Today we were at the media opening of House of Dawn, Richmond’s newest upscale-casual Asian fusion restaurant, located by Landsdowne station.
Dressed like a fine dining restaurant, but marketed like a causal dining spot, similar to Cactus Club, but focused on global flavours with an Asian-inspired twist.
The entire general dining area was closed out for media, and they even had an MC narrating the night. Assigned seating with small groups on tables and larger ones surrounding them in booths.
We started with cocktails at the foyer bar. Their selection included classic mixed and a curated collection that included the use of popular Asian inspired ingredients like yuzu, jasmine, and soju.
The Lulu Breeze Margarita was eye catching in blue. Tequila, Blue Curaçao, lime juice, passionfruit juice, and yuzu syrup. I didn’t actually get to try this one, so can’t tell you about it.
I also didn’t get to try the Bourbon Black Peach Tea either. Bourbon infused peach tea, peach Soju, lemon juice, and house iced tea.
The Moonlight Matinee is Matsui gin, Chambord, Miraculous Foamer, lemon juice, and jasmine syrup. The most popular order of the night, this was floral, foamy, and on the sweeter side.
I enjoyed the Sensibility Grapefruit with gin, falernum syrup, grapefruit juice, and St. Germain Elderflower. It was refreshingly citrus forward with a lychee after taste, and it went well with food.
They also had non-alcoholic options and I appreciated the fun they poked at the “No Fun Mai Tai” with orgeat syrup, pineapple juice, lime juice, and ginger ale.
However I found the Phantom Creek wine a better pairing with our three course dinner below. We were invited to preorder our dishes and between our table of 4, we shared everything so that we could try everything.
As guests grabbed their drinks from the one man bar and settled in to their seats, servers brought around deep fried shrimp spring rolls topped with kewpie mayo, seaweed, and tobiko. These were crispy and delicious and gave me great hope for the meal to come.
For our first course, one of the options was the Tuna Tartare with fruit, tuna, avocado, arugula, and wonton chips. Formed in a tower that you gouge into with the chips. It was extremely light and lean, like a salad, even with the oily chip as base.
The House of Dawn Mussels with Chilli Mirin Sauce were mussels, ginger, garlic, cilantro, shallot, fermented chilli, Shaoxing wine, cilantro, garlic bread, and mirin sauce. The teaser of Thai chilli was nice, but the mussels were over cooked and rubbery; and I didn’t get any of the would-be warm and fragrant wine that would have given the dish some needed depth.
The winner between the 3 appetizers was the House of Dawn Celebration Salad, which caught the table by surprise. A crunchy and satisfying mix of julienned daikon, carrot, chayote, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, crispy taro, peanut, crispy shallot, and sesame seeds; all dressed in a ginger plum vinaigrette. It reminded me of papaya salad but much more tangy with levels to its flavour. A lot as a dish for one, but great as a bite here and there that we went back for.
For entrees we tried them all except the vegan option of the Buddha Soba Noodle Bowl with cucumber, carrot, tamago, scallion, peanut, Japanese soba noodles, and house sesame sauce. In hindsight, given how great the vegan salad was, this might have been the best choice.
The Smoked Soy-Glazed Sablefish included rice, edamame, sun-dried tomatoes, scallion, and genmaicha dashi broth. It was buttery fish in a gentle and fragrant broth along side crispy rice that was a ticking time clock. I would have liked the broth served on the side and maybe self poured or done so at the table, to give more time for the rice to remain crispy. When allowed to grow soggy, the rice had a similar texture to the melty fish, leaving the dish without a needed textural contrast. I liked the flavour enough, but wished more of the genmaicha came through to give this its own personality.
The Salted Egg Yolk Shrimp Spaghetti sounded promising, but didn’t quite deliver. Salted egg yolk sauce, spaghetti, shrimp, corn, cherry tomato, and tobiko. On the dry and hard side, I would have liked a saucier noodle. This needed some lime for acidity. The menu listed tobiko as an ingredient, but there was none present, had there been, it would have helped with the need for acid. I found the corn didn’t jibe well, and would have like more tomato for freshness, or something pickled on the side. This was a good start with a good amount of salted egg yolk flavour, but it needed to be refined for a less chalky and gritty finish on the teeth.
The Chargrilled Flat Iron was the one to get. A 8oz flat iron steak with mashed potato, broccolini, and miso sauce on the side. A classic steak with Asian influence. It was prepared well, but not unlike anything I haven’t had else where.
Dessert felt more aligned with the setting, but was disjointed from the rest of the menu. Your choice was between an overly heavy dessert or an incredibly gentle one, whereas I wanted something landing in between.
The menu described this as “Classic Ube Light Cheesecake”, but it was neither classic or light. An eye catching dessert with raspberry gel, browned butter feuilletine, and ube chantilly. However, it was so dense with no space to breathe in between bites. The cheesecake in itself was rich as is, then layering on cream, this was overwhelming with barely enough raspberry to help cut into it. I also didn’t find that it meshed all that well with the distinct flavour of ube. The crispy cornflakes did help, and was probably my favourite part of the dish, but there wasn’t enough of it. A layer of plain sponge and less cheese would have been beneficial, as is it was dessert that was as heavy as an entree. However, compared to the other dessert option, it at least had flavour.
The Jasmine Panna Cotta sounded lovely on paper and would have been a nice end to a heavier meal, but it lacked character. A bland gelatine that you basically ate for its texture, despite what the menu described. It sounded like a lovely palate cleanser when I ordered it. Ginger osmanthus jelly, citrus gel, and honey orange tuile. The gold leaf was a nice touch and it did add to its lustre, that its taste lacked.
In truth, the best part of this visit was taking in the stunning decor, especially the white ginkgo leaf light fixtures that carried into all their private rooms and accumulated in their shared gender washroom with its black and white forest back splash.
I could not help but compared the food to the setting and therefore it all fell short. The decor built the stage and what was served fell short of that. It appears that more money and resources were poured into aesthetics, as opposed to flushing out the fine dining concept that would have married well with the space. The causal menu direction didn’t fit the decor or the name of the restaurant. I suspect they will have to rebrand for the concepts to align, but in the meanwhile am curious to see what that grow into, seeing as the pastry chef who was at this event is no longer part of the team and there is so much seating space there is to fill.
House of Dawn 曉公館
130-8171 Ackroyd Rd, Richmond, BC, V6X 3J9
(604) 284-5038
houseofdawn.ca
