Ho Yummy

Review: Brunch at Provence Marinaside

I just realised that I have been going out to brunch quite a lot lately, but what can I say, it is one of my favourite meals!  Karen and I hadn’t met up in quite a few months and brunch always seems to work out well for us as that’s when we usually have our catch up sessions. Karen left the location choice to me and I decided on Provence Marinaside because I had heard that their French toasted baguettes were on the 2009 Vancouver list of the best things to eat in Vancouver Magazine.

Provence Marinaside doesn’t take reservations for small parties for brunch because they are almost always packed during brunch hours on the weekends. Luckily for us, we did not have to wait for a table and were seated at a small table with big comfy couches.

I decided to stray from my usual black/green tea choices that day and went for a Mountain Berry tea. The tea was slightly tangy from the berry infusion and went really well with a small dab of honey.

I knew what I was going to have before I even entered the restaurant and was prepared to immediately order the French toasted baguettes. Our server told me that I had the option of adding a strawberry compote to the dish but said she preferred it on its own with some whipped cream and maple syrup. I decided to heed her advice and passed on the compote.

The baguettes turned out to be much more filling that I expected. They were sugary and crispy on the outside and the baguettes themselves appeared to be stuffed with a light custard filling. I really enjoyed this twist on traditional French toast and since it was already sweet from the brown sugar crust, I only dipped the toast in a little bit of the maple syrup. If you like sweet things for brunch, this is definitely something for you to try.

Karen decided to have the Croque Monsieur Eggs Benny. Instead of an english muffin, it was served on a slice of toast and there was some Black Forest ham and mozarella cheese to make this Croque Monsieur-ish. The eggs were poached just right and the Hollandaise sauce along with the cheese made this quite a rich dish but the flavours all went quite well together.

It had been quite some time since my last visit (brunch or otherwise) to Provence Marinaside and I’m glad to report that their brunch is still quite tasty. It has quite a bustling atmosphere in the mornings and is a fun place to meet up with friends. I’m not sure how often they rotate their brunch options but the items we had were definitely things that I wouldn’t mind trying again.

Details:
1177 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver
Tel: 604-681-4144

Summary:
Food:
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Price: $$

Posted in Brunch, French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver | 3 Comments »

Review: Le Crocodile

It was Jenkins’ and my one-year anniversary recently and to celebrate, we went to one of my favourite restaurants for dinner: Le Crocodile. It had been a while since I was last at Le Crocodile so I was glad that we decided to have our dinner there. All the meals I’ve had at Le Crocodile have always had excellent food and service so I was eagerly awaiting coming here for weeks.

After we placed our orders, we were served a complimentary foie gras tart. The foie gras filling was creamy and rich, highlighted with a mix of herbs. The flavours melted together in my mouth and was a great start to our meal.

We were also served a couple of different kinds of bread. The bread was actually pretty standard and did not taste very out of the ordinary.

I wasn’t aware that we would be served fois gras tarts as an amuse bouche so I ordered fois gras for my starter. My duo of pan-seared fois gras and grilled quail was perfectly prepared and tied together with a calvados reduction…so many of my favourite things on one plate! The grilled quail was juicy and flavourful and went very well with the richness of the foisgras. The calvados reduction gave the whole dish a slight hint of apple sweetness, which I really enjoyed.

Jenkins decided to go with a grilled scallop and spinach salad. The scallops were fresh and pan-fried just the right amount.

For my main course, I decided to try something new and ordered the cariboo with a lobster tail and a fresh pea risotto. The cariboo was lean but prepared perfectly rare and was much juicier and more tender than I expected. I thought the flavour of the cariboo would overpower the lobster tail and the risotto, but the different flavours all complimented one another quite well. This dish was much bigger than I expected and even though I was quite hungry, it took quite a bit of effort on my part to finish everything.

As if my main was not big enough already, it also came with a small plate of vegetables simply prepared with a little bit of butter.

All meals at Le Crocodile come with a plate of deep fried shredded potatoes. Both Jenkins and I liberally dipped the potatoes in the sauce that accompanied our dishes. The potatoes soaked up the flavour of the sauces and were very tasty.

As tasty as my dish was, I actually felt that Jenkins’ choice was even better. The halibut came with a lobster tempura and rested on top of a creamy sauce with fettuccini. I don’t remember what was in the sauce but it went perfectly with the halibut, which was prepared just right. The halibut flaked apart easily and was very moist, which contrasted with the crispy lobster tempura.

