Last Sunday May 25, 2025 we were celebrating Vancouver’s beloved spot prawn season with the Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia. This is their main fundraising event, with the goal of raising money so it can continue to provide education, mentorship, scholarships and sustainability initiatives across the province. The event featured a slew of familiar and popular Vancouver chefs donating their time and services in support of Vancouver’s future culinary scene and the next generation of chefs.
Hosted at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf, where were three ways to enjoy spot prawn. It was free access to the docks with family-friendly activations. There were booths sampling local sauces for spot prawn, educational booths learning about ocean conservation, and spot prawn cooking demos on the main stage.
I didn’t catch most of it, but the list of chefs cooking included Jonah Joffe from Bar Bravo, Welbert Choi of Fresh.Ideas.Start.Here, Ned Bell of Hatch Hospitality, Sean Murray of Pan Pacific Hotel, Amelie Nguyen of Me’s Marketplace by Anh and Chi, and Tyler Uguccioni of Notch8 Restaurant & Bar.
Holy Duck Chilli oil had an eye catching wok frying demo that drew you in. They were offering a sampled taste of any of their sauces, but the best sellers today were their new salted egg yolk chilli and the limited release spot prawn chilli. Both sold out quick, parcelled in their handsome branded packaging.
Me’s Marketplace by Anh & Chi and Good Thief were next door sampling their collection of Vietnamese style sauces in a fish sauce, soy, and chilli. You can have one or all with their vegetarian garden roll.
They enlisted their family’s matriarch to do the filling and rolling of the rolls to be later sliced up and sauced up.
Those dropping in could pick up an 8oz bowl of Prawn Bisque with vegetables and 2 spot prawns, plus a fresh baked bun; to eat now or to go for $10. Instead of the traditional chowder, they were are offering this creamy delicious bisque prepared by Organic Ocean. It was a lovely silken soup, although less desirable in the hot and sunnier weather.
For those looking for something more substantial. Rosie’s BBQ and foodtruck were on location with their whole smoked tow operation. They had all their usual barbecued meats and fixings, plus a limited edition grilled spot prawn dish, done on the Japanese hibachi grill.
The main event was definitely the Spot Prawn Brunch at $79 a ticket. This was a grazing, stand-up style tasting menu of 6 delicious spot prawn dishes and 5 samples of alcoholic beverages.
The latter included Seaside Cider, Wize vodka sodas, and a collection of Okanagan wines. All drink samples got poured into a plastic cup in exchange for one of the 5 drink tickets each person was given.
The dishes were prepared by some of BC’s finest chefs and their teams. This was a nice way to sample various creations, while meeting the faces behind Vancouver’s culinary scene. Two services were available and the participating chefs and restaurants were split between a 11:30am-1pm service and an 1:30-3pm service; with no way to know before hand which of the following was when. You worked your way through the sectioned off area, exchanging checks for spot prawn dishes.
The following is a list of the chefs and their respective restaurant. The ones we tried will have notes following.
Adam Middleton, ARC Restaurant & Bar
Antonio Martin of Haven Kitchen + Bar with Spot Prawn Palabok. Poached BC Spot Prawn, Filipino Rice Noodles, Pork & Shrimp Sauce, Chicharron, Scallions, andCured Quail Egg. From the looks alone, I had high hopes for this, unfortunately did find it bland. The texture was nice with the crunchy Chicharron sprinkles, and the quail egg had enough salt to carry the bite that it was in. This just wasn’t rich and flavourful as I know Filipino cuisine to be. Not to mention the spot prawn didn’t really make a ripple in this.
Ben Kiely, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
Bobby Milheron of Wentworth Hospitality representing Tableau Bistro, Homer St. Café & Bar, and Maxine’s with Butter Poached BC spot Prawns, Creamy Polenta, Pepperoni Soffritto, and Serrano Chilli. This was the most complete dish, the closest to eating like a full meal with the filling polenta and crispy and spicy bits to contrast the sweetness of the spot prawn.
Felix Zhou of Personas Patio + Restaurant + Lounge with Marinated BC Spot Prawns, Charred Cucumber, Green Chilli Oil, and Crispy Prawn Torta. Served with Prawn Chiffon Cake. I was most intrigued by the latter, but sadly did not get much prawn flavour from the small bite. I was imagining it savoury like a cornbread to better pair with the main. This was more sweet. This was one where I enjoyed the broth solo, aside from the spot prawn. It did enough to accent the prawn, but majority of the liquid was better left as a chase.
Hiran Perera of The Barley Merchant Taphouse with a Thai Lemongrass Coconut Curry, with BC Spot Prawns and Locally Grown Oyster Mushrooms. This was thin and fragrant curry that highlighted the spot prawn with its citrus notes.
Ian Ulep, Bacaro
Jiwon Se, Dachi
Johnny Jang of the Lift Bar and Grill with a Spot Prawn Bagel Bite. This did well to highlight the sweetness of the spot prawn in a cream dressing amongst a bed of slaw and an extra crispy bagel.
Jon Lee, Good Thief,
Kevin Ao of Bon Moment Event Catering came with dessert. Sadly, the only dessert did not have any spot prawns in it, which I feel was a missed opportunity to get really creative. However, we did it think their Tiramisu Tartelete was pretty good made with Marsala Sabayon, Espresso Lady Finger, Mascarpone, and Coffee Tartelete. To our surprise and delight, the centre of this was frozen and cold on the teeth, like biting into ice cream. It had a wonderful coffee Flavour with a crunchy base. I am typically not a fan of tiramisu for its texture, but this round solved all my concerns in two bites.
Lina Caschetto, Say Hey Cafe,
Robert Lee, Glowbal,
Steve Kuan of Torafuku prepared a Spot Prawn Tom Kha. This was similar to the lemongrass curry above, but more refreshing like ceviche, as a coconut lemongrass broth. I enjoyed the prawn and broth separately as two individual dishes, as to not overpower the prawns, but still allowing the seasonings to mingle.
And since we were already on the docks, where the fishing boats come in to sell spot prawns this season, many of us (myself included) walked home with a bag for fresh, still twitching spot prawns.
I wanted to eat them fresh sashimi style, but was too weary of killing them and feeling their bodies in rigour within my hands. Instead, I enlisted friends to help in the beheading.
The rest of my catch, I would take home and prepare a 3 course dinner for one with. Definitely a successful day of spot prawns.
