Ho Yummy

Whistler: Fairmont Mallard Lounge

What bachelorette party would not be complete without a stop for afternoon tea? As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a big fan of afternoon tea and luckily for me, so were my fellow bachelorette partiers. I did some research on what type of tea options were available in Whistler and the place of choice for most seemed to be the Mallard Lounge at the Fairmont Hotel.

The Mallard Lounge has quite an extensive selection of teas to choose from. There were quite a few blends that I had never tried before and after checking with the others to ensure we had a good selection of teas, I decided on the ice wine tea. The ice wine tea was a black tea with a slightly sweet grape flavour, which was pretty interesting. One of my friends had the maple tea, which was a bit too sweet but the ice wine had a good amount of sweetness for me and did not require any additional sugar.

Before our tower of afternoon tea treats were brought out, we were presented with a small bowl of fresh berries. The fruits were sweet enough that they did not need any additional marination although some people remarked it would have been nice if they were lightly dressed.

Finally, our tower of tea treats were brought out. We were instructed to start with the top layer and work our way downwards.

The scones were actually one of my favourite tea items that day. They were quite large and had a sugary crispy outside which gave way to a flaky, warm inside. The scones went very well with the strawberry compote and Devonshire cream. I had a great time slathering copious amounts of Devonshire cream and strawberries to my scone.

The finger sandwiches all sounded very tasty in the menu, but we all agreed that they sounded and looked much better than they tasted. The smoked salmon and dill cream cheese pinwheel was probably the best of the bunch but not very original. The other sandwiches, especially the cucumber watercress sandwich and the roasted red pepper sandwich was a bit tasteless in my opinion.

After the disappointing sandwich layer, I hoped that the tea treats could be redeemed by the sweet bottom layer. Both the chocolate éclairs and chocolate dipped strawberries were well done and a nice, sweet way to end our meal. Surprisingly, the dipped strawberry was sweet enough to stand up to the chocolate.  I enjoyed the lemon curd in the mini tarts although I felt that the pastry crust fell apart too easily in my fingers. What can I say, I’m a bit picky when it comes to lemon desserts.

For the most part, we all quite enjoyed our afternoon tea with the exception of the sandwiches. As can be expected at any Fairmont establishment, the service was attentive and prompt. At $20 for afternoon tea, it is also a few dollars cheaper than most tea places in the Lower Mainland.

Details:
4599 Chateau Boulevard, Whistler, BC
Tel: 604-938-8000
Available daily from 12-2pm

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Price: $$

Posted in Afternoon Tea, Other Cities, Reviews, Whistler | No Comments »

Whistler: Dubh Linn Gate

On our second day in Whistler for Samantha’s bachelorette party, we wanted to have a quick brunch before spending the rest of our morning at the spa. Similar to what we experienced at La Bocca, a lot of our original brunch choices do not take reservations. We could have woken up a bit earlier to ensure we didn’t have to line up but since we were up late the night before, this option didn’t really appeal to us. We decided to have brunch at the Dubh Linn Gate, which is in the Pan Pacific Whistler hotel in the village, because it seemed fairly empty and could accommodate our group.

We ended up sitting outside because it was a fairly nice day and we could also do some people watching. I had some trouble deciding on what to eat so I ordered a tea to by myself a little more time.

I decided to go with my brunch stand by of a classic eggs benny. The eggs benny themselves were pretty lacklustre. I found the Hollandaise sauce to be on the watery side but I wonder if this actually means it is healthier than the usual creamier Hollandaise sauce. I enjoyed mini hash potato patties but they were a bit cold, perhaps because we were sitting outside? They were seasoned with some type of seasoning salt and were quite tasty.

In general, there was not a lot of an Irish twist on any of the brunch items, but perhaps this is because brunch is not their main specialty. The brunch fare here is pretty predictable, from eggs benny to pancakes to sausage/eggs/toast. Service was a bit absent even though it appeared to be a slow morning. Other than the prime location right in central Whistler Village, I was not too impressed with Dubh Linn Gate, at least for brunch.

Details:
170-4320 Sundial Crescent, Whistler, BC
Tel: 604-905-4047

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Price: $$

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Whistler: La Bocca

Happy new year, everyone! I’m catching up on a lot of blogging that fell by the wayside during the holiday season. This week, I’m going to focus on some Whistler restaurants I visited in the early fall for Samantha’s bachelorette party.

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Just before Samantha got married, Lucy and I had the honours of planning her bachelorette party. After some brainstorming on where we should go and what we should do, we finally decided on Whistler. Due to my Ho Yummy background, I was in charge of deciding where we would eat. Our trip to Whistler was quite short and we arrived there just before dinner on a Saturday evening. Victoria had told me that she went to La Bocca once for another bachelorette party so I decided to give that a try.

Despite the fact that La Bocca does not take reservations, we were pretty lucky and were able to score a table for our party of 8 without needing to wait. To get the party started, we ordered some pitchers of sangria to share. The sangria was nice and fruity with a lot of limes, which I liked.

I wasn’t too hungry that day so I just stuck with a main course. The West Coast Cioppino was a bit on hot side but I suppose that is better than it being lukewarm. There was quite a bit of seafood although perhaps because of the super hot plate, the fish was slightly overcooked. It had a nice saffron flavour to it and it would have been really nice if it was served with some crusty warm bread.

Lucy was kind enough to let me sample a bit of her seafood linguine. The linguine was prepared al dente and there was quite an abundant amount of seafood. I usually prefer oil-based sauces over cream sauces so this linguine was quite tasty. I actually told Lucy that I liked her linguine more than my cioppino.

Overall, I found La Bocca to be pretty good for a Whistler restaurant. Due to its semi-touristy environment, it can be difficult to find a good value Whistler restaurant that serves tasty food. Even La Bocca, which is classified on the cheaper side, still charged $25 for my cioppino main. I know there are quite a few higher end restaurants that are supposed to be quite good but I generally stray towards cheaper eats when I’m at Whistler.

Details:
4232 Village Stroll, Whistler, BC
Tel: 604-932-2112

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Price: $$$

Posted in Italian, Reviews, Whistler | No Comments »