On Friday, 24hrs News published yet another episode of my Bacon Quest – the search for Vancouver’s undiscovered bacon. You can download the original PDF HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Bacon Quest – the search for Vancouver’s undiscovered bacon.

Episode 2 – Porkbelly Beer House

Can you keep a secret? Well the Koreans certainly can. For years I lamented at the possibility that while there were dozens of great steak houses to choose from, nobody had ever decided to venture in creating a restaurant that celebrates bacon. Was I ever wrong! In fact, at the time of writing this article, I’m on the phone to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and putting my money where the meat is. As soon as the word’s out, the price of pork belly futures are on a rocketship to the moon.

Here’s the backstory: while stumbling through the West End one night, a beautiful scent filled the air, but to which cooked meat it belonged I had no idea. I investigated and what I found was a discovery more monumental than what conspiracy theorists call the New World Order. I observed a pair of Korean men perched on the patio of a restaurant cooking strips of what appeared to be bacon on a portable gas-powered grill. It turned out to be love at first sight and her name was ‘Samgyeopsal’. The restaurant was aptly named ‘Porkbelly Beer House’ and as the owner explained, uncured strips of pork belly, cut in quarter-inch slices are put on a gas-powered griddle and cooked. The customers at the restaurant cook their own meat and then eat directly from the grill, usually wrapping the delicacy in lettuce stuffed with a soybean paste, kimchi (Korean pickles), fresh garlic slices and green chilli. Since that fateful day, we’ve come together on many occasions and I’ve enjoyed my forbidden love. Now that the word is out, I’m keeping my eye on those futures.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, part entrepreneur, part social media thought leader and part foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com, publishes a miscellany of his musings at raj.jp and is probably the least qualified person in the world to ask for financial or investment advice.