Cheongsapo Suminine (수민이네) – Busan

August 19, 2014August 23, 20143 Comments

When in Busan, you must eat seafood since it is known for fresh seafood. Our friend suggested to try Cheongsapo Suminine (수민이네) after Spa Land. It’s located right off the Haeundae Beach, and we decided to cab there since we were too tired to metro. Our cab drivers knew exactly where it was since the restaurant is actually quite famous for their grilled eel and seafood. We went down a windy road, which we thought was a little sketch. If you’re taking the metro here, you would just need to walk down these smaller streets, since there’s no metro close to the beach. I probably wouldn’t advise to do so late at night. Finally, we arrived, and the restaurant wasn’t anything glamorous. From the outside, it looked a bit run down with tarps around since it was a bit rainy that day.

We went inside and realized we were stepping on gravel and pebbles. I would advise not to wear anything too nice or high heels here as you’ll have trouble walking here. Plastic green chairs and metal tables, but still a ton of people. This reminded me of those places in Hong Kong where you can eat fresh seafood. We got there at around 9pm, so the place was only half filled. I hear that during peak hours, you may even need to line up here!

There’s basically only a few items on the menu. 3 types of shellfish, eel, and some side dishes like instant noodle or rice to accompany your seafood. If you’re not into any of this, then this is not the place to be. However, if you love shellfish, you MUST visit this place! I would rate it the best meal I had in South Korea! Anyways, it was pretty funny because we couldn’t communicate with our server, and we weren’t exactly sure what the types of shellfish we were getting. He ended up giving one our friends a tour in the kitchen to show her exactly what it would be. No english names, but we got a gist just by the looks of the shellfish. We started off with 2 servings of the first type of shellfish- scallops. I’m a lover for scallops and I absolutely love getting them in Chinese restaurants. I was excited to see how they would be prepared in Korea! The scallops are seasoned with just a few simple ingredients – butter, onions, and green onions. It also comes with a bowl of enoki mushrooms.

In Korea, they love to wrap their food, whether if it’s seafood or meat. Korean lettuce wraps are called ssam. Here, we have lettuce on the left and shiso on the right. Shiso leaves have a bit of a minty, herby taste to it. You either like it or you don’t. For me, I preferred the good old lettuce.

This is ssamjang, which is a thick, spicy paste that you add to your wrap. It’s basically soy bean paste with gochujang (spicy chili paste). Super addicting!

For 2 servings, it’s actually quite a lot of food. I believe it was 20,000 won for 1 serving of scallops. That’s around CAD$20.

Our server began to place the first round of scallops on the grill. Another thing to note is that while you may see most modern restaurants use gas, or a hot pot type of grill, they use a traditional charcoal grill here. Literally a lump of charcoal which they bring to your table and place into this pothole. Pretty neat! After grilling these scallops on their shells for a few minutes, he then transfers them into the aluminum bowl with enoki mushrooms in it and cuts the scallop into smaller pieces.

Then he takes the shells and places it on top of the aluminum to let it cook. Super interesting and a good use of the shells!

He lifts the shell up, and here we have delicious cooked scallop. So fresh and delicious! Words can’t even describe how good it tasted with those simple ingredients! You can also dip the scallops in this soy sauce which comes with a bit of wasabi. On the side, there were also several small prawns.

He would have two ways to cook the scallop. You can either leave it on the shell, or have it cut up into pieces and cooked with the enoki mushrooms in the tin foil. He then brought us some scallops that had a spicy sauce already on it. Those were pretty delicious too!

This was our server, and pretty much our personal server of the night! He’s the owner’s son and was the only one who knew a bit of English and could communicate with us. It was pretty funny since most people were shown how to cook their food once and then were left to do it on their own, but he ended up serving us the whole night – for 2 whole hours! He would stand next to us and cook the whole time! I guess it was because we looked like we had no idea what we were doing… Much thanks to him and he definitely wins for best service in South Korea!

After our two servings, we were full, but we felt like having a bit more… I mean the two servings were for 5 of us, so we felt like we could have some more. This time, we decided to get the mix of 3 shellfish. This was what most people got anyways. This included the same scallops, but also clams and giant clams. We’ll talk more about these giant clams later on…

Here we have the clams and a spicy scallop. The clams have much more meat compared to the scallops, but are much tougher in my opinion. These clams are also larger than usual. Not the baby clams you normally get at restaurants. We all agreed that we liked the scallops the most since they were less chewy and more tender.

