Tonight we were visiting Hotel Belmont for their latest Popup. After seeing great success from their basement Ice Cave Popup earlier in the year, they have now expanded their Popup concept with more tables and a larger menu, moving into the main floor hotel bar and restaurant, The Living Room.
This is Chop Suey Chow Club, a one month long Kitchen Takeover by Chef Will Lew & Chef Sharon of MAMAintheKitchen. This will be running for the month of July, Wednesday to Sunday from 4PM – late.
This is intended as a love letter and “heartfelt tribute to the vibrant food culture of Chinatown, a celebration of legacy, family, and the flavours that connect us all.” (As quoted from the press release). This is a great Popup theme, considering there isn’t another Chinese restaurant in the area to compete with.
“For Chef Will Lew, the project is a tribute to his grandfather, the culinary chef of the iconic Ho Ho & Ho Ho Inn, a legendary Chinatown restaurant that helped define Vancouver’s Chinese-Canadian dining scene in the 1960s.” For Chef Sharon she “brings her own roots to the table. Her family ran one of the first Hong Kong-style cafés and restaurant chains in Shanghai and Atlanta, Georgia during the 1990s, pioneering a hybrid comfort cuisine that shaped her culinary identity. Together, they cook with memory, culture, and soul, creating dishes that reflect generations of culinary history with bold, contemporary storytelling.”
For those unfamiliar “Chop Suey” is more than just a dish. It is a term that emerged in the late 1800s, “born from Chinese immigrants who adapted Cantonese-style stir-fries using local ingredients, creating something both familiar and entirely new. Meant to be shared, it became a symbol of resilience, innovation, and connection, the backbone of many Chinatown menus across North America.”
The same can be said of the menu we would be trying today. At the Chop Suey Chow Club, our aforementioned chefs revive this spirit through modern interpretations of nostalgic dishes, intended to be “rich in flavour and layered with story”.
Although, when playing on childhood memories through food, things may get troublesome. We all have our favourite versions of many of these historic Chinese dishes. Scents attached to feeling and memories born from tastes.
Understandably, this is the “Chop Suey Chow Club’s interpretation on things. However, many of these dishes are quintessential of Chinese cuisine. For those who grew up with these flavours (like I did), we can’t help but to compare and reflect on how it was prepared in our families and at our favourite restaurants. Therefore, some of it left me wondering with a tickle, but not quite landing or hitting the spot.
I would advise having soy, chilli, white pepper, and vinegar at each table for each person to customize their dishes to their specific tastes and memory of it. It is not to say the food isn’t good as is, but if you already have a different expectation of it coming in, how can it compete.
The space has been dressed up with vintage signs and glowing neon, little nods to the theme. From a MAMAintheKitchen branded booth where live DJs will be spinning on the weekends, to bird cages suspended over the bar, and display table decorated with bamboo steamers and disposable wooden chopsticks in sleeves. I enjoyed my seat by the majority of it, but still wanted things more immerse, to feel transported in the space like I did with the Ice Cave.
We started with cocktails, created to reflect the cuisine, but not necessarily paired well with it. The list included familiar Asian flavours and popular ingredients like persimmon, lychee, taro, and pandan.
The Taro Milk is Chrysanthemum Infused Gin, Taro, and Coconut Milk. Mostly coconut in flavour, I would have used rum instead of gin to remove the floral notes and make this more like a dessert, given the popularity of coconut milk in Asian desserts. As is I didn’t taste any of the intended florals and found it flat and one toned with milk.
The Pandan Drift gave me everything I wanted above in this mix of White Rum, Pandan, Lime Juice, and Egg White. The flavours evolve the more you sip. From a lemonade’s sour and tart prickle to start, that transitions into fragrant pandan, then finishes with a taste that reminded me of Malaysian kueh. I found this one the most interesting of the cocktails that I tried.
I ordered the spicy margarita for name alone, the “Ma Fan Marg” with Szechuan Chili Infused Tequila, Calamansi, Lime Juice, and Agave. The drink was advertised as getting its spice from Szechuan Chili, but I couldn’t tell the difference between it and jalapeño. I would have liked some numbing peppercorn to be able to feel it.
