Posted in Beverage, Cocktails, Culinary Events, Drinks, Food Bloggers, Joyce, Meat, News, Vancouver, tagged Andrea Civettini, Aubrey Pingitore, Cocktail, Cocktail Competition, Cocktails, David Robertson, Event, Fermentation, Fun, Jesse Hochhausen, liquid nitrogen, Michael Chan, Science, Science of Cocktails, Science World, Science World Class Field Trip Bursary, smoked, Sous vide on February 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Earlier this month, as media, I was invited to attend the 3rd annual Science of Cocktails event at the Science World. It was the perfect venue as the Science World was transformed into a giant lab where drinks were changing from blue to pink, bananas being sous vide in honey, popcorn was frozen with liquid nitrogen, a “toothpaste” palate cleanser, smoking herbs, vaporized gin & tonic, fermentation, a sniffing station, foodies pulling themselves up a lift… the list goes on!
Posted in Dessert, Dinner, Joyce, Restaurants, Seafood, Special Occasion, Steak, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged Arctic Char, black cod, brussels sprouts, calamari, Downtown Vancouver, Elizabeth Blau, Honey Salt, Parq Vancouver, Sous vide on January 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »
To celebrate my parents’ wedding anniversary, we went to Honey Salt at the Parq Vancouver for dinner. Since its opening, I’ve been seeing photos on Instagram and I’ve been curious about it. Finally our turn to check it out.
So it’s our first time at the restaurant AND the casino. Everything looks shiny new to us. The restaurant interior is quite cute. It reminded me of a modern cottage kitchen/nook, with cupboards and shelves, hanging lights, and a lot of white and green. I quite like the style.
The four of us shared a few appetizers. First, the Tofino Fry. Fried calamari and side stripe shrimps on one plate. The batter was thin, outside was crunchy, and the meat was tender. The Japanese mayo dipping sauce had some subtle heat; in my opinion the heat could be dialed up a bit. What surprised me was the few slices of fried lemon. Perhaps the batter took away some of the acidity, so it wasn’t face-puckering sour. The citrus flavour worked well with the seafood.
The Crisped Bacon Brussels is listed under Sides, and it’s in small print, so make sure you don’t miss it.
Posted in Chocolate, Dessert, Dinner, Fine dining, Joyce, Meat, Restaurants, Seafood, Special Occasion, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged 64-degree egg, banana split, Beef Carpaccio, Beef Short Ribs, Chef Thomas Heinrich, Chocolate Cake, cod, Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Mosaic Bar & Grille, pork belly, Skuna Bay, Smoked Salmon, Sous vide, VANEATS.ca on March 22, 2013| 4 Comments »
This is definitely not our first time visiting Mosaic Bar & Grille. I was there for Dine Out, for business lunches and for Christmas Day buffet brunches, and of all my visits quality had been great. Therefore, I was pretty excited when the VANEATS folks invited us to sample their latest offering, Art of Taste at Mosaic.
Mosaic Bar & Grille
Before I even go into any details, let me just put it out there. We were blown away. The hospitality of staff and the quality of food were just top notch. Now, of course, you may say we got special treatment because we are bloggers. Possibly. So keep that in mind as you read on, but hopefully you’ll be convinced otherwise.
First of all, let me walk you through the Art of Taste menu. It’s a 3-item dining pass that gives you an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. You have two options for each course, and luckily, we’ve tried them all.
Appetizer #1 is the Local Spring Salad, which features the freshest seasonal vegetables that are currently available in the market. And they did taste very fresh – the cooking wasn’t anything fancy, but that’s how you bring out the best of the fresh ingredients. The citrus dressing was refreshing and not over-powering, and it was just the right amount of dressing. Sheep milk ricotta was rich and creamy, with a little hint of gaminess, but it was a welcomed substitute to the rather commonly seen goat cheese.
Local Spring Salad – Fava Beans, House-made Sheep Milk Ricotta, Citrus Mustard Dressing
Appetizer #2 is A La Minute Smoked Salmon. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? It was the same smoked salmon that I had at the Healthy Chef Competition. That being said, this is the perfected version of the smoked salmon. When it first arrived at our table, it’s sitting in a cloud of smoke, inside a dome.
Salmon in a Smoky Dome
And wow, this was sooo much better than the other one. (more…)
Posted in Bistro, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Restaurants, Steak, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged 16oz steak, apple crumble, Dine Out Vancouver 2013, double date, Kitsilano, lamb shank, Nanaimo Bar, Oakwood Canadian Bistro, ravioli, Ribeye, Sous vide on January 23, 2013| 7 Comments »
Dine Out #2 was a long trek (for us in the ‘burbs) to the Oakwood Canadian Bistro in Kitsilano. I have wanted to go for last year’s Dine Out but no one else seemed to be interested in its menu. Luckily, they have returned for another year of DOV and the menu is equally attractive. I happily scheduled a double date with WK and MS over the weekend.
Dine Out at Oakwood Canadian
A double date gave us a good opportunity to see/try almost everything on the menu. For appetizers, I most enjoyed the Smoked Cheddar and Cauliflower Soup. The cheese was rich and the soup was creamy, but it was a bit too salty…until you mix in the tomato foam. The slight tartness of the tomato foam helps cut through the richness and balance out the flavours.
Smoked cheddar and cauliflower soup – tomato foam, thyme croutons
The Pork Ravioli, even though it’s a carb dish, had probably the smallest portion of all. The 2 raviolis were of decent size, the filling was tasty, but the pasta dough around the filling was just way too much. And it was under-cooked so it was hard. I thought the apple wasabi sauce was interesting. The glistening pork rind added crunchy texture to the dish, but I think it would be better if it’s smaller and just sprinkled on top.
Pork ravioli – apple wasabi butter, rind, radish sprout
WK ordered the Albacore Tuna. (more…)
Posted in Bistro, Dinner, Joyce, Restaurants, Seafood, Steak, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged Creme Brulee, eat local, Edible Canada, elk, Granville Island, Perogies, Seafood Pie, seasonal, Sous vide, Steak Frites on January 14, 2013| 6 Comments »
As part of the birthday festivities, my family and I went to Edible Canada at the Market. I have been wanting to eat there since Edible Canada moved out of the Granville Market to a stand-alone location.
Edible Canada at the Market Bistro
The menu looked really interesting, with a good variety of dishes offering something for everyone. The four of us decided to share two appetizers and ordered an entree each.
The first appy that we shared was the Alberta Bison Meatballs. Interesting choice of using a rather lean type of meat to make meatballs! The meatballs needed a bit more fat, but the gravy made up for moisture. The gravy was rich and luscious, combining with the meatballs it would make a very good pasta sauce. The shoestring potatoes added another layer of texture with some crunch.
Alberta Bison Meatballs – cooked medium, crispy shoestring potatoes, lingonberry gravy, fresh herbs
We ordered Helmi’s Potato & Cheese Perogies simply because we saw it at our neighbour’s table and it looked amazing! It tasted really good too! I’m not really a huge perogy fans because I don’t eat very much carbs, but I quite enjoyed this one. I liked that it was pan-seared with a crispy exterior, and the Kielbasa sausage added some savouriness and meat to this dish. Eating this alone can actually make it an entree plate, but sharing among the 4 of us was perfect as an appy.
Helmi’s Potato & Cheese Perogies – Kielbasa sausage, caramelized onions, sour cream, grainy mustard honey vinaigrette
For entree, I ordered the Rangeland Leg of Elk. (more…)
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