Then came these giant clams… I don’t think the picture shows how large these things are… The shell is the size of your hand! What in the world were these things?! We questioned that the whole time at dinner, yet our server couldn’t give us an English term. After doing some googling, we figured they were just a larger species of clams. We thought they were mussels all along because of their shells, but if you look closely at the meat, it really resembles a clam or oyster. The meat itself was quite a lot too, but we found it extremely chewy! It was too tough to chew. Not a fan of it sadly.

As you can see in the picture, there were also some appetizers that came along, however we didn’t really like them. First, they had a kimchi-like dish, but it wasn’t napa cabbage, but rather a skinny long veggie. I found it a bit odd to taste so I didn’t have anymore. It also came with the Korean green chili peppers and some garlic cloves. Then our server decides to bring us some eel, which is what Suminine is famous for. However, both K and I aren’t huge fans of eel due to the tiny bones. I’m not even sure if we were charged for the eel, but he said it was some special package or some sort. Again, lack of communication. Anyways, since he already began cooking it, it was too rude for us to say no since he had been such a good server.

The grilled eel surprisingly tasted pretty good in the lettuce wrap with the ssamjang spicy sauce. Still, I wasn’t a huge fan of all those tiny bones! I was so worried I would choke on it if I didn’t chew thoroughly.

All in all, Suminine is a must visit if you’re in the Haeundae area! Excellent service even though they lack English skills, but most of all, delicious and fresh seafood! I believe each person paid only around CAD$20 too so it’s not bad at all for the amount of seafood we got! And that was our last night in Busan. We would leave the next morning. Must sees that we missed were the Haeundae Beach and the Gwangali Beach. I hear they are both beautiful, but we had rainy weather most of the time so it wasn’t worthwhile for us to visit.

Address: 595-4, Jung2-dong, Haeundae-gu,Busan,South Korea

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant (Dinner Menu)

July 28, 2014Leave a comment

For M and B’s exchange farewell dinner, they chose Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant. They had made reservations beforehand, so there was no wait for a table. As usual, MW decided what to order and he ordered just enough to have each one of us full. It was pretty fun to have a Chinese dinner with a huge group of friends since we don’t usually do this!

Sea Harbour Assorted Cold Cuts Platter

First, we started off with the Sea Harbour Assorted Cold Cuts Platter. It came with some cold cut meat, jelly fish, and bean curd wrapped with vegetables. My favourite was the jelly fish! Always a fan of that texture. Quite a typical dish, so nothing too special compared to other restaurants.

Minced Chicken and Corn Soup

Next, we had two types of soup. Half were the Minced Chicken and Corn Soup, which I didn’t try.

Fish Maw and Crab Meat Soup

The other half were the Fish Maw and Crab Meat Soup. I found that the soup lacked flavour. It was super bland! I had to add more vinegar to it to get some flavour. It was filled with lots of fish maw and crab meat though.

Roasted Peking Duck

Then came two plates of the Roasted Peking Duck. Crispy outer skin, with a thin layer of fat and meat. Quite good! It came on top of colourful shrimp crackers.

Roasted Peking Duck

The wrap that accompanied the roasted peking duck, however, was a disappointment. It was too thick and doughy. I’ve definitely had better.

Scallops Sauteed with Green Pepper and Black Bean Sauce

The Scallops Sauteed with Green Pepper and Black Bean Sauce was quite a hit. The scallops were tender and cooked perfectly and the black bean sauce was very flavourful. Mixed with the red and green peppers, it would have went very well with rice.

Lettuce Wrap with Stir Fried Diced Pork with Bamboo Shoots and Celery

Then we had the Lettuce Wrap with Stir Fried Diced Pork with Bamboo Shoots and Celery. This was average. Nothing too special again. I liked how it wasn’t too salty though.

Steamed Eggplant with Bean Sauce

Since we needed some veggies, we got the Steamed Eggplant with Bean Sauce. I’m not a huge fan of eggplants, but the bean sauce was quite delicious! The eggplants were also very soft.

Braised Tofu and Vegetables with Brown Sauce

The Braised Tofu and Vegetables with Brown Sauce was one of my favourite dishes. I love braised tofus! They are slightly crispy on the outside, and the inside melts in your mouth. Love this type of tofu! Super smooth and silky!

Braised Chinese Mushrooms with Seasonal Greens

Also had some Braised Chinese Mushrooms and Seasonal Greens. I actually didn’t get around to trying this.

