Owners Michael and Pauline Soh bring cross-cultural cuisine from Malaysia and Singapore to Burrard Street
Mia Sta
Sun
Michael (centre), Pauline and Nelson Soh with some of the offerings at their Orchid Delight restaurant on Burrard Street near the Fifth Avenue Cinemas. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
Sometimes we think we’re so gosh-darn modern, but sometimes we’re really slow off the mark.
Take fusion food. It’s nothing new. In countries like Malaysia and Singapore, with their melting pot cultures going back hundreds of years, the national cuisine is fusion, with huge influences from India and China as well as Portugal, Holland and the Middle East. Even within the borders, food is a melting pot of differences.
You can smell it in the air when you walk into Orchid Delight, a small Malaysian/Singaporean place, handily close to the Fifth Avenue Cinemas, where my husband and I often meet friends. I’m not always in the mood for pizza at Incendio next door before the movie, and this is a nice alternative. I couldn’t be happier than slurping a bowl of golden-hued lemak laksa, a noodle soup steeped in coconut milk and studded with deep-fried tofu, bean sprouts, chicken and shrimp. I have a weakness for anything coconut-milky. Across the border in Singapore, lemak laksa would have a curry base, not coconut.
At Orchid Delight the menu isn’t sprawling and difficult to navigate. The family-style food is cooked by owners Michael and Pauline Soh, who immigrated to Canada from Singapore some 15 years ago. Michael was a marine engineer in the navy there. Son Nelson waits on tables, although he doesn’t seem too pleased to be doing it. Another server, a very cheerful blond woman, made up for his impatient style of service.
Sambal prawns, sauteed with garlic, green pepper and shrimp paste were fresh and lightly cooked; nasi goreng, a lightly curried rice was endowed with crunchy bits of vegetables.
The spicy sambal kang-kong, a dish of seasonal greens, might be an acquired taste for some with its generous flavouring of fermented dried shrimp (belacan). I heaved it onto my husband’s plate hoping he’d make a dent in it.
The deep-fried Singapore fish cakes are compressed circles served with chili sauce. Roti prata comes with a curry dip. The Hainanese boneless chicken was plainly cooked but moist and tender and accompanied by a ginger and garlic chili sauce.
On both my visits, the kitchen was out of satays, which I was eager to try. On another, it was out of a daily special that was on the chalkboard outside. Not able to order nasi lemak, a coconut rice dish with eggs, shrimp, peanuts, cucumber and sambal anchovies on a first try as well, I ordered it on my second visit but never got it.
But perspective, perspective. This isn’t haute, the prices are very reasonable with most dishes, except the seafood, high-jumping the $10 mark.
And it’s a very good place to know that is walking distance to the Fifth Avenue Cinemas.
ORCHID DELIGHT
Over-all: 3
Food: 3
Ambience: 2 1/2
Service: 2 1/2
Price $
Orchid Delight. 2445 Burrard St., 604-731-0221. Open 11 to 3 for lunch; 5 to 10 for dinner. Closed Mondays.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars. ([email protected])
© The Vancouver Sun 2006