Starry Night Restaurant in Richmond
*** THIS NEW RESTAURANT IS WORTH CHECKING OUT ***
I don’t normally call out a restaurant in RED BOLD letters but this one excites me and is worth noting.
It is common knowledge that Suanne and I get a lot of recommendations from our readers. These recommendations are the ones that we value a lot because these recommendations alert us to what’s new and what’s good. We know that if it excites someone well enough to write to us, they are definitely worth checking out.
It was just last weekend when Eliza commented (here) that we should check out what she calls the “Starry Night Restaurant Behind Costco”. I thought it was kind of weird but I was intrigued with that location. I clicked over to the link on dinehere.ca and was pretty stoked reading the rave reviews.What do you think when you see review headings that says:
- Finally, a high-end restaurant that will make me go back to. Excellent food!
- Recommendation to all foodies out there! It’s a must visit!
- Hidden Diamond! A must see for everyone, incredible! Best looking restaurant in Vancouver!
It just so happened that we were going shopping at Costco that day. We drove over and saw it … right in the middle of nowhere is just this one restaurant. We were curious and decided to come back.
So, yesterday Suanne and I went for lunch at Starry Night. Starry Night is located on Beckwith Road. Forget about the street address. There is nothing on the street let alone anyone know where Beckwith Road is.
The sign outside the restaurant says “Starry Night – Restaurant – Reflexology”. I’ll tell you more about that Reflexology part later on.
It is easy to find. Just drive to the road behind Costco. You will not miss it. Like I said, there is nothing else on this street. There are lots of parking along the street but you really want to drive into the restaurant where they have parking at the back of the restaurant.
You know why? If you go at night, you want to walk in from the parking lots and see the nice lighting that they had put up. We were there in the afternoon and so we did not get to see it but the owner told us you gotta do it at night. He was raving to us about it.
You will probably laugh that on the right side of the restaurant is a rundown house with overgrowth as high as the roof. On the left side of the restaurant is an empty industrial lot.
They had just been opened for three weeks only. So it is very new.
The moment we stepped in, it is like a different world altogether. We were quite impressed with the setup.
During the later part of our lunch, the chef and the owner came by to chat with us because they noticed that we were taking notes and pictures. There were hardly any customer for lunch. There was only four tables taken the whole time we were there … and so yeah, we stuck out like a sore thumb.
The owner told us that he is from Taiwan and he owns the biggest live-band restaurant in Taipei. He told me the name in Chinese but I can’t remember it. He told us this restaurant is his lifelong dream to make his one perfect restaurant.
The entire restaurant was designed from the ground up and no expenses was spared. It is broken down into three different settings and he said that depending on where you are seated it is a different experience, view and lighting. The owner told us that if we come at night, the patio will be lighted with laser blue lights that looks like stars at night. We were seated in the more casual “Japanese Gazebo” section with natural sunlight permeating the entire area.
The walls were real granite and the wood panelings were walnut wood imported from Taiwan. The tables were tiled with tiles from Spain and the fabric for the seats were imported from Italy. That was what the owner told us but looking at it, they were all plush and of high quality.
The back section presents a more sophisticated look with high ceiling and dimmer setting. There is very little you will not like about the place alone. The music too was soothing with accompanying images showing on the TVs mounted in several area.
Service was eager and attentive but I must say that it was not really good. The waitress does not seem to know some of the questions we had and she responded with pretty general answers. But I do cut her some slack here with the understanding that they were still new. I could see that she is trying her utmost best.
I think this is one department they need to polish on if they aspire for perfection like they say they are.
I read that their coffee is very good and they recommended that too. As appealing it is, we did not get it because we cannot sleep if we take coffee at this time. Coffee is only for morning for us.
Instead, I thought we try the White Tea because it was unique. This is called Pai Mu Tan Guava Berry. It came steeped already with some at the side if we wanted more. The tea was good. We could smell the fragrance of the berry each time we took a sip from the cup. This is $7.
We started off with a soup. We decided to get the Chef’s Daily Creation ($7) which is Chicken and Ginseng double-boiled soup. The bowl is small but is very well done. The soup had a deep flavour, and is smooth and clear. and the chicken meat was like they selected the best parts to serve — it was perfect.
