“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery” – James Joyce

And this was one error that allowed us to come across something wonderful. After peeling off the layers that has wrapped Bin 942 with the false impression of being just another hyped-up tapas bar, the secret that lay within was discovered . . . and what a satisfying discovery it was.

You can download the this week’s  format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Episode 3 – Uncovering the Secret Recipe

Image cutline: Bin 942’s secret recipe is the essence of simplicity – patience, a whole lotta onions and a dash of port make the best base for extremely juicy meatballs.

Up until recently, we deemed Gord Martin’s menus at his infamous Bin Restaurants as simply glorified tapas items, dished up to the late-night wine bar crowd.  Not the most discerning clique from our standpoint, that is, until we ­­sampled their meatballs.

F: Personally, Bin has always been a wine-forward establishment for me, with their dolled-up bar food served as an amenity.  This is a spot where truffle oil is not a subtle enhancement, but merely a liberally used condiment on every other menu item.

R: You know, Fury, itwas really worth checking out Bin 942 to take a peek at what’s under all that sass.

F: When we peeled off the superficial layers, we were surprised to discover the labour intensive secret behind the balls’ extreme juiciness.  There’s actually no slight of hand going on here.

R: That Gord guy has some serious patience.  I mean making the base of his meatballs by caramelizing a potful of onions for hours? What type of maniac does that?

F: Sometimes subtlety is the best approach – like the dash of port to coax out the onion’s complex sweetness.

R: Just throw in the meat and we’ve got some good good balls.  In the esteemed words of Glenn Quagmire, the best summation would be “giggitygiggity, alright!”

Editor: To their horror, Raj and Fury later discovered that there was truffle in the accompanying Pinot Noir sauce. They weren’t able to escape it.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, entrepreneur, social media juggernaut and foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com and publishes a miscellany of musings at raj.jp and on twitter @tinhead. Melody Fury is the founder of Vancouver Food Tour.  Follow this YVR lifestyle ambassador on twitter @GourmetFury.

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” — Martin Buber

Sorry to say Martin ole boy, I definitely know the destination. What can I expect to see on my journey, you say? Well, that’s another story.  In my continuing search for the hidden Ramen treasures of Vancouver, I had a wicked flashback on this stop of my quest.

“Hai, oiishi desu”

Ramen Quest – the search for Vancouver’s hidden Japanese Ramen.

You can download the this week’s PDF format HERE (or grab the full newspaper HERE,) or just keep reading (the unrated version) below.

Episode 2 – There’s goodness outside the centre of the universe too!

Image cutline: Menya’s Nagahama Ramen – the closest thing to Tokyo I’ve tasted in a long time. Next time I’ll have to try their special ramen, subject to change at the whim of the chef.

If you talk about Ramen to anyone who dines out on the delicious Japanese noodle-dish in Vancouver, inevitably, they’ll tell you that the best place to go is to the West End where there’s a plethora of shops that seem to be thriving with just that product on their menu. Of course, there’s got to be good Ramen outside of the centre of the universe! Similarly, it’s just plain wrong when someone pipes up on the idiot box and says that Toronto is the best city in Canada. What? It’s probably because there’s less syllables in Toronto or perhaps the orator just has his head shoved up his posterior – either way, there’s definitely goodness out in the real world, and I have set out to find it.

Hopping on the Canada line and stopping at City Hall, I crossed West Broadway and headed to Yukon Street where I found Menya Japanese Noodle restaurant, which somewhat resembles a clearcut forest given that most chairs are tree stumps and the whole interior is varnished wood. Their menu is simple – they have four different types of Ramen on the menu, a couple of alternatives and some sides. On the occasion of my visit, I tried the first thing on the list, the Nagahama Ramen, their authentic pork-bone ramen with a special soy sauce seasoning, accompanied by Gyoza (pork and cabbage dumplings) and a rice ball.

The first taste transported me back to Japan – a place of fond memories where I used to enjoy Ramen almost nightly while living in Tokyo. I remember regularly sitting at the counter and being served by a trio I affectionately named the Brain, Iceman and Spaz. I suddenly surfaced from my little day dream, when asked if my food was good. I nodded my head and sounded a quick “hai, oiishi desu” and went back to daydreaming.

Menya may not be situated in the heart of Vancouver or Tokyo, but it’s good enough to capture my heart.

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Raj Taneja is part technologist, part entrepreneur, part social media juggernaut and part foodie. He runs urbanmixer.com, publishes a miscellany of his musings at raj.jp and can be found on twitter with the username ‘tinhead.’

When I say that Lumiere provides exceptional value for the dollar, I’m not exaggerating.

On Friday, March 27th, the preeminent restaurant on Vancouver’s Broadway Corridor launched their $55 Taste of BC three-course menu featuring local seasonal ingredients artfully prepared by Chef David McKay.

On March 31st, I was finally able to clear my schedule and check out what the fuss was about, and I’m glad I did. (More about that and exclusive photos, after the jump)

It’s been a few months since I’ve sat down to break bread at Lumiere. I recall the last time I made it out, a six course tasting made its way to my table and literally ensured my guests and I were well fed for days, if not for the upcoming Winter months to come.

With the three course, I certainly didn’t leave hungry – for someone who might have starved themself that day (which I didn’t), I’d say the portions and cadence of the meal were just right – pre-drink cocktails at Cameron Bogue and Dani Tatarin’s bar on the DB Bistro side and a little bit of tarte flambee to nibble on (we’ll skip this next time). Once seated in Lumiere, we were greeted with our menus and then a small amuse bouche – even last-minute a Vegetarian modification for one person.

After the amuse bouche, it was off to the races – three people at the table, three beautiful courses each and loads of sharing, sampling and savouring.

By the time dessert hit, everyone at the table agreed – we were really happy with dinner. The Mission Hill wine which kept flowing aside (they serve Quatrain and Oculus by the glass, btw), at this point we were pretty ready to go home and sleep, but the good people in the kitchen sent out one more set of delights – petit fours and Daniel Boulud’s famous Madeleines.

After that we were done, and the bill for the three of us was about the same as what I spent at Earls the day before. Needless to say, I’ll be back… and I’m bringing friends – lots of them, see you there. www.lumiere.ca