Hamilton Street Grill, by Ed Lau

The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, as long as you don’t have to make your way through his wallet to get there. All joking aside, this week’s speedlink focuses on the gastronomical exploits of my fellow bloggers, starting with the one and only Ed Lau. He recently attended a media event at Hamilton Street Grill where he enjoyed the bison carpaccio shown above, as well as mushroom soup, a pork rack chop with bacon jus, and an Angus New York steak that was “just about perfect.”

Venturing outside of the city, we follow hungrySLIF to a longtable dinner at Fraser Common Farm in Langley. He was invited there by Forage Chef Chris Whittaker and he’d say it was worth the 40-minute journey over the bridge. The hungriest of slifs enjoyed some fresh bread, a trio of salads, some great fresh vegetables, a massive tray of boudin noir blood sausage, and a slow-roasted, lightly-smoked pork loin “that had been going all day.” Slif always eats well, yes he does.

Staying out in the suburbs of Vancouver, Lesley Chang had the chance to enjoy a family style dinner at Tasty Indian Bistro in Delta. This sure looks like a classier affair than you might find at humbler establishments like King Mahal. While there, Lesley had some great fish pakora, Malai chicken tikka, aloo gobi, butter chicken, chili mushrooms, and khadi lamb. Who knew you could dine like royalty at an Indian bistro?

If you’re more of a homebody and you want to try your hand at preparing something for yourself, Melody Fury offers a great recipe for Brussels sprout kimchi. As a kid, I never liked Brussels sprouts. These days, I think they’re great when accompanied by some sort of fatty pork product. With Melody’s recipe, you can try a decidedly Korean twist, though you have to wait two weeks for the fermentation process to complete.

And we finish this week’s collection with some good comfort food from Kevin “Spike” Zelenka. When you’re the stay-at-home father to twin toddlers, you don’t have a lot of free time to concoct some good eats for the family. So, Kevin came up with a recipe for some delicious chili in just 30 minutes. While he admits that chili is best when you can let it cook all day (and chill overnight in the fridge), he thinks he’s been able to replicate that flavor profile with his far more expedient recipe.