The appetizer above is amazing, but expensive. This is called Chilled Dungeness Crab Cake and costs $16.
There are three distinct layers with a seaweed salad at the bottom. The middle part is the crab and is topped with freshly cut mango salsa. Sprinkled around the plate are crunchy delicious tobiko’s.
The best way to eat it is not by the layer but with a cross section with everything at the same time. Heavenly. It was cold and refreshing. I think you can just imagine what this tastes like. Each ingredient is good enough for me but the balance of all these are simply amazing. I think you will like it. We did … a lot.
The waitress recommended the Schnitzel. I was kind of not sure … Schnitzel … how can Schnitzel be anything exciting, right? Wrong.
Firstly, the $17 Berkshire Pork Loin Schnitzel came with all the platings that practically took up the entire table.
First area of focus is the bowl of sesame seeds. We got to … More on following page. Click here to continue reading.
Red Rice Pilaf
Minoo also made a Red Rice Pilaf in the Gilmore Park Community Kitchen. This dish is made impromptu as Lorna gave a bag of red rice to Minoo that morning.
The Red Rice Pilaf was cooked to al-dente with a good bite to it. It’s almost like risotto to me.
Source: Minoo
Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 40 minutes; Serve: 4 as a main dish or 6 as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups red rice
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 1/2 red pepper, diced
- 6 button mushrooms, diced
- water or chicken stock
Spinach Cake
This is a healthy cake. It has green power. It has the source of Popeye’s power. This cake is great for picky kids who defy vegetables.
The whipping cream makes this Spinach Cake more attractive.
Source: unknown
Prep time: 30 minutes; Bake time: 30 minutes; Yield 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250g (1/4 pound) spinach, washed, drained
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2.5 cups flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup whipped cream
- 3L Pyrex dish (we used a loaf pan which takes longer to bake because we cant find a Pyrex dish in this kitchen)
Broccoli and Kale Salad with Mustard Currant Dressing
The salad we made in the Gilmore Park Community Kitchen is a warm or cooked salad unlike the usual raw and cold salad.
This Broccoli and Kale with Mustard Currant Dressing is rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Have you seen the commercial on broccoli as a miracle food?
Well, broccoli is not only nutritious, but one can make music with it.
Source: unknown
Prep time: 20 minutes; Serve 6
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons dried currants
- 4 cups water
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 bunch dino kale, removed stem and chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chicken Patties
Minoo prepared four dishes in the Gilmore Park Community Kitchen. We made Chicken Patties, a warm salad, a Spinach Cake and a Red Rice Pilaf.
The Chicken Patties are marvelous. They are fried to crispy. Kids will love the Chicken Patties in their lunch boxes.
Source: unknown
Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 10 minutes; Serve 4
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/3 cup canola oil for frying
Weekend Musings (06-Feb-2010)
My writing is seriously backlogged.
Suanne and I had a lot of good eating lately and am so excited to write about them but I simply had no time to sit down with a good stretch of time to write. You see, I am a slow writer. I take about 30 minutes to gather my thoughts and determine the story line. Processing the pictures is laborious but necessary process. Processing picture is the easy part (but downright boring) but even that takes up another 30 minutes or so. Then the writing — if I am on the roll, 1 hour max — if not, it takes up to 2 hours.
Oh that does not include responding to emails everyday, planning, and what nots. This blog is consuming our lives. Help!!
McDonalds and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics
Suanne and I are so excited. McDonalds is arranging media credentials for us and also a 1-on-1 interview with someone who is known as the Most Powerful Chef in America. He he he … that is from the standpoint that more people eat his food than any other chef. I am talking about Dan Coudreaut, the Director of Culinary Innovation from Illinois. I really hope to be able to also see McDonalds operations in the Games Village and the Media Center. Exciting times!
We had never done these sort of things before. We are really in for the learning and for fun. I think Chef Dan is going to be shocked with some of the dumb questions that we are going to throw at him.
I need your help! I was hoping that you could help me identify some of the things you want to know about McDonalds, no matter how silly it may be. You can either send me an email (ben@chowtimes.com) or just comment on this post.
