photo credit to Jeff Voon
One thing that I have definitely fallen in love with is the street food and the Vancouver street food scene. When I started my blog it was right at the start of the Street Food Program from the City of Vancouver, it really was an adventure in flavor town! When Eat St first premiered on the Food Network I was in love, the concept of the show and getting to see the street food scene from the comfort of my couch struck a chord with me and pretty much every other foodie out there. Being asked by the great people over at Eat St to be there eye’s and ears in Vancouver was a complete honor and it’s allowed me to make connections with vendors and have some of the best street food experiences that I never would have been able to have otherwise. When I was told about an upcoming shooting schedule for Season 4 of the show I jumped on the chance to get to photograph it and also have my own Eat St experience and share it with you.
The first to be filmed was Soho Road Naan Kebab owned and operated by Sarb Mund. Soho Road has been an instant hit since they hit the street’s of Vancouver last year. They serve up some of the best butter chicken I’ve ever had and they wrap it in the most delicious naan bread that is made right in their food cart thanks to built-in tandorri ovens.
On the menu for me was a selection of naan kebabs. This one is the classic and my favorite Butter Chicken Naan Kebab, a mix of tandoori roasted chicken tikka masala that is bathed in Sarb’s to die for butter chicken curry sauce and topped with a light tomato and cucumber salad.
Next up is the Lamb Naan Kebab, a great spicy lamb kebab with tomato and cucumber salad and a sour cream sauce. I really liked this and anyone liking spice will as well, it wasn’t gamey and something that I would order again for sure.
I also ate a completely vegetarian version called the Veggie Sabsi on camera and didn’t get a photo of. I was filled with spiced sweet potato, peas, the same veggie salad and sauce. What really struck me was how it satisfied my appetite yet wasn’t heavy in my tummy.
Since the show is shot on scene and is open to anyone there was a real vibe around the cart. They are also open for regular business so there was a great mix of people who came up to the cart. I brought along my Food Wife Melissa from Eye’s Bigger Than My Stomach to check things out since she loves all things Food Network, she wrote an amazing recap of the day’s event’s that you can check out here.
One of the day’s surprises happened not long after we arrived, Dale Mackay and his son Ayden Mackay came out for the shoot. Dale did a food cart tour last year and named Soho Road his favorite cart on the streets and has been a fan ever since.
The boy’s shot their segment.
photo credit to Melissa Hartfiel
Me being featured on Eat St
Day 2 of shooting was the Triple D featured Fresh, Local, Wild owned and operated by Josh Wolfe. Fresh,local,wild was one of the first food trucks to hit the streets and they were a hit right from day one. Specializing in fresh, local seafood that Josh actually goes out and catches and a every changing menu with a standard line up of favorite dishes made Fresh, Local, Wild a natural choice for Eat St.
While shooting was going on I grabbed a favorite of mine-fresh BC Halibut and Chips. The fish was cooked perfectly, crisp on the outside and nice and juice inside, served with an outstanding homemade tartar sauce this was a pleasure to eat.
There was some BC Seafood Poutine eating going on by Carly Blotch of VancityBakeShop.com.
Unique dishes like the fish Shawarma that features your choice of fish was featured, I’ve had the halibut version and it was amazing!
And of course the fish and chips were poetically described by this lovely woman!
getting various shots
It was an amazing day shooting the Fresh,Local,Wild truck and I can definitely say that it was a lot more fun than shooting them for Triple D. Chef Josh Wolfe was an amazing host and hooked a bunch of people to an on the house lunch for there support of the truck, also it was great to run into out of town visitors that were there on their own Triple D eating adventures that just happened to run into an Eat St shoot!
On the 3rd and last day Vij’s Railway Express was the feature. Vikram Vij is an amazing guy and I knew since the 1st day he hit the streets that Eat St would be calling.
long lines
There was a great turnout for lunch in general but with the Eat St crew shooting it grew quickly as the lunch hour hit.
The Vij’s shoot really attracted a diverse crowd and judging by the dishes I’ve had before it was pretty easy for people to describe the great flavors on camera.
They had no shortage of people to get on camera that’s for sure. They had such a big turnout that some people had to wait a while for their food, to make up for the wait Vikram hooked up everyone that was there with one of his delicious frozen, make at home meals.
For the shoot they unveiled a new dish-Pepper and Potato Samosa’s with a Cumin Sauce and garden salad with orange curry vinaigrette. These were a great item and are sure to stick around on the truck. The samosa’s weren’t greasy and the filling was delicious. The salad on the side was a perfect accompaniment to the bold flavors of the samosa’s, the orange really came through.
The other dish that was new to the menu was the Kalongi Chicken Curry. This was a peppery curry with nice chunks of tender chicken. The flavor was bold to put it lightly, it’s definitely on of the more spicy items I’ve had from the truck.
At the end of the day I had an amazing time filming my segment and shooting still of Eat St. If you’re a foodie that loves street food I’d highly recommend coming down to a Eat St shoot. There are 3 more upcoming shoot’s happening in early September:
