C Restaurant

The sixth and final Dine Out ’08 experience took place at C Restaurant. I went there in 2004 for my first ever Dine Out (at the time it was only a $25 menu) and I enjoyed it. Hence I decided to return for another try. They had an $18 wine pairing option to go with the $35 menu. They also had a $49 4-course lobster menu ($25 wine pairing) and a $45 100-mile menu. Diners could also choose to pay extra for some add-ons or substitute dishes.

On Food

Since I went to five other restaurants before this one, I was able to compare the food quality among all of them. In my opinion, C Restaurant had the tastiest food. I have tried the meat dish at all six restaurants and C’s steak was juicy and tender (much much better than Five Sails). The two fish dishes were also great. I remember having a mushroom risotto at the restaurant in 2004 and I didn’t like the gluey, cheesy texture. This time around I ordered the trout with the couscous risotto and I really enjoyed it. The tuna was nice with the bacon foam. On the other hand, the two desserts were disappointing. First, they took away the chocolate parfait (which I was looking forward to trying it); then the two options they served weren’t that great. Neither of them was able to wrap up the dinner and make it a complete meal.

On Presentation

Presentation of the food was good. You can see layers of ingredients, with decent amount of garnish. I like how they served the cauliflower soup, by pouring it right in front of you – something different which made your dining experience more enjoyable.

On Environment

The restaurant is not roomy. Tables are placed rather close to each other so some diners may not like that. The décor is rather nice and you can see the open kitchen as soon as you set foot in the restaurant.

On View

Located right along the False Creek, if you get window seating, this could be a very pleasant dining experience.

On Service

The service was really good. For all the restaurants I’ve visited, none of them refilled the bread; or, they would ask if you want a refill. In this case, they automatically brought in more as we were waiting for the appetizers to come. The manager would come and explain every dish to us and that never happened anywhere else either. Towards the end of the meal, the manager forgot to bring in the wine to pair with the dessert, so he brought over the glasses and poured in front of us – apologizing and giving us a bit more wine (icewine, too!) than you would normally get for the wine pairing option.

C Restaurant

Food: 9
Presentation: 8.5
Environment: 7.5
View: 8.5
Service: 9
Overall: 8.5

Photos

Non-alcoholic cocktail: West Coast Breeze

Non-alcoholic cocktail: Seawall Splash

Bread (They brought more after the first batch was quickly consumed)

Appetizer: Black Heart Spring Salmon Tartare (didn’t like the watercress salad, though)

Appetizer: Cauliflower Soup (Yes, it's served without the soup)

Then they poured the soup with a teapot.

We were told that the soup tastes the best by breaking the egg yolk.

Appetizer: Seared Quebec Foie Gras - Cost an extra $14.95 to get this appy

Entree: Herb Crusted Albacore Tuna (The bacon foam does taste like bacon)

Entree: Balsamic Glazed AAA Beef Ribeye (Juicy and tender)

Entree: Dr. Larry Albright’s Crispy Skinned Trout (The cous cous is pretty good)

Dessert: Okanagan Pear Galette

Dessert: Creme Brulee Passion Fruit Tart (They moved the Chocolate Parfait to the Lobster menu and replaced it with this, a little bit disappointing)

Le Gavroche

The fifth Dine Out ’08 experience took place at Le Gavroche. A friend of mine really enjoyed her dinner there two years ago, plus I heard some good things about so I gave it a try. They offered a $20 wine pairing option to go with the $35 menu. They also had a $65 4-course menu with a $25 wine pairing option.

On Food

I seldom go to French restaurants (French menus throw me off) so I was eager to test this out. The food quality was not bad but it’s not exceptional. The entrees were on the ordinary side. I think they are really skilful in using cream because I found some of the dishes really creamy yet not overly done. I like the touch of using lemon sorbet to cleanse the palette.

On Presentation

The plating was pretty simple. They just used the greens to garnish the plates. Their plating is pretty simple. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed because I thought French cuisine is all about presentation. The fanciest plating should be found in French dishes but I did not see that here.

On Environment

The restaurant was voted “The Most Romantic Restaurant” a few times by the Vancouver Magazine. The lighting certainly helps achieve but other than that, I didn’t find it very romantic. I guess it also depends who you were with that evening. I looked the restaurant and I didn’t see many couples. I saw many groups of 3-4 people. The dining area is actually quite small, probably fit 40-50 people tops. On another note, this restaurant has a gigantic wine collection. You see bottles of wine everywhere – different kinds of wines from different countries. It’s more like a wine cellar than a restaurant.

On View

It’s a Victoria house located on Alberni near Cardero. Unfortunately, there’s no view at the restaurant.

On Service

The service was quite slow that day. I saw many servers walk around the dining room, but ultimately, only one person was responsible for taking the orders. Others were bringing out dishes and the manager was just mingling with diners. They actually forgot our entrees because late comers were eating before we were. I wasn’t too impressed with that.

