Mia Stainsby
Sun
Maria Huynh, owner of Chau Kitchen and Bar with dishes from the restaurant and a photo from the 1970s of her mother Chau Thi Ho Huynh and her Chau Cafe. Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
CHAU KITCHEN AND BAR
1500 Robson St., 604-682-8020.
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I was getting very impatient. For years, I kvetched about the lack of the next generation of Vietnamese restaurant and dared to even hope for something like The Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, which I love.
It takes the second generation of an immigrant group to tweak and take things to the next level. In this case, it is the young Maria Huynh, who opened Chau Kitchen and Bar.
Maria’s family (excluding herself) was part of the refugee wave known as the “boat people” from Vietnam, and Huynh named the restaurant after her mother, Chau, who ran a congee cafe in an Indonesian refugee camp.
When the family arrived in Canada in the 1980s, she opened the first Vietnamese deli in Vancouver. “People in the neighbourhood would buy her meatballs so she saved enough money to open a shop,” Huynh says. Maria, who was born here, can’t imagine the hardships her parents and brothers experienced but she developed a passion for food, went to cooking school and wanted to carry on her family’s traditions.
“I want to represent Vietnamese food in a different way. I always thought someone was going to do it way before me,” she says, surprised that she’s the groundbreaker. Chau’s interior is modestly modern and service is on point. Best of all, the food is remarkable for a modestly priced restaurant. The dishes are all family recipes which she’s tweaked and she has hired the former sous chef from Mistral Bistro to add his French cooking influences.
Chau offers fantastic value. We started with a gorgeously presented prawn remoulade sitting atop persimmon “paper.” We attacked the green papaya salad which had orange zest and julienned apples giving it an even fresher feel. Basa (like a cross between sole and cod) was cooked perfectly and served with a Vietnamese caramel sauce — delicious. Specials included a delicious pork tenderloin with daikon confit and Vietnamese rice wine demi-glace. Luc la beef, sometimes referred to as “jumping beef” featured very tender beef. Huynh calls the dishes tapas but they’re too generous to really fit that category.
It’s open for lunch on weekends only thus far. But do try the pho on the lunch menu. It doesn’t get much better than this. One of the reasons is the delicious broth which is made with meat rather than bones.
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