Thanksgiving feasts in Vancouver fuse flavours, bridge cultures
Plus: Stir’s curated list of extra-special food and drink on offer this holiday weekend
Sun Sui Wah offers its inaugural Thanksgiving feast this year. Photo by Leila Kwok
WEI WEN HUANG, better known as chef Man, grew up in Guangzhou, where he traded his electrician’s toolbelt for kitchen knives. Here in Vancouver, he’s the newly appointed executive chef at Sun Sui Wah . There, he’s combining Chinese and Canadian cultures, with his Thanksgiving menu—the restaurant’s first—illustrating his approach to cross-cultural culinary arts.
“Sun Sui Wah has been a household favourite in the Chinese community for decades,” Man says. “Now with the diverse integration of cultures and generations here in Vancouver, we want to be supportive of not only Chinese norms but also the cultural mix of East and West. And quite frankly, we just miss enjoying meals with our extended family. So in honour of inclusivity, health, and family, we are offering our first-ever Thanksgiving menu.
“Food is an integral part of Chinese culture especially during holidays,” he adds. “We have a Chinese saying that asserts that ‘food is the most important to the people,’ just like many other parts in the world. Cantonese people really stress the importance of food and its quality and source. This meal is an opportunity for people and families to celebrate, to finally get together again and enjoy each other's company, something we have all missed very dearly these past 18 months.”
And so, Sun Sui Wah’s celebratory meal for four, six, or 10 people is meant for sharing, family-style. Just don’t expect any turkey.
Rather, there’s double-boiled squab with gastrodia elata soup (made with the Chinese herb), Rainbow shredded live geoduck with preserved and fresh vegetables, Eight Treasure braised duck, pan-fried fresh lobster and egg noodles with premium soya sauce, braised morels with abalone and fish maw, spicy fish fillet with Sichuan pepper oil, fried rice with scallop and spices, and more.
“I have always preferred duck or chicken over turkey and feel that this year, we want to offer something to those who feel the same,” Man says. “Menu items were chosen based on our expertise in seafood here as well as to cater to Chinese taste buds while featuring some items of delicacy.”
Consider the aforementioned squab, which has achieved cult status in Vancouver.
“It’s a secret recipe that originated in Hong Kong and has been passed along to this day,” Man says. “The squab is perfectly prepared with a perfect crisp on the outside with a juicy and rich flavour on the inside.”
Bluebird Cakery’s apple pumpkin spice cake.
Also on the table…
Other local restaurants are prepping special meals and dishes for Thanksgiving. Here’s Stir’s curated list of local holiday food and drink highlights:
Maenam puts a Thai twist on Thanksgiving with turkey tom kha coconut soup, turkey roulade with gola curry, and pumpkin mor kaeng custard with cranberry compote, among other items. Potluck Hawker Eatery’s Potluck Harvest Fried Chicken Meal Set comes with chef-owner Justin Cheung’s coconut-milk fried chicken: the local bird is brined in coconut milk and spices, fried, and served whole with a variety of Southeast Asian “fixings”, plus the Dessert Club by Sam Shem’s pumpkin-spice ice-box cake. Juke Fried Chicken brings back its crazily popular Turducken Meal Kit, complete with leek and sausage stuffing, Brussels sprouts with bacon jam, and jalapeno cornbread wit honey-thyme whipped schmaltz, among other dishes. Rosie’s BBQ and Smokehouse is hosting Vancouver’s first-ever Southern-style turkey fry at Strange Fellows Brewing (October 9 and 10). You’ll find whole deep-fried turkeys alongside other items like turducken, whole briskets, country hams, and more.
Among the options (aside from turkey) at the Victor is a resplendent vegetarian dish of roasted squash and burrata risotto. Non-meat eaters will also love the vegan beet wellington that’s among the choices at the Lazy Gourmet, the dish served with mushroom duxelle and spinach-tahini dressing.
Ancora Ambleside’s Otoño Naranja cocktail.
Straight and Marrow bar manager Chad Rivard is featuring a special cocktail: the Autumn Shower Sour has five-spice infused brandy, pumpkin seed orgeat, absinthe, unsweetened cranberry juice, and charred egg whites. The spicy Otoño Naranja cocktail by Ancora Waterfront Dining and Bistro—Ambleside lead bartender Katie Slacks features Woodford reserve bourbon, Kraken black spiced rum, Pierre Ferrand dry curacao and crabapple bitters. For $18, this cocktail will be the beverage to tie the autumnal Thanksgiving celebrations together.
Thomas Haas gets the airbrush out.
For dessert, we love Thomas Haas’s pumpkin airbrushed with cocoa butter and filled with truffles. As part of Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar’s Thanksgiving To-Go package, pastry chef Kenta Takahashi has prepared an elegant pumpkin tart with vanilla Chantilly, milk chocolate, and spiced ice cream. On the Drive, the Bench Bakehouse makes a lovely, buttery classic pumpkin pie. Then there’s Bluebird Cakery’s apple pumpkin spice cake: it has layers of vanilla cake with pumpkin spiced pastry cream, apple compote, graham cracker crunch, and cinnamon cream-cheese frosting. The wife-and-husband team of Faith and Elin Aure started the cake shop in 2012 and have been rocking ever since. They also make several types of Cake in a Jar, with Thanksgiving flavours including the seasonal caramel apple pie: vanilla cake, cinnamon apple compote, signature salted caramel, graham cracker crunch, vanilla buttercream, and caramel drizzle.
The Bench Bakehouse’s pumpkin pie.
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