Fusion, fun, and bold Asian flavours are on the menu at Street Auntie Aperitivo House
Restaurateur Yuyina Zhang cites hawkers in her home village in China’s southwestern Yunnan province as inspiration
Street Auntie Aperitivo House owner Yuyina Zhang used to recruit Michelin-level chefs in Asia.
ONE OF YUYINA Zhang’s earliest experiences in the restaurant industry was the stuff of nightmares. It was at a Michelin-rated restaurant in China where her former fiancé was the executive chef; she was helping him out, working front of house. The fine-dining establishment served set menus of 12 to 14 courses for approximately US$800 per person. One evening, the manager and about 30 staff members, unhappy about their wages, stormed out the front door in the middle of dinner service.
“People were having wine and were on their third course; I had to jump in, clean tables, and apologize to everybody,” Zhang says. “It was a disaster.”
Zhang laughs about it now, but it was brutal at the time. An example of just how badly things can go wrong in a restaurant, it’s a lesson that has stuck with her in the opening of Street Auntie Aperitivo House at 1039 Granville Street.
Every menu comes with Street Auntie’s signature dim sum basket.
The stylish eatery takes its name from the term of affection for street-food vendors who sit on plastic stools hawking one or two items day in, day out in China’s Yunnan province, where Zhang grew up. Street Auntie Aperitivo House serves a set menu of Asian small plates that changes weekly and that always consists of bright, bold flavours; local ingredients; and whimsy.
Diners can select as many dishes as they like during a pre-booked one-hour time slot ($38 per person for lunch or $58 for dinner). Zhang announces the menus, which are subject to change, on Instagram. The format allows for flexibility should specific ingredients not be available or other curveballs come up. It also gives the culinary team—headed by experienced chef Stephen Ho—more time to focus on perfecting a manageable number of dishes rather than trying to do too much and to have some fun. Zhang’s standards are extremely high, yet while she wants to re-create the tastes of home, she doesn’t want to introduce the kind of job stress she experienced a decade ago.
Having trained at Pacific institute of Culinary Arts, Zhang handles everything except the actual cooking (though she could step in if the need ever arose), from creating menus and plating to branding and design. (Zhang, who moved to Vancouver in her teens, studied interior design at BCIT before moving back to China in her early 20s.) “I wanted to make something that no matter what the situation, I would be fine,” Zhang says. “I don’t want to rely on anybody.”
She has the skill set to see things through. Prior to moving back to Vancouver, Zhang and her ex offered restaurant-consulting services to well-heeled clients and investors throughout Asia, recruiting Michelin-star chefs from Europe. Upon returning to the West Coast, the two split after he allegedly became physically aggressive. “I cancelled my wedding on my wedding day,” Zhang says. “I became who I am today because of that life story.”
Emboldened with confidence, experience, a passion for food and dining, and refined tastes, Zhang is bringing flavours from around the Golden Triangle to Vancouver. Her birthplace, a small Yunnan village, sits at the border of Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. She has fond memories of the “street aunties” who would give her extra treats as she skipped by to and from home.
“They know who you are—who your parents are and who your grandparents are,” Zhang says. “We’re not related, but they’re all my aunties.”
Street Auntie Aperitivo House’s set menu changes weekly.
Zhang built the Street Auntie experience around five different tasting menus, each highlighting a different aspect of Yunnan food culture: Butcher Auntie, Ocean Auntie, Yunnan Auntie, Dim Sum Auntie, and Vegetarian Auntie.
Depending on the menu, you might find items like steamed black cod with house-pickled pepper; sweet and sour pork with Yunnan buckwheat stick; crispy fish skin with duck egg yolk; “street calamari”, marinated in a spicy dressing for 24 hours, twice-fried for extra crispiness, and served with fresh lime; Shanghai noodles with green-onion dressing; or Yunnan ghost chicken with mango, pickled young papaya, sawtooth, lemongrass, chili, and Golden Triangle lime.
Every tasting menu comes with the restaurant’s signature dim sum basket: exquisite, hand-made sea urchin dumpling, scallop avocado har gau, and morel siu mai. (The starter is also included in take-home boxes, which consist of three courses plus dessert for $28.) Dim sum translates as “touch the heart”, Zhang explains, which is what she’s hoping to accomplish not only with this thoughtful touch but throughout the entire experience.
“I want people to have a little bit of everything,” she says, “to make it special.”
She also aims to impart a sense of levity. Take the Van City Special, a dessert that comes with the description “roll your own joint”. Alongside “East Van paper” (rice paper) are chocolate, caramel sauce, popping candy, and smoky mint.
“It’s basically weed without weed,” Zhang says. (The take-home version is a mint-green chocolate lollipop emblazoned with a cannabis leaf.) “When I purchased my restaurant in October, I wanted to do local ingredients with Chinese flavour. I also thought I should do something focused on Vancouver. We cannot travel right now but when I do, wherever I go, I want to eat something local. When people can travel again, I want them to come to my restaurant: this is Vancouver. I want to have some fun.”
Street Auntie Aperitivo House is open daily except Tuesdays; see website for more information.
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