back at Zarak

Conrad had to miss Chris and Allister's wedding this past summer, so we decided we would celebrate it again with a meal together when we were in town last week.  The timing was fortuitous:  Chris had a birthday just days ahead, and Van had had his birthday just days before.  Add in Marie, and we had the makings of a good dinner out.

Zarak has become my new ViJ's when I come to Vancouver - a place that I like to go to because the food and drink are good, they're interesting, they excite me.  I mean, the menu

hasn't changed substantively in the few times I've been there now, not really, and yet, I can't wait to go back.  Any excuse.  So go back we did.  Hooray!

Cocktails were up first.  This past summer it was Marie having the smoked negroni, but that night it was Chris. 

Quite a show!  I went with the clarified mango martini,

something I was a little dubious on until the waiter persuaded me, but which proved to be not as sweet as feared.  I liked it a lot, in fact, and if it wasn't for Conrad wanting a bottle of wine, I would have stuck with it.

And then on to food.  I didn't photograph it all.  We also didn't do what we did last time with the "feed me" option on the menu, good as that was.  We kept it under control and enjoyed several dishes.  Mantu - beef-filled dumplings - were up first,

then came our US Thanksgiving nod:  buttermilk fried chicken. 

I wish we had had more of that one.  Among the other things were the Uzbeki palaw

and the beef cheek. 

It was all excellent.

Dessert was essentially one of everything with an extra trifle-like dessert thrown in along with candles. 

We each tasted the others but mostly stuck to our own, so it was the deconstructed baklava for me. 

A terrific choice.

But the night was good because we had a great group of six of us enjoying food and conversation together. 

And that is why I want to go back again - to enjoy a group of us enjoying such tasty food and each other's company.  In 2026 I will for sure! 

55

I've put a little distance between my actual birthday and posting an entry about it, and then my irregular habits at blogging took over.  But let's dial back to the Vancouver trip last month before the next Vancouver trip (tomorrow!) takes place.  How about it?

So, yeah, 55.  I'm ambivalent about it.  I still have this notion of myself as young and not fully baked yet, that I'm not a grown up.  I'll be with other people and have this feeling like I am the most immature one there.  So the idea that I am half way between 50 and 60 is just such an odd notion to me.  And it's not really a milestone either:  it ends in 5, and until I hit 75, no birthday that ends in 5 really matters that much.  So it was a just a birthday, it included a drive from Vernon to Vancouver, and it included a very nice dinner with Conrad, Van, Marie, Courtney, and Robert.  So let's not focus on the 5 at the end of the date but on the meal itself.

Zarak by Afghan Kitchen was my choice for birthday meal. 

I'd enjoyed my first time there, and I thought the others would as well.  It did not disappoint.

Cocktails first.  Oh, the cocktails.  I think I liked Van's Peanut Butter Manhattan most of all, but I was absolutely happy with my Band-e-Amir, a gin-based drink that went down easily. 

Of course, Marie's cocktail, the Dr. Damji's Negroni, was the showstopper. 

A smoked drink presented in a cloche, I am sure everyone around us watched the presentation.

The menu at Zarak has an option that is simply "Let us cook for you".  It wasn't a difficult sell.  We happily went along with it.  And we dined very very well, both in quantity and quality.  I don't think I captured everything we had on camera, but here's what I did get:

Chilled eggplant dip with naan.  A nice, light starter.

Buttermilk fried chicken.  I would order multiple of these if I could.  Yum!

Mantu - beef dumplings that were good and hearty.

Spiced cabbage dumplings.  The only spicy/hot thing we had, and too much for Van.  I loved them - I am such a fan of cabbage - and I delighted in how they set me aglow with a sheen of perspiration.

Slow cooked lamb shoulder.  I think everyone was slowing down by this point (there were at least two dishes I didn't photograph), and maybe not everyone loves lamb like I do.  So tender!

The were three desserts for us, one with a nice message and candle. 

As much as I love Zarak, I wish they could tweak their desserts a little.  The vegan chocolate mousse is alright but feels out of place,

and the tres leches cake also seems like it shouldn't be on an Afghani menu (or maybe not by that name).  I do like the gelato dish, though.

