Bishop's

Bishop's @ 2183 West 4th Avenue

http://www.bishopsonline.com/

Bishop's is one of those places whose reputation precedes it. Look up "high-end fancy Vancouver bistro" in the dictionary and it will say "Bishop's". John Bishop has no less than four cookbooks to his name. Other high-end bistros may fall victim to vanity and slack off in one or more areas such as service or consistency, but from our experience dining at Bishop's for the first time last Friday night, they seems to still have it all together after all these years.

Exquisitely balanced flavors, attentive and knowledgeable staff, quality down to the smallest detail, locally sourced ingredients - all phrases that spring to mind to describe our experience there. You pay a hefty price tag for a meal at Bishop's, so you are definitely paying for all of that.

Most bistro places fall short in so many ways that I find it outrageous to pay out the nose for such second-rate quality. It's not that I'm a cheapskate. I'm not rich, but I am willing to pay full price for a good meal if it is truly good. Most bistros don't live up to their prices, that's all. Our meal at Bishop's the other night left us with not a single complaint, so we felt it was money well spent.

To get a sense of just how serious a restaurant this is, just have a look at their wine list, which is by far and away the most extraordinary I've seen anywhere in Vancouver. It's more than 20 pages long, and includes decades-old bottles of wine, port and champagne. To name but one example, they have a bottle of 1927 Dow's port available for $1800.

Moreover, they list the name of the maitre d' and executive chef at the bottom of the menu, and the dessert menu has its own pastry chef. They also have a vegetarian and vegan version of the menu available upon request. I've heard of offering 'vegetarian versions' of dishes, but never of an entirely different menu. That's quite considerate.

I phoned Bishop's last Thursday to make a reservation for Friday evening, fully expecting it to already be booked, but we got in without any problem. I was surprised to find the place empty when we arrived at 7 pm on Friday evening. People came in bit by bit over the course of the meal, but the place was never packed. I suppose the price tag does have a winnowing effect, even for a place this centrally located and boasting such a good reputation.

Upon entering, I was asked if I would like to check my coat, which I did. When we sat down, we were immediately greeted by John Bishop, confirming the rumors that he greets every guest himself.

Curiously, they don't have a cocktail menu. Instead, the waiter informed us that if we had any special requests for cocktails they would be happy to prepare them. Being the nervous type, I'm not able to recall cocktail names on the spot, or at least the only ones I can recall are the typical boring classics, and that's not what I'm out to try. I want to try something I've never heard of, that's the whole point. I remembered reading in one of the reviews that they had a good signature martini, so I asked about that, and the waiter promptly informed me that they did indeed have such a drink: the signature Bishop's martini made of passionfruit, pomegranite and vodka ($13).

We ordered this. The waiter asked whether we wanted two orders, and I demurred, saying we only wanted one order, and we would share it (trying to save a little money). He kindly offered to bring out two glasses, and we accepted. It was by no means my intention to try to eke out more volume for the same price by splitting the order, but this is the glass we were each served:

That looks like a full glass to me. It was a very generous portion, essentially two for the price of one, so we were very impressed by their consideration. Slightly light on the vodka, but very finely balanced in terms of the sweetness and not too fruity. I think they did good by not going overboard with the alcohol in this. Amazingly I didn't feel tipsy at the end of the meal, even after having had a martini and a full glass of wine.

Our meal began with the following complimentary soup sipper:

(Sorry for the darkness of the photos. It was very dark in there and hard to shoot.)

Unfortunately, I don't recall the details, save that it was a cold tomato bisque with a dab of some kind of oil on top. The soup was light yet potent and a wonderful little taste bud tantalizer to begin the meal with.

Next, they brought out some bread:

But this is Bishop's we're talking about. This wasn't just any bread. It was all house-made. There were two types: Milk bread and soda bread with blueberries and hazelnut. Both were delicious - the milk bread soft and, well, milky, and the soda bread closer to the consistency of a dessert cake, but without the excessive sweetness. I usually leave bread sitting on the table whenever bread is served before a meal, because (1) the bread is usually gross, and (2) I don't want to fill up on bread.

All of the bread was gone within 10 minutes. It was that good. Remarkably, they asked us if we wanted some more rather than merely clearing the plate. We did indeed take some more. So much for not filling up on bread. I just couldn't resist.

As a joke, I asked Kweepo if the butter included alongside the bread was house made too. Much to my consternation, she apparently took it seriously and asked the waiter when he came by whether the butter was also house made. I don't recall what the waiter said, but a few minutes later he returned to the table carrying a small plate of what, he went on to explain, was hand-churned butter from a dairy farm in Agassiz (a small town just past Chilliwack) where they sourced much of their cheese and butter. Not house made, but as close as you can get. He had apparently taken the request quite seriously. He also explained that this butter had just come into season. It is only in season beginning at the end of summer, at which time they bring back a big hunk of it from the dairy farm.

