Fat Dragon - Vancouver, BC

I've wanted to try Fat Dragon since I saw a photo posted on the Scout Magazine website of the most delicious-looking noodles I'd ever seen.  I'm usually quite suspicious of any modern interpretations of cultural cuisines, basically any food that has "modern", "new", "fusion" or anything of the like in the description or name.  Fat Dragon describes itself as "East meets West"...  A fusion of Southern American BBQ with Asian flavors...  Hmmmmph.  But those noodles look so good!  The Hungry Piglets must MUST know what those noodles taste like so off we go!  

We called in earlier in the evening to make sure there was room for us to drop by and they said it wasn't busy.  Hm.  Not busy on a long weekend.  We've gone past the point of no return, aka got off the couch, so might as well go.  Looking past the weird pink tent opening, it's quite a nice place - I like the bare walls and the simple wooden chairs and tables.  We're immediately greeted and seated at one of the two-tops - friendly servers and wait staff for sure.  After a quick peruse through the menu, we decide on a few of the smaller dishes as the half pig's face and deep-fried chicken were designed for 3-4 peeps.  The Piglets are big eaters but we wanted to try more than one dish.

Crunchy Squid Bao Bun - $2.50

Scallion, coriander, special smoked chili salt

It's a bit small but the price for it isn't bad.  The bun is pillowy soft and a bit sweet and we both love the bun but that's where the love ends.  There's a red sauce that completely overpowers everything else in this bao.  I wouldn't know there was squid in there except for the crunchy texture.  Veggies?  I have no idea what they are or what they're supposed to taste like.  All we can taste is salt, salt, salt and a bit of heat.  This thing is so salty, a glass of water goes down the hatch with it.  RIP squid, we never knew you were there and we missed you so....

Jalan Alor Chicken Wings - $9.00

Malaysian marinade, iceberg lettuce

The wings are super crunchy from tip to drummette and with a bit of sauce, it's actually quite tasty BUT the sauce itself is so super salty that any pieces of wing with any more than a bit of sauce is TOO SALTY.  Pity. The wings were fried to crunchy perfection but that was brought down a bit by the sauce.  The wings were also placed atop chopped iceberg lettuce to which I ask WHY?  Iceberg lettuce is a filler vegetable with no real taste that's great in salads and atop burgers but when heated, it just becomes soggy and unappetizing so why do you place it beneath wings fresh out from the fryer and blazing hot?  Sigh.

Smoked Crispy Cauliflower - $16.00

Cashew gravy, vadouvan

It looked great in photos and we've had some really great roasted cauliflower dishes from elsewhere so Mr. Piglet was quite excited to try this dish, especially when there was a smoked component involved.  So how was it?  Ehn...  The cauliflower was soggy and not at all crispy like described.  I'm not sure what leafy vegetable is in this dish but it's also soggy.  The texture was soft on soft on soft.  The cashew gravy didn't taste like cashews as the vadouvan spices, curry like in nature, were the only flavors detectable and even that was super light.  If the other dishes were too salty, this dish was actually was the complete opposite and too bland.  At that price point, this cauliflower should have been fried to crisp perfection with the right balance of flavors.  This dish was the most disappointing by far.

Stir Fried Noodles with Smokey Drippings - $6.00

Ahhh....  the noodles of my dreams...  And how were they?  Delicious.  The favorite dish of both Piglets tonight and it was a side dish!  Crispy crispy noodles, a bit salty and some smoky flavor from the drippings and a bit of char from the noodles.  It could've been a tad on the salty side but with a bit of that oil mixed with scallions, it's much more balanced than the other dishes.  We could have had 3 or 4 portions of these noodles...  just delicious and Scout Magazine was right, these noodles are AWESOME.  The lighting in here plus the inferiority of my camera really don't do these noodles justice in the photos.

I'm not sure how this place is Southern American BBQ - it just seems like it's trying to twist Asian flavors into something "new" but just making it salty.  The balance of sweet, salty, spicy, sour and umami flavors encompassed in Asian cuisine is a bit muddled whereas the savory and sweet of American BBQ is completely missing.  There's some great ideas here but the execution needs a bit more tweaking.  The Fat Dragon has a great vibe and friendly service but the food just needs to catch up (on par with the fried noodles!).  Take it or leave it Piggy readers!


Pros:

• Moderate pricing for most dishes
• Friendly and attentive service
• Free street parking
• Reservations not necessary - walk-ins welcome

Cons:

• Expensive drinks
• Dishes were either too salty or too bland - exception of the noodles of course!