After we finished our delicious mains, we were served some complimentary pear sorbet to cleanse our palates and prepare us for dessert. The pear sorbet was very refreshing and had a strong taste of pear and perhaps even some pear liqueur.

After my fairly rich and heavy dinner, I decied to go with a more refreshing dessert and chose the lemon brulee tart. The top of the tart had a crispy sugary topping, just like a creme brulee. After I tapped at it with my fork, it gave way to a creamy lemon filling that had just the right amount of tangy sweetness. The tart went very well with the small scoop of passion fruit sorbet that accompanied it.

Jenkins is more of a chocolate dessert guy so he chose the chocolate crepes with hazelnut creme filling. Chocolate and hazelnut are a classic combination and as good as my dessert was, Jenkins had me admitting that his dessert choice was even better than mine.

As we had expected, we had yet another fantastic meal at Le Crocodile. Service was great and some of the dishes we ate were unique and tasty while others were a great twist on time-honoured classics. I’m eagerly awaiting the next opportunity that will allow me to eat again at Le Crocodile.

Details:
100-909 Burrard Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-669-4298

Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$$$

Posted in French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver | 8 Comments »

Review: La Brasserie

I had walked past La Brasserie on Davie Street several times, usually while on my way to some other restaurant, and every time, I tell myself that I should check out La Brasserie the next time I’m going out to eat. My short term memory can be pretty bad at times so La Brasserie doesn’t come front to mind, which is why it has taken me so long to finally make it there. I originally thought La Brasserie was a regular French bistro, but after I checked out their website, I discovered that it was actually French-German cuisine, featuring food from the famous Alsace region.

Tricia organized a mini spa day for Juanita, herself, and me one day and since the spa was close to La Brasserie, I suggested that it would be a suitable place for us to have dinner afterwards. La Brasserie does not take reservations and although it was a busy weeknight evening, we only had to wait about 5 minutes before we were seated.

First came some rye bread and baguette slices. The baguette was surprisingly good, with a crispy exterior and a slightly chewy interior. Since I was a bit hungry that day, I really enjoyed the hearty and filling rye bread. It had a great rye flavour to it and I enjoyed eating it with a thin spread of butter.

The three of us all decided to each start with one of the daily specials, a pan-fried scallop with spinach, baby carrots, and a squash puree. The scallop was perfectly cooked and had a slightly crisp outer layer. The creaminess and natural sweetness of the veggies went very well with the fresh sea taste of the scallop.

It was a cold and rainy day when we met up for dinner so we all decided to try the French onion soup as well. We were all surprised when the soup broth turned out to be slightly sweet, possibly from the addition of some wine. I found the soup to be too cheesy for my taste and the combination of the cheese and the bread made this soup a very filling dish. Juanita liked the flavour of the French onion soup but both Tricia and I found it to be too cheesy and the sweet flavour a bit odd.

The mussels and frites seemed like a light dish to balance the French onion soup so the three of us decided to share it. We had our choice of the apple cider, fennel, chili broth or lemon, parsley cream. The apple cider, fennel, chili broth sounded more unique so that was the one we decided to try. I was a bit disappointed with the size of the mussels, which were quite small. There was an abundance of fennel in the broth but I wished that the chili flavour was stronger.

We asked our server to replace the fries that came with our mussels with some poutine. The fries were crispy and fried perfectly and the gravy was also slightly sweet. Although I normally love cheese curds, I found the curds in this poutine clumped together too much, making it difficult to eat with the fries. Perhaps I was cheesed out already by the French onion soup, but I also felt that there was a little too much cheese in the poutine for my liking.

Overall, I found the food at La Brasserie to be fairly good and reasonably priced. There were a few misses with the dishes we ordered but I would still go back to La Brasserie to give it another go. I noticed that they also have a brunch menu, so I would definitely like to try that out sometime.

Details:
1091 Davie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-568-6499

Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$

Posted in French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver | 8 Comments »

Review: db Bistro Moderne

It was my birthday recently and thus also the 2-year anniversary of Ho Yummy! Jenkins took me to db Bistro Moderne to celebrate and along with us also came Samantha and George. I had wanted to go to db Bistro for quite a while and since we went a little earlier at 6pm, we were able to score an extra 1000 points from OpenTable.com.