Shrimp and Pork Fried Rice

Lastly, we had two types of Fried Rice. Pictured here is the Shrimp and Pork Fried Rice, which has been half eaten… And the one I tried was the Dried Scallop Fried Rice. Again, I found the fried rice a little bland. I guess it is good in a way that the food is a little bland since too much salt isn’t too good for you…

Lastly, the dinner ended with complimentary Red Bean Soup. Overall, we had great service and dinner was good. Our bill wasn’t even too pricey, with each person only paying a little over $20! Plus we were all full! A great way to gather for a farewell. Hope the boys are having fun in Australia! 🙂

Minami

June 12, 20141 Comment

A spontaneous night took J and I to Minami, the sister restaurant of Miku. Miku is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants when I’m looking for creativity and aburi sushi, so I had always wanted to try Minami. The restaurant was packed and although we had no reservations, we got a spot at the bar. The environment is definitely much more casual and loud compared to Miku.

Sitting at the bar was actually quite nice as the bartender pretty much serves you the whole night. We had some great prompt service and she was able to answer all our questions. The only downside is you may not have as much privacy since she’s always standing there making drinks.

You get two types of soya sauces at Minami. She said that one is the regular soya sauce, while the other is a little sweeter. I liked the sweeter one.

Premium Nigiri – chef’s selection traditional nigiri

J loves traditional Nigiris, so he got the Premium Nigiri set. It came with seven nigiris that the chef had chosen.

I believe there was tuna, salmon, saba, unagi, and scallop to list a few. He said they were all very fresh and the amount of fish to rice portion was perfect.

Aburi Sushi Sampler – aburi temari, oshi and roll topped with specialty sauces and garnishes

For myself, I got the Aburi Sushi Sampler. It came with 7 dainty little sushi. They were so cute! Some were in the form of temari, which are ball-shaped sushi. Others were oshi (square shaped), while some were regular rolls. They were beautiful to look at! I almost didn’t want to eat them.

Some of the fish I remember included, saba, scallop, salmon and tuna. They were all quite delicious, and the fish was very fresh. However, you don’t get too filled up by these, since they are really half the size of a normal nigiri.

Ebi Oshi Sushi – pressed shrimp, lime zest, ume sauce

We also shared an Ebi Oshi Sushi. We wanted to try one of the oshi sushi, since Miku and Minami are famous for them. The bartender recommended the Ebi Oshi and it was absolutely delicious. The shrimp was slightly seared and it melted in your mouth. I loved the hint of smoky flavour. Definitely recommend trying this!

Green Tea Opera – green tea genoise, dark chocolate ganache, matcha ice cream

Obviously we were still a little hungry by the end of the night. We shared a dessert, and I chose the Green Tea Opera. I’ve had this back at Miku, but I found the one at Minami presented slightly different. Again, it was delicious since I’m a huge matcha fan. It was made of a green tea genoise, which is an Italian sponge cake which is really thin. It had layers of dark chocolate ganache, which made the dessert very smooth in the mouth. It was then topped with fruits and caramelized sugar. On the side, there was a scoop of matcha ice cream topped with a sesame crisp. Definitely ended up our meal very nicely.

Overall, Minami wasn’t too bad. However, I find that the prices are only a few dollars cheaper than Miku. With that being said, I would rather pay a few extra dollars and dine at Miku, since the environment and dishes are much better in my opinion. I find the atmosphere too loud at Minami, and it’s more casual. I also found that the food at Miku was executed more carefully. Not a bad option if I’m in the Yaletown area though.

Dubh Linn Gate

June 9, 2014June 7, 2014Leave a comment

Clam Chowder (Cup) – hearty chowder combined with Arctic clams, Yukon Gold potatoes, bacon and fresh herbs

The next afternoon, we looked for a quick meal before we headed back to Vancouver. We stayed at the Pan Pacific Whistler, and Dubh Linn Gate is attached, so we decided to just go for convenience. Dubh Linn Gate is an Irish bar, but also offers breakfast and lunch menus. We began with a cup of Clam Chowder, and we both agreed this was one of the best Clam Chowders we’ve had! It had tons of clams, and something just made this chowder so flavourful! We were devouring this so quickly!

Bangers and Mash – hearty pub classic with Guinness infused bangers

K got the Bangers and Mash for her entree. Bangers essentially are sausages. The sauce was a Guinness sauce and it came with some mashed potatoes. I was a little disappointed in this. I didn’t think it was that great and definitely not worth $16.

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings with Ranch Dip

For myself, I was craving some wings, and got the Honey Garlic Chicken Wings. This was a good portion, with around 10 pieces. The sauce a sweet and sticky, with the wings lightly fried. Not bad for a pub! I did find it a little pricey at $14 though.

