eatvancouver.net

Target 3: Peaceful Restaurant
Address: 532 West Broadway (map)
Phone: 604-879-9878
Menu: Available at their homepage
Price: $5.95 for 8 small baos

Visit date: February 15th, 2008
Visit time: 8:00 PM

–ratings–

Jason’s ratings

Soup: 6.5/10
Pastry: 6.5/10
Meat: 8/10
Other items & condiments: 4/5
Service & atmosphere: 4.5/5

Jason’s total: 7.375/10

Des’ ratings –

Soup: 6.5/10
Pastry: 7/10
Meat: 8.5/10
Other items & condiments: 4.25/5
Service & atmosphere: 4.25/5

Des’ total: 7.625/10

Total Score (averaged across both raters, all variables) = 7.5
Quality per dollar (based on an order of six) = 1.681
—

Des’ notes –

Peaceful Restaurant opened in June 2007 near the Broadway/Cambie intersection and just a few doors down from the Sha Lin Noodle House. Proximity to those noodle masters, well known for pulling and slicing to order, was surely no accident. For Peaceful offers a fine selection of home-made noodles, while also boasting a range of rarer dishes and appetizers, including the xiaolong bao.

A friend had recommended Peaceful, and not only because of its tasty soup dumplings. At first glance of the menu, however, I did not spot the raison d’être of our mission. For Peaceful call it ‘Nan-Shiang Steamed Buns’ (Nanxiang xiaolong bao), named after the town, Nanxiang, in the Jiading area of Shanghai which claims the soup dumpling as its singular contribution to Chinese cuisine. Whatever the name, there was certainly no nonsense at Peaceful and their wicker steamer came with eight delightful dumplings. There was less soup in the dumpling than those enjoyed at earlier bao-stations, but it was very tasty nonetheless. My friends and I wolfed down the other wonderful starters too: ‘Szechwan Cucumbers’ (in a magical blend of chilli oil and garlic, $5.95), ‘Green onion flat bread’ ($5.75), and especially the ‘Peaceful Beef Rolls’ ($5.95).

For noodles we opted for the recommended Xi’an cold noodles ($6.50) – slices of a noodle sheet which formed the perfect platform for its chilli-garlic-sesame sauce. For the main dishes, we took up the inherent challenge of the ‘Szechuan Thousand Chilli Chicken’ ($10.95) and ordered the ‘Xi’an Lamb Stew’ ($7.95) for it stood out as particularly unusual, complementing these with the trusty favourites of ‘Chilli-garlic eggplant’ (yuxiang qiezi, $7.95) and ‘Spicy Marbled Pork and Cabbage’ (aka, Twice-Cooked Bacon; hui guo rou, $8.95) (Many other Sichuanese and Cantonese staples are offered on the menu too). The lamb stew was served in a light, clear broth – not a thick, dark soup as I had imagined. I am a big fan of lamb, though usually roasted or braised. The little lamb pieces actually infused a lot of flavour into the dish, nicely balanced by the diced flat-bread and vermicelli. The chicken was fried, crunchy, and tasty picking up the chilli’s bursts of fire. The eggplant was well done as was the pork, though I would have preferred a crispier edge to the slices and perhaps a few more chillies working in their flavour.

Happily sated, we bid goodnight to the friendly staff. I look forward to visiting again, excited to try more of the dim sum, noodles, and ‘out of the ordinary’ dishes. Peaceful is certainly a welcome addition to the urban artery that is Broadway.