Foodology
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catering

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In British Columbia

The Phamily Table: 8 Course Private Dinner Experience

The Phamily Table just celebrated their 1 year anniversary in business and invited us for a special 8 course dinner to experience what a private dinner would be like. I was excited because I have been following Brandon and his team’s work through Instagram and his Vietnamese-inspired dishes are remarkable and unique.

Brandon Pham

Chef and Owner Brandon Pham gets a lot of his inspiration from his mother and he combined his training at Vancouver Community College. He then completed his apprenticeship under his mentor Chef Hamid Salimian at the Westin Wall Centre and then at Diva at the Met. It doesn’t stop there, he then worked at luxury hotels before making his way over to Copenhagen to stage at Michelin star restaurants.Returning to Vancouver, he worked at a few more notable restaurants and hotels until he ultimately decided to create The Phamily Table.

2018 Richmond Night Market

On the weekends, you can find The Phamily Table at the Richmond Night Market for their braised pork belly. What makes this dish unique is that they smoke it in front of you so when you open the containers, a bunch of smoke escapes.

8 Course Phamily Dinner

The menu looks pretty darn amazing!

Fermented plum cocktail

The dinner started with a fermented plum cocktail to kick off the start of the meal.

Amuse Bouche

To start off the dinner, they created a amuse bouche to start off our palates for the night.

This 2 bite amuse bouche has pickled daikon, pickled ginger, octopus, herbs, an amazing vinaigrette, and even more freshly picked herbs. The presentation was really nice and was a good way to start the meal.

Squash and Chili

This unassuming dish is made of squash and covered in their own gochujang sauce, puffed rice, koji and purslane.

Tofu + Anchovy

The next dish is a lot lighter and is made of silky tofu, and topped with an anchovy, garlic, and shallot mixture. Then it has a doenjang broth. So good and well balanced. One of my favourite dishes of the night.

Mushroom + Sea snail

This dish was so magical and it has mushrooms, sea snails, herb stems, mustard and watercress. It was so good and a foragers dream. They use mushrooms that aren’t typical so it was good to see and taste the variety. Easily my favourite dish of the evening.

Smoked Sablefish

This delicious package is made of smoked banana leaf stuffed with sablefish and veggies. It is accompanied with a black bean sauce. The sablefish was very moist.

Chicken + Corn

This dish has a chicken meatball, roasted corn, chicken heart, lemongrass and lime. A very unique dish and I was surprised it went with lemongrass so well.

 

Also, that quail egg was perfectly cooked so it was still gooey in the centre.

Pork + Kimchi

The braised pork belly is served on top of kimchi and a fermented tomato and its juices. Then it is topped with onion flowers. A goodc combination of flavours but it was a bit salty for me.

Coconut and Ginger Pudding

This was the first dessert of the evening and it has a coconut and ginger pudding with honey, Szechuan peppercorn and crumbled cashews. I liked the different textures at play.

Cassava Cake

The cassava cake is paired with sweetened red bean and a pandan tapioca. Very delicious and not too sweet.

Mignardise

These were the last 2 bites to end off the evening with their “fruit roll up” and dehydrated beet.  I was so stuffed at this point. This 8 course meal was realistically a 10 course meal.

Final Thoughts

This dinner lasted just under 3 hours and was a delight to taste such unique dishes with the Vietnamese and Korean influences. If you’re looking for private dinner at your place, The Phamily Table team are very experienced to create a dinner you wont’ forget.

Website:
http://www.thephamilytable.com/

 

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In British Columbia

A peek inside Hawksworth Catering

As some of you already may know, Chef David Hawksworth and the entire Catering team is proud about the move of the culinary team into their new commissary kitchen, which has given them much more flexibility to create a variety of menus and moments with food that will suit clients’ needs. Their food and services will be especially sought after during the peak of wedding season, with spring here in full swing.

Being in the thick of wedding planning myself, having a phenomenal catering team with spectacular culinary offerings is a very important aspect of any wedding event. I was fortunate to be able to preview some of the dishes in their spring menu at the the York Room at Hawksworth. The beautiful room was transformed into a succulent-lover’s dream, with palms affixed atop the chandelier, lush green images of succulents displayed on the walls throughout, and a “living wall”.

Guests were delighted with various canapés, wine and a signature cocktail. The seafood canapés that were previewed included the lobster salad cone, Ahi Tuna Poke, Shrimp Cocktail and Dungeness Crab Salad.

Lobster Salad Cone

I thoroughly enjoyed the lobster salad cone, which consisted of lobster, toasted nori and togarashi in a mini waffle cone studded with black sesame. The cone was slightly sweet, which complemented the fresh, sweet lobster meat.

Ahi Tuna Poke

I’m picky when it comes to poke (especially after having the real deal in Hawaii). Hawksworth Catering’s Ahi Tuna Poke was fresh and light, but not my favourite of the seafood canapés previewed.

Shrimp Cocktail

The play on Shrimp Cocktail was refreshing and tasty, and I quite like how it was presented on top of greens and garnished with flower petals.

Dungeness Crab Salad

My other favourite after the Lobster Salad Cone was the Dungeness Crab Salad, which had sweet corn sprinkled throughout. This would be perfect as a starter for a summer event!

Lamb Popsicles

As for the other dishes, the standout for me was the Lamb Popsicles with Chimichurri and seasoned with Dukkah. It was cooked perfectly, and was well-seasoned. Although I thought that this was very delicious, my gripe was that it was a little big which could make it awkward to eat during a cocktail hour.

Pulled Pork Bao

The Pulled Pork Bao was disappointing as it was slightly dry and was not as flavourful as I was hoping it would be.

Beet Terrine with Goat Cheese and Elderflower

I love beet and goat cheese together, so of course I found the Beet Terrine with Goat Cheese and Elderflower as a nice bite on a spoon.

Corn Fritter with Gazpacho

The Corn Fritter with Gazpacho was an interesting. Eating something fried and cold together made for a intriguing gustatory experience.

Panna Cotta

For dessert, the Panna Cotta with Rhubarb, Strawberry Crumbs and Almond Slivers was served. The tartness of the rhubarb cut through the creaminess of the panna cotta, and the almond slivers added a textural contrast to it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the canapés and dished previewed were delicious, and would be enjoyed by any at a special event. If you’re planning a special event, Hawksworth Catering can help you make it a success. Their gourmet dishes and services can be tailored to a range of individual tastes an budgets.

www.hawksworthcatering.com

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