Roaming Dragon

We had to run some errands near the Global Centre and dropped by Roaming Dragon. I had the pork noodle box and it was scrumptious. A generous helping, it was packed full of all the Thai flavours you’d expect (chilli heat, lime acidity and the freshness of coriander) with just the right amount of sauce to coat the rice. The guys were really friendly and served up the food quickly. Definitely will try to go back to try the Indonesian beef rendang poutine — if any food defines Canadian multiculturalism then surely that dish does! Good work, lads!

Their fried rice balls is one of my favorites! If you get a chance to try it, I really recommend it!

Had the chicken noodle box. It was dry and bland.

Great food from Roaming Dragon every time. Wish I was downtown more to eat it.
The rice balls and Indonesian beef poutine are two of the BEST things I’ve ever eaten. Looking forward to my next Roaming Dragon visit.

One of the few chances I get to venture out to these food trucks during my lunch break and they didn’t disappoint.
I have to recommend their Chinese pork slider and Indonesian beef rendang poutine. It hits high on the comfort food level scale. The white chinese bun patty they serve for the sliders is delicate and soft but it is such a major plus since it’s unique and tastes different than your usual sesame seed buns. It kind of works like a chinese pork bun with all the same cravings. And finally chow down on their beef rich poutine. Of course, there is that one red pepper they add to this side so if you’re feeling adventurous during your lunch break then chew down on that as well!

Solid food truck! I tried their shredded pork sub last year when they were parked at the PNE and thought it was pretty good, although a bit pricey ($ 6) when you consider you could get the same thing in a sit-​down Vietnamese restaurant for about $ 4. Everything tasted fresh and flavourful though and for the convenience I think it was totally worth the price. At the Unilocal Elite Food Cart Fest Preview I was also able to sample their fried rice balls. Now, these were GREAT. Hot fried rice with chicken and sausage fried in a crispy shell and topped with aioli, MMMM. This is a dish I would actually seek out the truck for and order again! Looking forward to trying some of their other dishes in the future.

Having watched it on the food network, we were happy to try the Roaming Dragon at Robson/​Burrard.
We ordered a ginger lemonade $ 3 and Dragon burger $ 10 with cheese $ 2.
A burger is a litmus test to good street food.
My husband described the dragon burger as a meatball is squashed into a small brioche bun, dry and small. For $ 12 burger, we expected better especially with all that publicity.
The dishes on the menu seem to be foods with injections of the Asian flavours but at exorbitant prices. You can have the original in the Asian restaurants at a fraction of the price. I thought street foods are supposed to have lower overheads than restaurants and hence prices should be more affordable?
Also i don’t like to sound petty but the drink had too much ice cubes.

i’ve been wanting to try this food-​truck for a while now, and when i finally got the chance to… i was not disappointed at all! i ordered the fried rice balls, which were delicious, along with the pork sliders, which were also amazing! loved the sauce on the pork sliders — it was the same sauce they use in peking duck. and the buns that were used for them were the white, chinese, siopao buns.
i definitely want to come back to try the beef rendang poutine, that item on the menu also caught my eye while i was there and i was in a bit of a predicament of what to order (first world problems, i know).

I finally had the chance to check out the Roaming Dragon at this year’s PNE festival. It was one of the healthier more gourmet options in the food isles. Bonus since they take Visa. I had the lemon grass chicken tacos which were just amazing. I needed to have a food moment for myself. My friend’s sister had the lychee basil lemonade which was to die for. The prices were decent at $ 7 for two small tacos.

We spotted this food truck while walking to the SkyTrain and got their Lychee Basil drink. It was like bubble tea, but instead of bubbles, there were lychee chunks. It was nice, but a little sweet after a while.

You food truck crack pedlars should be ashamed. We hit the RD for the first time last week with hungry bellies. Looking at the menu, there was absolutely no way to choose one thing, so we chose… four. I’m not proud of that.
The Rice balls were nice and the short rib tacos were de-​lish. But those Fire-​breathing mofos are laughing their asses off when another sucker orders the Beef Rendang Poutine. GOT US ANOTHER ADDICT! This is without a doubt, one of the most incredible samplings of food I’ve ever had in my life.
Now, instead of wild sex dreams, I dream of savory-​curried beef dished out of a rolling van. Okay… that still kind of sounds like a wild sex dream… BUT STILL!!!
The few times I’ve wandered down Burrard and they haven’t been on site, I’ve laid in the middle of the road sobbing. Keep an eye out for their schedule. I’ve found it changes (like lots of food trucks) and you don’t want to be disappointed.

