High school reunion - Provence Marinaside

I can't believe September is almost coming to an end!!

Time surely flies and, no, I am not at all ready for my journey to Cambridge!

Perhaps a little more Vancouver seafood will calm my nerve...

so there I went to the Provence Marinaside :)

I haven't heard much about this place other than its pricy price tag, so off we went!

whole crab - $41 - 5/5

I ordered a whole crab - steamed with beurre blanc sauce.

OMG.

The crab was incredibly meaty and sweet.  It tasted great with the beurre blanc sauce and although priced at $42, I do believe that it is quite reasonable for a restaurant located at yaletown harbour front.

I do believe that the condition of the crabs are seasonal tho so - be careful when you go in I guess...

Grilled Whole lobster with beurre blanc sauce - $37 -  4/5

I didn't try this personally but according to my friends who've tried it, it was plump and sweet.  The meat was firm, indicating its freshness and yea, what more can I say? it was pretty awesome!!

You can also have it steamed or sautéed (same with the crab, but crab can't be grilled)

overall we had a great time there at Provence.  Although I wouldn't recommend their antipasti so much (esp the ones from the show windows)but their seafood is definitely of high quality and if I were ever back in Van again I wouldn't hesitant to give them a try over The Keg's crab dinner!!

food - 4/5 - antipasti were not good...

Service - 4/5 - attentive server; quite knowledgable as well

Ambiance - 5/5 - date night <3 although a tad noisy, you still get the awesome view of granville island from seawall!!

Tarts from Whole foods bakery - alternatives to Jordan's bday cake!!

I love whole foods!

This is a statement :) .  Their bakery, their cheeses, and their salad bar.... I just can't seem to get enough of them every time I visit!

Caper's, now known as Whole foods on Robson, still carries some great dishes from Whole foods and bakery items from Terra breads (my fav bakery!!)

Anyhow, this time, I got 4 small individual tarts for Jordan as his birthday cake.

I know... it's quite inappropriate... but I think variety matters! (esp after you have been dating for 8 years!)

Here is what I have got for him!

From top right hand corner, clock wise - Seasonal berry tart, blueberry almond tart, chocolate raspberry tart and lemon tart ($3.99 ea)

Our favourite tart (Jordan and I) was the seasonal fruit tart.  (sorry.. no close up photo as Jordan devoured it up in like, 5 seconds or something..... it was that good!)  The fruits were really fresh - the strawberries retained their bites even after sitting in the room temperature for one day!  

The pastry cream filling was smooth, creamy and had just enough sweetness to balance the tartness of the fruits.

I also really liked the tart shell - they tasted crumbly, sweet and just with enough hint of salt to balance everything out.  It was almost like a shortbread cookie (although I am thinking if eaten fresh, they would've been less crumbly but more crunchy?)

chocolate raspberry tart - $3.99 - 3.5/5

The chocolate raspberry tart was quite predictable (yet excellent) as the raspberry provided the necessary tartness to the already sweet and rich chocolate.  Though I have to say that the chocolate ganache filling was really smooth and velvety; and they used real raspberries in the tart filling.

kudos to the tart shells - all are crumbily and buttery and sweet.... 

lemon tart - 3.5/5 - $3.99

This was our 3rd favourite tart.  The lemon filling was really lemony and the tartness again, balanced well with the shell.

A good tart; but pretty ordinary. 

It was a, well, lemon tart.

Almond blueberry tart - 2.5/5 - $3.99

This was our least favourite tart!  We simply didn't like the drier almond paste focused filling because it felt drier compared to all the other tarts.

I still liked it for its crust but this is totally by personal preference!

The sliced almonds were crunchy and nutty; combined with blueberries - it was a perfect combination :)

if you like marzipan and almond paste based dessert (i.e. flour less cakes etc) - you should enjoy this tart!

Over all we enjoyed the tarts and like I said at the beginning - I love whole foods!

Food - 3.5/5 - Based on my over all visit! (surprisingly low? This score is compared with all my other dining experience!! so as a supermarket, I think it's a pretty high score, don't you think?)

Ambiance - N/A - :$ really depends on which location you visit!

Service - N/A -  it's a supermarket!  Though all stuffs are really friendly... I've never had a bad experience here!!

