Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program that identifies sustainable seafood choices for restaurants and suppliers and makes it easy for diners and consumers to make ethical choices. Just look for the Ocean Wise icon on menus. They’ve been at it for 5 years without any funding (the Vancouver Aquarium is footing the bill) and have gotten almost 300 partners onto the program in that time. This year they also achieved national reach accross Canada.

Our dinearound started at the aquarium where we raised a glass to all that they’ve accomplished before being whisked away to surprise dinner destinations dependent on the colour of pre-assigned ribbons.

Like a bus full of kids on a field trip we shouted out possibilities each time the bus turned a corner: “Nook! L’Altro Buca!” as we spun through the West End, then “Grouse Mountain!” as we headed over the Lion’s Gate bridge. When we stopped in front of the Edge Bistro (3135 Edgemont Blvd.) in Edgemont Village, we all discovered a delightful locale new to all of us.

The Edge

At the Edge we had plump BC mussels in a coconut curry broth followed by a decadent pecan-encrusted salmon stuffed with shrimp and Dungeness crab. Chef Robert Clark of C Restaurant was dining with our group and explained that BC mussels have a much higher meat-to-shell ratio than PEI mussels – a helpful fact we lamented as we became more and more full over the course of the evening. We washed these dishes down with a Pacific Breeze chardonnay from New Westminister and their smoky, spicy Killer Cab then it was back on the bus to head to stop #2.

Hotel Vancouver

We were more familiar with this property but no less surprised when the bus pulled up in front of the Hotel Vancouver. Here we were seated at the back bar of Griffins and served gorgeously plated bites starting with the beet-cured salmon crêpe pictured above, paired with the fresh apple Nk’Mip Riesling. Next was a mini niçoise salad with quail egg, caviar, green bean, tuna sashimi and olive tapenade. Paired with the Quail’s Gate gewürztraminer, this dish was fresh and clever and perfectly executed.

As for hot dishes, there was a smoked sablefish with crisp pancetta and greens accompanied by a Hugues le Juste pinot noir and a seared Arctic char on apple beignet with Granville Island Lager foam and apple-sherry vinegar reduction.

A custom cocktail from the bar, “The Torch” (red pepper, grapefruit, and ruby vodka) finished it all off nicely.

C Restaurant

But no, we weren’t done yet: there was still the finale at C Restaurant. As Chef Robert Clark didn’t like the idea of being the first guests to the party, we nipped into Nu for a cocktail from the carousel bar.

At C, we had another taste of Ocean Wise seafood in the form of a huge Baynes Sound (Denman Island) scallop and Denman Island herring with various forms of pea shoots. The wine for this dish was a beautiful 1998 Selbach-Oster, Reisling, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr that was just the right acidity to balance the oil of the fish.

And then finally – finally! – it was time for dessert – Salt Spring Island Goat Cheese and Vanilla Mousse with stone fruit preserved and spiced liquid marshmallow. It was a not overly sweet dessert which allowed for a pairing of not one but two dessert wines; Forbidden Fruit’s “iced apple dessert wine” and Vista d’oro‘s delicious fortified port style wine with walnut brandy. It was a sweet end to an entirely sweet evening.

Finishing up there was time to thank our gracious hosts and congratulate them again on making Ocean Wise what it is today. We also had an opportunity to compare notes with the other buses and their dining experiences. In addition to the restaurants listed here, Aria, Burrard Bridge Marine Bar and Grill, the District, Fraiche, Revel Room, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, Tapenade Bistro, and Zen participated. It was great to see the range of restaurants with sustainable Ocean Wise choices available, from high end hotels to casual neighbourhood spots. Check out the complete list of restaurants and partners and show your support.

It doesn’t happen that frequently for me. I get easily excited over food, and remembering any one pleasant experience gets difficult if you taste great dishes every single week. But a jaunt to the North Shore this weekend  gave me the opportunity I needed to relive one particularly satiating lunch at a Malaysian restaurant in Upper Lonsdale – a place that my brother and I have been unable to forget since our first visit there this past September.

Tamarind Hill opened in early September in the restaurant-heavy block of Lonsdale and 15th. When traffic on the Lions Gate is negligible, it’s a 5-10 minute drive away from Park Royal and less than 20 minutes away from my home in Yaletown.

I’ve only ever been to the place for its lunch service…and at under $8 an entree, oh, what an affordable and delectable lunch it is!

Here’s a quick run-through of the first time that we lunched at Tamarind Hill.

I love fresh coconut juice when I can get it. Here, a young coconut carries the typical $5 price tag, outfitted with straw for the juice and a long spoon to carve out the meat from the hull.

We started with the $6.50 lamb murtabak. The plushness of this Malaysian-style roti with its spicy curry dip won me over while my brother was wowed by the side of gado gado: a salad of bean sprouts, tofu, green beans, potatoes, and cucumber drenched in a piquant peanut sauce.

My brother, being a big fan of fried rice, ordered the $7 Nasi Goreng, which was sizeable enough to overwhelm the two of us with its carb, beef, shrimp, egg, tomato, onion and green bean medley.

My choice was the $7 Malaysian curry laksa. While the staff at Tamarind Hill tell me that the coconut-based Singapore laksa is the more popular order, it is this bowl, dear readers, whose flavour profile has left an imprint on my gastronomic system that will not be soon erased.

It’s therefore no wonder that my brother and I had no other restaurant in our sights this Friday when we found ourselves in Lonsdale once more. We didn’t veer very far from our original choices – unusual for two people that are fond of exploring menus, but not surprising considering our initial lunch rapture.

This time, my brother selected a full serving of gado gado as our starter and stuck with the nasi goreng as his main. I didn’t need to glance at the menu, knowing full well that I would re-acquaint myself with that delicious curry laksa. It was with much reluctance that I doled out a cupful of said soup for my brother to sample…I suspect the emotion was on par with my brother’s separation anxiety from the bit of his nasi goreng meant for my share plate.

So folks, if you find yourself in North Vancouver with an appetite for something from Southeast Asia, consider lunch at Tamarind Hill. It’s my #1 pick in Lonsdale after only two visits (and honestly, after even the first one).

Are you never in the vicinity of the North Shore? Don’t fret – this Lonsdale location is the second Tamarind Hill in the Lower Mainland. Drive over to the original New Westminster establishment to have what I expect to be an equivalent dining experience. Make sure to come back and tell me what you think of that place, too.

Tamarind Hill
1440 Lonsdale Avenue | Lonsdale
(604) 990-0111

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