Part 1 at Blue Water Cafe
Part 2 at West
Pick and I were very full by the time we finished our main courses at West. However, we mustered the strength to make it to CinCin for our final course: dessert! I had been to CinCin once a while back and really enjoyed the pasta there but never had the opportunity to try their dessert. I knew that CinCin had won several awards for their desserts in the past little while so I was quite eager to try their desserts firsthand myself.
Even though it was past 10PM by the time we arrived, the restaurant was almost completely full. Soon after we were seated, our server arrived to greet us. Prior to our dinner, Pick had talked to someone from Top Table and informed her of what our dessert preferences were. Our server suggested we may want to look at the menu anyway, just in case there was something that piqued our interest. While we perused the menu, our server brought us our drinks. I decided to have an espresso with some warm milk.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of lemon desserts so I asked CinCin to make me some type of lemony dessert. Not only did they deliver with one lemon dessert, they brought me three! The lemon tart was out of this world and definitely one of the best lemon tarts I have ever had. The shortbread crust was perfectly made and crumbled in my mouth while the lemon custard had just the right mix of tanginess and sweetness. The lemon mousse cake with strawberries was light and lemony, perfect after a large meal. There was nothing special about the lemon mousse cake itself but it was executed perfectly. The most pleasant surprise was the lemon rosemary sorbet. The rosemary flavour was very strong and held up well to the tart lemon taste. I really enjoyed the sorbet and it was a nice contrast to the other two sweeter lemon desserts. [Pick's notes: I've read that the abilities of a pastry chef are measured by how his or her lemon tart tastes. This one was fantastic, from the crust to the texture and flavor of the tart itself.]
Pick had the floating island at CinCin a while back and even though it was no longer on the menu, they created a supersized version for Pick. Light meringue cakes with caramel were floating in a sea of creamy vanilla creme anglaise. The floating island is quite a rich dessert and my trio of lemon desserts was more than enough for me. Pick was kind enough to let me try some of his floating island and the light meringue cake contrasted very nicely with the rich creme anglaise. My favourite part of the floating island was probably the creme anglaise, which tasted like melted vanilla ice cream. 
[Pick's note: I was very surprised the pastry chef actually took the time to make this special order for me! The floating island was just like I remembered it, only I think the last time I had it at CinCin it was served on a long dish. Presentation aside, the flavor was great!]
Even though both Pick and I kept on remarking how full we both were, neither of us hesitated in gobbling up the petite fours when they arrived at our table. By the time we realized that we had not yet taken a picture, all that was left was this delicious hazelnut cake.
I was very satisfied with our desserts and they definitely lived up to my expectations. Jenkins always remarks that the lemon desserts I choose are hit and miss but the lemon desserts at CinCin were top notch. Pick’s floating island was different from other desserts that I had and I think it would be a nice rich end to a light meal.
It took Pick and I about four hours to visit all three restaurants in our progressive dinner. In total, we had six dishes plus desserts. Needless to say, we were very full at the end and probably should have walked home to work off all the calories we ingested during the evening! The progressive dinner was a great experience and better than what I had imagined. I’m please that Pick won such a great prize giving to such a great cause but I’m even more pleased that he chose me as his lucky date. Thanks Pick!
[Pick's notes: Again, thanks to Karen Hamilton from Tinybites.ca for getting such an awesome prize - all for a good cause also. It was great blogging for the Developmental Disabilities Association for Blogathon, but the best part was probably winning this prize!]
Details:
1154 Robson Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-688-7338
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Price: n/a
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for publishing such an in-depth recap!
Gigi, let me know when you try Araxi. I hardly ever have a reason to make the commute to Whistler, and when I do, it’s often for something that already has dinner included.
How was the travelling aspect of your night? Sorry we weren’t able to wrangle a transportation sponsor in time. Did that affect your drink choices for the evening?
@Karen – I rarely stay in Whistler for dinner but I guess I’ll have to try and make an exception for Araxi! I must say I was pretty intrigued when I heard about Gordon Ramsay’s comments.
The travelling part wasn’t too bad…since Pick was treating me, I volunteered to drive so I only had a glass of wine at West and stuck to non-alcoholic drinks for the other two restaurants. Pick was kind enough to let me try his drinks though and they were all very tasty! Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of most of our drinks!
Desserts!! mmm~ would love to try the floating island =)