Le Gavroche

Food: 8
Presentation: 7
Environment: 8.5
View: 7
Service: 7.5
Overall: 7.6

Photos

Canape to start the evening

Bread

Appetizer: Organic greens candied Harrison Hot Springs hazelnuts, Salt Spring goat cheese, baby beets

Appetizer: Seafood Terrine, lobster brandy sauce, seaweed caviar (pretty good)

Lemon sorbet served between appetizer and entree to cleanse your palette

Entree: Braised local lamb shank, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, rosemary Jus

Entree: Fresh tilapia, organic vegetables, pear mustard vinaigrette (the fish was a bit dry)

Dessert: Mocha Cheesecake (it looked a little flaky, but it's quite creamy and rich in flavour)

Dessert: Ice wine creme caramel (yummmmm~ it's really creamy!)

Don Francesco

The fourth Dine Out ’08 experience took place at Don Francesco. This was a last minute addition to my list, an invitation from my friend to try this restaurant.

On Food

I rarely go to authentic Italian restaurant, so it’s hard to compare from that stand point. The food quality is not bad, but I found the flavour a bit too strong for my liking. The soup and the chicken sat on the borderline of being salty and I sometimes tasted the overly strong coffee liquer in the tiramisu.

On Presentation

Their plating is pretty simple. For the entrée, they put on a lot of sauce to glaze over the meat, which makes the presentation a bit too dark to see under candle lights. On the other hand, they go easy on decorating the appetizers and the desserts and that was good.

On Environment

The restaurant has a nice ambiance. The lighting was great and it was playing Italian music in the background. However, it would be better if they can space out the tables a bit. The tables were a bit too close to each other.

On View

Located on the Burrard Street, unfortunately this restaurant doesn’t have any view other than watching the pedestrians and cars as they pass by the restaurant.

On Service

The servers were really friendly. They provided fresh ground pepper for appetizer and entrée. Our server also made light, funny comments which made the dining experience even more positive.

Don Francesco

Food: 8
Presentation: 7.5
Environment: 8.5
View: 7
Service: 9
Overall: 8

Photos

Appetizer: Crème Dubarry Aux Quatre Fromage (The 4-cheese crouton made the soup a bit salty.)

Appetizer: Linguine Seafood Pescatore (I was surprised to see a pasta dish as appetizer. Not a tiny portion, too!)

Entree: Veal Involtini a la Casalinga (Now that I’m thinking, the meat was a bit dry.)

Entree: Chicken Breast Au Vin Rouge (Surprisingly the chicken breast was not that dry.)

Dessert: Tiramisu (At times I could taste the strong liquer but overall it's yummy.)

Dessert: Orange Cake All’Italiana (Nothing special about this cake.)

Dockside Restaurant

The third Dine Out ’08 experience took place at Dockside Restaurant at Granville Island Hotel. I was going to try it in 2007, but ended up switching to a reservation at Chambar. This year I have returned to give this a try.

On Food

I think its food was great. The seasoning wasn’t over-powering and the flavour was good. I liked the lamb chops and the crème brule. The crème brule would be even better without the chocolate brownie at the bottom. The chocolate brownie was too strong. On the other hand, I was a little surprised that bread was not served. We actually had to order some bread. It was served with butter and chopped olives - it didn't taste good.

On Presentation

Presentation was good, too. There’s certainly room for improvement (such as the big slice of bell pepper and the huge chunk of mint jelly in the lamb chop dish), but it’s pretty good for what they are doing right now.

On Environment

We were seated next to a fireplace, so that was nice. Overall, the restaurant is really warm and cozy. And I like the fact that it is an open kitchen, so customers can see over the counter what the chefs are doing.

On View

Several lucky couples would get a good view every night, because they can only seat 2 at the tables that are by the windows. Part of the view is the False Creek, and part of it is looking at the Yacht dock. After all, the restaurant is called Dockside.

On Service

There wasn’t anything negative about the service. In fact, I like how every time they sent 2 people to serve our food so everyone at the table would get the food at the same time (there were 6 of us). One server was a little shaky when he’s collecting the dishes.

Dockside Restaurant

Food: 8
Presentation: 8
Environment: 8.5
View: 8
Service: 8.5
Overall: 8.2

Photos

Appetizer: Creamed Leek and Smoked Black Cod Veloute

Appetizer: ManZanilla Sherry Marinated Beet Salad

Bread that we needed to pay for.

Entree: Lavender Macadamia Nut Breaded Lamb Chops (The lamb chops were good, but found the risotto a bit too gluey. )

Entree: Malaysian Red Chilli and Yellow Coconut Chicken

Entree: Slow Roasted AAA Alberta Striploin

Dessert: Chocolate Brownie Creme Brule (Everyone gets the same dessert. I didn't like the brownie at the bottom of the ramekin.)

Cloud 9 Revolving Restaurant

The second Dine Out ’08 experience took place at Cloud 9 Revolving Restaurant at Empire Landmark Hotel. I’ve always wanted to go to this restaurant but its menu in the past few years weren’t as appealing, so I didn’t get to try it until this year.

