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!)
