Maenam: pomelo salad for days!

I've heard of Maenam for a long, long time but frankly, I never understood the beauty of Southeast Asian food until recently. I think it's because I grew up eating JUST Korean food and I was very much used to the flavours and ingredients used in Korean cooking. Korean food is delicious but we don't use ingredients that are used in Southeast Asian cooking (i.e. coconut milk, cilantro, limes, lemon grass, curry leaf etc.). More recently, tried a couple of recipes with coconut milk and realized that it wasn't so bad. I also went to Laksa King a couple of weeks ago and tried laksa for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've  heard that Maenam is Seth Rogen's favourite place to eat in Vancity (I may be completely wrong) but a couple of my friends did see him at the restaurant here and there. So when I saw Maenam on the Dineout list and I knew that it was my time to finally try it (not because of Seth Rogen). The lunch menu was only $25 so I booked a reservation and went on a Saturday at 12:30. It was empty when we arrived and we were provided with an option of ordering from the normal menu or the Dineout. The Dineout menu was basically 1 appetizer, 3 main dishes (one salad, one stir fry and one curry) from the regular menu. These dishes are normally $15-16/ dish so by choosing the Dineout option, we saved about $10. Unfortunately, the lunch menu did not come with desserts but they were on the menu for $3.  In the end, it would've been cheaper even with desserts to go with the lunch option versus. dinner.

I wasn't a big fan of these tables... and the restaurant was a lot smaller than what I thought! They had a beautiful bar and it was big enough to sit several people.

Benkei

 Benkei on Broadway and Cambie

the interior design is quite different from the Downtown and other Broadway chain

 

their original menu

Specials!

curry ramen and beef curry with rice

you can add these toppings for $0.50 each, or pay $2.00 for extra chashu or $1.00 for extra noodles

East is East

 East is East is a restaurant portraying the dhabba(eateries) that existed along the ancient silk road from Mongolia through Tibet, India, Persia and Istanbul.

I absolutely enjoyed the atmosphere and the smell of the spices that permeated the restaurant!!

chai latte in a cute little cup:)