“What do you want to say about Dosanko?”
“It’s the best restaurant in the world. I like the food.”
“How about the owners, do you like them?”
Maya, Dosanko owners Nathan and Akiyo Lowey’s 7 year old daughter don't respond. She would rather show off her cartwheeling skills to her adoring fans. Which for today was this writer, a photographer, and her mom and dad.
Thousands of restaurants in North America faced an unknown future at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, it was predicted that 60 percent of Canadian restaurants could fail by fall.
Compared to their large chain neighbors, family-owned restaurants had less cash reserves and less access to technology and tools in the face of a changing world.
However, Dosanko in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood braved this new challenge as it always has - together as a family.
Immediate Family
Maya, the cheerleader for the restaurant, took her role seriously when Dosanko first transitioned to takeout-only service. “Maya made me a stress reliever one time. It was a popsicle stick with two pieces of foam,” Nathan continues, “She said, ‘Don’t worry Dad, when you get stressed out, you can just squeeze this.’”
Liam, Maya’s 10 year older brother, was the restaurant’s watchful eye, letting his parents know when people were at the door to pick up their order.
If you had ever visited Dosanko, you’ve probably seen Maya or Liam doing their homework or playing games at the couches in the back of the restaurant.
They are the latest to carry the torch in the long tradition of kids who grew up in their parent’s restaurants. A few decades ago, Raymond Wah of South Vancouver’s Northern Cafe was the one holding that torch. But instead of couches, it was bunk beds.
“We had a bunk bed in the back in the storeroom of my grandfather’s restaurant,” Raymond said.
Operating out of South Vancouver lumber yard, above a hardware store, beside train tracks, the Northern Cafe is run by the Mah family. Husband and wife Jimmy and Connie took over the restaurant in 2008. Ten years later, their son Raymond was convinced to join the family business after working as an executive chef at restaurants around the city for nearly 18 years.
Raymond grew up in restaurants throughout his entire childhood. His father Jimmy came to Canada from Hong Kong when he was just 14 to work at his own father’s restaurant in Shellbrook, a town in Saskatchewan of only 500 people at the time.
From then on, Jimmy would work 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week at restaurants all over Canada until he was 53.
“Growing up, I never saw my parents that much,” Raymond said. The restaurant business is unrelenting and especially with family-run restaurants.There is the constant balance between working hard to provide for their kids and working less to spend time with them.
Thirty-odd years later, Nathan and Akiyo made that balance work by shaping Dosanko into their kids’ second home. As Maya and Liam began virtual learning in the midst of the pandemic, this arrangement worked better than they could have imagined. Instead of being in their physical school, they were at the restaurant for most of the day.
“It was tough at the beginning, but it ended up being pretty great. Having some time with the kids and making sure they get their homework done,” Nathan said. “We got to teach and bond with them that way.”
Akiyo would add, “When I'm busy, I forget to eat. And Liam would ask me, ‘Momma, are you hungry? I can make something’, they're so mature.”
Prior to opening up Dosanko, Nathan was a chef at restaurants including Campagnolo and Campagnolo Roma. Akiyo was also in the restaurant business, running front-of-house operations at Tojo’s.
Nathan recalls, almost word for word Jimmy’s experience, working 12-14 hours a day and never getting to see his kids. Running Dosanko as a family business has its benefits.
“There's little moments where they just come and distract you enough to warm your heart to make it through,” Nathan said. “That's all I missed all those years chef-ing away, you know? And so now we wouldn't change it.”
For Raymond, the benefit of family comes in a similar way. His wife works in healthcare and they had young kids who transitioned to home learning during the pandemic. In fact, Raymond’s kids are the same age as Nathan and Akiyo’s, a 7 year old and 10 year old. The author isn’t sure if the two families have ever met, but they really should.
The Northern Cafe closed voluntarily prior to the official provincial health order and then for the months after. When the restaurant opened, Raymond continued to stay at home with the kids while his wife was at work. Over a year ago, he made the choice to leave his executive chef role at other restaurants to help run Northern Cafe and spend more time with his kids. Now his kids were home all day during a pandemic and he had to be there.
“My dad and mom told me I don’t have to come into work yet. My wife works at the hospital and I was at home caring for my kids,” Raymond said. “I can’t do it without my parents. The only way I could do it is by leaning on family.”
Extended Family
The concept of family expands when speaking about the COVID protocols the two restaurants have in place.