We enjoyed a couple of bottles of a BC red along with dinner, and I can't fully recall, but maybe even some dessert wine for one or two of us.  All in all, a wonderful meal that left us very very full.  The walk the next morning was badly needed! 

three Vancouver meals with friends

(and let me pause before launching into this to say that, with this post, I will essentially have caught up on the backlog of travel and dining and more)

(and let me also say, Peter: it's about bloody time!)

Anyone who has even casually skimmed this blog would know that I like to eat well and drink well.  Our brief visit to Vancouver afforded us opportunities to do so, happily.  Let's dig in!

Thursday evening Conrad and I walked and trained and walked on over to Zarak to meet Chris

and Allister

for dinner.  The restaurant, which features Afghani cuisine, was Chris' suggestion.  And you know, well done, Chris.  Very well done.

All of us had cocktails, save for Conrad who started with a bottle of wine that we eventually shared (and ordered a second one of).  I liked mine, a light cocktail called Heritage

that seemed not to be alcoholic at all, which means it was dangerous.  Chris, however, got the show thanks to ordering the Dr. Damji's Negroni.  Fun!

And then we got down to food.  Oh, what food!  I didn't get a shot of the green beans, but they were a highlight.  The mantu were beautiful but not as flavourful as the beans. 

I still enjoyed them.  The buttermilk fried chicken was a delight. 

The lamb shoulder was equally as delightful. 

The bolani was fine, the least memorable of our dishes (and yet, still tasty enough). 

The Uzbeki palaw was a jewel. 

Piping hot, the rice grains each distinct, chunks of tender meat hidden in there.  I would go back just for that dish alone.

We also ordered one of each dessert (there were four).  I wasn't all that interested in vegan chocolate mousse, and although I tasted it and thought it was fine, it proved to be the least interesting to me. 

The tres leches cake was tasty but I still don't understand what it was doing on that menu. 

The shir yakh was lovely - I like rose water as a flavour, and having it in an ice cream tamed it well. 

The firni, a milk pudding, I dismissed at first, but I kept coming back to because the subtlety lured me in. 

My favourite of the desserts.

An excellent dinner, and we've been spreading the word about the place since.

Friday!  Friday lunch was at the club, sitting out on the terrace under mostly cloudy skies but still enjoying being out there.  Our friends from Germany, Gerd

and Uwe,

joined us.  The day before had been Uwe's 60th birthday, and Gerd's 60th will be in October, so we wanted to treat them to a meal.  This is the second time that we have met up with these friends on a Vancouver vacation - our original connection is through the magic of Instagram.  We sipped a BC white and had a leisurely lunch.  My seafood Cobb salad

was different than I have had it before, I think - they could have dialed back on the tomatoes (which I didn't even get to, the salad was so big) and maybe not used such a mix of greens (it was a little rough by contrast to the seafood).  But I didn't go hungry, that's for sure!

Dinner was with Jenny and Steven, whom we always enjoy seeing when we're in town.  We went to the Main Street location of Sula for Indian food.  The restaurant had a good cocktail program, which is not something I have seen very often in Indian restaurants, and a nice wine list.  The bar

sent out our drinks, and mine was a light variation on a Last Word. 

Refreshing!  When I ordered wine with the meal, the waitress let us know that they were out of the one I ordered and instead recommended an Indian red wine.  She let me try some, I liked it, and it turned out to be a doubly good recommendation:  we had a nice wine with the meal, and it was a first time trying wine from India.  Oh, and the winery?  Also named Sula.

I didn't photograph much of the food.  A few of the dishes were meats or vegetables or cheese in a sauce, a curry or gravy, however we might call it.  And, sorry, those don't always make for the most interesting photos, alas.  Not a worry.  Here is the appetizer platter we shared. 

All of it was good.  Sula is on the list of places to go back to, I have to say.

After dinner, Conrad and I went to see Steven and Jenny's new (to us) home and sat and had a bit more wine before heading back to the hotel.  It was a full day of food (and steps for me!), and a very good one all in all.