The Beef with Preserved Vegetable at Goldstone in Vancouver was a decidedly unusual breakfast item and was easily worth a 4 out of 5 Rating.
The Goldstone Bakery and Restaurant in Vancouver’s Chinatown didn’t manage to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, and recently closed it’s doors after three decades of service. I am afraid I didn’t really manage to get much of a sense of the place after having only stopped in once for breakfast, but it seemed a nice, friendly sort of place. What I will recall is that the dish you see pictured above was the second part of what is, to date, the most singularly unusual breakfast special I have ever encountered.
The restaurant, which had a bakery up front, was a diner-style place, with the menus under glass on the tabletop. The dishes were mostly Chinese, but there were some Western selections which included a variety of sandwiches, and standard breakfast items. On the day I visited, there were also three breakfast specials available, one of which caught my eye. These were:
- Omelet, with a choice of several fillings;
- Ham with 2 eggs any style; and,
- Ham with 2 eggs any style PLUS a Noodle dish with a choice of several toppings.
Well, I just had to go for that interesting sounding ‘fusion’ special, of course …
Well, the Ham and two eggs were certainly nothing to write home about. There was nothing wrong with them at all (it is, after all, fairly hard to screw up such a simple dish), but the plating was a bit casual and I generally find it hard to get orgasmic over plain old ham and eggs. There was a roll included but, with noodles to follow, I didn’t bother with it.
Anyway, the noodles you could choose were Spaghetti, Macaroni, or Vermicelli. I went with the latter as it seemed to be more at home with the available toppings. I didn’t record what the rest of these were, but I decided on the Beef with Preserved Vegetable.
Well, the noodles came served in a light Chicken broth which was very nice, but, as you can see, the choice of plate was probably not the best, and I am surprise my server managed to get it to me without slopping half the contents all over herself or me. A bowl would have been much more suitable.
The Beef was thinly sliced, very tender, and tasty. The vegetable, which wasn’t otherwise identified on the menu, was, I am fairly, Brine-Pickled Mustard Green as the lactic acid tang was fairly pronounced and made a lovey contrast to the beef. The dish was, in fact, not unlike my own recipe for Beef with Pickled Mustard Greens 酸菜炒牛肉絲, except that this version was just a bit milder and sweeter. In any event, the Beef with Preserved Vegetable at Goldstone was a very nice little dish, and my breakfast one of the most unusual I have had.