All in all, we were quite surprised with the quality of the food at the pub. Usually, I don’t expect much at a pub, but we were both quite happy with our dishes. Again, prices are a little high for a pub, but food in Whistler is just expensive in general.

Crepe Montagne

June 8, 2014June 7, 2014Leave a comment

Chorizo Crepe

A while back, I joined K up at Whistler for a night and that also meant trying some of Whistler’s restaurants. Araxi is known to be one of their top, but it’s also extremely pricey. The restaurant was also completely packed, so we decided to try out Crepe Montagne. They offer French crepes, but are also famous for their fondues and Swiss Raclette. This restaurant is rated very well, but it’s also extremely small. It fits roughly 30 people in total, and is constantly packed. We waited around 20 minutes and were given a very tight seat. You really can’t move around! Other than that, the food is pretty good. We went for the Chorizo Crepe, which was filled with the spicy sausauge, cheese, green onions and topped with a bechamel sauce. It also came with mixed greens along with a Dijon vinaigrette. The crepe was actually one of the best I’ve had. the crepe itself was slightly crispy, and the fillings were very flavourful and cheesy. However, their crepes are quite expensive, priced around $22 each.

Old Fashioned Cheese Fondue

Since they’re famous for fondues, of course we had to give it a try. They have both cheese and meat fondues. We chose the Old Fashioned Cheese Fondue. All their fondues are made with Emmenthal and Gruyere cheese from Switzerland, and seasoned with garlic and white wine. For the Old Fashioned, it is also mixed with Dijon mustard and herbs. They give you a large bowl of French baguette cubes, and we definitely were not able to finish all that bread between the two of us. The fondue would be great to share with more, or just to share with two people on it’s own.

The fondue was definitely very cheesy. The server would constantly come around to stir our pot so the cheese didn’t clump together. A quick stir, and your cheese would melt nicely again. Unfortunately, we found that our fondue had an odd taste that we didn’t personally really like. It might’ve been the white wine or the dijon, but it threw us off a bit. Also, the bread quality isn’t too good, as it’s very rough. I guess since it’s soaked in the cheese, it doesn’t feel as rough anymore, but I was slightly disappointed with the quality since we’re paying $23 for the fondue.

And here was our meal! A very small table filled with lots of food. Our server was also particularly amazing. She was friendly and funny and K and I definitely agreed she made our night very enjoyable. We still found the prices to be on the high side though, even though we were quite satisfied with the food. I guess it’s because you’re in Whistler, and they’re able to price it higher due to the tourists.

Miku – Dine Out 2014

June 7, 2014Leave a comment

My third dine out was at my favourite Miku Restaurant. The last time I visited, it was back when they were still at their original location. Now, they are located right by Canada Place and features a beautiful view. Miku’s Dine Out Vancouver 2014 dinner menu was for $38, although their lunch menu was only for $28. Of course, the two menus are a little different and you get much more in the dinner menu.

The inside was actually fairly empty when I arrived at around 6pm. The sushi bar was empty, but all the tables along the window with a view were taken up. Service was excellent. I was waiting for J and M to arrive, and was checked up multiple times. The service wasn’t pushy or anything though.

Sake Pairing

For an additional $19, we added a sake pairing to our dinner. This was excellent and a good amount of sake to complete our meal. The sake to pair our appetizer was called Umajun. It was the lightest of them all and was my favourite. Next was the Aburi Ginjo to pair our entree. It’s an exclusive sake for their restaurants, but I didn’t like it as I found it too strong in alcohol. Lastly, was the Sparkling Nigori to pair our dessert. It was a cloudy colour and had some fizz to it. Not bad!

Shortly after, we were presented with our appetizers which came neatly in a wooden box. Miku’s Dine Out Menu does is set and therefore you are not given a choice in each course. For the appetizer, we were given 4 different dishes.

Tosaka Seaweed and Tofu Salad – arugula, sweet and sour soy vinaigrette

The first appetizer was the Tosaka Seaweed and Tofu Salad. At first, I thought it would be just a plain old salad, but this was so delicious! It came with arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and tofu. I think what made the salad so delicious was the sweet and sour soy vinaigrette. A great way to open up your appetite.

Ebi Fritter – prawn, sweet chili aioli, soy balsamic reduction

Second was the Ebi Fritter. I’ve had their ebi mayo before, which I had really enjoyed, but we all agreed that the Ebi Fritter was a bit underwhelming. The prawn was huge and fresh, and it was lightly battered, but it wasn’t the star of the show. A nice aioli sauce too and also a drizzle of soy balsamic reduction. It also came with a small salad on the side.

