I have been hearing the buzz surrounding this new trendy cafe that serves caffeinated beverages and artisan doughnuts, alongside premium cocktails and fried chicken. Pretty much everything Vancouver’s food and drink scene is craving in this era.
The location is spacious, taking up home from the last Vancouver Moxie location standing. The setting was pretty funky with metallic furniture, a hype shop, and a unique way to display their doughnuts. Said doughnuts were sticky and drippy, resting on chrome podiums set at various heights. Each with their descriptive name written in balloon letters before it. This certainly drew in your attention.
This made them easier to choose from, basing your choice on looks alone. We read them all and then went for the most unique, which was also the only savoury doughnut. The Pork Belly included chunks of caramelized pork meat in the place of sprinkles, sitting over a layer of toffee caramel and a dusting of sweet pork floss. The sugars were buttery like butterscotch, rich, but somewhat tempered by the meaty bites. The dough of the doughnut itself was merely a simple receptacle for all this flavour. Albeit an interesting take, but still a little too sweet for my tastes.
We also got one of their fried chicken sandwiches, my guest can’t take spicy so we avoided the hot honey one and went for the only other, The Tarragon one instead. This had an herbaceous rub over juicy chicken. It overpowered and left me wanting gravy, as something to wick away most of tarragon that was double downed on and also found in the tarragon ranch sauce. As such the pickled apple & fennel and green garlic didn’t help much and only added to the one toned taste as it followed in the same vein. It was all too bright, tangy, and high in acid and needed something rich and umami to balance things out. The buttery caramel above would have been helpful here, if not the gravy I wanted. I also prefer the dough of the doughnut over the bun, so thought it would be nice to have both together as a doughnut chicken sandwich. I essentially built it myself on my plate.
And for drinks we tried their Strawberry shisho Negroni. At $17 a glass we couldn’t be certain that it contained any alcohol. It was too smooth and there were no bottles behind the bar to mix this with. And when we thought to ask, we couldn’t get the attention from any of the staff, this is despite there being several. They disappeared from behind the counters and were busier seeing to tasks. But I digress, the cocktail was strong with the distinct flavour of shiso, but none of the fruity strawberry. It didn’t read like a negroni with any bitter notes, but more like a bold face tea. It did pair well with the above, acting as a breath of fresh air in between bites.
In short, I think the buzz and continuous lines raised my expectations too much. I appreciated the creativity and the attempt to bring something new to the scene. The food was good, but I have my favourite spots for both doughnuts and fried chicken elsewhere, and this didn’t come close, even with the convenience of having both under one roof.
BAM BAM
160 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6B 4P4
frombambam.com
