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Posts Tagged ‘West End’

[Dine Out Vancouver 2016] Beach Bay Cafe #DOVF

Posted in Bistro, Casual, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Great Views, Joyce, Oysters, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2016| 1 Comment »

Last year, Beach Bay Cafe popped up in the space where Raincity Grill used to be. Since then, they’ve made some slight adjustments on the menu direction, as well as found a new executive chef, so with their Dine Out participation, I decided to give it a try.

Food

To start, Mr. ordered the Seafood Chowder. It’s creamy, wasn’t super thick, yet loaded with lots of ingredients. Every spoonful there were chunks of potato and carrot and seafood such as shrimp, mussels and squid. There’s smokiness and savoury flavours coming from the bacon as well as crispy leeks. I had a few spoons and I quite liked it; Mr. had most of it and thought it’s a bit too salty for him.

seafood chowder

For an extra $4, I had 1/2 Dozen Oysters for appetizer. The night’s feature was Little Wing oysters; they were not too big in size, but had a deep cup shell. The flesh tasted clean and crisp with a hint of sweetness. I’ve never had this kind before and thought they were pretty good. The oysters were paired with an apple mignonette, which was on the sweet side, so you had to add a squeeze of lemon juice to bring a bit more acidity.

half dozen west coast oyster

I’ve ordered mostly seafood dishes during Dine Out, so I switched things up with an order of the Confit Duck Leg. Wow loved the crispy skin on the duck leg! (more…)

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Nero Belgian Waffle Bar – Lining up for waffles?

Posted in Cafe, Casual, Chocolate, Dessert, Joyce, Restaurants, Snacks, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , on May 20, 2014| 2 Comments »

After our dinner at Le Parisien, we wanted something sweet to end our evening of non-stop chatters. Someone suggested Nero Waffles and since I haven’t been, I was more than happy to oblige.

And they weren’t kidding about the long line-ups. It was 9:00pm on a Friday evening and we were lucky enough to get a table for 4 after just a 30-minute wait.

Food

The menu is pretty straightforward: Brussels or Liege waffles, then choose your toppings. Between the four of us we shared one of each kind so we could compare and pick out our favourite. For the Brussels waffle we went for Bresilienne. It had a scoop of vanilla ice cream along with caramel sauce and sprinkle of chopped hazelnut and loads of whipped cream. It looked really good! It was rich and creamy, but I thought the waffle was a bit too dry and crispy. It crumbled as we dug our knives in it, and while its description is “light and crispy”, I expected it to be softer in texture. MR and LW both have tried the Brussels waffle in the past and they both said their last experience was not as crispy. Maybe it got too busy and the waffle was in the maker for a few seconds longer?!

Bresilienne on Brussels Waffle

As for the Liege waffle we got the Fruity topping, which featured seasonal fruit including banana, strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, raspberries, and orange slices. (more…)

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Forage [Dine Out Vancouver 2014]

Posted in Bistro, Canadian, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Joyce, Meat, Neighbourhood Gem, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2014| 5 Comments »

The one Dine Out that I most looked forward to this year was at Forage. Since the menu was released, there has been a lot of buzz about it. And people had been raving about it since the event kicked off on January 17. Finally my day has come to give it a try.

Dine Out at Forage

Food

Forage has been a two-time champion of the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown so obviously I had to order its Seafood Chowder. While it’s thick and creamy, it wasn’t overly rich; and there was no shortage of ingredients (and lots of salmon and shrimp) in the chowder, which I loved. I was hoping that the quail egg was soft poached and the yolk would ooze out, but it didn’t. I liked the addition of chicharron as a crunchy element but it became soft and a bit chewy after sitting in the soup for a bit.

Forage Award Winning Seafood Chowder

My friend CP ordered the Bison Carpaccio and she said it tasted very good. Unfortunately I’m still off red meat so I didn’t try any. I thought the presentation was pretty good despite the rustic feel.

Spruce Tip Smoked Bison Carpaccio

For entree, I went for the most-raved about Pork Belly. It looked and tasted like the Chinese-style Roast Pig. Skin was super crispy and meat was tender. The apple chutney/slaw had a bit of acidity that rounded out the richness/fattiness from the pork belly. (more…)

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Dishcrawl West End – Eating My Way Along Robson Street Part 2

Posted in Bistro, Cafe, Chocolate, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dinner, Food Bloggers, Group Dinner, Joyce, Neighbourhood Gem, Pizza, Restaurants, Tea, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Continuing our journey from Part 1 of the Dishcrawl West End tour, we kept on heading eastward from Hida Takayama Ramen and arrived at the door of Forage Restaurant. You would remember my interview with its Executive Chef, Chris Whittaker, a couple of weeks ago, so yes, I did know ahead of time that we would be coming here for a tasting trio. I was quite looking forward to this stop.

Forage Restaurant

Forage Restaurant

Forage Restaurant (1300 Robson Street)

Once again, each table is given three full-size plates to share. First of all, the Nettle Gnocchi with Brown Butter was very good. It’s slightly crispy on the outside, and pillowy inside. The brown butter added extra richness, savouriness and nutty taste to the dish. I don’t eat gnocchi often, but other ones I’ve had tend to be more doughy, whereas this one seemed to have more potato content. It’s almost like pan-fried mashed potato balls.

Nettle gnocchi with brown butter

Nettle gnocchi with brown butter

True to its Farm-to-Table and seasonal concept, the next dish features the Foraged Mushrooms that are currently in season. This is a very simple dish, but that’s also the best way to let the ingredients shine in their own light. (more…)

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Dishcrawl West End – Eating My Way Along Robson Street Part 1

Posted in BBQ, Culinary Events, Dinner, Group Dinner, Japanese, Joyce, Korean, Meat, Noodles, Restaurants, Soup, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 3, 2013| 1 Comment »

A few weeks ago I was invited by Dishcrawl to check out its A Taste of Vancouver’s West End tour. Suggested by its name, it was a tour of four restaurants on the West End of downtown Vancouver, along Robson Street. Throughout the evening, we stopped by each restaurant and tried a trio of dishes. We didn’t know the list of restaurants ahead of time, only to be given a meet-up location and be ready to be surprised.

And so we met up at our first stop, Ap Gu Jung Korean Cuisine. Did you know how many Korean restaurants are in that area? A lot! Finally I spotted the place and met up with our host Jennifer.

Ap Gu Jung Korean Cuisine

Ap Gu Jung Korean Cuisine

Ap Gu Jung Korean (1642 Robson Street)

Each of us was given a tasting plate of some of the more popular Korean dishes: Beef BBQ (bulgogi), Pork on Fire (spicy pork), Seafood Pancake, Kimchi Pancake and Chicken Skewer. (more…)

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