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Posts Tagged ‘Semifreddo’

[VanFoodies eat Okanagan] Hester Creek: Terrafina, The Villa & the Winery

Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Great Views, Italian, Joyce, Okanagan, Outdoor Dining, Pasta, Pizza, Restaurants, Tasting Room, Travel, Wine Series, Winery Dining, tagged B&B, BC wines, Bed & Breakfast, Beef Carpaccio, Beignet, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Merlot, Character Red, Golden Mile Bench, Hester Creek Estate Winery, Hotel, Okanagan, Oliver, Pizza, Route 97, Semifreddo, Terrafina Restaurant, The Villa at Hester Creek, Thompson Okanagan, Vesuvio, Wagyu Carpaccio, Wine, Wine Tasting, Winery on July 21, 2016| 9 Comments »

For the Canada Day long weekend, Mr. and I went to the Okanagan with Bryan and Kathryn. Last year, we received a certificate for a two-night stay at The Villa at Hester Creek Estate Winery, so we took the opportunity to spoil ourselves on this getaway.

Terrafina Restaurant

During our stay, Mr. and I also had dinner at the Terrafina Restaurant at Hester Creek.

To start, we shared the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio. There was so much on the plate you can barely see the thinly sliced wagyu beef. The flavour combination was quite typical — capers, parmesan, arugula, aioli — what came as a pleasant surprise was the little sprouts sprinkled on top. They gave a slight crunch, an earthy note, which brought a new dimension of flavour.

Mr. ordered the Ricotta & Confit Duck Pizza. It’s, interesting.

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Fairmont Hotels’ Culinary Apprentice Dinner

Posted in By Invitations, Culinary Events, Dinner, Joyce, Special Occasion, Vancouver, West Coast, Wine Pairing, tagged Coleen Christie, cook apprentice, CTV, Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Fairmont Empress, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Fairmont Olympic, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Fairmont Waterfront, Salt Spring Island, Semifreddo, souffe on September 29, 2011| 2 Comments »

Through work I was among one of the lucky ~300 guests who attended the Fairmont Apprentice Dinner. This is a culinary debut of cook apprentices from seven Fairmont properties: Waterfront, Pacific Rim, Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Airport, Chateau Whistler, Empress in Victoria and Olympic in Seattle.

The event was at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. We arrived to the champagne reception, only to disappointingly report to you that I didn’t get to try any of the canapes prepared by Fairmont Pacific Rim. There were way too many people and I only saw two banquet servers passing around the canapes. I didn’t mind, though, saved room for the actual dinner.

Food

Emceed by Coleen Christie of CTV, it’s a six-course dinner with wine pairing. Each of the other six Fairmont Hotels was responsible for one dish. Here they were:

Fairmont Style “Cobb Salad” by Fairmont Vancouver Airport
Pascual Toso Sauvignon Blanc

Fairmont Style "Cobb Salad" by Fairmont Vancouver Airport

Tomato & basil terrine was wonderful. It’s colourful, juicy, light and refreshing. The bits of house-made bacon was smokey and blended well with the lightly flavoured quail egg and tomato terrine. The pressed chicken confit was just right, not salty and it had a nice crispy skin. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the thin slice of bacon fat. It was quite greasy for my taste. Oh and the blue cheese.

Pressed Quail Terrine by Fairmont Chateau Whistler
Mission Hill Pinot Noir

Pressed Quail Terrine by Fairmont Chateau Whistler

Initially I thought the terrine would be very rich, but I was wrong. The meat was lightly seasoned, with the added crunch of pistachio. I appreciate the choice of using apricot chutney to pair with the meat. The sweetness of apricot and the dash of S&P, along with the walnut crisp was an excellent combo. There were some pepper sprinkled on the crisps, though, which made my lips tinkled as I bit through them. A weird sensation. (more…)