I put on the
best fake smile I could muster.
“Sure I would
love to go,” I grinned outside and grimaced inside at my friend’s suggestion of
grabbing dinner at a Canadian/Chinese/Japanese restaurant in Pemberton.
Past horrors of
similar establishments where menus read longer than War and Peace flashed
before me along with visions of plates with food that all looked strangely the
same, despite your server swearing one dish was fried chicken and the other was
chop suey. My nature of perpetual war was on going.
Raw macaroni
with no-name ketchup seemed like a happier alternative at the time, but my 6’6
foot giant of a friend disagreed. He was hungry.
So the three of
us set off for a night on the town in Pemberton at the Canadian/Chinese/Japanese
restaurant where three countries manage to squeeze themselves into one kitchen.
I soon learned
this cultural mouthful actually has an official title: The
Centennial
Café.
The building is
as eclectic as the menu. The outside is a beautiful wooden structure, a shiny
edition of something you might see in a western film. But inside, suddenly you
are in the stereotypical Chinese restaurant you might find anywhere in the
city. The décor is simple, clean and Asian inspired.
There was only
one table occupied, so we treated ourselves to a window seat looking out on the
town.
War and Peace
was handed out to the three of us and I skimmed for the Coles Notes version to
get dinner underway. I flipped by the dozen daily specials and Canadian fare,
past the Japanese plates and Chinese individual dishes and finally rested on
the Chinese dinner combo specials in the back.
I will never
again judge a book by its cover, or should I say girth.
War and Peace
was not considered a novel because it broke so many of the novelistic
conventions of its time. The same could apply to the Centennial Café where its
multi-chaptered menu leaves you wondering where does it store all of the
ingredients to make so many dishes?
The menu almost
dares you to order at complete opposite ends of the spectrum to see if the
kitchen is good to their word.
The kitchen was obviously well versed on Leo Tolstoy or at least on an excerpt from On Civil Disobedience . Tolstoy wrote, “a man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.”
The server and
kitchen happily accommodated my pseudo-vegetarian request for a Chinese food
combo. The chicken fried rice and chow mein was amended to more green-thinking
by substituting the meat with vegetables, the capital “V” kind.
Forget those
nightmares of frozen carrots, beans and peas that most Canadian/Chinese/Japanese
restaurants reap. Sliced grilled zucchini gave away the fresh garden adorning
the non-greasy noodles and rice.
Flavours were
simple, satisfying and if you could ever call Chinese food healthy, this was
one of those rare times.
The deep-fried
prawns were perfectly battered; not too heavy, crisp and not fishy.
Get past the
plastic pouches of plum sauce to golden crisp fresh spring rolls. Again,
vegetables could be easily identified inside the roll and they were delivered smoking
hot.
The portions
were so generous, even my 6’6 foot friend was satisfied. I stole a tasty bite
of his black bean, green bean and tofu dish with rice – again the kitchen was
happy to amend the original beef dish to tofu.
I passed on my
other friend’s offering of sweet and sour pork and chicken cashew. He was
enjoying it so much I didn’t want to interrupt him.
Our fortune
cookie omen of “Good fortune is coming your way” manifested itself with our
cheque’s arrival. Three generous meals, an order of spring rolls, Chinese tea
and a beer came to $42 dollars.
Families with
kids or friends who can never make up their mind obviously took advantage of
the wide-variety of choice with the restaurant filling up later on in the
evening.
I don’t think I
am brave enough to order a steak, but Canadian, Japanese, Chinese restaurants
are no longer a daunting read. The Centennial Café is a classic and maybe in
the world of 20-odd-item menus and fusion this and that, like Tolstoy, they are
just ahead of their time surviving in a restaurant-limited town.
The Centennial
Café is located at 7439 Frontier Street in Pemberton just off Highway 99, a
25-minute drive north of Whistler. Phone 604-894-6433.