Rather than being annoyed by the question, he seemed delighted by it, by the interest in the specific details. I found this remarkable, and it was a constant throughout the meal. We had many questions throughout the meal and were constantly surprised by the remarkable lack of hesitation and specificity with which each of the servers was able to respond, on the spot, to questions about whatsoever particulars we might have. Every ingredient seemed to have a long back-story like this.

And the hand-churned butter? Heavenly. It's remarkable how different the taste is from conventional butter. You could almost eat it straight like that it tasted so creamy and rich and not fatty.

Starters range in price between $14 and $18. There were five choices on the menu. We settled on one of these items. We wanted to save a little money, so we ordered only one opener, which we intended to share.

Smoky Eggplant and Walla Walla Rotolo Pasta ($18, walnut, fig and fresh borlotti bean sauté, house cured prosciutto bianco)

A little while later, when the above opener was brought out, we were each brought our own plate. We hadn't even asked for this to be done. And the portion was very large. It looked like a full portion. If the full portion is six of these rolls, then that would be like a main course in itself. It feels like they boosted the portion. Either way, we were very impressed by yet another instance of them generously adapting the order to our particular circumstances. At other restaurants, withering derision would have been our reward for ordering only one appetizer, not care and consideration.

The dish itself was nothing short of exquisite. Here is a close-up of the roll, disrobed, to give you a sense of what it is exactly:

It's what appears to be narrowly sliced lasagna sheets filled between the layers with eggplant puree. I had no idea what in the world "eggplant and walla walla rotola" was supposed to mean, so this was a complete surprise to me.

Balanced finely atop the rolls are white beans and what appears to be Italian parsley. What at first sight appears to be a slice of parmesan or some other salty Italian cheese is in fact the so-called "prosciutto bianco", a clever euphemism to render palatable something most would otherwise set aside: lard. I assumed it to be cheese at the time and devoured it.

A half fig sat demurely in front. It went exquisitely with everything else - the walnut, the occasional bean, the pasta, the eggplant filling. All was a harmonious whole. And again, what a generous portion it was. We both had this same portion.

Our mains came out not long thereafter. First mine:

Sloping Hill's Pork Belly Confit with Fennel Pollen ($35, Tarragon spaetzle with roasted corn and artichokes, scarlet runner beans, sour cherry kriek and mustard seed juice)

Again this was absolute perfection, every bite heavenly. I can't emphasize how good this was. There's good, then there's very good, then there's OMG good. The fatty belly was for the most part delicious save near the end when I had to set aside some of the fat. They did an impressive job making one of the less palatable parts of the pig so delicious. The pork was wrapped into a sort of ball and placed atop a smattering of various items, all of which went very well with the pork and created a very well balanced dish. The burst of cherry sweetness in particular was a revelation that brought alive the taste of the pork. The artichoke complimented the pork in a more subdued and delicate way, while the corn and spaetzle gave it substance. Spaetzle is a starchy thing made of egg white and flour. It was provided in just sufficient a quantity to not become cloying. I can still remember the flavor of this dish, several days afterwards.

To go with this I got a glass of Peter Lehmann 2007 Shiraz from Australia ($14), which was a grand choice, although Kweepo's Cab Sauvignon went with my dish even better.

Yarrow Meadow's Duck Breast ($39, leek and ricotta tart, thyme roasted discovery apples, apple cider jus)

Another remarkable pairing of rich meat with fruit-based sauce and actual fruits. Just like the pairing of cherry with pork belly was genius, so the pairing of apple and duck seemed like a match made in heaven. The counterintuitive pairing of fruits with meats is something the Europeans have been doing for ages. The duck was cooked well, with the fat cooked enough to not be chewy. The small block of pastry provided alongside the duck was also excellent - flaky and light, filled with leek and house made ricotta. And the little daub of yellow sauce you see there was quite amazing, although I didn't catch what it is. Every single element stood apart and had something interesting to contribute to the flavor of the duck. It was a pleasure choosing a little bit of each with every bite so that every bite has a slightly different pairing of flavors, taking a little bit of apple with the duck breast this bite, then a little bit of tart with sauce and duck breast next bite, etc.

With this Kweepo got a glass of J. Lohr Oaks 2008 Cab Sauvignon from California ($14). I don't want to embarrass myself by attempting to describe its attributes in the manner of a true wine aficionado. I don't recall smelling prunes or leather or moss, but I do recall a bold, rich wine with deceptively fruity nose that complemented both dishes well.