After we settled on what to order, our server presented us with some amuse bouche in the form of mini cheese puffs. They had a great cheesy flavour and the crispy outside gave way to a soft airy inside.

We were also given some warm bread and a soft pat of salted butter. The bread went really well with the charcuterie that Samantha and George ordered.

For $23, I felt that the charcuterie plate was pretty comprehensive and was a good size. It also came with some mustard, relishes, and pickles which all paired really well with the cured meats. For this size and variety, this would also be a great main course.

I decided to go with the appetizer of the day, which was the Cop Chop Salad. It was the height of spot prawn season when we went to dinner so that was what reeled me in to choosing this salad. It also came with avocado, watermelon, and mushrooms which really made it easy for me to like this salad. Who knew all my favourite things together could make such a great salad? The spot prawns were grilled just enough to give the salad a tasty BBQ flavour.

Jenkins chose the Tarte Flambée, which was a thin flat bread with cheese, bacon, and onions. One of Jenkins’ favourite appetizer dishes is the Alsatian tarte which has the same ingredients so he wanted to see if this variation at db Bistro would hold up. The flavours all went together very well but because the crust/flat bread was so thin, it got soggy quite quickly.

For my main course, I chose another daily special, which was an Alsatian specialty. Choucroute is a traditional Alsace dish that makes several different items out of a suckling pig, including sausages, fried pork cutlet, pork chop, and pork belly. All these different pork dishes are then piled on top of a mound of sauerkraut and potatoes. There were definitely certain pork pieces I enjoyed more in this dish than others with my favourite being the tender, juicy pork chop and the fatty pork belly. The sauerkraut had a lot of flavour but because it was a bit on the pickly side for me, I made sure to combine it with bites of pork in between. This dish was much bigger than I anticipated, especially since I already had an appetizer.

Jenkins decided to have the coq au vin, which he proclaimed was one of the best coq au vin he had ever had. The menu called this Chicken Grand Mere, but to us, it was coq au vin. It also came with some spaetzle (at the top of the picture below), which Jenkins did not really know what to do with so he just sprinkled some over his chicken. The chicken itself was tender and full of flavour from the onions, mushrooms, and bacon. Similar to my choucroute, the dish was also quite large.

We were all pretty full at this point but I was determined to order dessert. I felt that getting something fruity would assist me in my digesting of dinner so I chose the passion fruit souffle. The souffle itself was light and airy and even without the aid of the passion fruit coulis, it already had a ton of flavour. Because the taste of passion fruit is so strong, I would not recommend this unless you are a fan of tangy desserts though. The coconut ice cream was a great complement to the souffle though and helped to mellow out the flavours.

Jenkins ordered the Chocolate Sundae for dessert and this was a great variation on a classic. Sandwiched between layers of chocolate mouse were hazelnut Rice Krispy bits and coffee ice cream. My passion fruit souffle was very good but this chocolate sundae was just decadent. I have to admit that I sampled more of this from Jenkins than he felt I should have!

Jenkins and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal at db Bistro with Samantha and George. I wasn’t sure going in if the restaurant would live up to the hype but it met my expectations and I definitely look forward to going back and trying some menu items that piqued my interest. The service at db Bistro was very attentive and our server was very helpful without being overbearing, which I appreciated.

Details:
2551 West Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-739-7115

Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$$

Posted in French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver | 4 Comments »

Review: Les Faux Bourgeois

Jenkins and I took Pick out for dinner one evening as a super belated present to thank him for designing our wedding invitations last year. Both PIck and I agreed quickly that the best place to have our dinner would be Les Faux Bourgeois. It was on both of our lists of places to go and I had been hearing nothing but great things from people who had gone there. Our dinner ended up being even more delayed as a result of our busy schedules but once we finally agreed on a date, I must say that both PIck and I were eagerly anticipating this dinner. Located right by Fraser and Kingsway, it looks fairly non-descript but the restaurant was packed despite it being a Tuesday night.

After we all settled on what to order, we were served some crusty French bread.

The three of us decided to share the Mt. Pleaseant Picnic, which is Les Faux Bourgeois’ charcuterie offering. None of the cured meat stood out as being especially unique but it was done quite well and we enjoyed pairing the different meats with the accompanying figs, cornichons, and mustard. Our server also regularly topped up our bread basket so we could eat our charcuterie with bread.

