I've wanted to try Roaming Dragon since I saw them featured on Eat St. A friend from work and I have been talking about going to visit their truck up at Robson and Burrard for the last few weeks, but they've been off the street so much that we hadn't had the chance until now. Luckily, she agreed to take the pictures, as I only had my iPhone with me.
Their menu is small, but is comprised of some very interesting items. We decided to split four of them so we could try as many as possible. For some reason, there was no lineup when we got there, so we didn't have to wait long for our food.
The first thing we tried was the Chinese Pork Sliders. These were really tasty, with the braised pork being super tender and juicy. The pickled cucumbers cut through the hoisin quite nicely, with the seasoning of the pork adding another layer. I didn't get much from the green onions, but the bun was nice and soft.
Next up was the Fried Rice Balls. Made up of Chinese sausage, shrimp, chicken, bamboo shoots, mustard greens, and Japanese rice, and served with curry and teriyaki aiolis, these had a ton of flavour. There was so much depth, from the sweetness of the teriyaki, to the salt from the meat, and all accented by the mild curry - I think my friend said it best, in that it seemed that a lot of work had gone into these. I'm not normally one for fried rice balls; they've become somewhat trendy in Vancouver, but I always find the rice to be overcooked and mushy and gummy and not very appealing. In this case though, these were delicious and I would definitely order them again.
Our third item was the Korean Short Rib Taco. This was good, but not as impressive as the previous two items. Mostly what I tasted was the corn tortilla, which was good, but the meat seemed under seasoned and was barely noticeable aside from the textural qualities it added. The sauteed spinach, carrots, bean sprouts, and mushrooms didn't add much either, and I didn't really get anything that tasted like a Korean BBQ sauce. Everything was fresh tasting, but it seems like the meat needed more seasoning.
For our last dish, we split the Indonesian Beef Rendang Poutine. This was like eating a really good beef rendang. The Kennebec fries were nicely cooked, though predictably soft when covered with the sauce. You wouldn't think cheese would go well with beef rendang, but in this case it worked. I don't like cilantro (it tastes like soap to me), but my friend enjoyed the way it helped cut the savouriness of the dish and how it brightened it up. The only downsides were that it wasn't very hot anymore by the time we got around to eating it (but we were eating it outside, so not their fault), and I found a big chunk of lemongrass in mine which wasn't very appealing.
Overall Impressions: For $20, my co-worker and I got a pretty good amount of food, and a great variety as well. All of the ingredients were really fresh, and everything was quite good, with the taco being the only miss. There's only four other items on them menu and we are already talking about going back so we can sample the rest.
Roaming Dragon Food Truck
Burrard St. & Robson St.
Vancouver, BC
No comments:
Post a Comment