Wings & Wings @ Indochine Kitchen + Bar

Since Stanley was leaving for Japan, Tiff and I planned to have a dinner with him at Zakkushi (he said he wanted Japanese food despite the fact he was going to live in Hokkaido for a year).  However, since it was a Wednesday, I had a really good light bulb moment and suggested we try Indochine.  This new establishment has been the talk of town recently, since they have Phnom Penh style wings for half-price on Wednesdays.

To start, we ordered the mango and avocado salad ($8.50) -- half an avocado topped with seasonal greens dressed in balsamic vinaigrette, fresh mangoes, and sliced almonds.  Although simple, the dressing went well with the salad, and the toppings were quite generous.  It was probably a good idea to order this dish since the rest of the meal was all meats.

Stanley chose the thit ko ($7.75), because of the name, but it was pretty good.  The Vietnamese style spicy and caramelized braised pork shoulder was a bit firm for my taste, but he enjoyed it.  The blend of black pepper, fish sauce, and chilli sauce actually reminded me of "sugar and vinegar" spare ribs in Chinese cuisine, and it was pretty good with rice.  Although it was seemingly small, there was actually a lot of meat in it and we nearly could not finish this.  We noticed that most tables ordered this dish.

After a good 30 minutes of waiting, the first plate of wings finally arrived.  The Indochine garlic butter wings ($4.25 at 1/2 price), purportedly the Phnom Penh wings, were very fresh and piping hot.  It was definitely spicier than the ones from Phnom Penh, as confirmed by Tiff who is not fond of spicy foods.  These ones seemed to have less MSG and were therefore less delicious, but I liked them because of it's freshness.

The second type of wings were the sriracha buffalo wings  ($4.25 at 1/2 price), which had a strong taste of the tangy hot sauce.  The weren't bad, but they weren't impressive either.

The last type of wings available were the honey garlic ($4.25 at 1/2 price), which were pretty good and dangerously hot. The wings absolutely blew Tiff's mind and were "the best honey garlic wings she had ever had".  Stanley and I agreed that it was good but it didn't impress us to that extent.  Mama Leung makes a pretty good honey garlic sauce for spare ribs, and it's pretty similar.

Compared to Phnom Penh which serves their signature wings at $7.95 for 10 pieces according to Kevin, the Indochine wings are definitely a steal on Wednesdays since they're $4.25 for 9 pieces.  Import beers on Wednesdays are also only $5.  I'll definitely be back for more wings on Wednesdays and perhaps for their ladies' special on Tuesdays.

Indochine Kitchen + Bar
1 E Broadway   
Vancouver, BC
(604) 568-0828