Gourmet China Restaurant, #108-2601 Westview Drive, North Vancouver. Visa and Mastercard accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Open daily from 11 a.m. OURMET IS a word much abused in the dining trade. it has beers used to describe everything from hamburgers to pizzas, and it has been used so often to preface restaurants, en- trees, appetizers, waiters, parking, and virtuatly anything else associated with the wide world of eating that it has been rendered meaningless. Gourmet China is the only res- taurant on the North Shore that | know of with the word (formerly a noun, but now put to use as an adjective, verb and who knows what else) in its name. What its significance is, one can only guess. The food presented at the Gourmet is a cut above the average, but | would hesitate to call it gourmet. The restaurant opened late last year in the Westview Shopping Centre. It has a freshly polished, mir- rored interior that features a view of Westview centre’s various amenities and weekend traffic jams. A portion of the restaurant’s kitchen warmly greets customers at the Gourmet’s entrance behind glass walls and polished brass. The warmth of that greeting carries over to Gourmet staff, who are uniformly friendly and accommo- dating. The restaurant's menu is also accommodating. It has numbered selections that run up to around 300, which is in part, the result of a numbering system that starts at 182, but also the result of a Chinese mania for massive menus. While there are many of the fa- miliar Chinese food dishes includ- ed on the Gourmet’s menu that diners would find at almost any Chinese restaurant the world over, a careful perusal will uncover some interesting and adven- turesome choices. Table Hopping, for example, sniffed out a Kuong Pao Diced Chicken ($8.95) that featured chicken breast stir-fried with Spanish peanuts, peas, diced car- rots and diced bamboo shoots in a . spicy pepper sauce, The peanuts and diced vegetables made it tough going with chop sticks — peanuts squeezed between the sticks tended to richochet off glasses and dining guests — but the combina- 926-8922 — L, hon 445 13th Strees West Vancouver Chinese food TIMOTHY RENSHAW] table hopping tion provided a delicious twist to the standard chicken stir-fry theme. We also tried a half dish of Barbecued Duck ($5.95), an order of Prawn and Vegetabie Chow Mein, Beef in Satay Sauce and a bow! of Gourmet Special Congee ($3.75). ° The chow mein dish boasted big succulent prawns and slices of bok choy atop a bed of thin egg noo- dies. It was good, but the noodles were slightly scorched. The Beef in Satay sauce, mean- while, had a slight pepper kick and a colorful mix of red and green peppers. Again, it was good, but somewhat salty. The duck came with a simple barbecue glaze suffused with the strong flavors of Chinese five-spice mixture (star anise, clove, fennel, cinnamon, pepper). It’s an exotic spice combination that can, at times, be overwhelming. Couple heavy-handed saltman- ship with the unavailability of any beer (chilled or otherwise) the night Table Hopping sampled the Gourmet and you come up with an acute thirst crisis. Green tea just doesn’t do it for me. But the Gourmet should have its liquor licence by the time you read this. Congee is basically a thick rice soup. The Gourmet China Special version was afloat % NEWS photo Cindy Goodman GOURMET Chinese-style ... a selection of honey spareribs and seafood presented at the new Gourmet China restaurant in the Westview Shopping Cen- tre. with duck livers, tripe and giblets. Its overall flavor, besides hints of Chinese parsley, was primarily bland. A better choice would be, perhaps, hot and sour soup or that reliable old standby, wonton, which the Gourmet serves with prawn-stuffed wontons. Service at the Gourmet was brisk and attentive. And while ! wouldn't call the restaurant's food gourmet, it is definitely better than average. A note to afi underappreciated restaurant customers: February has been designated the fifth annual Customer Appre- ciation Month at restaurants on the North Shore and all over the Lower Mainland. As part of that appreciation, thousands of dollars worth of res- taurant gift certificates will be given away to customers by res- taurants bearing the special! “Thank You’’ appreciation pos- ters. Complete details of the promo- tion and how you can receive the appreciation you so richly deserve will be included in the special North Shore News Entree Dining Guide that will be inserted in community newspapers all over the Lower Mainland on various dates. The guide will appear in the Feb. 3 North Shore News. Viewed from Hawaiian waters aboard the American Hawaii Cruise Lines S.S. Independence, ; arranged by P. Lawson Travel on behalf of the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium On July 11, 1991, one of the finest solar eclipses of the century will be seen off the coast of the big island of Hawaii. Join astronomers from the MacMillan Planetarium on a 7-day cruise to Oahiu, Kauai, Maui & Hawaii, culminating in a total Eclipse of the Sun. Tour prices from $1350 (US). ECLIPSE PREVIEW NIGHT For more eclipse or tour details, join us for a special Eclipse Preview Night at the Planetarium. Monday, February 4th at 7:30 p.m at the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium, Vanier Park, Vancouver (736-4431). To reserve a seat for this special evening: call Debbie Twining, P. Lawson Travel, 736-1261. Wednesday, January 30, 1991 - North Shore News - 23 DINNER SPECIALS 1344 LONSDALE AVE. NORTH VANCOUVER heavenly” $Q% . oI Gino's Original /BRICK OVEN © 17 varieties of real italian Pizzas! e Fresh pasta, single or large family ns e Crisp salads and delicious desserts. made on the premises. @ Licensed premises, with seating for large groups. FAST FREE DELIVERY — 985-9215 Wo longer do you have to drive to Vancouver to enjoy our famous Brick Oven pizzas. Made right on the spot with fresh dough daily, each pizza is made up at the time of order. You can actually watch it be- ing made and baked in our open kitchen. Brick Oven pizza has a dif- ferent concept in that it is not cooked in a pan in a conven- tional oven. The brick oven is fired with alder wood which lends to a special flavour, and because of the intense 800 degree temperature, each pizza is cooked in a matter of 3 minutes. All the ingredients are fresh, and because we use no oil in the cooking process, the piz- zas are much healthier in content. At our biggest restaurant in North Vancouver, we can seat up to 60 people, so you can dine in or take advantage of our free delivery. The lunch and dinner menus include salads, deca- dent desserts made on the premises, pasta dishes that you can order in family size bowls and serve yourself home-style, and of course, our 14 variations of REAL !TALIAN PIZZAS!