Bo Laksa King Doing Delivery
Last week I went to Bo’s for lunch. I love Bo’s Laksa and do think he has no peers in this area. Talking to him, I point-blankly told him I am selfish and hopes that he does not open a restaurant or go too big. I am afraid that quality will suffer if he gets too big and does not personally make the laksa anymore. He laughed but was serious in telling me that quality is always his #1 priority.
Bo told me that he is expanding his business. He is starting to do home delivery … today, this very day. This is only for DINNER unfortunately. He said he had rented a kitchen and will be operating out of that kitchen each night. The laksa place will be run by his wife while he will be manning the kitchen.
He also has a website up and running (http://www.bolaksaking.com). The delivery menu is much … More on following page. Click here to continue reading.
Chowtimes Readers Dinner at 12B Underground Kitchen
This is just a quickie post since I had already done an in-depth review of Chef Todd’s 12B Underground Kitchen in this post here.
My first visit to 12B was when I joined a group of Vancouver Chowhounds. That was back in December last year. That sitting was full and I was only able to make it after someone pulled out to make room for me. It was just me who went … and poor Suanne had to stay at home.
So, I offered to organize another one for Chowtimes readers so that Suanne could also have the chance to experience dinner at 12B. The response from chowtimes readers was overwhelming … a total of 36 people responded!
I truly had a problem on my hands!
You see, 12B had always limited the number of people on each night to twelve guests only. I had several discussions with Chef Todd over the large number of diner. At one stage we were seriously exploring the possibility to do an unprecedented mega-sized group of 18!
But one thing led to another, the group eventually whittled down to a nice size of 12. Two main factors were in play.
The available dates were limited. Chef Todd is fully booked for Friday/Saturday sittings right up till early June already. Although weekdays are available, it is very limited, So we were left with the less popular days of week. Not wanting to wait for a few months, we had to settle for a Sunday night — which proved to be unsuitable for some.
The other factor was the price … the price increase. Back in December, the “minimum donation” for 12B was $50. Mid-way through the planning, Chef Todd informed me that the “minimum donation” is not longer $50, but $65. Understandably, that did not sit down well with some people. Frankly, I was really embarrassed about it having to go back to the group about this hefty 30% increase. Needless to say I was quite unhappy to be forced to deal with this.
So, long story short … twelve of us finally ended up attending the dinner.
12B dinners are BYOB event. I am not an expert in wine and so I asked Glen at work for recommendations. I wanted something that is red and something light too since I flush up red very easily.
Glen recommended the Pinot Noir from Nk’Mip. So I went to the BC Liquor store on Cambie. Oh gosh, I had never been in that place before and was so surprised how big and fancy it is. They carry almost every kind of wine and beer you can imagine. Suanne and I felt kind of lost in there.
LOL! Suanne and I was complaining the lack of vowels in First Nations names. Nk’Mip … how do you pronounce it?
It turned out that the bottle was not opened at all. Not only because everyone brought liquor but Keev even brought four bottles.
Chef Todd told me that he checked chowtimes’ earlier review the day before and made sure that he does not serve the same thing that I had in my last visit. That was considerate of him. I did not even expect him to do that at all but he did.
Chef Todd told our group the same thing he told us in my first visit — that he tries to make different menu every night. I still find it hard to believe that anyone who have such a repertoire of dishes … but that is what he said.
Cream of asparagus soup with white wine and truffles “four ways” (truffle salt, oil, and, uh, a couple of other preparations)
Suanne and I had a great time chatting about food. The group are made up of pure foodies — he he he … not bloggers who sometimes go to restaurants just for the purpose of writing reviews on the blog. These guys and gals are all there for one thing and one thing only … the food.
Among the group was Michelle and her university professor husband. They had traveled widely around the world in search of food. Since they sat directly across from me, I spent the most time chatting with them. It is so amazing being able to talk about the well-known restaurants we had been to, particularly in Spain which was still very fresh in my memory.
halibut seared in brown butter, served on a jardinière brunoise and quinoa, with a fennel, orange and poppyseed salad on the side
There was also Joe and Anya. Joe is not just a foodie but his name is one that some of you will hear of more and more over time. He is beginning to start blogging together with Matt on vancouverslop.com!
So, I am going to take the short cut in this post and refer you to HIS post on this meal at 12B. His post is located on this link. Go check it out! He is going to be helping me on the next project which is the … More on following page. Click here to continue reading.