The Northern Cafe was closed, even for takeout, for two months to prepare their restaurant. Raymond and Jimmy had never faced this before and their priority was to keep their customers safe. They needed time to figure it out.
If you’ve never been to Northern Cafe (you really should), you walk across the working lumber yard and then make your way up wooden stairs. The hallway to the diner is narrow and the floor is uneven and wobbly, a funhouse type of hallway with hints of pine and cedar. You enter the cafe of red booths and low ceilings that reminded this 6 foot tall writer of Hong Kong buses. Handwritten notes from customers around the world are proudly displayed on the walls. An old CTR television sits on top of the fridge in the corner. The space is decorated by the Chinese calendars that would be a familiar sight in most Chinese households.
This is all part of its undeniable hidden gem charm. But it reflects the reality of their situation during the pandemic. It’s a small space with one entrance in an old building. There are physical limitations to how the cafe can be restructured for COVID.
Northern Cafe made a decision that seems counterintuitive to a business trying its best to weather a pandemic storm. When the restaurant did reopen, Raymond consciously decided not to announce its reopening on social media.
Pre-COVID, the restaurant had line-ups out the door and into the wobbly hallway, bolstered by its online presence. Regulars, tourists, and curious locals wait patiently for their fix of Chinese Canadian breakfast and lunches.
Raymond and Jimmy did not want to do a full reopen until they had figured out the best way to keep their customers safe within this small space. As much they missed new faces, they also had to serve the regulars first.
“You know why? Because they’re family and we want to treat them like our family,” Raymond said.
This core belief is best illustrated by the phone conversations that Jimmy has had with his regulars:
“We got so many calls from customers, “Are you open Jimmy?’.They say, ‘Jimmy, you got nothing to do, go back there and I’ll come pick up some food’,” Jimmy said.
For two months, Jimmy had to say no.
When the restaurants did finally open, his regulars would call again but this time Jimmy would joyfully respond, “Come on in! The lights are on aren’t they?”
By focusing on their regulars, there would be fewer people in the space as they add more safety protocols. The regulars have also become co-creators; they tell the Mahs what they’ve seen at other places that might work. And the Mahs listen.
Even so, Jimmy and Raymond miss the liveliness of before, dozens of regular and new faces fitting together in a tight space in its chaa cha teng ambience (Hong Kong-style cafes).
The Lowey family misses their regulars too. With their kids settling in the back of the restaurant, Dosanko was inherently designed as a second home. There is even a kitchen play set in the corner. The play set was Maya’s when she was younger and now it’s for customers with young children. It was a conscious decision to keep it there.
“We used to have so much trouble eating out when the kids were young. We would go to a restaurant and we would get shushed,” Nathan said. Akiyo would add, “We want to welcome all families, babies, we want everyone to be comfortable and that’s why we have a kids area.”
This second home extends into its menu as well. Dosanko serves Japanese home-style food. “The flavors are like anyone’s childhood. It’s comforting. It’s like food made by the Japanese grandmother that you never had,” Nathan said.
It’s also food that Nathan and Akiyo made at home for their two kids. It’s evolved, “chef-ed up” as Nathan would describe. The space and the food combined, Dosanko is very much an extension of the Lowey’s own home and family.
That’s why safety protocols are so important. They’ve always been very strict with cleanliness and sanitation. This is their second home and their kids are always here. COVID safety protocols were the simpler change compared to their changing clientele.
Dosanko’s regulars were local professionals working in the area. They would celebrate birthdays and milestones at the restaurant. When office workers moved to working remotely, the Loweys didn’t see them as often.
It’s not as busy anymore for the lunch service. But luckily, they’ve started getting new regulars - customers who would do takeout only but do it with such regularity that Nathan and Akiyo started to know them personally.
This is when their kids shined as cheerleaders and pseudo-security guards. Dine-in is now available at Dosanko and the kids are back in school. Hopefully, their old regulars will return soon.
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“Food is my passion, but family is my inspiration.”
Spoken by Raymond and reiterated by Nathan and Akiyo throughout the interview. For both families, their restaurants aren’t simply business. It will always be about family - whether the immediate or the extended one with their regulars and customers.
The decisions to adapt to the pandemic are rooted in the same lens: family. And as the pandemic stretches,
“Watch me do a cartwheel.”
Photos of Northern Cafe Shot By: Kathy Lee.
Photos of Dosanko Shot By: Jon Wat