Ho Yummy

My last Dine Out of the year was with Derek, Connie, and Wendy. I was in charge of picking the restaurant so I chose Mistral Bistro because this was on my list of places to try. Also, the menu looked pretty good so I figured it would be a good pick. Mistral is located on W. Broadway right next to Feenie’s and Lumiere. Mistral is a French Bistro that opened up fairly recently and I had heard quite a few good things about it. Evidently, a lot of other people had heard the same thing because there was a huge crowd waiting outside by the time we left the restaurant around 8:30pm.

After we placed our orders, we were served some yummy French bread and whipped butter. I love whipped butter because it’s so light and airy and you don’t need to put a lot on the bread. The French bread was still a bit warm and was crusty on the outside and chewy and yummy on the inside…just the way it should be.

I started with the salmon tartare. The salmon was mixed with some citrus cream and crunchy cucumber chunks on top. I found it hard to really taste the salmon because there was too much cream. However, I found the cucumber to be a nice contrast to the creamy salmon.

For my main course, I had the duck confit with navy beans, beets, and lamb sausage. The duck was moist but not too fatty, which is sometimes the case with duck. I also liked the beets because they were not too mushy and had a nice sweet flavour. Although I thought that the navy beans and lamb sausage were also quite tasty, I didn’t feel that they went very well with the duck. I would have been happy with just the duck and beets…and maybe the beans.

I felt that my dessert was the best dish of the evening. I chose the dark chocolate mousse, which was very creamy and full of chocolate flavour. I only had two scoops for my dish but I really wish there was more…although my waistline may thank me that there wasn’t! Derek thought that the presentation left something to be desired, but the taste more than made up for it.

Here are some pictures of Connie’s and Wendy’s orders. I can’t remember their exact comments on their dishes but they did enjoy them quite a bit.

Wendy picked some pork cheeks with olives, winter vegetables, and pea cakes for her main course…

…and a waffle with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, almonds, and nutella cream. I was trying to decide between the waffle and the chocolate mousse…they both looked so yummy!

For Connie’s main course, she had the prawns, mussels, and daily fish with veggies and a saffron aioli. Although she liked the prawns and mussels, she noted that her fish was a bit fishy tasting.

Although my dinner at Mistral was quite good, I felt like it really could have been better. Just like Unwine’d, it fell a bit short of my expectations although the desserts really saved the day. The prices for the regular menu also seem to be quite reasonable so I would really like to come back here for a non-Dine Out experience. Despite them being quite busy that evening, our service was prompt and friendly.

Details:
2585 W. Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-733-0046

Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$ (we had all had the $25 dine-out menu)