VANCOUVER: Heaven in a strip-mall wasteland

UPDATE: also Lounge and Restaurant closed as of 2008. A Chinese restaurant has taken over its former location.

The same fine dining restaurants dominate the “best of” lists every year in Vancouver. There’s my perennial favourite Bishop’s, crazy award-winner West, and TV chef Rob Feenie’s baby Lumiere. So when I offered to treat my parents to a fancy dinner last time I was visiting, I thought they’d go with one of those.

Instead, my dad suggested the also Lounge and Restaurant near his office in Richmond. How strange, I thought. Richmond, while a lovely suburb of Vancouver, is really only a place for hearty Chinese family dinners, noodle houses and really bad drivers. And all of it is crammed into strip malls.

But let’s humour my dad, shall we? We pulled up to a place all painted in white with glowing blue and silver lettering — and rave music pumping outside.

“I think you’ll really like this,” said my dad, his plaid shirt buttoned to the top, keys jingling in his wrinkle-free pants.

The incongruous first impression aside, we walked into a sophisticated and surprisingly low-key dining room.

The four of us were captivated by the five-course menu for $38 Can. It began with an amuse-bouche of smoked salmon topped with a bit of caviar. Then came the Threesome Mushroom Soup, a beautiful blend of crimini, shiitake and oyster mushroom. A simple green salad with blue cheese came next, followed by a lychee sorbet.

The heavenly entrées that appeared ignited that “oh you’ve got to try this” fury:

• my duck confit, cooked for 14 hours, falling right off the bone and starting the conga line in my mouth
• my mom’s perfectly medium rare rack of lamb
• my dad’s perfectly rare steak tenderloin (upgraded from sirloin for a mere $5)
• and my boyfriend’s Thai chicken (flambéd at the table)

We had just-sweet enough cheesecake and lava cake for dessert — all made in-house.

Chef/owner Philip Chou trained at the renowned Regent Hotel in Hong Kong. I hate the term fusion but he actually takes it to a whole different level. (He’s bold enough to list three duck dishes on the menu. I’m swooning.)

also is not chi-chi — located next to a cell phone store and across from a noodle house — but the trek to stripmall-land is worth it. I must confess I can easily skip those other “best of” places for this jewel.

It’s laid-back without being sloppy, and chic without the uppity-do-dah. Everyone is here because they love good food. And did I mention we had five courses for $38? Oh be still my heart.

also Lounge and Restaurant, 4200 No. 3 Road, Richmond, B.C., (604) 303-9906. Live jazz every Thursday – Saturday.
(I forgot my camera so photos are from emenus.ca)