Market by Jean-Georges at Shangri-la hotel Vancouver - Great patio!!

It was supposed to be a girl's night out but... we had several guys joining us for the night :)

We wanted a nice patio for these hot summer nights, so I arranged us to meet at the Market by Jean Georges at Shangri-la hotel.

I had a great experience at the restaurant's patio, so I recommended the place and everyone agreed!

Off we went!

We had 7 people so it was a little hard arranging for us at the patio as the patio seats were first come, first served.  So we actually had to wait for quite a bit for our tables to be ready....

At least the complimentary rosemary dusted popcorn was quite tasty!

When we were seated, we were presented  with the full menu.

Judy went for the watermelon and goat cheese salad and the truffle, fontina cheese pizza.

Watermelon and goat cheese - $10 - 3/5

Truffle, fontina cheese pizza - $19 - 3.5/5

Judy enjoyed the watermelon, goat cheese appy quite a bit.  She thought it was creamy yet refreshing with the use of the watermelon.  I felt that the watermelon was too warm and not sweet enough - hence the entire dish became a little too sour and bland.  The goat cheese tho was really creamy with just the right amount of gaminess.  

Only if the watermelon was a tad colder (and sweeter!!)

Overall, it was a good balance between creaminess and refreshing, grassy taste of the watermelon.

The black truffle, fontina cheese pizza with a tad of fricassee and chives topped was a good pizza.  I got a tiny hit of truffle scent which was perfect because it wasn't too strong.  However, the truffle paste felt like the truffle paste I have once purchased from one of the "eat Vancouver" event - which is a bit disappointing.  I know how much I have paid for that entire jar of truffle paste........ 

Though, the pizza had a great, well balanced taste.  

don't you just hate it when the truffle oil really over powers?

Tuna tartare - $16 - avocado, spicy ginger relish dressing

Jenny and I shared a Tuna Tartare and a steamed shrimp salad ($18 - no picture...)

I had these two dishes last time I visited them and they were simply amazing!

I had to recommend them to my friends so... we got the two to share :)

The Tuna tartare was refreshing with the spicy la-yu oil providing a great kick and the ginger dressing cutting through the richness of the tuna.  I liked the tanginess from (perhaps ponzu?) some sort of citrusy dressing.  It really brightened things up a lot! The avocado beneath the tuna tartare provided another layer of creaminess to the already creamy tuna tartare that when you place the entire thing into your mouth, it is an explosion of flavours with a perfect  balance of creaminess, tartness, spice, and savoury.  

Loved it!!

The steamed shrimp salad with Champagne dressing was another stunning dish.  The dressing was a great balance between sweet. savoury, and tang.  I loved how they placed arugla together with shiso leaves and mint.  

Every bite was like a little surprise of flavour burst in your mouth because it wasn't your usual combination of the greens.

ahhh - so heavenly!!

cheesecake - N/A

Siny decided to order  a dessert instead of an appie or a meal.  She opted for a cheesecake.  

According to her, it was creamy and well balanced.

She enjoyed it!

Over all, our experience at Market was pretty good.  We loved the patio and courteous service.  Though the price was to the higher side, it was still well worth the trip if you were looking for a fun evening with courteous service.

Food - 3.5/5 - I really did not enjoy their main dishes last time, so make sure that you stick to the appies instead.

Service - 4.5/5 - impeccable! Always courteous just like their hotel service!

Ambiance - 5/5 - we LOVED the patio!! Though the inside is also really nice!

2005 Yiron Galilee from Israel - $$?

2005 Yiron Galilee from Israel - $$?

2005 Yiron Galilee from Israel - $$?

2005 Yiron Galilee from Israel - $$?

Gosh this was a tasty wine!!  I just randomly found it in Jordan's collection (he hates wine... :$ so I am doing him a favour.....)

Anyhow, I have no idea where this was from or why he has this and I just randomly picked it up and opened it.... The first glass tho wasn't so great because I didn't aerate it enough so the flavour was really harsh with really strong hints of barrel (oak?) flavour and it was actually quite unpleasant.  

The second day when I had my second glass... 

Oh My God, it was SO good.

