60 hrs in Van - La Buca, Suika, Shanghai Village

[bdachow]

Gotta love the super speedy visits to the hometown and cramming in all sorts of errands and family fun at the same time.

Getting off the airplane late, headed to Mochikas (finally) for a wee snack before dinner. Tried their causa a limena. And it was a revelation. In many ways, the flavours are what every potato salad should aspire too, nice potato flavour, crunchy fresh vegetables, not too much mayonnaise as the pureed potatos added so much creaminess it was unnecessary and a punch of saltiness from the olive spread and heat from the pepper sauce. Watching Pedro make it, you know that it was fresh and alot of love of food goes into it.

Suika recently opened in the neighbourhood and on reading other reviews, decided to give it a go. Tried the appetizer bento box which was 9 little cups with different apps off their regular menu and a few other things. This is a great little idea as we all had different ideas on what we liked and didn't like without committing to a whole dish which is nice as I found some hits and misses amongst all the dishes. Also ordered the bibimbap there and that was really nice. I've never had it before so for me, the flavours were really great and the rice was delicious, not too mushy and not too grainy. The roast pork belly char suo was interesting. It was really juicy and tender pieces of pork belly but the look was rather blah...all white, not my idea of what roast is but whatever, it was deliciously decadent with a good balance of fat and meat. And eaten with the shredded lettuce to give it some crunch, was tasty. The pork ramen was rather middle of the road for me. The pieces of pork were tasty, juicy, pork in a clear broth (I think it's shoyu) and when I asked the girl, she said they made the noodles but I was a little skeptical. Good toothsomeness to it, not overcooked but they reminded me too much of packaged noodles. A couple of orders of sockeye salmon sashimi were devoured by the niece, luck I managed to grab one before it disappeared. Reminds me of why I dislike eating any other kind of salmon sashimi, tasty, fresh, great texture. All in all, I thought it was pretty good for not having to venture into downtown to go to other izakayas.

Running errands made the next day messy. A stop at Money Meats (?) on Fraser and 49th produced a snack of roast pork and bbq pork. Why anyone tries to make it home with roast pork in the car is delusional. Quite frankly, it never makes it home. The super crispy crackling pork skin with a nice thin layer of fat and tender moist porky goodness, pork perfection. See picture..I managed to stop myself and take one before destroying the rest of the box. :)

Lunch at Pho Thai Hoa on Kingsway is always predictable. Excellent pho broth still and was perfect for a cold misty rain day.

Shanghai Village lunch was a bit odd. Mid-week, arriving around 1 with a couple of large empty tables. We were asked to wait about 5 minutes so that a small 2 top could be cleared for us. Ordered a couple of dishes and some tea and water. It took 3 asks before we got the glass of water. Service was less than stellar. The kitchen was prompt though and the food arrived quite quickly. Beef roll, was ok. The beef was much drier than Peaceful and so it wasn't as tasty I thought. The flavours were ok and the crepe wrapper was not oily which was nice but not worth ordering I think. The XLB were quite nice. Nice thin skins, super juicy and brothy but I found the flavour of the pork filling to be rather lacking and bland. I think a bit more salt would have helped it along (strange as my sister had mentioned how salty it was the last time she was there but agreed that this time, not enough). Also had the hot and sour soup with noodles. Noodles are definitely overkill in the soup, adding too much stuff to an already "stuff-y" type soup. Nice balance of hot and sour and good amount of stuff, shredded pork, wood ear fungus, tofu, etc. I think it would be nice to just omit the noodles. Topped it all off with an order of the deep fried bread with condensed milk. Not super greasy, light filling, crisp think deep fried shell, was very well done. Overall, food was good but service was off-putting.

La Buca dinner. Tried to find it on a drive by in the area and couldn't quite spot it. It's storefront is very non descriptive in a row of small shops on McDonald. Almost missed it but thank goodness we didn't. Really lovely meal and a great way to end the trip. It's a small restaurant and the atmosphere is cozy and very neighbourhood. Reminds me of French bistros in your neighbourhood, cozy, charming, warm, friendly. Service was excellent, attentive service but not obtrusive. Started with the buffalo proscuitto, zucchini fritelle and tomato, mozzarella panzanella. All were delicious but the standout was definitely the zucchini fritters. Light, crispy deep fried fritters with a tangy lemony mayonnaise. Mains were spaghetti puttanesca, osso buco and crispy chicken. Chicken was delicious, juicy, moist and great chicken flavour all with a really nice super crispy skin. Osso buco was fall off the bone and was served with the bone with marrow intact for you to spoon out. Excellent, my only thought was the meat was still a little chewy, some people don't mind it, I thought a touch more tender but I understand there's a balance between still getting marrow or slightly chewy meat. Spaghetti was delicious, nice salty bite from the olives and anchovies, I would've liked a touch longer on the cooking of the spaghetti but the flavours were so great regardless making it a really great dish. Too stuffed for dessert unfortunately but there's always next time. If you're in the neighbourhood, worth a visit but definitely need reservations. It was packed.

Great visit as always, looking forward to the next trip and thanks to all the Chowhounders for posting their thoughts and giving me great ideas!

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La Buca Restaurant
4025 MacDonald St, Vancouver, BC V6L2N8, CA

Pho Thai Hoa Restaurant
1625 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5N2S2, CA

Shanghai Village
3250 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2W4, CA

Suika
1626 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1X6, CA

[fmed]

Thanks for the report bdachow...too bad your stay was too short to have a chowdown in your honour. See you next time!

[bdachow]

Thanks Fmed. I briefly contemplated trying to come back for the Remembrance day long weekend (and possibly making pork fest) but then sanity ruled and seriously, can I justify a 48 hour trip across the country?!?!? Lol.