Restrictions have been lifted to Phase 3 (BC) and I had a week and a half free from work! I went on a lobster roll based tour of Vancouver. The review of rolls are here and the rest of the sunny vacation can be found via conversation or eventual art work. This is not a food blog. Just my taste buds and my own $$$.
`Salty’s Lobster Shack – East Van
I got the Connecticut Roll ($23) and it was uninteresting. There wasn’t much lobster flavour and I was overwhelmed by the taste of the imitation “lobster meat”. A cursory glance at the reviews on Google has the proprietor defending the use of them but it boils down to an argument of quantity over quality. Sorry bud, I’d like to support local businesses but I’m not the clientele this place wants. My snobby palate just can’t handle the taste of imitation. No thank you ever again from me. There are other ways to source fillers.
Lobster Man – Granville Island
I got the signature lobster roll ($19) – thought for a second I should get the Connecticut style for proper comparison but knowing I won’t be back at the other one to try the Maine style, I thought what the hell, the classic is good. And this was good. Juicy and had a fantastic meat to bun to mayo ratio. The all-dress chips capped it off to perfection and balanced the seafood taste. A stop at the doughnut shop made it beyond that. I am going back ASAP to try the other rolls because I’m not sure if this is a seasonal thing.
Papi’s Seafood and Oyster Bar – English Bay
I had walked from Chinatown so I came hungry and found their doors closed. Turns out their website hasn’t been updated with their new hours. That would normally have made me hangry but the scenery was nice and I had picked up some cheese tarts on my way so NBD. When I finally got my hands on the roll ($21), it was indeed no big deal. Tasted pretty good, but there was too much bun to meat ratio. It was pure lobster though, so the meat itself was delicious. It was diluted by the amount of bun. I definitely prefer quality, so if I find myself having another one here, I’d probably take a third of the bun off and stuff the meat together in the remaining portion. The fries are already pretty filling, so no need for so much bun, really.
Harbour Oyster + Bar – Commercial Drive
They’re actually Lobster and Shrimp Rolls ($18) and it was absolutely fantastic. This is how to do it low budget with decent fillers. The prawn meat’s bounciness complemented the lobster’s more naturally stringy texture. Visibly there was a good amount of shrimp, but the lobster was flavourful, so whatever the ratio was, it worked. The fries here were the best and I definitely prefer it over chips. I had a feast here and also tried the fried oysters (very very good) and seasonal fruit sangria. It was a lot of food, so I had to abandon some of those delicious fries.