The desserts range in price from $12 for a Maple and star anise crème brûlée (which sounds wicked good) to the average $14 for Lemon verbena panna cotta with sour cherry sauce (idem) to $18 for a selection of local cheeses with seasonal accompaniments. We got the following:

Warm chocolate cake with early grey tea ice cream ($14)

Call me old fashioned, but I just have to have chocolate for dessert. The other desserts do sound amazing. There's something indescribable about warm chocolate cake with chocolate syrup paired with cold ice cream and fresh fruit. This was absolutely perfect in that regard, with the fresh peaches. Though the peaches were crunchy. But a minor gripe, as this dessert hit the spot perfectly.

(Mini rant: I've never been able to find good juicy peaches in Vancouver. Everybody seems to be under the misunderstanding that peaches are supposed to be hard and crunchy. They're not, people! Maybe some types are, but you haven't tasted what a peach is like until you've had a peach that just melts and explodes with juice when you bite into it.)

The flamboyantly bejeweled and bespectacled combination busboy and waiter cleared our table with aplomb and restrained professionalism, and at the end, with plates balanced precariously on one arm, withdrew a curious implement from his shirt pocket, the likes of which I'd never seen before, with which he proceeded to gently scrape the table, funneling the bread crumbs away for disposal. I got a picture of it here. Is there a name for this? I admire how we humans can come up with implements specialized for the most trivial purposes. It even has a latch hole for easy hanging.

The price tag for this meal came out to a respectable $184.64, tip included. This was among the most expensive meals I've had in Vancouver. But it was also among the best.

---

To sum up, the food at Bishop's was uniformly delicious. There were no missteps. I am impressed how such rich and sumptuous flavors are created using what are essentially very basic and easily found ingredients such as white beans, prunes, cherries and eggplant. And considerable thought is put into the provenance and quality of all of their ingredients, many of which are locally sourced. The only criticism I can think to level is the price. If they shaved a little of the price, it would be absolutely perfect. If I was rich, I would go here every week. Otherwise, for the rest of us, this is a safe and reliable place to go on special occasions to have world-class cooking of the highest order.

Adesso Bistro

Adesso Bistro @ 1906 Haro Street

Nestled away in a quiet corner of Vancouver's downtown west end is one of the most pleasant little bistro patios you're going to find in Vancouver. You'd almost miss it if you were just having a stroll through the neighborhood. It's the only restaurant in the entire west end, which is otherwise all cute houses and high-rise apartments, given away only by an inconspicuous portico.

I happen to live just a block away and it's the nearest restaurant to my place, but I don't go there very often. Adesso is a newcomer to the space, which up until a year or so ago was occupied by Parkside, a slightly higher-end bistro with a rotating seasonally-based menu. Adesso is basic generic Italian place serving "Modern Italian Cuisine", its inflated pricing seemingly based purely on rent rather than food quality.

We had a fairly good experience at Parkside before it closed down, so I was disappointed to hear that it had been replaced by an Italian restaurant. One more poor little high-end restaurant fallen victim of the recessionary flu infecting its would be clientele.

Keepo and I ate at Adesso last night for the first time, and found the experience predictably disappointing.

Service was weak. We watched our beer sitting on the bar ten feet away for five minutes before the waitress appeared out of nowhere and brought it over. She proceeded to unceremoniously dump it into the glass rather than pouring it on the side, generating a massive head. Somebody forgot to let her in on the secret that you're supposed to pour beer down the side to minimize foaming. When I told her my order, she asked if I wanted an opener. I said I didn't want an opener. She seemed bewildered. When it came time to dessert, instead of asking "Would you like dessert?" like a normal person, her question was: "What would you like for dessert?" Apparently at Adesso customers who don't order a drink and an appetizer and dessert are cheapskates deserving thinly veiled contempt and ridicule from their server in the form of huckster-like goading that would offend even a child. Very lacking in professionalism.

It's a shame because this place has the most amazing patio ever, and dining on the patio here on a warm summer evening makes for an amazing experience that almost trumps whatever annoyances the service might throw at you. Unfortunately we arrived too late and the patio was full, so we had to eat inside. The interior is "cosy" in a dank basement kind of way, bedecked with zealous abandon with the most Italianate paintings imaginable. If you decide to brave the perils of the west end to penetrate the bowels of Adesso, make sure that there is room on the patio when you do come, or make a reservation ahead of time.

