The crew over at VANEATS.ca have teamed up with Whet Kitchen, Bar and Patio to bring us some of the beauty of The Granville Island Public Market. Whet takes the best of the on site public market and Executive Chef Peter Gray put’s a unique spin on tradition West Coast ingredients. The Whet Your Appetite dining package is perfect for 2 people complete with drinks, 2 appetizers and a choice of duck or salmon main course for $30, I opted to have both main courses for an additional $15. I made this visit with Melissa who is also another featured reviewer and Ethan Adeland of FeedingEthan.com.
The package includes 2 Sleeves of Angry Scotch Ale from Russel Brewing. This is a deep, full-bodied ale with a 6.5% alcohol punch. I’ve said before that I don’t drink dark ales or stouts like this very often but I must say that I enjoyed it and it went with the dishes included in the package.
First up is a delicious Coconut Scallop Ceviche. I’ve never had ceviche before so I was looking forward to this.
When I took my 1st bite I was really surprised. This ceviche was a delicious mix of hand peeled shrimp, citrus juices, ginger, jalapeno, tobiko & ikura with corn chips to eat along with it. Flavor wise the coconut gave this a noticeable sweetness, the shrimp was nice and tender and the scallops were meaty and took on the flavor of the coconut mixture. One thing that I was missing in the marinade was the acid note-the coconut took things over. The fish roe gave bursts of the sea and was a pleasant surprise.
Next up is a Prawn, Shrimp, & Wild Mushrooms Salad. With pan seared prawns and wild local mushrooms, hand peeled shrimp, arugula, grapefruit, taro root crisps, lemon-hazelnut vinaigrette this salad was right up my alley. The mushrooms were still nice and warm and wilted the arugula nicely. The vinaigrette was mouth-watering and delicious. If you like seafood you’re in for a treat with both fresh water baby shrimp chilled and nice medium-sized prawns that are perfectly sautéed combined with the wild mushrooms it really was BC on a plate.
The Red Honey-Curry Coho was great. They used a delicious combination of spices and the plate had some really interesting ingredients that I’ve never had or though of combining especially with salmon. Whet takes wild BC Coho and sauces the plate with saffron yoghurt, hot pickled lime puree, candied almonds and cinnamon market vegetable. When I was eating this I picked up some heat from the curry and lime puree but then the saffron rounded everything out with a mild flavorful curry flavor that when great with the slightly sweet red honey glazed salmon. The cinnamon market vegetable in this case was broccolini and because of the spicing it tied right into the whole dish. To garnish the plate they used some curry spiced plantain chips. This was the dish I added for $15 to my dining package.
The other main course selection is a Crispy Duck Leg. The chef has put confit of Fraser Valley duck leg with a sweet chill ginger sauce, yam & plantain chips, grilled plums and garnished with sesame seeds. The duck was nice and meaty with that melt in your mouth quality you’d expect from properly done duck confit. To round out the plate the grilled plums added a nice sweetness and the chili ginger sauce cut the richness of the duck.
I think the Whet Your Appetite dining package is a good deal for $30 and the dishes are all really delicious. The dining package is available from October 17th,2012 to January 17,2013 for the price of $30 each, you can get your pass by clicking here.
**Disclosure-my dining package was compliments of VANEATS.ca and Whet but my opinions are completely my own, my 2nd entree was purchased by me**
