BAO BEI || Foie Gras and Rice Cake
Baobei mixes the vibe of your favourite cozy diner with its round, leather booths and modern, eclectic decor with warm, wood-plank walls. It’s in an interior design category all on its own.
That’s how we felt stepping into Baobei, a popular foodie destination, where one can enjoy innovative dishes that marries different cultures into one dish. You will see why in the photos below.
Warm sunrays pouring in from the window.
Left: A sign that reads “specializes in writing signage” in Chinese.
Right: 3D knives positioned to appear as if “flying” across the wall.
The restaurant is set up for intimate dinners, where groups can cozy up in rounded booths with mint-leather seating. Whether for a small or large party, this is where you lean in over the table to share the latest news, and enjoy a delicious meal with the variety of share plates available on the menu.
The decor throughout the restaurant carries a rustic vibe.
The tables at the back are for larger parties, and we especially love the corner area where the wall is decorated with vintage-inspired floral wallpaper and an intricate lighting fixture. Plush cushions invite you to kickback and relax - it’s where you would want to be on the weekend.
Now, onto the food.
Bao Bei takes a modern approach to Chinese cuisines, with a menu inspired by Taiwanese, Shanghai, and Sichuan flavours.
The drinks are sophisticated and punchy, the food is innovative and creative. The Grant Avenue cocktail looks as though it belongs in a luxury hotel bar, and the sticky rice cake mixes a European delicacy (foie gras), with a fluffy omelette (reminiscent of Japan’s ‘omuraisu’), with sticky rice cake (popular in Shanghai dishes).
Our first thought was ‘whoa, you can do that?"‘
Upon tasting the dish, our second thought was ‘whoa, that tastes so good!”
Grant Avenue: bourbon, calvados, passionfruit, five flavorberry grenadine.
Beef Tartare. Cache Creek petite tender, preserved mustard root, crispy shallot, ginger, quail egg, watercress, burnt scallion oil, taro chips.
Sticky rice cake with foie gras and omelette on top.
The menu you will discover at Bao Bei is a departure from the familiar, but is full of surprises for your palette. The next time you are debating where you should plan a friends gathering, we hope you find yourself seated in one of the cozy booths at Bao Bei in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown District!
Visit
163 Keefer St, Vancouver
Photos by Florence Leung