As for the food, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, or at least not enough inspired by the menu to order a lot, so I decided only to get a main. So only Kweepo ordered a starter - she ordered the following:

Arancini with risotto, prosciutto and mozzarella, pepperonata ($8)

I had no idea what it was she had ordered. I expected a plate of risotto. Instead out came two cojones de toro, complete with bloodstain. Packed into the crunchy exterior was risotto cooked with mozzarella cheese. While fairly good, it was lacking in spark and could have been so much more, squarely setting the tone for the remainder of the evening. The MO appears to be to go just far enough to be passable, and not a step further. The little bed of red capsicum sauce you see at the bottom was flavorless and its presence served mainly to anchor the two balls so they wouldn't wobble around the plate.

For our mains we got the following:

Braised Berkshire Pork Short ribs alla Genovese, chickpea frittelle ($19)

Roasted half Cornish Hen pan roasted with tomatoes, garlic, lemon and herbs ($18)

As you can see, the presentation of each dish is very basic and straightforward, contrasting starkly the aesthetically pleasing, meticulous and tasteful layout of each dish at Chambar (in which each of the most disparate elements serve a clearly defined purpose).

More importantly, the taste of each dish was completely middle-of-the-road. My hen tasted good at first bite, but it quickly became apparent that the meat was completely tasteless, and only the gravy sauce and garlic and herb paste on top were lending it any taste. It was very tender, but what's the point if it doesn't have any taste?

The short ribs were a little more successful, but also spotty. It had a decent flavor and was well seasoned. It was well cooked in parts, but other parts were less well cooked. The two thick pasty looking bars on the left-hand side are the chickpea-based frittelle. They went well with the meat.

We left the restaurant feeling we hadn't gotten our money's worth. The food just wasn't that great. And it was hard choosing a dish, because none of the items on the menu sound that creative or interesting. I had a nagging feeling that the food would probably be not that great when I saw the menu, and that turned out to be the case. Perhaps other items on the menu are better, but I think the low quality of the service reflects the global attitude of the restaurant, and I don't envision myself wanting to give it another shot.

Chambar

Chambar @ 562 Beatty Street

We were in no hurry the other day with time to kill before a movie in Tinseltown and wandered around looking for a restaurant in the area. We have a really hard time finding any good restaurants in Chinatown for some reason. It's Chinatown for crying out loud - where are all the good Chinese restaurants? What happened? I wish some of the many great Chinese restaurants in Richmond would move over here. We'd love to go more often but Richmond is a long drive and we can only make it down there at most every weekend to try some new restaurant.

We've been to a number of the restaurants in the vicinity already (it's the area between Chinatown and Gastown). Traditional joint Foo's Ho Ho we've been to before and I'll probably write about soon. We're not too keen on the place, though they've got a venerable history. Fusion joint Wild Rice is mostly an overpriced drink place, though they also have some overpriced food items. I just remember not being impressed when we went once. The food court in Tinseltown is a joke. It's a far cry from the awesome food courts in Richmond.

So we wound up just going to Chambar since it was nearby, though we really didn't want to be spending that much money. Chambar is one of Vancouver's most famous bistros, a Belgian-themed joint. It's in the $$$$ range, but my last experience there was quite positive in terms of the food (though the service was a disaster), so I decided to give it another go.

It was Friday night and we just waltzed in. Needless to say, the place was packed. We were lucky to get seated at the bar right away. And this turned out to be a lucky stroke, because at the bar the service is instant! No more worries about absentee waiters. During our last visit, we were seated way at the back and our waiter literally disappeared at one point, and we had to flag down someone else to get the bill.

This is Chambar. The expensive people go to Chambar to hang out and be seen. Especially so on a Friday night. You don't just casually walk into Chambar on a Friday night! We did. Ha. Much as I despise the dense miasma of narcissism, self-importance and voyeurism that pervades bistro places of this ilk, I must confess that Chambar is one of the few that despite its miasma actually serves good food. You walk out satisfied even though your wallet has taken a hit and you want to take a shower to wash off the chichi.

For drinks I ordered a glass of the Chambar Ale ($5 a glass). I did not know they made their own beer. They do, and it's available exclusively at Chamber, and you can even buy six packs. And it's the only semi-affordable beer on the menu. Everything else is $10+ a bottle. Seriously. My beer came quickly thanks to our remarkable proximity to the tap. It was potent and full-bodied and went well with the food. It's a shame their beers are so overpriced. That's at least a 3x markup over liquor store prices. They have a good selection of Belgian and other European strong beers.

Kweepo got the cocktail Fruits du Sudan ($10, Tamarind infused tequila shaken with fresh lemon, orgeat & mango juice) because she wanted to see the cute bartender shake his shaker. (Only partly kidding ;) It was a little bitter but stronger than many cocktails at other places, so not bad. But not worth $10.