On Food

Walking into the restaurant I didn’t have high expectation on the food. I was there more for the view than the food. Food was okay, but the dishes weren’t spectacular, just some ordinary dishes that one can get at a Northwestern restaurant.

On Presentation

Plating was mediocre. Also using white plates and minimal garnish, Cloud 9’s presentation does not add the elegance touch to the dishes like Five Sails does. Here their goal seems to be just getting the food out without extra hassle.

On Environment

The restaurants is actually part restaurant, part lounge. I saw a piano in the lounge area, which means that sometimes a pianist may play live to entertain customers. That’s not a bad idea. I’d enjoy my time there more so than without live music. There was no live music the day I was there, but overall the environment was quite nice combining the candle lights with a great view of Vancouver.

On View

The view didn’t disappoint me. 360 around Vancouver and the weather was excellent the day I was there – it is the best location to see the whole Vancouver. It took about 1.5 hours to go around once, which is reasonable as each seating is estimated for 1.5 hours. You get to go around at least once before your dining service is over. A great place to entertain visitors.

On Service

My reservation was at 7:30pm but I didn’t get seated until close to 8pm! Why? I think they were under-staffed. WAY under-staffed. The greeter was also the coat check, table setter and table cleaner. For a Sunday evening during the Dine Out period, I was really disappointed by their staff situation.

Cloud 9 Restaurant

Food: 7
Presentation: 6
Environment: 8.5
View: 10
Service: 7
Overall: 7.7 (The view definitely saved them from scoring low)

Photos

Appetizer: Tomato and Gin Soup

Appetizer: Classic Caesar Salad

Entree: Charbroiled Rib-eyed Steak (The sauce was a bit salty)

Entree: Classic Grilled Salmon with Popcorn Shrimp (The popcorn shrimp was more like deep-fried tempura batter, barely found the shrimps)

Dessert: Chef's Choice Dessert - Cheesecake with mango and raspberry sauce

Five Sails Restaurant

My first Dine Out ’08 experience took place at Five Sails Restaurant at Pan Pacific Hotel. Because it’s a 5-star restaurant, quite frankly I had high expectation. My reservation was at 8pm. The restaurant actually didn’t accept any Dine Out reservation from 7pm to 8pm so when we got there at 7:35pm, they were cleaning up and getting ready for the 8pm service. We ended up walking around the hotel till about 7:50pm before we were seated.

On Food

The food was good. Food portion was on the small side but the taste was good. I liked the scallop appetizer as well as the chocolate torte for dessert. Both can be ordered from the regular menu at $18 and $13, respectively. The entrées were ordinary.

On Presentation

The food presentation was really simple: white plates and simple garnish. They didn’t go crazy on sauces or extra things to add more colours to the dishes - which is not necessarily a bad thing - it focuses your attention to the food, to the main ingredients. Must compliment on the presentation of the chocolate torte; everyone loves it when they see the picture.

On Environment

For a 5-star restaurant, for a restaurant located at Pan Pacific Hotel, its décor was too uninspiring. It’s chic, no doubt, but it doesn’t have any class. You can find the same décor, if not better, at any Dine Out restaurant. Because the colour scheme is white, it doesn’t have the warm and cozy ambiance that some restaurants would have. I guess that’s there class.

On View

Combined with the view, I think $35 was a great deal dining at this restaurant. The view was great at the restaurant, looking over the waterfront. Looking out from the window, we saw that the new BC Ferry vessel, Coastal Renaissance, was in exhibition. Unfortunately from where I sat, my view was partially blocked by the new convention centre. If they will have a restaurant at the new convention centre, its view will be even better!

On Service

It wasn't very busy on that day, so they served the food in lightning speed. I finished the dinner within 1 hour. For a 5-star restaurant, I'm a little bit disappointed by the quality of the service. There were services, but they weren't superb. The servers were more like "doing their job" and I didn't feel very welcoming. It almost seemed to me that they didn’t care for people who were cheap enough to dine there for a $35 Dine Out menu. The servers had some attitudes.

Five Sails Restaurant

Food: 8.5
Presentation: 9
Environment: 7.5
View: 9
Service: 6.5

Overall: 8.1 (They would have a much higher score if services were better.)

Photos

Complimentary appetizer for everyone: Ahi tuna sashimi

Appetizer: Roasted butternut squash soup

Appetizer: Pan seared Weathervane scallop (small portion, but it was pretty good)

Entree: Tiger prawns wrapped in pancetta

Entree: Duo of Alberta beef

Dessert: Okanagan apple tarte tatin

Dessert: Flourless chocolate torte (YUMMMMMM)

Dine Out Vancouver 2008

It's what we've been waiting for! The Dine Out Vancouver 2008 has returned with more restaurants and more fabulous menus. Restaurants once again will prepare 3-course dinners at cost of $15, $25 or $35.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/dining/dineout.php

Restaurants that I'm interested in going include:

• Sanafir
• Rare
• La Gavroche
• Cloud 9
• Observatory

Decisions will be made upon the release of the menu.