It was such a gorgeous day today!
I have planned this dine out lunch since two weeks ago, so glad that the weather turned out to be this nice.
Upon arrival, we were introduced to our seat on the patio.
Nice little touch with the blanket :) it was indeed needed as it got quite cold after we settled down.
Granville island honey lager $6/glass - one of my favourate beer: Smooth with a hint of honey, very pleasant after taste too
complementary bread - soft and warm. I just don't understand why some restaurants serve their complementary breads cold; even at some finer establishments. My best experience was at the bishop's. Too bad I don't have any photos of it :S The baked in house breads at the bishop's were just so crusty and chewy and fluffy and oh so yummy. They were severely understaffed today.
I guess they didn't expect their lunch to be this busy as the weather haven't been the greatest for the past few weeks. (well, it is Vancouver, WINTER, after all)
We waited for quite a while before our waiter arrived at our table asking for what we need; then waited for another while before our drinks and bread. Then the wait between courses... It took us more than 1.5 hours to finish our lunch.
Tuscan flat bread $8 - it was somewhere between not bad to good, just a personal preference I guess. Personally I think it was a "not bad" for me. (fyi Jordan thought it was tasty)
Caramelized onion with goat feta cheese and some fresh parsley - it tasted exactly as how it should have except for a slightly lack of peppery flavour. I guess I could have added more pepper myself.
An interesting thing about this flat bread is that its dough is sweet! I actually liked the sweet dough because it added some sweetness to the otherwise bland caramelized onion. Their sister restaurant The Teahouse at Stanley park makes really good smoked salmon flat bread. (must try!!) Anyway, at $8, this is a decently portioned tapas dish.
Dine out 2012 menu appetizer - lemongrass braised short ribs This was really good. The short rib was braised fork tender, although there were some stringy parts but I really can't ask for more at the price of this dine out lunch ($18) and the portion size. I could detect a lot of the lemongrass aroma and a little tartness + sweetness from possibly use of the port wine and molasses or golden sugar. I thought the scallion relish was a nice touch as it helped to cut through the greasiness of the meat but the crushed 5 spiced peanuts, well, it was a bit stale and possibly got staler from sitting on a steaming piece of meat for too long.
But again, over all, this dish was really really good.
Hoshi's California roll - made with real dungeness crab meat
to be very honest with you, imitation crab meat does its job just as well as real crab meat here.
Okay, that is not entirely true. This one did taste smoother and sweeter, and the texture was a lot more delicate than imitation crab meat. But seriously, after all the creamy mayo coating, avocado, cucumber, sushi rice and tobiko (+ soy sauce and wasabi) - the difference was just really minimal.
I'd be happy with my $3.50 California roll from sushi house :P
4 oz chateau rib steak and tiger prawn - it wasn't terrible - due to the freshness of the tiger prawn and creamed peppercorn marmalade. But both of our steaks were over done. Jordan asked for rare but instead he got a medium rare and of course, my medium rare was barely a medium. However, we both enjoyed our steaks because of the life saving creamed peppercorn marmalade (I added more freshly grounded pepper on mine so mine had a bit more kick) The sauce was really flavourful and the cream really added another layer of smoothness and richness that butter could not have achieved. I thought adding cream was a brilliant idea because it adds depth to the sauce yet it does not take away anything from the meat (unlike some sauces that use cheeses as part of their sauce - I have nothing against them, if the flavour of the meat comes through or if the flavour of the cheese isn't as strong)
Excuse my messy picture here as I already polished up my broccolini and tomato at this point of our meal - the food just came out too slowly and I was starving!! I had to take a picture of jordan's plate...
Dessert - Apple strudel
Dessert 2 - pumpkin cake
I only had a very tiny bite of the pumpkin cake so I am not exactly sure how it was and according to Jordan, it tasted very good. I found the pumpkin cake to be slightly on the dryer side and it was quite hard (I am not sure if it was because of the cold weather?) it was difficult to eat with a spoon. It tasted almost like a pumpkin pie with icing.
My apple strudel was not bad; although I did find the apple filling to be a bit bland. It wasn't overly sweet but I find it lacking tartness too. I ate my strudel using the ice cream as a sauce and it was perfect for me.
Over all, the meal was really satisfying and I believe it is a great value at $18 per person. Both Jordan and I agreed that it was a better meal than our dinner at Coast
Food - 3.5/5
Service - 3/5 (may not be accurate as it was probably during an understaffed dine-out day)
ambiance - 4/5
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