments, Chef Samuel Sirois, a teacher at Montreal’s ITHQ, and his team composed of sous-chef Léandre Legault-Vigneault and coaches Master Chef judge Alvin Leung and Gilles Herzog, fought their way through the five-and-a-half-hour culinary battle featuring monk fish and sea scallops as the mandatory ingredient of the platter. Under…
Asian Cookbooks to Expand Your Cooking Repertoire Start the new year with Asian cookbooks that will elevate your cooking skills and expand your recipe repertoire with Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Taiwanese recipes. Written by Asian authors from all over the world, these cookbooks emphasize the joy of shared meals and gathering with family and loved ones. More on Cookbooks Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen Drawing on decades of experience and the cooking hacks her mom adopted after fleeing from Vietnam to America, award-winning author Andrea Nguyen shows you how to use easy-to-find ingredients to create authentic Vietnamese flavours…
Bocuse d’Or Gold to Denmark, Norway Silver, and Hungary Gold On 23rd January 2023, after two days of high-level competition, the victory of Denmark represented by Brian Mark Hansen and his commis Elisabeth Madsen closes the 19th Grand Final of the Bocuse d’Or, thus succeeding the French Davy Tissot, Bocuse d’Or 2021. The team from Norway, composed of the chef Filip August Bendi and his commis Leon Haarberg Nilsen came second and won the Bocuse d’Argent, while Hungary represented by Bence Dalnoki and his commis Patrik Nyikos completed the podium. Photo credit: White Mirror The 24 members of the Jury gave…
Diageo World Class Canada Final During Vancouver Cocktail Week, March 5 to 11, 2023 After a spectacular inaugural event in 2022, Vancouver Cocktail Week presented by The Alchemist returns for a second round in March 2023. Tickets VCW 2022 featured sixty-five events over five days at some of the city’s most popular cocktail venues. In 2023, attendees can expect even more: more events, more national and international bar stars, more seminars, more brand sponsors, more cocktail-paired dinners and even more fun over a full week. One of the highlights of VCW 2023 will be its new partnership with Diageo World…
Fresh Ideas Start Here (FISH) and Top Chef Canada runner-up Deseree Lo launch Congee Bar at Chinatown BBQ on January 30, 2023 On Monday, January 30, 2023, British Columbia’s purveyor of boat-to-table sustainable seafood, Fresh Ideas Start Here (FISH) is launching a special one-day congee bar pop-up with FISH alumnae and Top Chef Canada season 10 runner-up Deseree Lo. Located at Chinatown BBQ (130 E Pender Street), Chef and The Fishmonger highlights the humble, comforting, and nourishing congee in several ways and accompanying Chinese snacks. More GLV Recommended Events FISH’s congee is renowned for its flavourful taste as the rice…