I decided to have the duck confit, which was reasonably priced at $15. The duck was crispy on the outside and super moist on the inside. The accompanying balsamic sauce cut through the richness of the duck and made for a very tasty combo. I thought this was quite well done and comparable to some of the duck confit I’ve had in France.

Pick settled on the lamb, which was cooked to a perfect medium rare. It was very tender and had great flavour to it without being too “lamby”.

Jenkins chose the fish of the day, which was salmon. Jenkins felt that the salmon was a bit overcooked but in our opinion, the real star of this was the mashed potatoes. They were very creamy with the lightest hint of garlic. I “helped” Jenkins by picking away away at it and because there was so much mashed potatoes, he generously gave me quite a bit to eat.

We were all full but I couldn’t leave without trying dessert. The desserts at Les Faux Bourgeois are made by Thomas Haas so I knew they should be good. Since there was a lemon tart option on the menu, that’s what I chose. The creamy lemon filling had just the right combination of tartness and sweetness. The shortbread crust was not bad but I felt it could have been thinner and more delicate.

Pick decided on the chocolate mousse so we could have more variety for dessert. The chocolate mousse was rich and creamy and full of chocolaty goodness. Although it looked a bit pale, the mousse still had a lot of chocolate flavour.

We all felt that our meal at Les Faux Bourgeois was quite enjoyable. The dishes were mostly done quite well (with the exception of the overcooked salmon) and almost all the menu items are dependable French classics. There wasn’t really anything unique to the dishes themselves but they were traditional French dishes prepared the proper way. Service was also quite prompt and dependable, despite the restaurant being full almost the entire time we were there.

Details:
663 East 15th Avenue, Vancouver
Tel: 604-873-9733

Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $$

Posted in French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver | 8 Comments »

Review: Boneta

Juanita and I met up for dinner one day. She had just returned from a long trip and I was eager to hear about all her adventures. It took us a while to figure out which restaurant to go to though because Juanita has been to most of the places on my list but we finally settled on Boneta in Gastown. Located on the edge of Gastown just behind the Army & Navy, Boneta’s location was definitely interesting and I hoped the food would be just as good.

Despite the fact that I had just finished my kickboxing class that evening, I was not very hungry and neither was Juanita so we decided to share a couple of smaller dishes. Juanita’s choice was a light hamachi (yellowtail) salad with cucumbers, green onions, caviar, and fried pork rinds. The vinaigrette was light and slightly tangy with just a hint of sesame oil. I thought the pork rinds was a bit odd but its crunchy texture went very well with the fatty, smooth yellowtail. My only complaint was that I wish there was more for me to eat since it was so tasty!

Next came the charcuterie platter. Our server proudly told us that everything before us was made in house, even the board that the charcuterie came on! The whole wheat baguette was still warm from the oven and very crusty. I thought all the cured meats had a ton of flavour and went well with the bread and accompanying salts and pickles. My favourite was definitely the foie gras mousse (brown cube in the middle). The mousse was light, airy, and full of great foie gras flavour. To make things even more decadent, there was a small sliver of butter to go with the mousse and bread. Same with the previous dish, I only wished there was more mousse for me to eat! The amount of bread that came with this dish was not quite enough but our host quickly brought us another freshly baked baguette when we asked, free of charge.

Probably due to the second baguette, we were both quite full at this point. However, we decided to plough ahead and order a dessert to share. I decided to pick the caramelized apples, baba au rhum cake with licorice cream, and some ice cream. I was a bit disappointed with this dessert. There were quite a few different elements to it and I was not sure if they all went together. The caramelized apples were a bit on the mushy side and I couldn’t really taste the licorice flavour in the cream. I’ll have to try another dessert the next time I’m here to see if their other desserts hold up.

Both Juanita and I quite enjoyed our visit to Boneta. With the exception of dessert, our dishes were quite tasty and prepared in quite unique ways. The service was also excellent and the staff were all friendly and engaging. There were so many things on the Boneta menu and now that they’ve switched to the summer menu, I’ll have to make another visit to try their other dishes.

Details:
1 West Cordova, Vancouver
Tel: 604-684-1844

Summary:
Food:
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Price: $$$

Posted in French, Lower Mainland Cities, Reviews, Vancouver, West Coast | No Comments »