Category Archives: Fusion

The Roaming Dragon Year Of The Dragon Party

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A couple of weeks back I was invited to the Roaming Dragon Year Of The Dragon party and I was lucky enough to get invited.  The guy’s at Gourmet Syndicate have been a favorite of mine for the innovative flavor combinations they come up with.  The Roaming Dragon was one of the 1st food carts I tried and they have been featured front and center on Eat St.

The party was held at 319 Main Street and the red carpet treatment was in full effect.  The event was a chance to check out something else the Gourmet Syndicate does very well-event catering, also we got to try some new menu items for the truck.

The feature drink of the night was appropriately named Dragon’s Breath.  It was there Basil and Lychee Lemonade spiked with vodka, it was completely refreshing and went down real easy.

The menu classics were present of course.  The pork belly sliders and Chinese fried rice balls were just as good and popular since the first day I tried them.

Indonesian Beef Rendang Poutine-fresh cut Kennebec fries, cheese curds,braised beef, lemongrass, galangga, red chili and coconut cream.  This is a dish that I have been waiting to try since I saw it on there new menu.  The beef was super tender and the coconut flavor was subtle.  The fries were super crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.  This poutine does pack some punch in the heat department I found out as each serving was served with a whole piece of chili.  This poutine same we had wasn’t big on cheese, that aside I’m definitely going back for a full order of this.

Malaysian Lime-Chili Grilled Burrito-Asian harvest slaw, peanut sauce, picked purple cabbage and red onion, carrots & shitake, sweet soy dressing.  I didn’t know that this was a tofu burrito it was that good!  The 1st and biggest flavor I got from this bite was peanut, the veggies were crisp and again I’d order this from the truck in a heartbeat.

The new Edamame Falafel was a new item from there catering side and I think it should be available on the truck it was that good.  The texture was just like a traditional falafel and I think the sauce underneath was a spicy humus.  The bite was flavorful but not on the heavy side-I could have eaten 6 or 7 of these!

the Vietnamese Sloppy Duck-Viet style ground duck, hoysin mayo, pickled red onion & purple cabbage, mint and cilantro in a brioche bun.  One of my favorites of the night.  The bun had a sweetness to it so it worked well with the savory ground duck.  The spicing on the duck reminded me of a 5 spice but with a Vietnamese influence that’s for sure.  This is their version of a sloppy joe and I must say it’s a great addition to the new menu.

The Roaming Dragon Chop Salad-suichoy & purple cabbage, Thai basil, mint, goji berries, coconut and pineapple, peanuts, pickled green mango tossed in a garlic-cilantro vinaigrette.  As a salad this was light and refreshing.  With all the different ingredients and flavors things were really well-balanced and light.

Salmon Ceviche.  This is one of the catering items they have.

Scallop Ceviche.  Again one of the catering items, I ate this and liked it a lot, the citrus level was perfect not to take away from the sweetness of the scallop.

Malaysian Debil Chicken Taco-Sambal braised free-run chicken, green onion mayo, coconut and pineapple on a corn tortilla.  This little taco packed some serious punch in the spice/heat department.  The pineapple and coconut added sweetness to the fire of the heat.

I had a great time getting to taste these yummy dishes and thank the crew at the Gourmet Syndicate for inviting me to the event.  You can find out more about the Roaming Dragon and their event catering side by clicking here.

Roaming Dragon Food Truck on Urbanspoon

Kin Resto Bar

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The other night I had the pleasure of eating with my fellow blogger @MaryInVancity at Kin Resto Bar.  It’s been on our radar for a while now because of the partnership with the great guy’s at VANEATS.ca, the have put together a great dining package called Kindle With Kin and for $25 it’s a great way to get a taste of the signature dishes at this great West End eatery.

The space is nice, it’s split into 2 area~one with a darker more intimate mood and a projector showing the game on the wall and a more lit dining area that can accommodate bigger groups.

We started with some beer, the Red Truck Lager was the drink of choice for us at $5.50 each, it went well with all the dishes in the package and was an extra cost and not included in the VANEATS.ca package.