Overall, the drink menu was fun, but I would have liked to see spiked Asian desserts given the above flavours and mixes. Plus cocktails that utilized tea, like you would normally have with such a meal below. This apposed to western-style floral and green driven botanical beverages we had today.
As for food, we would try a good chunk of their menu, as recommended by “MAMA”. Many of the dishes feature her line of
Hong Kong inspired sauces, all made locally in BC. For clear identification, I have managed to photograph the dish with the corresponding jar use.
We started with the classic prawns and pork dumplings made their way with MAMAintheKitchen XO sauce, Mushrooms, Scallions, and Chili Threads. A little flat as is, the addition of the threads gave heat, and the XO sauce its flavour. I just would have liked more of the latter, plus some soy for salt and chilli sauce to have it like how I do during dim sum.
These were crispy and crunchy vegetarian spring rolls with vegetables and a mandarin plum glaze dip. They tasted exactly how I expected them too, and I have no complainants.
You can always tell when it is a Chef Will Lew dish with his use of edible flowers to juxtapose heavier flavours like with this Honey Garlic Pork Belly with Sour Plum, Spiced Chicharrons, Chili Crmch, and Micro Cilantro. This was my favourite dish of the night. It had plenty of flavour and didn’t need any of the condiments I mentioned above. This was its own dish and I couldn’t compare it to anything.
I also liked the XO Prosciutto Truffle Fried Rice with Prawns, Wild Pink Scallops, Chinese Sausage, Eggs, Scallions, and Celtuse. We all have tried fried rice, yet once again this was its own dish elevated like this. Their version had full scallops and strips of prosciutto, intermingled with the more common sausage and egg combination. You even got some wok hay from a wok cook, not the gristle street kitchen style, but clean and uniform as per Chef Will’s style.
My third favourite dish was another of Chef Will’s. This was his take on BBQ Pork Char siu with a Honey Rose Petal Glaze, Sweet Soy, and Cilantro. Each slice of meat intended fatty and succulent. The sweetness enrobing the meat, candying it; and I found myself popping whole pieces into my mouth as easily as I would candy.
The Crab Egg Foo Young was a great side to balance out all the flavours, adding a breath of fresh air. HK Street Food Curry, Bean Sprouts, Red Onions, Scallions, and Oyster Sauce Gravy. The omelette was fluffy and light, with a flavour to match: mild with MAMAintheKitchen’s curry. I liked the contrast of textures from the crisp beansprouts and the gel-like middle of the omelette. I just could have used more salt and pepper for my tastes.
I liked the perfectly prepared crispy noodles in their Chow Mein, but found the flavours flat with just mushroom in one texture and tone, this is despite the variety of fungi foraged. Ironically, I found that there was no variety in the topping. Here the Char siu above made a great add on. Morels, Chanterelles, Maitake, Beech, Cloud Fungus, Shitake, Ginger, Scallions, and Fried Shallots. I wanted a break with some freshness from carrot or broccoli, but most of all some acidity. Here, I asked for some chilli sauce or chilli crunch on the side and got both. Both gave me the plate I wanted and with both I enjoyed this fully.
In conclusion this is such a fun idea with great food and playful drinks, but only the tip of the ice berg in terms of what this cooking duo is working on. Expect more from them to highlight heritage and give back to the community. This includes revamping the food menu at a Richmond hospital. Bringing healthy home style Asian-Chinese to the cafeteria, to heal through food and the memories food provides.
I have been a long time fan and supporter of Chef William Lew and am glad I finally met Sharon of MAMAintheKitchen, to be able to put a face to the brand and see the spirit and energy of her products and cooking in person. I will continue to keep and eye out on what these two do, to be able to report on it here for everyone to share and enjoy.
The Living Room
Hotel Belmont Vancouver
654 Nelson St, Vancouver, BC V6B 6K4
(604) 605-4333
hotelbelmont.ca
