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Posts Tagged ‘Winter Olympics’

BC Showcase – Taste of Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast

Posted in By Invitations, Culinary Events, Guest Post, Joyce, Vancouver, tagged 2010, BC, BC Showcase, Bob Blumer, Cooking Demonstration, Event, food, Seafood, Shellfish, Sunshine Coast, Tourism, Vancouver Island, Wine Pairing, Winter Olympics on February 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

(Editor’s note: A joint post by Joyce and Frank. Enjoy!)

With the Olympics backdrop, many events are held in Vancouver to take advantage of that. We had the pleasure to go to an event that showcased the food and wines from Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast. The event was by invitations only. Having the privilege to receive the invitations (as media) was a compliment to the website as well as to anyone who follows us. A few other fellow food bloggers were there too.

The event itself was held at Robson Square. (Joyce: We got to check out the digital gateway at BC Showcase which is currently not accessible to the general public. That was fun!) The Le-La-La Dancers opened for the event. Also mayors and various regional destination marketing organizations were there to promote their municipalities. Food wise, it featured (more…)

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Yew Restaurant + Bar feat. Olympics Menu

Posted in Culinary Events, Dinner, Joyce, Vancouver, tagged Prix Fixe, Steak, Winter Olympics on February 5, 2010| 3 Comments »

During the month of January, Yew Restaurant + Bar ran its 3-course No Passport Required Menu for $35 per person, featuring ingredients/food culture from the 3 Canadian Olympic cities: Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. I was intrigued by the offering, so Mr. and I went there on a weekday evening.

Food

Turns out there was a catch in the menu, that some dishes cost extra. On the other hand, there’s an option of ordering just 2 courses for $29. After putting on the amateur accountant hat, we decided to go ahead with those costly dishes despite paying extra for them, but only opt for one 3-course menu.

Our appetizers included Calgary and Vancouver. Calgary was the Bison Cannelloni. While the meat was flavourful, I wished there’s a more meaty sauce to go with the cannelloni. The carrot foam, which reminded me of the bacon foam I had at C Restaurant years ago, was too light and felt flat soon after a contact with the fork/knife. It didn’t do the job of enhancing the flavour of the pasta. Vancouver was Qualicum Bay Scallop Crudo and it added $5 to the bill. I enjoyed the combination of soft scallops and crunchy pickled radish and celery; a good contrast of texture. I also tried the scallop alone, but I have to say that it didn’t taste very fresh and I preferred having it with the vinaigrette.

As for entrees, we got Montreal and Calgary. Montreal was Duck Tourtiere, which according to our server, is a deconstructed version of a traditional French-Canadian dish – perfect representation of the Quebec province. The duck was crispy on the skin, and meat was tender on the inside; puff pastry was light and fluffy, not oily at all; and the mushrooms had that earthy flavour and the use of duck fat was an awesome move and just made the dish this much better. (more…)