For 15 years, Vancouver's Bao Bei gives customers what they want — and brings back some fan favourites
Much has changed since Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie’s trademark neon sign first lit up Keefer Street 15 years ago.
For one thing, the city’s culinary and cocktail scenes have evolved, perhaps in part due to the pioneering restaurant.
“I think when we opened Bao Bei, there were a lot of fine dining restaurants in the city but no casual dining restaurants with a fun atmosphere,” said co-owner Tannis Ling.
From the first, Bao Bei has specialized in small plates meant to be shared with friends and family, with dishes incorporating culinary influences from Taiwan and China.
To celebrate the Chinatown restaurant’s 15th anniversary, Ling and her partners Joël Watanabe, chef, and Alain Chow, back-of-house operations manager, are bringing back six fan favourites.
“They’re dishes that Joël put on during our heyday and that everybody loved and couldn’t get enough of, and still talk about to this day,” Ling said.
“We decided to give people what they want.”
Those dishes include Crispy Pork Belly with Vietnamese cilantro sauce, the Shan Tofu with chickpea tofu, and the Steamed Spring Salmon with cilantro and Thai basil fumet.
Other anniversary events include a pop-up dinner June 22 with Jesse Grasso, a former sous-chef at Bao Bei and now a chef at Pichai in Montreal.
“We’re going to put a bunch of old photos up on Instagram and talk about the good old days before COVID and get people in a nostalgic mood,” Ling said.
Bao Bei has also employed high-end ingredients and cooking techniques, and good service from the start, says Ling. Upon opening, it was hailed as a “best new restaurant” from periodicals such as Where and En Route.
“I’ve always prided myself on providing every aspect of the restaurant at the highest level, from a great playlist to great glassware, lighting, furniture, menu, design, staffing, service. The restaurant has to have the whole package in order to work for me.”
Ling was 33 when she opened Bao Bei. Prior to that she was a bartender at Chambar, as well as overseas. She decided on Chinatown partly because she had fond memories of visiting the neighbourhood with her parents as a child, and because it would be easy to source food from nearby shops.
At the time, she says, not a lot was going on in the neighbourhood.
“I think it was just us, the Keefer Bar and Fortune Sound Club. It was lacking some foot traffic and some life and energy on the street. There’s definitely more of that these days. There is a lot more residential and a lot more businesses. I would say there’s quite a burgeoning bar scene happening in Chinatown.”
Bao Bei is now a neighbourhood landmark, a tourist destination, a hub for local foodies, and a flagship business in a partnership that also includes the Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto and the recently opened Meo.
One unfortunate development is that the Chinatown itself seems to have become more dangerous, says Ling. It’s not especially unusual to see, in the alley behind the restaurant, a mattress on fire.
Some things haven’t changed though. The same classic, Hong Kong-style Bao Bei neon sign greets diners. The 50-seat restaurant’s interior still has what Ling calls a “shabby-chic” elegance, with candlelight, black and white photos of her family, and knick-knacks contributed by Ling and other staff.
“Everything we built it with already had a patina of age, as if it was salvaged from some second-hand store,” she said.
“Somebody just gave me a bunch of things that they were getting rid of that I turned into furniture. I think that, because it didn’t start off new, it has aged well over the last 15 years.”
Related
Source: vancouversun.com