Foo Asian Street Food - opening week

Foo Asian Street Food is off to a delicious start. The space was transformed from a former garage, then a beer and wine store, and now a sleek open area with lots of windows, stainless steel and bamboo seating. (Design headed up by Raubyn Rothschild).
Co-owner Sterling Grice - most recently seen waiting tables at Brasserie L'ecole - is ready to take your order.
Seats in front of the open kitchen provide the best action.
And is where co-owner and chef Patrick Lynch - formerly of Sanuk and Vancouver's Monsoon -plies his trade, concocting spice mixes and curries and juggling the pans for Foo's menu of South East Asian dishes, inspired in part by street food that both owners enjoyed while travelling in Asia.
The green papaya salad is one of my favourites. Crunchy papaya tossed together with cilantro, mint, spiced peanuts and a lime-chile dressing.

Next comes an order of freshly made pork potstickers. Pork and scallions dumplings drizzled with a pomegrante and black vinegar sauce that cuts through the crispy deep fried dumpling providing tangy, sweet counterbalance.

I spy Patrick's cache of squeeze bottles. Therein lie the secret flavourings that he has become renowned for, including a tart tamarind chutney dipping sauce for the crispy pakoras.

Say hello to a luscious laksa of halibut dumplings with market vegetables and Shanghai noodles with a yellow curry coconut broth and hit with fresh cilantro, thai basil and lime.

Grice and Lynch also like to riff on classic Chinese Western dishes. For example, their beef chow mein is a made with long braised beef short ribs, ginger black bean sauce and stir fried chow mein noodles. Not a grease fest, just some good eatin'.

Another hit is the prawn and pork lettuce cups. Crisp iceberg lettuce leaves hold spoonfuls of chopped prawns and pork that have been slowly cooked in coconut cream with lemongrass, kaffir lime, cilantro and basil.

A little messy to maneuver with just a take out box, but they've promised better containers - and hopefully, dishes - in the near future. Delicious none the less.
Foo. 

Go. Now.

769 Yates St., 250-383-3111. Open for lunch weekdays, 11:30 until 10 pm. Saturdays 5 - 10 pm and Sundays 5 - 9 pm.