Vancouver Vegan Restaurant Review: Paul Stirfry

Why, yes.. we are!

After a little birdie told us this new Paul Stirfry restaurant could cater to our dietary needs, and also hearing several good things about the place, we had to give it a try.

Vancouver’s Paul Stirfry Chopstick House (550 Nelson) offers South East Asian Street Food, served up in a stylish yet casual cafeteria-like setting with a couple TVs thrown in for people who simply can’t miss a hockey game, even for sustenance sake. Despite its yuppie real estate development branding (“…Paul is not unlike other famous namesakes. He’s cool, social, stylish and fun.”), and its odd name (reminds me of one of my faves – Steve Nail on Burrard Street), you can tell they’ve spent a great deal of money on design and marketing. But we all know that this doesn’t mean anything if the food can’t live up to the hype. And at Paul Stirfry, it certainly does!

Offering a user-friendly menu, Paul Stirfry serves a small selection of appetizers, one soup, a ‘Yaletowner Salad’, a selection of signature mains (heavy on the meat), sides and best of all – build-your-own stirfries. To our delight, every stirfry on the menu is vegan (carnies can add meat if they like), and you can choose your own starch (rice noodles, shanghai noodles, jasmine rice, brown rice, and even quinoa!) Each stirfry is $8.25 before protein, and fills a bowl generously. Another great thing about Paul – he’s licensed!

Here’s what we ordered:

The Read Head

ginger garlic & sambal soy, bok choy, spun carrots, crisp snow peas & fresh herbs (added tofu and chose rice noodles)

Singapore Street

coconut green curry, bok choy, broccoli, peppers, thinly sliced bamboo shoots & fresh herbs (with rice noodles)

The Red Head came with a spicy warning, and they weren’t lying! I like it spicy and this one was even hot for me. The fresh greens on top were a nice, cooling touch, and I always appreciate when the broccoli is cut to a manageable size, so I’m not left gnawing on a giant broccoli nub while sauce drips down my chin. Not ladylike.

The Singapore Street was delicious, but could have used a bit more curry flavour, or just more sauce. Although, they do offer a selection of your favourite Asian condiments to augment any missing flavours. Bridget noted that rice would have been a better starch choice for this dish.

The service at Paul Stirfry was very attentive. We ordered at the counter and were given a number, which usually indicates a hands-off service approach, but even after we received our food, they came by to see if we were enjoying our meals.

While devouring our stirfries, we noticed the restaurant seemed to be quite busy with take-out orders. Since our meals were generous, we opted to take half to go and enjoy later at home. They promptly wrapped up our leftovers in boxes, complete with Paul Stirfry stickers, more chopsticks and napkins – all inside a branded Paul Stirfry reusable lime green bag. They have clearly spared no expense on the marketing collateral here!

Overall, we were impressed with our meals. I, for one, would like to return to try the Yaletowner Salad – a hearty Asian vegetable medley with romaine lettuce, Japanese mustard and sesame dressing. Maybe I’ll even get a nice glass of wine with it, too.

Thanks Paul!

~The Vegan Project

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