I'm Only Here for the Food!

Baru Latino
2535 Alma Street
Vancouver, BC

Like most social activities, blogging – in my case, food blogging – is an activity where you get to know other people who share your passion. In this particular case, I got to meet Mijune, who writes Follow Me Foodie for dinner. The original place we were planning to meet was Moby Dick Restaurant, a well known fish and chips restaurant in White Rock; however, after second thoughts, we ended up going to Baru Latino, a Latin American restaurant in Vancouver’s West Side. Hey, I am familiar with (some) Latin American food, right?

Update: Mijune’s thoughts of Baru Latino can be found here!

Sorry for this fuzzy, sub-par picture.

While I am familiar with some forms of Latin American food, I am not familiar with that area of Vancouver – in a really strange way, to me there is an invisible barrier to anything west of Burrard Street (outside of Vancouver Downtown, that is). Last time I went there, I had to turn around! But, given so much planning, this time, I won’t be denied. (Actually, reservations were made, hehehehe).

When I arrived, I was a bit confused. As you can (sort-of) see from the picture above, it looks dark inside. So, for a candle light dinner with your date, that settings sounds good. However, as soon as you step in, you “feel” the speakers cranked up. Am I getting mixed messages here? To make it even more confusing, there was a bar area with a TV (on that night, showing a hockey game). Given it was such a small place, it made me wonder what is the population target of this restaurant. But, putting that aside, let’s go to what I came for, the food!

Since they have a website, I was able to browse the menu ahead of time. So far so good? Well, unfortunately, they don’t have it in either a single page form or PDF; instead, it just keeps scrolling without the option to pause. Argh! Anyway, above is the trio of ceviche, which is composed of Baru Ceviche (second picture, shrimp and halibut, with fresh lemon juice, avocado, tomatoes, onion and cilantro), Ecuadorian Red Ceviche (No picture taken, scallops, shrimp and octopus in smokey Ecuadorian marinade) and Hondurian Coconut (first picture, fresh tuna, marinated in lemon juice, ginger, chilis and coconut milk). They were served with two forms of fried plantain: the sliced version and patacón (fried chunks for plantain, then smashed and re-fried).

In Panama, everybody loves their ceviche. While most people won’t eat it daily, when it is prepared, it is a treat. As for myself, while I am not a connoisseur, I know what I like. Even when the three of them were different enough, the three of them were complete failures. The (again, non-pictured) Ecuadorian red ceviche did not have any “crunchiness” texture you would expect from the octopus. In fact, I don’t think I tasted much at all. The Hondurian version tasted weird to me. In my case, my conception of ceviche is an acidic dish (thanks, of course to the lime juice). However, in this case, it was sweet, thanks to the coconut, which was not something I expected. But, then again, this might be Honduras variation… But, taste aside, the same issue as the Ecuadorian red ceviche popped out: it had no texture. Finally, the Baru ceviche was most on the lines of the ceviche I had in Panama: one with an acidic note. However, again, the same exact problem as the previous ceviche: absolutely no taste at all. The fried components, i.e., the plantain were cold, something that is not good for fried food. (As a side note, for comparison purposes of other ceviche I have had previously, check here for the Peruvian version I had in Miami and here for another Peruvian version here in Vancouver at El Inka Deli).

We ordered the ceviche to be delivered at the same time as the other dishes, in Mijune’s case, the Crepen Duck (Marinated seared duck breast, with passion fruit mojo, fresh pear, cilantro rice and cassava frits). Below the pears, there was some rice. For the most part, it did not have that much fruit flavour. In fact, it was almost tasteless, something I thought it was impossible to do with duck! What was even worst, the duck skin was not crispy, something I have grown to like from this fowl.

Finally, my dish, Pescado Rojo (literally, “red fish”. Mussels, prawns, scallops, white fish in roasted pepper and tomato broth). There were some seafood yes but, what seemed to be almost a constant for this dinner, flavours were below par. I tasted something tomato-ey but none of the roasted peppers the dish should contain. And, while the pieces of seafood were there and the texture was there, their unique flavours were lost. It felt as if something was lost in translation…

One really odd comment that came up in the conversion with Mijune (which at times, due to the “noise” I had to ask her to repeat herself a couple of times) was how the setting seems to work against the food or it was on purpose. How so? As mentioned, it was dark. For the most part, that is usually fine; however, when you can barely see the food you were eating, that might be a problem. Could it be they were trying to “hide” something? Well, if you look at the picture of the Baru ceviche, that might be a possible case: the shrimps are so small, I can’t help myself ask what shrimp count they used… (shrimp count, i.e., how many shrimps are in a unit of weight, usually, per pound). Sure, some shrinking would occur but to that extent is almost impossible. Likewise, because it was so dark, we were forced to use the flash – in Mijune’s case, the built in flash; in my case, my Speedlight. But, it started to blind the customers to the point one customer “complained” to us.

At this point, I hope it is not necessary for me to almost point the obvious: The restaurant overall is a complete mess. Ambiance – something I seldom mention – was bad, food was way below par with almost no redeeming quality. We had the feeling this restaurant caters mostly to those who lives nearby who might not necessarily know any better or are not there necessarily for the food. In my case, it translates into an epic fail. The only good part about the dinner? The company. And, for that, Mijune… Thank you!