I think everybody in the restaurant other than us ordered mussels. Bloody original, people. This place has great mains that you can't find in every Belgian restaurant, and we did the right thing by ordering them instead. The two mains we got were AWESOME.

~ MAIN 1/2 ~

Chevreuil aux Cerises ($31, Venison short loin, blueberry & venison sausage, paccheri pasta, proscuitto, basil pesto, fresh cherry concasse, champagne mustard)

Kweepo's plate was excellent in every way. Presentation was lovely. It looked small at first sight, but it was a healthy portion. Each of the three parts had its distinct sauce and flavor - the venison sausage was served appropriately with mustard, and not just any mustard, but champagne mustard. It was excellent and not gamey at all. The short loin was very different in taste and well paired with the cherry concasse. The big pieces of paccheri pasta were quite interesting and helped to fill out each bite. The topping of a bit of proscuitto was a nice touch. So many flavors dashing about, but the dish doesn't feel like a cacophony; everything fits in with everything else, providing for a constantly delightful variety despite the compactness of the dish. A very conscientiously prepared dish, with much thought obviously put into it. My only complaint would be that it became somewhat monotonous over the length of the dish.

~ MAIN 2/2 ~

Canard et Chevre ($29, Roasted duck breast, goat cheese & tarragon gnocchi, sauteed scallions, hazelnut & peach salad)

This dish was perfect, one of the best duck dishes I've ever had. Again it looks tiny but is a perfect portion. The only complaint I have is that there were insufficient gnocchi. There were only 7 or 8 gnocchi dotting the circumference of the duck. It looks beautiful, truly a work of art, and tastes every bit the equal of the presentation. So many contrasting flavors and textures, but they balance out well and provide for a variety throughout the span of the dish from one bite to the next, from the crunchy nuttiness of the hazelnuts to the sweetness of the peach and the goat cheese sauce that each complement the duck marvelously. And the duck is perfectly cooked, not too dry or too bloody, and without excessive fat. This was a wonder down to the last bite.

~ DESSERT ~

L'abeille et son the ($12, Honey ice cream, chamomile creme caramel & lemon meringue puff)

A marvelous little dessert, only slightly overpriced. But it's again a well conceived pairing of dissimilar textures and approaches - creamy, velvety honey ice cream with a bit of honey in a cavity at the top; rich, unctuous creme caramel; and light, fluffy puff with a dash of fruity sauce and whipped cream.

The other dishes on the menu (mostly fish dishes) do not look as interesting as these, but I'm tempted to give them a shot after seeing how good everything here was.

Worst Service of the Year: Roundel Cafe

There are three essential elements that corporate into fine dining – food, atmosphere and service. Whereas food quality outweighs the other two components, outstanding services and friendly ambience of a restaurant certainly adds a brownie point to its value and tremendously enhances the dining pleasure. My personal favorite restaurants with best services would have to be Fraiche, Tojo’s and Mistral on West Broadway.

I do not expect attentive services and gorgeous views though, when it comes to ethnic dining. Sometimes sloppy services even strike me as part of the being authentic package deal. Servers in most Cantonese restaurants, for example, have such an attitude in that first, they do not bother learning proper English. We have encountered waitresses using sign languages to take our orders. Cantonese as a language also harbors a taste of harshness in its tone that words can come off impolite and curt. Second, they never make eye contacts with you when bringing food to the table, neither do they respond when you say “thank you.” Cantonese restaurants, especially dim sum places (Kirin as an exception), for some reason do not prefer single or couple diners. Animo and I once experienced some restaurant seat waiting courtesy fail when we visited Sun Sui Wah on Main, supposedly one of the best dim sum places in town. At least two large parties of people went ahead and got seated before us, and we had to wait another 15 minutes to get a table, because they only provide 5 out of 30 tables available for two-person dining. Go figure the small table turnover rate. After we got seated, our server asked me and Animo, a white boy, that if we needed an English menu or Chinese menu. Did she just assume that just because Animo is Caucasian, he does not know how to order Chinese food? Isn't that borderline racism, or at least discrimination of some sort?

