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Posts Tagged ‘Mac & Cheese’

West Oak – Five Years in the Yaletown Neighbourhood

Posted in Baked Goods, Canadian, Cheese, Cocktails, Dinner, Fine dining, Food Bloggers, Joyce, Meat, Patio, Restaurants, Seafood, Sustainable, Vancouver, West Coast, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 17, 2018| 1 Comment »

West Oak recently celebrated its 5th anniversary in the Yaletown neighbourhood. As a follow-up, Areta, Alice (Double A!) and I were invited to a hosted dinner at the restaurant. I’ve been here a couple of times beforehand, one of which was an evening out with a few of my girlfriends a few years ago.

Disclosure: This meal was provided to me complimentary of the restaurant. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Food

We got a sneak peek of some of their new cocktails (from left):

New Cocktails at West Oak

The Aperol Spritzer Mimosa is their new take on the classic brunch cocktail. This is available only during brunch, but the restaurant made one for us to try. Aperol, prosecco, fresh juice (orange, grapefruit, etc.) — it was juicy, citrusy, fizzy, refreshing. Great for a patio brunch. There’s no reason a mimosa fan wouldn’t enjoy this.

Tiffany Blue could become a local IG sensation. The Ciroc Apple came through and gave it some tartness, almost face puckering. You can really taste the apple here. The addition of edible silver makes it sparkle like a precious piece of jewelry.

Tiffany Blue

The last cocktail, at the time this was written, hasn’t been named. It just had a nickname “Green Thumb“. It had gin, elderflower liquer, basil, cucumber. It reminded me a bit of mojito – it’s light and crisp, and herbaceous.

Then, we dove into dinner, with a couple of appies to share. (more…)

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Donnelly Group Dine Out Preview Tour #DOVF

Posted in By Invitations, Chocolate, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Pasta, Pub, Restaurants, Salad, Soup, Vancouver, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

We were invited to go on a tour to check out the various Donnelly Group properties and their Dine Out Vancouver menu. Executive Chef Alvin Pillay has recently returned to the company group, and he’s quite proud of the menus that he’s put together. Ten of the Donnelly Group properties are offering similar items. Specifically, there are 6 core items that can be found at all these locations, which we tried on this tour, along with their respective beverage pairing. Each Donnelly Group location also offers an additional entree option on their Dine Out menu.

Food

Our first stop was at The New Oxford, where we tried the two appetizers.

The Curried Parsnip Soup could definitely warm you up on a chilly winter day. The curry spices really came through; I could taste a lot of ginger. Soup was creamy, and the roasted apple offered some texture in contrast. Suggested wine pairing is the Volcanic Hills Pinot Gris. The apple note in the white wine was a great match with the soup.

Curried Parsnip Soup

The Winter Salad sounded and seemed simple, but there’s an interesting depth to it. The buttermilk sumac dressing brought tartness and spice, black sesame added some nutty flavours, and the Moroccan pita bread gave it some crunch. The 50th Parallel Riesling isn’t as sweet as a typical Riesling, which worked well with this light salad.

Winter Salad

Next, on a trolley, we were taken to The Blackbird Public House, right upstairs from Royal Dinette.

Bar at Blackbird

The first of the two core entrees was the Bangers & Mash.
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Hub Restaurant New Westminster

Posted in Casual, Cheese, Dinner, Joyce, Meat, New Westminster, Pub, Restaurants, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

As part of the post-engagement celebrations I met up with CP at the Hub Restaurant in New Westminster. I like that the location is central and conveniently located right at the New Westminster skytrain station.

Food

As a starter, we ordered the Wok Squid to share. The portion wasn’t as big as I had hoped (picture below is the full size) but the squid was tender and I really liked the Asian-inspired ginger and chili seasoning as well as the spicy aioli. The hint of heat was delicious. I would’ve liked the batter to be slightly crispier, though.

Wok Squid

Actually I was contemplating about getting the Lobster Wings, i.e. battered lobster tails. According to our server, the number of lobster tails is determined by weight, so for $14.5 there may be 5 or 6 pieces but it’s not for certain. It sounded rather pricey and the skeptic in me was worried that the lobster tails would be tiny, so I didn’t go for it.

For entree I had the Grilled Pork Cutlet. I don’t usually order pork at restaurants, considering pork chops can be overcooked easily and chewy, dry pork isn’t fun to eat. Not here!
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