Tonight we were getting a sneak peek at Rosie’s BBQ Smokehouse and catering’s latest venture. They are collaborating with local dumpling guru Dicky’s Dumps for a lunar new year special bringing east and west together in 3 tempting dishes, all featuring dumplings and beef brisket.
You can try the following creations during the month of February, every Saturday at 4 different pop up locations around town.
February 3rd at Batch
February 10th at Dalina on Main
February 17th at Parkside Brewery
February 24th at Ace Moto Show
The following 3 limited time only dishes are made with all local ingredients, from the combined minds of Carl from Rosie’s and Dickson & Pearl from Dicky’s.
The first is inspired by their unanimous love of poutine, and the goal to mock up a crispy tater tot-like one. However instead of fries, the base is Dicky’s pork and chives dumplings panfried for a crispy wrapper. This is topped with Rosie’s popular 4am brisket burnt ends with their caramelized crunch. The over charred flavour of the meat is somewhat tempered by the coarsely chopped green onions. And the lot of it is finished off with a drizzle of cashew crunch chilli oil.
This too is made locally, in small batches. I have tried many chilli oils, but never one with cashews. The nuts make the mix extra crunchy, while adding a meatiness to any dish. Out of the 3 dishes, this was my favourite and the one I recommend.
The next dish was a smoked egg ramen. Done with an in-house chicken, carrot, and ginger stock. Made from scratch, loving for over 10 hours. The broth and noodles are purposefully prepared light to highlight the more potent toppings, like the smoked egg prepared in beef tallow. Once again pork and chives dumplings and barbecue smoked brisket make an appearance here. Here, the slightly burnt taste that worked above overpowered the soup and the noodle. The brisket looked amazing, but was a little too tough when compared to the other ingredients softened by the soup. This left me looking for something crispy to crunch on, and this is where the cashew chilli crunch came in play again.
The memorable note in this dish is the brisket drip, excess meat juices added in for additional flavour. I just could have used more of it and for it to come with a thicker broth. I would have liked this more like ramen, and less like a clear noodle soup. The broth needed more seasoning or at least some salt to keep up with all the individually punchy flavours. I personally would have added hoisin sauce and some Maggi soy to give it some depth.
The brisket above is the same in the dry noodle dish below. Left in larger slabs for a great presentation, but hard to eat with chopsticks alone. A fork and knife would have been better suited for all the meat that you get. And they are generous.
Dish number 3 is their take on a surf and turf platter featuring Dicky’s shrimp and scallop dumpling, which happens to be my new favourite “dump”. They are like shrimp and scallop dim sum, but instead of a crystal wrap they use the traditional chewy skin and included a whole scallop. This was delicious as is, and didn’t necessary jibe with anything else on the plate. I had it more like a palate refresher, and enjoyed the brisket and bouncy beef rendered noodles together with the umami shiitake mushrooms instead. Here, the noodles could have used some salt too, but once again the strategy is to have them as a base and to highlight all the flavours of the main ingredients instead. And knowing the locales of the upcoming pop ups, such a meal would pair well with a light beer. Whereas something more pungent may not. This is the plate you order the morning after drinking, as a nice greasy stomach coated. I just would have liked to see a fried egg on it.
I love the creativity of this collaboration, exercising the ability to bring two delicious things together and knowing it can’t go wrong. Once again try them before their limited release run is done. Additional details and locations in the link below.