That being said, I do have great appreciation for their inexpensive food and admirable efficiency. Now I have learned to order everything all together, including drinks, appetizer, entrée and dessert, in a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant, as server would only appear by your table once. We should not expect to pay little and get pampered. I get it. However, if I go to a brunch café and get charged $10 for some food that is essentially eggs and bread, I do have some expectations on services, or at least I do not anticipate rude behaviors and insulting comments from a server. Animo and I recently visited Roundel Café on Hastings, and it was regrettably one of the worst dining experiences ever. At first this café looks like a hip, funky neighborhood gathering spot, with an easy-going atmosphere and warm, friendly staff. We ordered juice and iced tea for drinks, which were $2.5 each as told by our server. Food was passable, but service was not attentive – I had to get up to the counter and ask for some jam. When the bill came, it was written $3 for both drinks. We thought there might have been a mix-up, so we brought it to attention to our server, a lady in her 50s. We expressed our concerns over the bill, our server said, “Oh I don’t know, I am not the owner.” She then left and a younger waitress came to our table, and confirmed, “Drinks are $3, not $2.5.” “But we were old that they are supposed to be $2.5.” Animo explained where our concerns came from. She became extremely defensive and condescending, raised her voice saying, “Look we are all humans and we all make mistakes. Are you saying you would not have gotten the drink if it is 50 cents more?” She clearly did not understand what we are trying to say. We as paid customers are simply pointing out their errors and a simple apology would solve all the matters. This lady did not apologize after making the rude comment, and left our table abruptly while Animo was still talking to her. At last, she turned around, shrugged sarcastically and blurted out "sorry" to us while rolling her eyes.

After witnessing such unbelievably rude and unprofessional service, it was almost laughable when I saw that their tip option on their Interac machine was 20%. Tips? Zilch.

Two Chefs and a Table

I've always had a hard time finding a restaurant that's the real thing in Vancouver. So many restaurants are hyped, or regularly get high reviews in the 'best of' installments of the free weeklies, but seem completely undeserving of their fame. Hons the best Chinese restaurant in Vancouver? Did you just shoot up a large amount of heroin? How could anyone think that? Any random dim sum place is better than that place. Hons is the worst Chinese food I've ever had. This blog is the outlet of two cooking impaired persons who love trying out all the restaurants there are out there in Vancouver, and want to set the record straight about what's really good and what's not. We've got a few favorites nobody seems to talk about.

Two Cooks and a Table can safely be added to the small list of decent high-end eatery joints I've visited in Vancouver. The meal for two we had on Saturday night cost the same as the meal at refuel, but we left far more satisfied. Degree of Satisfaction is the quotient that most matters to us. Satisfaction having numerous facets, including ambiance, service, speed, food quality and value. I view the meal as an escalation of stimulation leading up to the climax of the main course. Amuse bouche should lead with a playful note to a small but creative opener that excites without overwhelming and shows off the creativity of the chef, leading to a slightly more large-scale opener that shows more heft and ambition and meatiness. The main that follows shouldn't feel like a disappointment after the openers. It should feel like everything was leading up to it, and you have room to spare to appreciate it, and it doesn't feel overwhelming or cloying or, conversely, too spare or slight. The dessert should be a small but sharp burst to wipe away what came before but that also shows creativity and doesn't disappoint. You still want excitement from the dessert.

My meal started with the amuse bouche outlined below by Kweepo, which was a very nimble little bite, true to its nomeclature. My first opener was a broccoli soup with truffle oil and french croutons that felt traditional but still refined. You could taste that it was homemade, and not out of a can. The quantity was just right. A good light soup opener, though not extraordinary. The scallop opener that followed was delightful - an elegant line of six thin slices of scallops doused in a sauce and little chunks of red and green peppers and enough black pepper to turn its journey through my taste buds into a pleasant progression from sweet to spicy to scallopy. A fine little dish. The beef wellington main was excellently balanced. I'd never had the dish before, and it wasn't a bad experience. The beef inside the sweet and tasty pastry was not too raw yet still quite tender and fell apart nicely on the fork. The baby zucchini and baby carrots were delectable and fresh and complemented the beef well, and the cooked tomato was a nice touch, although it felt a tad too rustic and could have used a little dash of excitement and textural variety, be it a sauce or a puree, to counter the solidity of the beef and vegetables. The chocolate mousse that capped it was an elegant little ebony breast topped with a golden caramel nipple. My only gripe: It didn't look like an actual breast. By way of eccentric touch, a sprinkling of sea salt iced the top. The salty was spare enough to just barely enhance the sweetness.

Judged on the scale of escalation, my meal at Two Chefs and a Table peaked at the second opener, and plateaued or slightly dipped at the main, so it wasn't perfect, but it was still excellent. I must note that Kweepo's Mixed Grill was the best dish of the evening, a tidy presented perfect quantity, a finely balance triple combo assault of lamb and sausage and risotto that worked well together. Lamb was definitely too salty, though. Fraiche retains the title for Best Lamb in Vancouver, alongside The Afghan Horseman.

