Torafuku at 958 Main St., led by chef-owner Steve Kuan, pairs pan-Asian cooking with local ingredients and has recently hosted collaborative dinners including one with Victoria’s Cafe Malabar.
The Story
Torafuku, at 958 Main St. in Vancouver, is led by chef-owner Steve Kuan and centres its pan-Asian menu on contemporary dishes made with local ingredients. The restaurant also serves a tight wine list, local craft beers and cocktails, and offers a tasting menu as a way to sample a wider range of dishes.
Kuan was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to Canada as a teenager. He started in restaurants as a server and bartender before earning a culinary diploma from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
Dishes highlighted on Torafuku’s menu include Heirloom Tomato with fried egg salad, Chinese celery, herbs, almonds and a spicy Thai dressing; Foie and Toast with fruit gel, candy pistachio and house-made shokupan; Crab and Uni with fresh carbonara pasta, uni, lap cheong and Dungeness crab; and Wagyu Maranggi with wagyu flatiron, garlic sambal, cucumber herb salad, garlic chips and butter lettuce.
Desserts and drinks include Sticky Rice with fresh mango, mango coulis, coconut cream and house coconut sorbet, along with a matcha cocktail made with brown-butter washed gin, white chocolate syrup and ceremonial matcha powder.
Torafuku has also hosted collaborations, including a special dinner with Victoria-based Cafe Malabar, founded by chefs Kiran Kolathodan and Karma Tenpa and focused on coastal cuisine from Kerala, India.
That dinner opened with four snacks: Beef Tartare with galbi sauce, compressed pear, pickled daikon and taro chips; fried squid toast with sakura shrimps and garlic crunch; Unnakai filled with beef roast and chili chamanthi; and Foi Gras on a raisin cake with elderflower, date chutney and grapes.
Courses also included a palate cleanser called Kalamansi Explosion, described as a “one bite” sphere that bursts with calamansi juice when cut, and Halibut Pollichathu, a maple leaf-roasted halibut served with coconut rice and shallot chammanthi.
Stones and driftwood used to serve Unnakai and Foi Gras were described as having been foraged from a beach on Vancouver Island that week. The meal continued with Beef Short Rib with cucumber salad, followed by desserts including Malabar Coconut Cloud and a crème caramel, including an oolong tea version with “snowy flakes,” brown sugar bubbles and passionfruit.
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