Potluck Hawker Eatery — Restaurant in Vancouver

When I first heard about this place opening up I was extremely excited. Living in the Cambie area, it is absolutely starved for a good new/interesting restaurant amongst the throngs of bubble tea places and seemingly transient Mainland Chinese food offerings.

To watch the opening happen through COVID is not anything I would ever want to wish on any restaurant, and when I initially saw the prices I had assumed this was to make up for it. On the first go, we ordered to go: Mama Cheung's Laksa, Char Kway Teow, Sambal Eggplant, and Potluck Fried Chicken Wings to share between 2 people. Final bill came up to $60 before tax and tip (which seems like quite a lot for Hawker food) but I think if the food is good, I'm ok with that.

Unfortunately we were a bit dismayed not only with the food portions, but the quality of the food. The Laksa in particular was disappointing; broth was rather bland and missing a true aromatic flavour that I expect for a Laksa at half this price. The Char Kway Teow wasn't bad, but really missing the "wok hay" flavour, and honestly the eggplant was just a wet soggy mess and the chicken wings were rather forgettable.

I had heard good things about the Chicken Sando so wanted to give this place another chance and we did. This time we ate in and were greeted by friendly service. We ordered the sando with the shaker fries. Yes, the chicken was fried very nicely, but overall the sandwich was missing balance. The bread was crispy and heavily buttered (ie heavy), the fried chicken was nice (but also heavy), and the salted egg sauce was interesting but again heavy. The only thing to balance all these heavy elements out were a few matchsticks of papaya salad (of which there was no recognizable papaya salad flavour (toasted nuts? cilantro?). I kept thinking that some daikon/carrot pickle salad with cilantro (and much more of it) would be a much more effective compliment to such a heavy sandwich. The shaker fries were crispy, but to be honest the seasoning didn't really have any distinguishable/interesting flavour (it just seemed like salt/sugar...maybe with some fish sauce?), and I wasn't sure the curry leaves did much more than offer some garnish.

Prior to coming to Potluck we had seen the many posts by "influencers" such as Mi June Pak who had made these wild claims of eating at Potluck several times in a week, and while eating our meal we couldn't but help notice a group of photographers/videographers capturing footage and media for what I can only assume social media. They were taking pictures of dishes that had been prepared which showed significantly larger portions of the same takeout items we had ordered on our first time visiting, carefully laying the food out for the IG. And so this brings to me an important question: Is this place more focused on marketing and social media then the food? I can understand with COVID increasing prices but the food quality HAS to be there, and I'm not sure that is the case with Potluck.

I am personally seeing an increasing trend where a restaurant's popularity is not determined by the quality of the food, but rather the strength of it's marketing (I personally saw the demise of a really great Chinese noodle shop on Cambie fall victim to this). And while I understand the need to do this, I really want Potluck (especially given its local roots) to succeed not just for the short term, but long term by bringing people back with its good food. Until that changes, I...

Wanted to check out this place while their Dine Out Vancouver menu was still available, and got there on the last day. The place was bustling, and had to wait 10 mins for a seat, but it was worthwhile. I appreciate the layout that has the line separated from the dining area, so people aren't hovering. Brenda, the server, was very knowledgeable about the dishes and gave us some great suggestions. From the Dine Out menu, we had the Milo Dinosaur, Gado Gado, and Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken Sando and we also ordered the Char Kway Teow and Daily Hawker Market Curry from the main menu and got to try the Roti Canai, Michael Jackson, and Milo Roti.

Milo Dinosaur: this drink was made of malted chocolate powder & evaporated milk. It was blended, but served with some extra chocolate powder on top that I felt tasted better stirred in. It was a nice sweet treat.

Michael Jackson: I had a sip of my friend's drink which was made of grass jelly, a pandan syrup and soy milk. From the description, I didn't think that I would like it as I'm not a fan of grass jelly, but the flavours balanced out nicely as a nice surprise.

Char Kway Teow: this noodle dish reminded me of the Chinese Gong Chow Nao Haw dish (Chinese beef rice noodle), but better. It had lots of extras cooked in: chinese sausage, fish cake & prawns. It was cooked with good Wok Hei, and wasn't greasy.

Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken Sando: I think this was a limited item for Dine Out. It was a sandwich on crack! The bun was a sweet Asian coconut bun, then it had a layer of savory sambal shallot jam, with a fried egg, and fresh cucumber, then a coated deep friend chicken. There was a lot going on. This thing was huge and not to be eaten on the go, as it's so juicy and saucy.

Gado Gado: I love peanut sauce, and this assembled with fresh sprouts & cucumber and tofu was a nice light salad. The tofu was a tad overdone.

Daily Hawker Market Curry: I love currys, and this one didn't disappoint. This one had a bit of heat, but it was smooth and delicious. Served with fresh vegetables and topped with cilantro

Roti Canai & Milo Roti: Fresh roti is so delicious, and when they cook it right with the crispy exterior and melt in your mouth chewy interior goodness, there's always disappointment when it's all been eaten and...

I’ve been meaning to try this place for a while. Interior is quite bright, i’m a fan - it has a fun, casual vibe. We came on a Tuesday and the place was relatively busy (the place is small), so I’d recommend making a reservation or calling in advance.

We ordered the salted egg yolk chicken wings, straight outta Bangkok (sub pork belly with prawns), lem@k’ing good chicken and purple haze. The salted egg yolk chicken wings were pretty solid and well fried. Batter was light yet crunchy, not too oily and chicken was moist. My only feedback is that I wish it had a stronger salted egg yolk flavour. The straight outta Bangkok was essentially a pad thai. It didn’t mention being spicy, but I found it to be a medium spice level from the peppercorn. I felt there was too much sauce as it was too strong (salty and sweet) and there was nothing special, I’d say this was my least favourite dish we ordered. Chicken curry was very good - I’d recommend ordering a bowl of rice with it. It reminded me of a Chinese curry where it’s on the sweeter side, with a mild spice. The flavour of the curry was on point and the chicken absorbed the curry flavour very well. Lastly, the purple haze, which I also really enjoyed. It had a sweet glaze, mild spice and was quite garlicky. The eggplant was cooked well (great texture) - even the non-veggie lovers at my table were a fan of this dish.

I would say the flavours to most of these dishes were quite strong, predominantly a sweet and salty combination. Portion sizes were enough where for 3 people, where we all left quite full. I do wish they had some more basic dishes like Laksa or Hainan chicken, which may be on their lunch menu but that’s just my personal preference. Service was quite average and I do feel like the price was a tad high for how casual everything is, doctoring in ambiance, how the food looks and service. Would I came back? Yes - I’m curious about their lunch menu. Would I go out of my way to come here?...