Phnom Penh Restaurant (map, 244 E Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-682-5777) is one of Vancouver’s most praised restaurants by the (very active) local food blogging community.

The blog foodosophy has a really insightful discussion into the nature of the Cambodian/Vietnamese food that is featured at Phnom Penh:

…common to the cuisines is the general presentational philosophy of “fresh” balanced with “savory”. Pho, as an example, will always be presented to the diner with a plateful of herbs and greens as a counterpoint the savoriness of the broth. To indulge the diner further – a wedge of lime of almost always provided to allow for adjustment the sour note. This philosophy lends an appealing “brightness” to the cuisine.

(Read more at their blog by clicking here.)

Most bloggers agree that the “must-order” signature dish at Phnom Penh is the chicken wings. So we ordered them! (See the photo below).

These chicken wings were amazing – remarkable, really – and the reason is that their flavors are multi dimensional. If you enjoy pub food you may find yourself eating piles of wings on certain nights of the week, with a choice of hot, teriyaki, or honey garlic sauce. If you’re used to these style of wings, you’ll soon realize that the wings at Phnom Penh are in a different category altogether.

Prolific food blogger KimHo describes them best on his blog (click here to read his post):

It had some pepper-y and garlic-y flavour at first but, after a moment, other layers of flavours I can’t described started to kick in. And I could stop eating them piece after piece! In the small bowl is a acidic/lemon-y dip which added yet another layer of flavour.

Another one of my favorite dishes to order at Phnom Penh is the traditional Vietnamese gỏi cuốn (Summer Roll), also known as a Salad Roll (also pictured below). I enjoy making these at home – the ingredients are so fresh and I love the combination of the rice paper wrapper with the seafood, vermicelli noodles, vegetables and herbs. Click here to check out a video I made of me and my friends making Vietnamese salad rolls at home.

I’m definitely going back to Phnom Penh to try more of their dishes sometime soon. Hope you enjoy it!

Garlic Chicken Wings from Phnom Penh Vietnamese / Cambodian restaurant in Vancouver BC Canada.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls from Phnom Penh Restaurant in Chinatown, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Wild Rice (web site, map, 117 W. Pender, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-642-288) is a stylish, modern, and upscale restaurant on the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown that serves innovative Chinese cuisine.

Wild Rice is one of the only restaurants in Vancouver with a menu that takes familiar Chinese dishes and re-imagines them in a marvellous fusion between new and old-world Chinese cuisine and high-end Western-style tapas.

40something, a reviewer on DineHere.ca writes (click here to read review):

The decor is polished and dark with mute dark green panel lighting. Wear black my dear! Very Sean Connery turtle neck. BTW The prices reflect the ambiance.

[…] The food was pretty darn good. Like with other outings, we ordered and shared. It was eclectic and all nicely presented, yet seemed more like elaborate tapas then meals. Our service was good (I guess that has changed for the better recently given the older reviews). And our wait staff seemed knowledgeable and attentive enough.

The restaurant is offering a special menu for Dine Out Vancouver 2009. I have copied it from their website and included it below. Vegetarian (vegan) items are indicated with a “v” symbol.

3-COURSE MENU OPTIONS:
available wednesday, january 14 through sunday, february 1, 2009.
please note that, during dine out, our regular a la carte menu will not be available

1st course:
bc side stripe shrimp congee or
hot & sour soup or
wonton soup with pork dumplings

2nd course:
yarrow meadows duck confit on shanghai noodle or
local mushroom & baby bok choy on noodle or
free range kung po chicken on jasmine rice

3rd course:
red bean panna cotta or
seasonal berry dumplings or
tea cup chocolate pudding

$18 per person. optional VQA wine pairings available.

Pictured below are some of the dishes we tried last week. It was a real feast!

Peking style duck pancakes from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. Made with yarrow meadows duck breast, scallion pancakes, and hoisin $18

Spicy kung po chicken with twice cooked peanuts from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. Made with Maple Hill free range chicken, broccoli, and rice noodles $18

Side stripe shrimp congee from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. A modern take on traditional Chinese soup. Made from brown rice $9

Ma po doufu from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. Made with tempura eggplant, chili jam $11

Gai lan (Chinese brocolli) and crisped shallots from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. $7 (side dish)

Local fruit dumplings (dessert) from Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver. Star anise caramel, vanilla doufu ‘ice cream’. $8. The Caramel sauce was stupendous!

I made a visit to the Vancouver Flea Market (web site, map, 703 Terminal Ave. Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604.685.0666) and tried their cafeteria.

In case you haven’t heard of the Vancouver Flea Market before, here’s a little description from their web site:

The Vancouver Flea Market is a thriving environment where all kinds of dealers and sellers propose their treasures. Here you will find all kinds of things from collectibles and memorabilia to everyday household items as well all the things you thought you didn’t need!

The market is a 5 – 10 minute walk from the Main Street Skytrain station. Admission to the market is only 75 cents, and that lets you into the main showroom where you can browse all the tables of endless cool stuff (I picked up a piece of fools gold crystal for $8), and into their busy cafeteria which serves filling, hot American-style food at very low prices.

Speaking of the food, we tried the Traditional Burger (an amazing deal at $3.85, shown in video below) and the T.O.C. Omelette ($4.50, also shown in video below), which was a 3-egg omelette with tomato, onions, cheese, toast, and a small coffee. I opted to get an apple juice instead of the coffee and it only added about 40 cents to the price. The food is quite similar to Denny’s restaurant but is cheaper, and the atmosphere is not as fancy as Denny’s.

I made a video of the dishes, which you can view by clicking here, or use the player below. I’ve also included a photo of the menu below.

Vancouver flea market cafeteria menu