Inside the Vancouver restaurant that was so good we went twice | Daily Hive

Beef Short Rib (Marco Ovies/Dished)

Despite having been in Vancouver for a decade now, something about Torafuku still makes it feel like a quiet, tucked-away gem — an elusive vibe for any Michelin-recognized restaurant with over 12,700 Instagram followers. Yet there’s nothing pretentious here — just damn good food and warm hospitality.

The restaurant is helmed by chef and owner Steve Kuan, who was born in Taipei, Taiwan and came to Canada as a teenager. He started in the restaurant industry as a server and bartender, before eventually pursuing a culinary diploma at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. From there, he gained kitchen experience at Cioppino’s (which sadly closed last year) before moving on to the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. All that to say, Kuan knows his way around the Vancouver restaurant scene.

Torafuku specializes in pan-Asian flavours, offering contemporary dishes made from local ingredients alongside a tight wine list, local craft beers, and dare I say, some sexy cocktails.

Interior of Torafuku (Marco Ovies/Dished)

I first popped into Torafuku back in June to sample its summer menu (I’ll admit, it took me much longer to dine here than it should have) after a friend told me, “If you haven’t been yet, I really think this is one you’d appreciate.” That was enough to convince me.

The interior has an industrial aesthetic to it, but not in a way that feels cold or uninviting — especially when the sun starts to set, and the warm light of the room casts everything in an orangey glow.

The menu is chock-full of tantalizing cocktails, and as someone who has fallen victim to the matcha wave consuming Vancouver’s cafe scene, I opted for the Matcha Madness. Brown butter-washed gin makes up the base of this drink, alongside white chocolate syrup and premium ceremonial matcha powder whose slight bitterness offsets the otherwise dessert-like quality of this drink.

Matcha Madness (Marco Ovies/Dished)

As for food, the tasting menu is easily the move here (I relish the opportunity to not make any decision when it comes to my meal; because who better to choose what’s best on the menu than the team behind it?).

Highlights from our experience included the Heirloom Tomato, a fried egg salad including Chinese celery, herbs, almonds, and a spicy Thai dressing so tasty we could have eaten it with a spoon, and the Foie and Toast, featuring fruit gel and candy pistachio on top of house-made shokupan.

Foie and Toast (Marco Ovies/Dished)

The Crab and Uni was a dish that left the table silent as we slurped up fresh carbonara pasta topped with uni, lap cheong (a dried Chinese sausage), and Dungeness crab before digging into the Wagyu Maranggi, a wagyu flatiron served with garlic sambal, cucumber herb salad, garlic chips, and butter lettuce, and ending our meal with Sticky Rice consisting of fresh mango, mango coulis, coconut cream, and house coconut sorbet.

Uni and Crab (Marco Ovies/Dished)

Naturally, following such an exceptional meal, when I had the chance to stop by again a few months later for Torafuku’s special collaborative dinner with Victoria-based Cafe Malabar, I jumped at the opportunity.

Cafe Malabar specializes in the coastal cuisine of Kerala, India, and was founded by chefs Kiran Kolathodan and Karma Tenpa. The team has since received numerous accolades, including being named number five on Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants Top 10 List in 2024.

The buzz of hungry diners was palpable before we even walked into the space, which was full of folks digging into a plethora of dishes. Despite the busy room, the team still shone with warm and attentive hospitality.

Once seated, we were presented with four snacks equally as impressive as the last. Beef Tartare was served with galbi sauce, compressed pear, pickled daikon, and a side of taro chips for scooping, followed by fried squid toast with sakura shrimps and garlic crunch, titled Typhoon Squids. Then we were presented with Unnakai filled with beef roast and chili chamanthi, as well as Foi Gras on a raisin cake with elderflower, date chutney, and grapes.

Unnakai and Foie Gras (Marco Ovies/Dished)

It might be weird to say, but the dish the table was buzzing the most about was the palate cleanser. Dubbed the Kalamansi Explosion, the only description of this bite read, “Caution! One Bite Please!” This dish is a signature on Cafe Malabar’s menu and is aptly named, as when you bite into the sphere, it results in quite literally a burst of calamansi juice.

Both Torafuku and Cafe Malabar shine in dishes that are rooted in Asian flavours, but still feel distinctly Canadian. This was best seen through the Halibut Pollichathu, which was a maple leaf-roasted halibut served with coconut rice and shallot chammanthi. Even the stones and driftwood used to serve the aforementioned Unnakai and Foie Gras were foraged from a beach on Vancouver Island that week.

Halibut Pollichathu (Marco Ovies/Dished)

We then proceeded to dig into some Beef Short Rib served alongside a cucumber salad before moving into the wonderful world of dessert with dishes like the Malabar Coconut Cloud (coconut sorbet with macerated citrus) and the Creme Caramel (oolong tea creme caramel with snowy flakes, brown sugar bubbles, and passionfruit).

With a second dinner from Torafuku now at its end, the only question left on my mind was when I could come back for a third.