By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

We had a platter of Golden Fries, Smoked Salmon Avocado Rice Pizza, Pork Gyoza, Roasted Beet Salad and Warm Salmon Avocado. The best was the golden fries which were coated with salted duck egg yolk. My next favourite was the beet salad. The fried sushi rice topped with smoked salmon was a lot less heavy than it appeared. The gyoza was decent.

Next was a Chinese take on an American classic being the Asian Honey Sesame Pulled Duck Mac n' Cheese. The cheese didn't clash with the rest of the ingredients. The duck, cucumber and hoisin created a Peking Duck effect. The macaroni was al dente which was atypical of Asians overcooking their pasta. I would've liked more cheese sauce. My favourite was the Spicy Crab Ciabatta Sandwich. There were crunchy bread lay tender crab patties that were juicy, spicy and super-flavourful.

We also had the Roasted Duck Quesadilla filled with cheese, green pepper and hoisin which tasted like a Peking Duck wrap, but with cheese. The green peppers didn`t really go with this wrap. The Baked Seafood Rice was standard.

 For dessert, we had four  Ice Cream Baos including Coconut Gelato with black glutinous rice sauce, Mango Gelato with mango sauce, Matcha Gelato with red bean paste and Triple Chocolate. Eating the bao was messy as everything squirted out.  My favourite was the mango. Overall, I felt the food at Elements was good albeit some tweaks are needed. I'm glad they are taking some chances though as food should be creative.

Elements Diner

910 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC

The Good:

• Something different

• Minimalist, yet spacious dining space

• Loved that crab sandwich

The Bad:

• There were some really good dishes, however, some tweaks are needed on others

• Dessert Baos were good, but hard to eat

Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.