I was invited by Richard Wolak to the media preview of his new challenge: finding the best meatballs in Vancouver! Restaurants from all over the city are entering their meatballs, creating special dishes in the hopes that they will be crowned best in the West! Each restaurant will be featuring their meatball creation on their menu from April 1-26, 2015.

The first stop in our Meatball extravaganza was U & I Thai. These beef meatballs are hand made with lemongrass, galanga, lime leaves, holy basil, red onions, cilantro and seasonings. The meatballs are then slowly cooked in the restaurant’s special house-made Penang sauce. The meatballs are served on a bed of noodles, making this dish “spaghetti and meatballs” – Thai style!

There were an array of flavours swimming in my mouth: peanuts, lemongrass and basil were the more prominent ones. The dish came beautifully presented and well paired with a glass of Garland Crest Shiraz from Spain.

Will these meatballs be crowned best of all? I guess we’ll find out! Check out the other participating restaurants and vote for your favourites here.

Follow U & I Thai on Twitter: @uratomjit