For our starter we were served the Prawn and Thai Basil Rice Paper Rolls.  These were totally delicious and we both gobbled them up, the prawn was nice and tender and the roll had some nice crunch from the lettuce and veggies and crispy noodles in the center, the dip for these baby’s was a great house made peanut sauce.  These were enjoyed by almost every table that was dining when we were there and I can see why there so popular.

Next up was a combo plate of Beef Short Ribs and Kin’s Beef La Lot Rolls.

The short ribs were marinated and grilled in 17 different spices, they were sweet, savory and tender like a great Asian short rib should be, because they were so thin the meat melted in your mouth and again we loved this and should have ordered more.

The beef la lat rolls were something that I have never heard of or had at other Vietnamese restaurants, they consist of grilled minced beef, star anise, black pepper and jicama, rolled in betel leaves.  They were totally delicious, the inside was crunchy from the jicama.

A salad was our next course, it was there Seafood Salad, it had shrimp, basa, asparagus, mango, grape tomato and rau ram sauce.  Originally it was supposed to have scallops in it and we were both looking forward to this but they served it to us with the different fish so it was a bit of a let down, all the other ingredients were great~the shrimp were plump and juice and the tangy dressing with the sweet mango worked great.

The Chicken Chay Curry was our main you could say.

I’ve never had this before, it reminded me of a Thai yellow curry, it had chicken, lots of veggies and tofu.  All the ingredients were cooked perfectly except a couple of pieces of yam which were on the underdone side but other than that it was a great bowl of curry, we could have easily eaten a bowl of this for each of us easily.

For dessert we split a Lemon grass Ginger Creme Brulee with Pineapple Chutney.

This was not your typical creme brulee, it wasn’t as heavy but still was satisfying and not overly sweet, the pineapple chutney was a great compliment to the custard, there was almost a jasmine tea sent to the custard part of the brulee.  It was a great way to end the meal and we both really enjoyed this.

This was one great meal and for $25 it fed 2 people nicely, if you’re a more hungry eater a couple extra items from the menu would be a great addition to this dining package and would leave you full and happy.  Were totally looking forward our next visit already.

To purchase a VANEATS.ca Kindle With Kin dining package they’re available till the end of February 2012, their for use during evening/dinner hours and the can be found by clicking here.

**Just a note of disclosure, this dining package was paid for by ourselves and not part of our normal previews of VANEATS.ca dining packages.**

Chau on Urbanspoon

Roaming Dragon

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One of the first food trucks to hit the streets of Vancouver was The Roaming Dragon, launched in 2010 and quickly became one of mine and alot of other people’s favorite place’s to grab a bite when not eating in. They offer Pan-Asian tapas sized creations made with quality hormone free and local meats and quality veggies.

With dishes priced cheaper if you buy more than one item you can have a great lunch, 3 items for $15 is what I usually go for and they have promo’s sometime via their twitter feed @dragontruck for a free basil lychee lemonade with the code word of the day.  They have recently changed locations to Robson street and Burrard street in downtown Vancouver and have been featured on the Food Network show Eat St.

On the menu for me this visit were the Korean short rib taco’s,duck confit salad with picked melon and the Roaming Dragon fried rice balls with a curry mayo drizzled on top,there are 3 or 4 other choices on their menu.



The short rib tacos are made from slow braised short ribs in Asian spices and are topped with homemade kimchi and shaved nori sprinkled on top on a homemade corn tortilla ,the meat is melt in your mouth tender and the veggies add the much need crunch.

The duck confit salad is made from shredded duck confit with Asian flavors and is what I can best describe like Asian pulled pork,the salad is the perfect balance between sweet,savory and sour from the homemade pickled melon (watermelon and pineapple this time) and is topped with toasted cashews.

Finally the Roaming Dragon fried rice balls,they contain a ton of different ingredients inside including dried shrimp and Chinese sausage~I discovered that I don’t like theses 2 ingredients so as perfectly cooked and crisp and tender as they were I’m glad there is something else I can have (the pork belly sliders are killer).

If you visit Vancouver or live here and find yourself downtown or at the local farmers market hit up the Roaming Dragon for some great dishes and see what all the buzz is about.

www.gourmetsyndicate.com
www.roamingdragon.com

Roaming Dragon Food Truck on Urbanspoon