You sense that cooking is what this place is all about, and that is how it should be. This is not where people come to hang out and be seen. There is barely room for 20 people in the place. The restaurant is a little cave of corrugated steel in the middle of the most drug- and prostitute-infested block in the city of Vancouver. The mere act of braving the way to this place is a test of your fortitude and devotion to the culinary arts. The menu is small, changes on a weekly basis or thereabouts, showing a chef constantly thinking and coming up with new tastes. This is a cook's mind I can respect and would like to explore over some more visits.

Two Chefs and a Table

We actually came across Two Chefs and a Table in Gastown when we were in the neighborhood for a modern music concert at Ironworks earlier this year. We didn’t go in but decided to try it out some other time. And of course, we completely forgot about that, just as many other nice looking restaurants we ran across. Two days ago when I was searching restaurants for Animo’s Bon Voyage dinner, among all the fancy names we opted for TCAAT, judging by its online menu, we thought it’d be a good choice. It turns out that our dining experience there was fresh and satisfying.

Restaurant is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood, several blocks away from all the bar scenes and hip lounges/bars in central Gastown. Once stepped in, the first thing I noticed was their open kitchen, along with five small tables and one long table for large groups. Three chefs and one waiter are all guys. The entire décor is minimalism, and very, hmm, clean. In retrospect, during our two hours of dining, I constantly smelled floral aroma but couldn’t figure out where it came from. It is a small, intimate dining place, with capacity of 20 customers at maximum. Large windows allowed sunlight and twilight shining through in a lovely early summer evening in Vancouver.

I chose three courses from their menu, which updates on weekly basis, and Animo opted for a Chef’s choice of five-course set menu. He also picked wines for both of us, Sandhill Merlot to go with my red meat dishes. Amuse bouche was brought onto our table promptly - a small piece of homemade pastry topped with tomato and cheese, which was quite tasty.



Duck Pate was my first course - cranberry pate spread onto white bread, topped with mustard and caramelized pearl onion. It was so full of flavors, the sweet and sour caramelized onion and mustard compliments with the slightly pungent duck pate beautifully. I could taste each flavor separately on my palate, yet they mix with one another perfectly. Even a few minutes after swallowing, the mixture of delightful flavors still swirled around my mouth. Evening started off quite nicely, I thought.


Twenty minutes into our dinner, people started to show up, mostly with reservations. Restaurant seemed to be full by 8 pm. Mixed Grill, my second course, arrived after a good 15 minutes of waiting. Two slices of sausage, a small rack of roasted lamb and pureed potato mixed with oyster mushrooms. Both sausage and lamb tasted amazing, and the lamb was in particular exquisite - medium done, perfectly marinated. Sandhill Merlot was the excellent match for this dish.

I’d have to admit that I could’ve ordered a different main course, as the main was another five generous portions of the same lamb racks, sided with grilled carrots, baby zucchini and potatoes. Lamb this round was just as good, but a bit too salty for my liking. I am not sure if I am just accustomed to normally pretentious, tiny portions of bistro food, but five pieces were too much of red meat to handle. I wound up giving three of them to Animo, who had already been stuffed with his own Beef Wellington. Even so, I feel hesitant complaining about their generous portions ($19 dollars for five decent sized lamb rack was a definitely no-find). They could eliminate two racks and add a bit more sauce or greens with a two-dollar lowered price.

Overall our dining experience was delightful – good food, friendly service and cozy atmosphere. It costs us almost as the same as what we had at Refuel, but with much better quantity and higher quality. It is still expensive, if asking me, but given choice, I’d much rather spend $120 at Two Chefs and a Table than any other so called bistros. Evidently it also serves brunch and lunch, so one of these days I’d love to come back to try out their seemingly delicious brunch menu.

Refuel

Even a few days after dining at Refuel, I am still traumatized by my dining experience in a supposedly a high-end fusion bistro on trendy West 4th ave in Vancouver. When it comes to fine dining, I always try to avoid downtown, yaletown or West 4th ave, where there seems to be a huge crowd of fancy restaurants with not-so-fancy-tasting food. All the good restaurants that I've been to are mostly scattered around corners of low-key neighborhoods, Fraiche, Harambe, Tojo's and etc. There are certainly some nice restaurants in downtown Vancouver, but the majority I've visited are more for people to hang out and feel important. That's mainly why those fancy schmancy restaurants are able to survive in a city like Vancouver - people go for the ambiance, the view, the music, the crowd, instead of the quality food. It seems to me that as long as a restaurant locates near water or has a nice view, it will survive and make a fortune regardless of the quality of food it serves. This blog serves as a decent outlet for us to identify and hence protest those overpriced, terrible cooking and pretentious restaurants, such as Burgoo.

