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Archive for the ‘Culinary Events’ Category

Taste of Yaletown 2017 – House Special $45 Menu

Posted in Culinary Events, Dinner, Food Bloggers, Joyce, Meat, Media Events, Restaurants, Steak, Taste of Yaletown, Vancouver, Vietnamese, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »

I was invited to the menu preview of the 2017 Taste of Yaletown. Organized by the Yaletown BIA and similar to Dine Out Vancouver, participating restaurants in Yaletown are offering a $25, $35, or $45 menu until Oct 27. At the preview event, I got to sample the menus at two restaurants, one of which was House Special, serving Modern Vietnamese cuisine.

Food

House Special offers a 4-course menu for $45. The first course was Mekong Wonton. Shrimp and monkfish mousse wontons were sitting in a sweet, sour and spicy tamarind seafood broth, which was inspired by a traditional Vietnamese dish Canh Chua Ca. It’s different from other types of Asian sweet and sour, or hot and sour soup. I could taste the sweet and sour combo from the tamarind but I was definitely caught by surprise when the pineapple flavour hit my palate. Being so familiar with the Chinese style wonton soup, this Vietnamese version was almost refreshing to me.

Mekong Wonton

The second course was Caramelized Pork Jowl Banh Hoi, which is their take on a lettuce wrap but with endives. (more…)

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Event Recap: MADE WITH LOVE 2017 Vancouver Regional Competition

Posted in Culinary Events, Drinks, Joyce, News, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »

On Monday, September 25, 11 professional barchefs and four apprentice bartenders competed at the 2017 MADE WITH LOVE Vancouver Regional Competition. The professionals were competing for a spot to represent the region at the Nationals next year.

2017 MADE WITH LOVE Vancouver Regionals2017 MADE WITH LOVE Vancouver Regionals

At the event, not only were the barchefs trying to win the judges’ heart, but they were also trying to impress every event guest. We were given two “dogtag” necklaces, to vote for our favourite barchef and apprentice bartender.

2017 MADE WITH LOVE Vancouver Regionals2017 MADE WITH LOVE Vancouver Regionals

We got to sample each cocktail, along with some canape pairings.

(more…)

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[Dine Out Vancouver 2017] Restaurants that have extended their offer period #DOVF

Posted in Culinary Events, Dine Out Vancouver, Joyce, News, tagged , , on February 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The official Dine Out Vancouver may have ended on Feb 5, 2017, but some restaurants have decided to offer the Dine Out menus just for a few more days.

Vancouver Aquarium Pop-up Restaurant 2017 Dine Out

Vancouver Aquarium Pop-up Restaurant 2017 Dine Out

Here are their respective extended end date and menu (some are from their own websites; some are from the Dine Out Vancouver website which may get taken down any day now):

(more…)

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[Dine Out Vancouver 2017] Notch8 Restaurant & Bar – What Beautiful Plating! #DOVF

Posted in Culinary Events, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Hotel Dining, Joyce, Meat, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2017| 1 Comment »

Since the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver renovated the ground floor restaurant space, naming it Notch8 Restaurant, I’ve been wanting to eat there. I really like the big light fixture in the middle of the restaurant (in case you forgot, I’m often fascinated by lights!) and it just looks like a huge upgrade/improvement from what it was before. Then, without much hesitation, I made a reservation there for Dine Out.

Notch8 Restaurant & Bar

Priced at $40, Notch8’s menu was intriguing and interesting. The menu has items or ingredient combinations that you don’t often see on a Dine Out menu, or they have some unique way of preparing the usual ingredients, so I was quite excited going into it.

Food

The dinner was off to a good start. I was immediately blown away by how pretty my appetizer was. Look at this Savoury Macaron! Caviar, smoked salmon, scallop mousse, roe…all sitting on a piece of slightly sweet, slightly chewy macaron cookie. There was a good balance of sweet and savoury, and umami flavours from the seafood. It’s so pretty!!

Savory Macaron

It was a bit puzzling to us why they would serve the Forest Mushroom Tart on such a big plate, but I guess having negative space on a plate is also a thing. (more…)

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[Dine Out Vancouver 2017] WildTale Coastal Grill Menu Preview #DOVF

Posted in Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Meat, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2017| 1 Comment »

Did you know WildTale’s Dine Out menu is only $30 this year? When my family and I went there for Dine Out last year it was $40! I was invited to a preview of this year’s menu and I was curious to see how it has changed.

Turns out there are a couple repeating items on the menu, which makes this $30 menu a pretty good deal.

Food

One of the repeating items is the WildTale Seafood Chowder. Well, it’s not entirely the same as last year’s, but the idea is there. The chowder was the most memorable appetizer last year, and this year’s chowder was my favourite appetizer on the menu. It was rich, creamy, flavourful – and the corn and crab fritter was nice and crispy, adding some texture to the soup.

WildTale Seafood Chowder

If you look for something lighter in the appetizer, either the Organic Beets & Watercress salad or the Albacore Tuna Carpaccio would make a great option. I love beets, so any beet salad could easily win my heart. These beets were sweet, balanced by the hint of bitterness in watercress. It’s missing some tang and acidity, though – I love me some goat cheese in my beet salad. (more…)

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[Dine Out Vancouver 2017] Dockside Restaurant Menu Preview #DOVF

Posted in Culinary Events, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Fine dining, Great Views, Hotel Dining, Joyce, Meat, Media Events, Patio, Restaurants, Salad, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Have you checked out the Dine Out Vancouver website yet? Are you doing any prix fixe dinner? I was invited to a tour on the Granville Island to visit some restaurants for their menu preview. First up, Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel.

Dockside has been around for a long time. I remember going there for the first time for Dine Out back in 2008, then Christmas brunch with family in 2013, my bridal shower in 2015, then here we are again for Dine Out. Food quality was always solid and we always had a good time.

Food

There are three options for appetizer. First, the Winter Green Salad was so pleasing on the eyes. It’s colourful, with a good variety of vegetables. I like that it uses polenta as croutons; not only does it give a crispy texture, but also creamy, cheesy flavours.

Winter Green Salad

My friend JX loves her crab cakes, and I think she’ll enjoy these Dockside Crab and Shrimp Cakes. Perfect two-bite size, crispy on the outside and meaty inside. Not much filler there. The sweetness of mango salsa and creamy aioli balanced it really nicely.

Dockside Crab & Shrimp Cakes

My favourite appetizer was the Duck Prosciutto Tart. (more…)

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[Dine Out Vancouver 2017] Menus are out: What caught our eyes #DOVF

Posted in Culinary Events, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Lunch, News, Vancouver, tagged , , , , on January 10, 2017| 4 Comments »

Dine Out Vancouver is back! Running from January 20 to February 5, more than 280 restaurants are offering prix fixe menus and more than 100 food-themed events are planned over this 2-week period.

Beach Bay Cafe

The 3-course dinner are priced at $20, $30 or $40. Some restaurants are also offering a lunch menu, which could be at a cheaper price point. The menus are now live and reservations are open. Pretty excited about some of the participating restaurants this year. After perusing the menus, here are our suggestions, based on past experience as well as menu attractiveness:

$20 Suggestions

  • Banana Leaf (our review)
  • Butcher & Bullock
  • The Fish Shack (our review) – price reduced from $30 last year
  • Gyoza Bar
  • Rocky Mountain Flatbread
  • TAPshack
  • Timber

$30 Suggestions

(more…)

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