Baked BC Oyster – spinach, miso aioli

Third was the Baked BC Oyster, which was probably my favourite appetizer. The oyster was so fatty and fresh. It wasn’t like those terrible baked oysters with too much sauce on top. It was a light miso aioli.

Tamari Glazed Short Rib – sterling silver AAA, yukon potato puree

The last appetizer was the Tamari Glazed Short Rib. This was a sterling silver AAA short rib, and the meat would just flake off. It came with a bit of wasabi on top to give it a Japanese flare. Under the short rib was a potato puree, which was very creamy and smooth.

Miku Signature Sushi – selection of Aburi, Nigiri, Roll and Oshi Sushi

The entree was the Miku Signature Sushi. This was what I was looking forward to the most. Miku is known for their aburi and oshi sushi. They are extremely creative in their rolls too. None of their sushi require soy sauce since they already come prepared with a sauce. Starting from the left to right, we have the Tuna Nigiri. This was very smooth. Next was the Ebi Nigiri, which came with a pesto sauce. This was just alright. Next was a Hamachi Roll with a wasabi dressing. I believe the one after was called the Red Wave Roll. It had crab and avocado and was wrapped in red tuna. The last two were my favourite since they were the oshi sushi, which means they are pressed sushi. First was the Saba Oshi Sushi, which is house cured mackarel and came with a miso sauce. The last on the right was the Salmon Oshi Sushi, which was pressed BC wild sockeye salmon, topped with jalapeno and Miku sauce. This is always my favourite at Miku. The aburi style creates a smooth, fatty texture in your mouth when you have the fish in your mouth.Extremely fresh fish as usual!

Lemon and Chardonnay Cream – raspberry sorbet, lemon coconut cookie

Lastly, we had the Lemon and Chardonnay Cream for dessert. The presentation was beautiful on a black charcoal-like plate to keep it cool. A lemon coconut cookie sat beneath the raspberry sorbet. On the side was a bit of mango puree and sauce. There was also something similar to a blackberry cheesecake on the side. Not bad, but not their best dessert. I still enjoy their Green Tea Opera much more.

All in all, a good deal for $38 if you want to try a selection of their appetizers and signature sushi. Miku is quite pricey regularly, so this is actually a decent priced menu. You will actually feel filled up just right after dinner. Not overly full, but just right.

Sushi Hachi

June 1, 2014Leave a comment

Finally! Finally, I was able to try Sushi Hachi. I remember coming here with J twice, and each time, it was each fully booked or it was closed. They only open on Tuesdays to Saturdays and only for dinner from 6pm to 9pm! It’s like almost impossible to get a seat here without reservations too, since the restaurant is extremely small. It fits around 30-40 guests too, so they probably only get around 2 rounds of diners.

The restaurant is solely run by a man and his wife. The man does all the cooking, while the wife takes orders and serves food. Therefore, the wait time for your food can be a long time if you arrive at around the same time as other diners. Be sure to make a reservation before coming or you’re likely to be told to come back another day.

Salmon Sashimi

We started off with an order of Salmon Sashimi. It comes with 7 pieces. Very fresh and nicely cut.

Sushi by piece: Scallop, Red Tuna, Toro (Tuna Belly), Tamago

Sushi Hachi is famous for their nigiris because they offer fresh fish. They also don’t do any crazy rolls, so if you’re looking for creativity, this place isn’t for you. The man crafts authentic sushi and looks for quality. We first did a round of nigiris, and you are only able to order them by piece. They can be quite pricey, but they were definitely of high quality. For myself, I had a piece of the Red Tuna and Toro. The red tuna had a very nice bite and reminded me of salmon sashimi. On the other hand, the toro just melted in your mouth. So fatty and delicious!

Sushi by piece: Saba, Chopped Scallop, Mirugai (Geoduck)

Our next tray came, and I had one of each nigiri. First, the Saba was simply seasoned with a bit of ginger to rid the fishiness that saba usually has. The saba was very fresh though, so it didn’t taste too fishy. The Chopped Scallop was extremely fresh with the right amount of mayo and tobiko. The Geoduck was one of my favourites, with a nice chew, but not too tough.

BBQ Squid

Other than nigiris, they also have some authentic dishes and BBQ dishes. We chose the BBQ Squid was extremely delicious! I highly recommend this! It was grilled lightly, and seasoned with a sweet Japanese sauce. It wasn’t over seasoned so you could still taste the flavour of the squid. The squid was also extremely tender!The tentacles were my favourite!

