Today I was at the newer Handson, on the West End. During my visit, they had recently rebranded from a steak restaurant under the name “Handson Steak and Frites” to “On The Other Hand”, a contemporary restaurant with a seasonal tasting menu, serving small-plates.
My friend Shelley has been recently for a brief tasting and wanted to bring me back now for my birthday. It is worth noting that at the time of this posting it has been over three months since this visit and there is a great likelihood that this menu has since flipped.
They are a small space and without reservations we took the only table available in the corner. The table was sandwiched by the glass entrance and the open kitchen. This was summer and with the season’s heat, the temperature of the kitchen, and lack of air conditioning we were worried about over heating. So were given two fan towers to help. Our seats at least gave us a view of the kitchen operations and some of the unique techniques employed by the solo Chef behind it.
Navigating the menu was distracting with all its coloured strokes, scribbles, and miscellaneous symbols. It was like the menu was printed on a page used to test out colours from a crayon pack. It had my ADHD flaring up.
I was skeptical and not willing to commit to two full tasting menus for myself and my guest. Especially as she was treating me and I was worried that I wouldn’t like it at $78 per person. Especially as the dishes weren’t interchangeable and most of it read like small plates and salads.
Although in hindsight this would be a mistake as we did like what we shared enough, there wasn’t enough food, everything was pricier à la carte, and we basically ordered the entire tasting me. Sadly, I wasn’t able to add on a tasting menu for one after the fact.
Our meal started with the Daily Amuse Bouche, which was tomato two ways, on this day. One fresh and the other confit, both delicately balanced on a single bite spoon. You are advised to eat the fresh one first and suck on the stem to change the taste of the other, after. I love tomatoes so this was a win for me.
As I mentioned above, we ended up ordering what we liked the sounds of, off of the tasting menu, but à la carte.
Our favourite dish and the one we doubled up on was the grilled oysters. They came in a set of three, so having six total gave us a delicious three each. Each served in shell with a pickled chilie cream and smoky tallow.
This is prepared with a special medieval tool that is essentially a cast-iron funnel that is constantly kept on heat. It is used to pour tallow over the oysters and set them a flame for the grilling. It was quite the spectacle with sparks flying. And as exciting as it was tasty, with a layer of almost soupy broth you get to sip and relish.
I was surprised by how much I liked the chard snap pea. This was served like dip you just scoop and eat with mussels, fennel, and a pea velouté. I loved how clean and refreshing this was. Usually you don’t get to taste the mussels. More often than not they are prepared with wine and hidden in a heavy garlic broth. Therefore, I have never had it like this before. This was a mix of great textures and tastes with crispy peas and a savoury sauce.
At $38 the pork jowl and coppa didn’t look like enough food, with cabbage, white kimchi, and black garlic. The purple cabbage was interesting. As for the port it was tender, fatty, and salty; just not enough.
Similarly the Rootdown chicken was $32 a plate, but with more food on it. This was done balloutine style with chicken jus, lettuce, tarragon. It ate lean like a loaf or chicken ball.
Overall unremarkable as is, we paired it with some natural wine to create contrast and interest. The wine had sediment with plum-prune notes that reminded me of fig newtons.
The single lettuce leaf on the side was lacto-fermented. This is the same powder you put on kimchi, and it gave it a seaweed-like umami. This too was on the salty side, like most of everything. I did enjoy its crunchy texture, like that of a chip.
The late summer orchard dessert was haskap ice cream, late summer fruit compote, hazelnut dacquoise, and amaretto mousse. It was like panna cotta made into an ice cream split. Refreshing, earthy and tart.
For cocktails I tried the “Don’t Tell Anyone”. This was a milk washed vodka with ginger, honey, and nori cream. I liked the pageantry of the honey combo that sweetened the drink and the actual sheets of seaweed that gave it some umami notes. Easy drinking as it balanced both savoury and sweet.
In short, this was an interesting meal, a little in the pricy side, so not one I would visit if hungry, but more if feeling curious and wanting to try something new.
By Handson
847 Denman St, Vancouver, BC V6G 2L7
(672) 258-0088
handsonyvr.ca