Refuel is a restaurant with the most inconsistent cooking I've ever encountered. As a high-end restaurant as it is claimed, they do not serve complimentary bread and butter as pre-meal snacks. Snacks and drinks came real quick, literally within five minutes after ordering. Animo picked a glass of rather divine Australian Cabernet Sauvignon for me. Sauteed nettles, radish & chili was boring tasting, and fois gras croquette was a nice try. Appetizers arrived 15 minutes later, a plate of sliced soppressata and three slices of homemade bread with butter for Animo and wild leek risotto for myself. The risotto tasted heavenly, I thought to myself, it's a good indicator that main dishes would be just as good. Little did I know that risotto was the only thing that I can recall eating without a cringe on my face. Animo ordered a $20.5 pork which wound up to be six thin slices of pork, consisting 1/4 of fat, nesting on a pile of tasteless veggies. My main dish was a pure disaster - buttermilk fried chicken with gravy, coleslaw and jalapeno biscuit. I can't imagine that a professional bistro chef would mess up the one dish that requires minimum cooking skills. Three gigantic chunks of fried chick were mostly fat and skin. It was inedible. Whoever comes up with this recipe would be shot. It is the most expensive and disgusting tasting fried chicken I've ever had in my entire life. Therefore, after spending two hours at Refuel, mostly waiting for our food though, we left unsatisfied, angry and violated, with more than $120 dollars ripped out of our pockets.

But that's just a typical restaurant meal in Vancouver if you want to have something "nice". And that was just a random Thursday night dine-out. Restaurants seek out every single opportunities to rip people off, such as diluting alcoholic drinks by filling glasses up using ice-cubes. On special occasions, including Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, they would offer multiple-course set menus, they are nothing more than regular dishes bundled up for even pricier prices.

refuel

Welcome to Vancouver. The city of the ripoff restaurant. This blog is dedicated to exploring the burgeoning industry of ripoff restaurants in my home city, Vancouver, where it's easier to spend $120 on a meal for two than it is to find a parking spot. A new restaurant with $20 mains turns up every week, it seems, eagerly catering to the whims of a booming Vancouver bourgeoisie frantic to spend their money as conspicuously and wastefully as possible, regardless of the quality of the food. In its eagerness to become world class, Vancouver seems to have forgotten that a price tag has to be earned. In the last few years, I've been disappointed - nay - revolted and livid more times than I can recall having been pleased by a premium dining experience. Fraiche is about the only place that I have been that is worth every penny. This is my place to vent about having been ripped off by all the fetid high-brow gastronomic cess pools that litter this city. You stole an hour of my life and raped my eyes with your hipster decor - for what? For a pretentious $10 cracker and $8 cocktail that tastes like Sunny Delight? This place is dedicated to you, Bao Bei, and to all of your ilk.

Enter refuel (http://www.refuelrestaurant.com/), a promising sounding little spot on 4th Avenue next door to Maenam's, a fusion Thai place whose mediocre overpriced morsels set the tone quite nicely for its neighbor. The evening started out well enough. Spare but tasteful interior, snappy service, drinks and openers arrived within about 5 minutes. Australian Cabernet Sauvignon was good, but the glass was only 1/4 full.

My partner, who will be adding her review after me, ordered a dish of foie gras croquettes, which turned out to be three tiny little things that were quite unusual and tasty and worth trying for the novelty, if greasy and pricey. My opener of sauteed nettles, radish, chili turned out to be bland and prosaic, a more palatable version of Kale, minus the excitement. After that snappy opening it was a good fifteen minutes until a simple opener of sliced sausage and bread found its way to my plate. The wild leek risotto on my partner's side of the table taunted me with its greenness. I wound up eating half of it. By far the best dish of the evening. Twenty minutes after those plates were cleared were still twiddling our thumbs. After being forced to run out to feed the meter, I was stunned to find the food still not there. When it arrived, my sloping hill pork was small and surrounded by a forest of the same greens I'd had as an opener - bland and tasteless. The pork was hard and tasteless and small and half fat. My partner's buttermilk fried polderside chicken was a heart attack-inducing mound of batter fit for KFC, but at KFC you at least would have gotten a nice bucket to go with it. $20 for three pieces of chicken that could hardly be found under a buttery armament of deep-fried skin?

Vancouver has indeed learned the recipe for success. Create an upscale image and you can serve tasteless slop for $20 and the customers will come rolling in. There are definitely good restaurants and chefs out there, but the majority I've visited leave me feeling ripped off. Very rarely does the cuisine justify the price tag, and refuel is a worthy opener to our odyssey of disappointment and hubris.