Unagi Don

Dad and E shared the Unagi Don. I’m not a huge fan of unagi, so I can’t comment much about it.

Chef’s Choice Sushi (10 piece + 1 roll)

Lastly, we also ordered the Chef’s Choice Sushi, which is a good value for an individual who wants to try an assortment of sushi. I believe the sushi changes daily, based on what’s fresh on the market. Here, starting from the back row on the left were a 5 piece Tuna Roll, Chopped Scallop, Scallop, and Marinated Red Tuna Nigiri. The bottom row is a bit of a mystery for me as I couldn’t quite figure out each fish. They are fish that I normally don’t consume regularly, so I was a bit confused. Pretty sure there was some Hamachi, Saba, and some type of tuna. Since we only got one of each, I can’t really comment on them. From the ones I had though, they were all extremely fresh!

Be warned that you are likely to be still hungry after a dinner at Sushi Hachi, although you have probably spent quite a lot. That being said, Sushi Hachi is about quality over quantity. The nigiris are quite small, but pricey at the same time. However, it’s a very nice treat when you want some high quality authentic sushi. Highly recommend to try at least once!

The Oakwood Canadian Bistro (Dine Out 2014)

May 30, 2014Leave a comment

For my second dine out, I visited The Oakwood Canadian Bistro with J. Parking is a bit tough here since there’s only street parking and it’s pretty packed in the Kitsilano area. The bistro was packed and I found the atmosphere to be a bit too loud. It was sort of hard to talk, but it would be a nice place to hang out with friends.

Pork Terraine – maple cauliflower puree, pickled shallots

For the appetizer, J got the Pork Terraine. I took a bite and it was alright. We both agreed it sort of tasted like spam, but of higher quality. Wasn’t my favourite.

Smoked Seafood Chowder – cod, clams, bacon lardon, oyster crackers

For myself, I got the Smoked Seafood Chowder. It was quite flavourful, with loads of clams and bits of cod fish. It also came with oyster crackers, which I enjoyed. You could actually taste the oyster flavour in the crackers.

Grilled 16 oz Pork Chop – roast fingerling potato, charred cippolini and fennel, apple glace

For the entree, J paid an extra $10 for the Grilled 16 oz Pork Chop. It was decent, but I don’t know if I would pay an extra $10 for it. The meat was juicy and came with a nice apple glaze.

Roast Porchetta – confit garlic brocollini, dijon spatile, caramelized onion puree

For myself, I got the Roast Porchetta, that everyone talks about. However, I was actually quite disappointed in it! I found that my dish had more fat than anything! The amount of meat was so minimal. I know porchetta is supposed to come with some fat, which is why it’s so delicious, but this was too much. It felt kind of disgusting just chewing on the fat. The crispy layer of the porchetta, however was quite crunchy, although I found it under-seasoned. It was just salty, but not flavourful. My favourite part was actually the dijon spatile. Not exactly sure what it was, but it’s crunchy and sort of like popcorn.

Chocolate Mousse – coffee pistachio crunch, whip cream

For dessert, J got the Chocolate Mousse. This was the only item he really enjoyed the whole night. He loves coffee desserts, so this was perfect. It was a chocolate mousse with coffee flavoured bits mixed with pistachio, so you got a nice crunch. The whip cream just underneath this crunchy layer gave it a smooth texture along with the mousse. Mix it all up and you get a delicious mousse with a crunchy bite.

Maple Creme Caramel – pecan shortbread, cranberry gel, vanilla caramel

My dessert was the Maple Creme Caramel. It was such a Canadian dessert, with the red being a cranberry gel and the maple leaf being a pecan shortbread. Underneath was a vanilla caramel that tasted sort of like a pudding. I personally didn’t really enjoy this dessert. The cranberry gel gave it a sour taste and I found it a bit odd.

Overall, we were slightly disappointed with the Dine Out Vancouver 2014 menu at The Oakwood Canadian Bistro. Next to us was a friendly diner who said he visits the bistro regularly, and he agreed that the dine out menu did not showcase the best of what there is to offer. He suggested that we try their regular menu next time because there are some really good dishes. The Dine Out menu was for $28, and although I wouldn’t say that’s pricey for the amount of food we had, the dishes weren’t that great. They weren’t dishes that made me want to return to try out more of their menu. But again, I hear good things about their normal menu, so I’ll definitely think about a revisit soon.