I actually started off wanting a Turkey Kimchi Japa Dog from a cart up the street but they had a bit of line. So gave Roaming Dragon a go. They make a Seared AI Tuna Sandwich which is very good. I first experienced The Dragon at it the Night at the Museum Unilocal event in the winter (it was a free sample) Since then I have been back a couple of times always getting this very darn tasty tuna sandwich. The Sandwich I ordered was good today and it was good the last time I ordered it. I wish it had some sort of salad that went with it on the side. I also really wish there was some place ever a counter that you eat your tasty food against it would improve the overall experience.

I haven’t had a lot of street meat in my food travels. Not due to lack of availability, but more so due to most «food cart» food just not looking or smelling appealing enough for me to warrant a purchase. However, the Roaming Dragon is a mobile food vendor that has set the bar, in my mind, of what street meat can be and should try to attain. With this said, the Roaming Dragon is not fine dining and you may find better Asian-​fusion at a sit down restaurant, but for the price and for the Roaming Dragon being a «food cart», it is awesome.
I will admit, my curiosity was initially peaked from watching an episode of Eat St. on the Food Network highlighting the Roaming Dragon a few months ago. Being one of Vancouver’s first mobile gourmet food trucks serving Pan-​Asian food with a West Coast influence seemed very interesting to me as a street food. However, I just was never able to make my way to the Roaming Dragon (even in it’s prime location of being on Robson and Burrard). With the sun finally showing up again in Vancouver, I decided to make a journey, no, a pilgrimage, to the Roaming Dragon a few weeks back, and have gone multiple times since.
When you first wander down street you’ll be hard-​pressed not to be drawn to the large, red truck decorated with Asian flare such as paper lanterns, a gong, and Chinese Dragon printed on the side. As you approach closer to the truck, you’ll be enticed to keep going closer as you get wafts of soy, hoisin and oyster sauces.
On the side of the truck facing the curb, you’ll see the order window, the menu beside the window, and many of the accolades/​awards below the window. My first thought was it seems a bit pretentious to have many of the accolades permanently printed right below the ordering window, front and centre, and maybe it is a bit. But, seeing the line of people in front of the truck and the appearance and smell of the food leaving the truck, made me reevaluate my initial thought that they have every reason to boast.
As eluded to, the Roaming Dragon fuses many North American dishes with Asian flavours and ingredients. Items such as braised pork belly sliders, Indonesian Beef Poutine, Japanese tuna tatki sandwich, fried rice balls, and lychee lemonade to name a few. All the ingredients are organic and/​or ethically raised. This will definitely appeal to some, and to the people that may not see this as a big deal, the cost of the food remains still very reasonably priced and you may even notice the taste fresh, local quality ingredients can provide.
Of the items I have I tried, I have 3 dishes that stand out in my mind:
1) The pork sliders which use a freshly steamed steam bun filled with braised pork belly (BTW pig makes me happy) pickled cucumbers, green onions, and hoisin sauce
2) The tuna sandwich that has a great fluffy bun filled with lightly seared tuna, a flavoured mayo, crushed rice crackers to give a crunch, jalapeño and nori. (I’ve had this 3 times and each time the tuna has been cooked perfectly, never overdone)
3) The Indonesian beef poutine that has cheese curds, braised beef, lemongrass, red chili, and coconut cream gravy that ties it all together.
The staff have always been friendly and approachable. They try to get your order fairly quickly, due to the line of people that will probably be behind you, but you never feel as if they’re rushing you or brushing you off to get to the next customer.
Overall, I find what the Roaming Dragon sets out to do, provide tasty food with a «food kart» ambiance, is done extremely well. For now, The Roaming Dragon is different than what other street karts are offering for street food, it’s a fun experience, and, as I’ve said several times, it taste pretty good (even when compared to restaurants with a permanent store front). If you want to try/​experience the food kart scene in Vancouver for the first time, or just try something a little different with a food price point, I recommend you seek out the Roaming Dragon.

I had the opportunity to try their ‘new’ additions to their already popular menu of items just recently, and now I must add this, they are more than just a ‘FOOD TRUCK’, they cater events, and wanted to show what they can do, and it was amazing to see them in action. This team knows how to deliver, with quick execution of their craft for food, this isn’t your run of the mill business, they keep the food coming, without ever compromising quality!
Some highlight dishes/​items I still think of while writing this, Indonesian «Beef Rendang Poutine, if you like fries with stuff on top, this one is definitely a twist to the ever traditional dish, tasty, saucy with good chunks of braised beef, mixed with their fresh fries, yummy maybe an understatement! The Japanese Tuna Tataki Sammy, I got a chance to try this in the frigid cold one night at an event at the Musuem, and even those there was a line up, this little bad boy is definitely worth the wait. The thick cut albacore tuna, with the bun, and their sauce, all come together to put a good smile while your admiring, and chewing this in your mouth.
Those are just two of many other items they have on the menu. Many people have their favorites, and the other thing you can thank the ‘RD’ for is that their ingredients are fresh, and they know where they are getting their stuff (think ETHICALLY and NATURALLY. what is said on their menu!). The team here is also passionate as well of what they do and you can see it just speaking to Jason Apple, who is one of the main guys in the business, whether he is in a suit at an event, or their famous colorful t-​shirts inside the truck you can see that they are serious and have a ‘kick-​ass’ time doing what they know best, making good food.
At the event at District 319, the food kept on coming, there was no shortage, so much so that my full stomach had to stop. Which means, you guys did a great job! They ran with the night, and kept on hustling!

