Some big things have changed since my first post about Notturno~they’ve got their liquor license now and have fully opened for lunch and dinner service with a selection of great wines, beers and a bigger menu full of delish creations from Chef Adrian.
I was invited by the owner to come by and try some of these new treats and I ended up finding one of my new favorite beers so it was a winning day of great food, awesome restaurant talk and delish beer and Italian soda’s that would make your Nonna smile!
The menu has been expanded to include salumi plates, salads, brushette and of course their great panini’s.
A wine and beer menu has also been added, it’s posted on the wall and changes periodically~the guy’s at Notturno aren’t trying to carry every choice out there booze wise and are concentrating on great drinkable wines that also wont break the bank.
This is one of my new favorite beers, it’s from Spain and would never had been on my radar, the Estrella Damm INEDIT, it’s a unique coupage of barley malt and wheat, flavored with coriander, orange peel and liquorice. It really did compliment the dishes I had and was a pleasure to drink~I see many more bottles of this in my future.
“Inedit is the first beer specifically created to accompany food. It is born from the conviction that a beer that could be paired with the utmost respect to the best cuisine was necessary. That is its aim and its virtue, and that is what makes Inedit different, special and unique.”
It’s the only beer that I’ve heard of that suggests keeping the open bottle in an ice bucket between glass refills and also it’s best served in a wine glass, it’s on the menu here for $16 but we got 4 generous servings out of one bottle.
They also have brought in a line of premium Italian soda’s from Abbodino, there are 2 variety’s that they carry, I tried the orange flavor and it was just like drinking a carbonated orange, totally refreshing and a nice change from the San Pellegrino brand that I usually have.
This is the selection of bruschette that I had
The Crudo~fresh Albacore tuna crudo, chili aioli, cucumber and balsamic pearls. It was like a tuna salad that mom couldn’t make!, the spice wasn’t too strong from the chili aioli and the balsamic pearls bursting in your mouth were a great touch.
The Fico~Blue cheese aioli, black olive, walnut and fresh greens. The same ingredients that they have in the Fico panini but just in a smaller bite sized form, the blue cheese aioli and the walnuts compliment each other beautifully and the black olive added that nice salty hit.
The Tartufo Di Capra~Black truffle goat cheese, fresh greens and topped with tomato pearls. This was one of my favorites, the predominate flavor is yummy black truffles and the goat cheese is nice and creamy~the perfect touch to the truffle and the tomato pearls add that fresh acidic touch to break up the big flavors.
The Anatra~Duck prosciutto, goat cheese and arugula. The star of this bad boy was the duck prosciutto, it’s a nice meaty bite and was a pleasure to eat, I’ve had duck prosciutto before at a fine dining restaurant and really loved it. If you’re not a duck fan but like prosciutto try this~it’s nice and meaty but not in a gamey way.
Since I have a love of beets I had to try their Radice Insalata, it had beets, seasonal vegetables, taleggio cheese and a walnut vinaigrette. This was another hit and if you like beet salads this is for you!, the seasonal veg in this case was root vegetables like carrots and also yellow beets, green beans and the walnuts are ground up and put in the dressing so you get that nutty flavor in every bite.
To round things out i went with the ever so popular Calabrese Panini, it has spicy capicollo, spicy sopressata, salami, spicy pickled eggplant, provolone and goat cheese. For $9.50 its a great value seeing all the top quality salumi, the meats weren’t too spicy tho and the goat cheese really rounded out the big flavors.
From what I got to sample I think the larger menu is going to be a hit and is already proving to be pretty popular. Notturno is participating in the Vancouver Foodster Tasting Plates event coming up on Feb 15, 2012 along with a bunch of other great restaurants, they will be featuring the Crudo, Tartufo Di Capra and Fico brushette as their offering for the event, if you want to buy tickets to the event and see a complete line up of participating restaurants and menus please click here.
**Note of disclosure~all my food samples were provided free by Notturno and also my drinks were covered also, I was invited to try some items and wasn’t expected to write a post~I’m doing it because everything kicked butt and I wanted to spread the good food news.**
Mary went with the Milk Chocolate Hot Chocolate, all there drinks are made with whole chocolate and not syrups or powder mixes so you’re getting a great product. Mary loved this and was a happy camper.
The space is clean and modern yet has a comfort that a cafe needs, you just want to sit back and relax with a great cup of coffee or tea but that’s just the beginning of the great offerings.
I went with the Tuna Confit Sandwich for $10.50, It was a nice steak of tuna that was beautiful confit and was like an ultimate tuna sandwich, it was on nicely grilled bread and had house made celeriac remulode and crisp lettuce, the side salad of arugula and cornichon was a nice touch.
Mary went with the Butternut Squash sandwich with brie, arugula and apple compote on multigrain bread for $10.50. We split sandwiches so we could give an accurate review of each and we both loved this one, the squash and apple compote gave this a sweet tone but the brie and arugula brought the savory to the sandwich. I loved how the squash was sliced thick like a piece of meat! We’d both order this again in a heart beat.
We started with ALL of the flavors of macaroons!, staring at 12 o’clock and going clockwise we have chocolate, rosewater, vanilla bean, black sesame yuzu, pistachio and finally passion fruit. At $2 each these are now officially the cheapest macaroons in the city, there absolutely delicious and were tender yet slightly chewy. My favorite flavors were the vanilla bean, pistachio and the chocolate. The rosewater was light on flavor yet still tasted like perfume to me and the black sesame yuzu had an after taste that didn’t agree with my palate.
I ordered a white chocolate, coconut and calamansi mousse cake for $6.20. Calamansi is a tree fruit that looks like a lime and is indigenous to the Philippines and grows year round there-it’s the yellow jelly under the decoration, it tasted like perfectly ripe mandarin oranges that you would eat at Christmas time, it’s mainly used to flavor drinks and foods and isn’t generally eaten by its self. The cake was absolutely amazing, the outside was a light cake and that surrounded a mousse inside, the calamansi was on top and was best of you took some of everything in one bite. Both Mary and I loved this desert.
Mary had what I can only describe as a chocolate domed raspberry and chocolate mouse filled plate of awesomeness!, the chocolate on top was not hard but firm enough to hold everything together yet buckle under the weight of your fork
this was the inside so you can get a sense of what this bad boy is all about. It was gobbled up quickly by both of us and another table next to us had it as well and loved it. Again this was $6.20.
Mary also had a Dulce de leche latte and loved it, it’s Bel’s answer to the caramel Macchiato done with in-house made dulce de leche.
when we were talking about what deserts to try I was going to originally go for this but changed my mind to the white chocolate dessert, when our plates arrived the server brought this out as well and thought I should try it so the house compted me this as well as the macaroons. It was a classic baked vanilla bean cheesecake that was nice and dense like a New York cheesecake is, Mary and myself really enjoyed this a lot and a big thanks to Bel’s for letting us try this and the macaroons.
