Life Journey of Vivian: [2015 Food] Dine Out 2015 - Recap. All the ones I've went to! Part 1

Vancouver's Foodie Tour (aka money-grabbing tourism promo)

I went to quite a lot of Dine Outs last year- because I started getting more sociable and I've got people going with me. I tried:
Part 1:
Bayside Lounge (Jan 16th)
Salmon n' Bannock (Jan 19th)
The Refinery (Jan 22nd)
Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill (Jan 24th)
Event= Street Food (Jan 24th) - waste of time. Not a lot of food carts.
Tivoli's Restaurant - Executive Hotel Burnaby (Jan 25th)
Part 2:
L'Abbattoir (Jan 28th)
Chewie (Jan 29th)
Memphis Blue (Robson) (Jan 30th)
Cloud 9 (Jan 31st)
I will briefly describe what I can remember about the meals (I will try to be brief... the list IS quite long).

It's a long article, bare with me! : It's only a brief review, cuz well,,,, I can't remember much now anyways hahaha.

The menus are no longer available online (unfortunately) and I didn't really take much clear pictures of the menus (oops :P) But you really just need to know if the food was good, right :D
I also won't do that "star system" I use for individual restaurant reviews to save space.

Bayside Lounge = Recommended - Nice view, decent food, affordable drinks, great service, decent prices, good portion.
Best dish - "Tuna Tostados" (medium raw pan fried Tuna slices (tuna tataki) with honeyed wasabi (mustard ) sauce and decorated with Lemon.
Don't get - desserts on the dine out menu wasn't as great

Dine Out Menu

Steak Medallions- Beef is nicely cooked. It's one of my friend's favourite dish out of all the Dine outs we went to. I don't like cheese as much, so I didn't find its sourness suitable for beef

Mint Square - too sweet, but taste like chocolate with mint

Complimentary shot :D - because we waited a little long for our entree

Roast Garlic and Brie - I like this, it tastes as how this looks. (I love the cooked garlic there in the middle)

Tuna Tostados - fresh half cooked tuna with sour/sweet/spicy specialty wasabi sauce

My fav- tequila shot

They ran out of Creme Brulee, Cheese cake with blueberry is the substitute- decent

Salmon n' Bannock = Only to try special aboriginal games (like the Elk). Great service, great decor and atmosphere, decent tasting food, special aboriginal dishes, prices high, popular restaurant (need reservation). Quite pricy.
Best Dish - "House Smoked Duck" - surprisingly good!
Don't get- lava cake. The texture was soft because it was too wet.

Exterior view of the restaurant on Broadway

Dine-Out Menu

Interior design - calm and authentic. I like it

Interior view

Hot Caramel Lava Cake with Maple Whipped Cream
Didn't taste as good as it sounds. It tasted like wet cake - not lava cake (supposedly crunchy outer layer with syrupy interior).

House Smoked Duck
Half raw duck tasted surprisingly good! I love it. Duck's biggest down side is that it is quite hard when cooked. When it's medium rare- that down side is gone. It is quite soft , even softer than beef at this cooked level.

Elk Medallion, served with a Elderberry-Sweetgrass Demi Glaze on A Crispy Potato.
Tastes like (beef) steak. The outside is more crunchy and has a ducky sort of aroma/taste to it. Quite special. It is a bit less soft than Beef steak. I like it!


	Westcoast Seafood Medley with Lemon, Garlic and Spruce Tip Butter on Indigenous Wild Rice. Salmon is tasty (like usual), sea foods on this plate are all well seasoned/cookd. Wild rice is healthy + tasty (a bit sour with good aroma).

Free Bread - said to taste like crunchier version of Tim Horton's biscuit bread
Dream Catcher white wine - I like this. It is quite sweet and similart to Champanged, but got that wine-grape taste of sour tint to it- I gotta go find this in the liquor store XD

The Refinery = Recommended. - Food tasted great, but the portion is too small. None of the 4 girls (including me) were full after the meal. Atmosphere and service are good. The restaurant is upstairs on second floor, the restaurant on ground floor is NOT the same one.
Best Dish - "Braised Pork Belly " - exceptional. "Slow Cooked Lamb Shank" - very tasty. "Dark Chocolate Kahlua Mousse"- must try!
Don't get- "San Marzano Tomato & Dry Aged Bacon Bisque house made focaccia croutons & parmesan crème fraiche" - If you don't love tomatoes.

The restaurant is upstairs, we mistaken the first floor restaurant at first lol.

The bar

We sat in this area - the restaurant is a little loud. Ambiance is quite nice, though.

San Marzano Tomato & Dry Aged Bacon Bisque house made focaccia croutons & parmesan crème fraiche - Very thick , spaghetti sauce-like tomato soup. Didn't really find any bacon in it, was a bit too viscous for my friends. But I love tomato, so I was ok with it.

House Made Pork Terrine - I like it. Ground pork with mustard sauce and sweet onion sauce. I like the mustard sauce more hahah. Pickle, well, nothing special. The puff pastry is quite nice, like a biscuit, crunchy and airy.

Octopus Carpaccio - It's decent. I don't think it's particulary great. the octopus is in the form of a thin slice.

Braised Pork Belly - Tastes great! Everyone (except me)'s favourite entree- it's sweetness countered the fatty taste pork belly gives off. The potato is awesome! They sliced it, stacked them, then baked. One of the best potato sides I've had!

Slow Cooked Lamb Shank - I love lamb, and the fact that they cooked it so that the lamb aroma matches nicely with the seasoning is good. The coconut milk polenta which has rice cake/mashed potato- like texture is kind of good in the beginning, but near the end of the second piece, I can't help but not like the texture.

Dark Chocolate Kahlua Mousse - Basically the reason why we chose this restaurant LOL. Being quite a fan of alcohol, mouse, and most importantly, chocolate. This mousse didn't disappoint- it actually amazed all of us! I absolutely recommend everyone to try XD. Chocolate mousseis quite strong and thickly chocolaty tasted. On the top, mixed with something crunchy - a really nice touch. When eating with the jam on the bottom- it's sweet and sour, but not to the point that it's too strong. LOVED this

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill = The foods aren't really that good. The seasoning and flavor are subpar at this price point. But their seafoods are decent and fresh, desserts are good. The portion is big enough, which is good. It's a huge place with lots of seats, so there was no wait time for us. View at night time is moot - just dark sea... during the day, this place is great for the view. Atmosphere is nice for a date.
Best Dish - "Mussles", "calamari" - big portion and you can't really cook this wrong.
Don't get- generally all decent.