Hints of cherry wood with a touch of oak barrel in the background; with predominantly the flavours of berries and some vanilla; it was unexpectedly fruity and surprisingly with minimal tannin (unlike many aged wines!!)  I love it........... and I feel terrible finishing the bottle all on my own!

Keep my fingers crossed that Jordan will not find out :$  

Player's chophouse

A while back, I picked up a groupon issued by Player's chophouse.  It was $45 for $101 worth of food - 1 appetizer; 2 entrees; and 1 dessert.  

After I read through the review from a blogger who also just recently dined there using a groupon, I decided to use mine as soon as possible because it seemed that the steaks weren't of great values (despite being a "chophouse") and also they were allowing the diners to simply order $101 worth of food instead of strictly following the groupon condition of: 1 appetizer, 2 entrees and 1 dessert.

So off we went! 

Cream ale - $6

The restaurant was quite empty; however the decor wasn't as dated as I thought it would be (although it was definitely not hip; more like a milestones in burnaby).  We were given couple menus to look at, but I only had one question in my mind: whether I can simply go ahead and order whatever items I can that would eventually worth a total of $101 or I have to strictly stick to the 1 appie, 2 entrees and 1 dessert option.

So after approximately 10 minutes, I finally got a chance to speak to our server.

And that was when I really just decided to forget about service and try to focus on food.

He was quite rude and not very attentive at all.  I had to ask him 3 times regarding the question I had in mind - but he couldn't make it clear to me and he sounded quite impatient when I approached him with the same question.
Anyways, services are perhaps hit and misses so I will not make a huge deal out of it.  Though I just want to make a note here that it took us a looonnnnnnnnnggggggg time to get our food......

Steamed mussels - $16

After we placed our order, the drinks came pretty quickly.  So we just sat there and waited for our appetizers to arrive.

...........

.....

More than half an hour later, our appetizers finally arrived.  Jordan and I were so hungry we polished up the plate in no time!

The steamed mussels were alright.  The mussels were a tad over cooked and the curry fennel sauce was quite salty.  But we were really hungry so other than the fact that it was too salty, it tasted alright in general.  

pulled pork poutine - $12

There were so much pulled pork on it!  This dish was almost like, 50% pulled pork and 50% cheese curds+fries... definitely a filling dish!

We enjoyed it mostly because we were really hungry at this point... but even when I was starving, this dish simply tasted mediocre to me.  The pulled pork lacked flavour entirely; and some parts were really dry (though to me dry meat = less fat = healthier protein choice... I know, twisted)

The fries were pretty good - they were quite crispy and held up to the moisture from the gravy and the pulled pork.

When will smoke's poutinerie open?!

Rack of lamb - $36 - pistachio-herb crusted, raspberry dijon mustard, mint demi

I was pleasantly surprised with the lamb rack!

This was probably the best thing that happened to me this evening.

The lamb was really tender and juicy.  The centre was perfectly medium rare and although the sides were a tad pass medium, they were tender regardless.

I also loved the pistachio-herb crust with raspberry dijon mustard - it was slightly sweet and crunchy with plenty of rosemary flavours.  I chewed off the crust from the fat - that's how good it was!

I barely detected mint in the mint demi so... however I still enjoyed the sauce <3

prime rib 16oz - $38 

This was not bad either: the meat was perfectly medium rare and it was so tender (when it just arrived)

I took couple bites of the prime rib and I enjoyed it quite a bit because it was different from the lamb.  The meat was really flavourful and it had a great meaty texture/chew.  However as the prime rib got colder, the texture became chewier.  Solidifying fat maybe?

The yorkshire pudding was really really overcooked.  But the mashed potatoes and grilled veggies were nice.  The au jus didn't taste quite like the au jus; however, the rest were all pretty decent tasting.

I didn't find the dessert to be worth taking photos because I found it really over-priced.  We opted for a deconstructed cheese cake and it was some cheese + whipping cream/sour cream mixture topped with some fruit compote sauce - there was a piece of phyllo pastry baked till crisp to give a textural contrast to the whole dessert.  It was served in a martini glass - really quite small for $8!!

Overall, our experience here wasn't entirely horrible but given the quality of the food, the ambiance and the price point; we will not be back.

Service - 2/5 - rude server (manager)

food -3.5/5 (mediocre!)

ambiance - 2.5/5 :$