Just

It hurts me inside to rate this latest food adventure a two star meal. Truly. Having read all the hype about the short rib taco I truly expected a life-​altering experience. And the friendliness of the staff and amazing aroma had sold me completely…
Unfortunately, while It only took me about 2 minutes to bring my taco’s back to the safety of my desk, my taco was sad, in a cold floppy corn wrapper, matched with the overly dry, slightly warm short rib, and had an overwhelming nori flavour. Paired with the cold chicken taco I’m left underfed and underwhelmed.
I’ll go back to try to Vietnamese Sub and potentially their soba salad because maybe I had an off day… But I will not venture into taco fusion again. The customer service was pretty solid (some people got their food before me even though they ordered after, which was frustrating), and staff was friendly and attentive for a food truck.

* Fusion failure *
I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of most fusion attempts, because except in very rare circumstances (like Le Cheval in Oakland in the early 90’s) the fusion takes the worst from both worlds and ends up with something just lacking in balance.
The Korean short rib taco here was unfortunately a failed fusion attempt. Call me silly, but when you call something Korean short rib I’m expecting kalbi with a flavour profile including soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and sugar. The short rib was more of a stewed variety with no noticeable Korean flavours. There were a variety of veggies (spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and soy beans) and some nori and sesame seeds on top. Some of the veggies were done almost in the style when they are served as banchan (the spinach and soy beans in particular), but a very non-​flavourful version of such banchan. They also were REALLY cold. I mean like fridge cold. So they cooled off the meat to a lukewarm temp. The tortilla was a corn tortilla that was both rubbery and mushy at the same time. Photo:
Overall this was a true classic fusion failure. Don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon.

Oh, how I love Roaming Dragon. Their pork belly sliders are to die for and I love the deep fried rice balls with curry sauce.
I have not yet tried all the menu items, but the short rib tacos are also delicious and washed down with the Lychee Basil Lemonade… yummy!
The only thing keeping these guys from a five-​star rating (based on street food standards) is that they are a little on the pricey side. Items are $ 6 each, 2 for $ 10 or 3 for $ 15. The lemonade is $ 4.
Like a couple of other reviewers, I also took advantage of the Groupon deal, where you paid $ 5 for two items plus the lemonade. In hindsight, I should have purchased more of them! In any case, the food is exceptionally good and will keep me going back.

I did the Groupon thing a while back and got $ 10 worth of food (2 orders) plus a basil-​lychee lemonade for $ 5!
Today, I ordered the chicken karaage and korean short rib tacos. The guy forgot my lemonade until I reminded him. Nice start!
I really like the korean short rib tacos (2 of them). Good flavour. Would order it again.
I wasn’t pleased with the chicken karaage. It tasted pretty salty — probably too much soy sauce. Plus, it wasn’t crunchy so it was more like a terriyaki.
The basil-​lychee lemonade isn’t good. It was lots of club soda and bits of lychee. I wouldn’t pay the $ 4 they are selling it for. Thank goodness I got it included.
But, will go back to try the rest of the menu out. Looking forward to the duck confit salad!

I guess I was too excited about the idea of this and it didn’t live up to that.
+ — Japanese Chicken Karaage: Fine. Better than some others I’ve had. Batter-​wise, not what I would expect of Karaage. Sauce-​wise, I got tired of the flavour halfway.
— Soba Noodle Salad: I was shocked to find the red sauce on it! Fortunately, it wasn’t too spicy, but I couldn’t find any flavour depth. Palatable, but not something I would get again.
Apart from the food, I can only find good things business-​wise:
+++ Their containers are not Styrofoam! I would assume we can’t put these food-​soaked things in the paper recycle bin, but it must be biodegradable garbage.
+++ A food truck that accepts Credit and Debit!
+++ They say on their site (and referenced Twitter
or Facebook) where they are.
As of Sep2010,
* Weekdays 11:30 — 3:00 — Downtown 1075 W Georgia
* Weekends at the Farmer’s Market (
) — Sat: Trout Lake, Sun: Kitsilano