Cache Bistro and Lounge in Yaletown hosted a media tasting dinner held last week and i got to check it out with fellow bloggers Sherman of Sherman’s food Adventures and Ange Leung. The menu is a mix of French technique with an Asian influence and Chef/Owner Alex Mok brought us some of his favorite dishes.
We were all served some champagne with hibiscus in it. The champagne was crisp and it was a great way to start the meal.
As we toasted to the chef a bread board with a trio of house made flavored butters was brought to the table. There was a cranberry butter, a satay butter in the middle and a white truffle butter on the end. The bread was nice and warm with a semi crunchy crust and a soft inside. The flavor of the butters was nice, the satay was one that stumped us all, it was a nice spiced butter, the cranberry butter was subtle and at first I thought it was a beet butter and lastly the truffle butter was big on the truffle oil, the truffle aroma really came out when I was spreading it on my piece of bread. I think a black truffle butter would be a better choice.
Our opening dish was a Foie Gras creme brulee with flying fish caviar on a bed of frisee salad and white truffle vinaigrette. This was a rich and decadent 1st course. There was a nice chunk of foie in my egg and the flavors were all pretty mellow. The flying fish caviar added a nice texture contrast and the greens served underneath were nicely dressed with the truffle vinaigrette. The final verdict for me on this one is it’s worth the $10 it’s on the menu for.
With each of the dishes we had wine pairings. For the foie course we had a nice crisp white and for the duck we had a full bodied Merlot.
Next up was the black tea smoked duck breast salad with arugula. The salad was dressed with a lemon vinaigrette, onion jam and white wine soaked raisins and candied walnuts made up the rest of the plate. The duck had a light smoke and I personally couldn’t pick up the tea smoke flavor. The duck was tender and a pleasure to eat. The arugula was a perfect choice greens wise for this salad and balanced out the duck well. The onion jam for me was perfect and it went well with the duck.
Bacon Wrapped Semi-De boned Quail stuffed with marinated dried cranberries with a side of grilled vegetables was our main of the night. For me this was a bit of a miss, the bacon could have been cooked a bit more and I ended up butchering my quail trying to cut it in half. By the end of trying to cut it me and Sherman put the knives and forks down and picked up the legs with our hands and dug in!
Wine pairings for the quail and the mushroom were a unoaked Pinot Noir and a French Rose.
Stuffed Portobello with spinach and cream cheese, served with a spinach salad and balsamic reduction. This was a winner for me, the cream cheese tasted like a homemade Boursin. The mushroom was the perfect vehicle to get that cheesy goodness in your mouth. The salad and balsamic reduction were the perfect side to this to cut the richness of the stuffed mushroom.
Pavlova with fresh strawberry’s and a hibiscus cream was the dessert of the night. I appreciated the concept and flavors but my meringue was really gummy texture wise. the hibiscus cream was flavored nicely and the green garnish was basil so it was a bit of a surprise when were 1st tasted it at the table.
The dishes we had were all pretty good and it was a great way to check out some of Cache’s finest dishes. Caché Bistro & Lounge is pleased to announce their grand opening on April 26, 2012 and it’s open to the public.
**Disclosure~I was an invited guest and was not charged for my meal or drinks, my opinions are completely my own and I was not expected to write a review.**
I stopped in for a late lunch and was greeted by the friendly staff. With a nice selection of breakfast and brunch items, lunch is rounded out with a some salads and sandwiches. Kid’s aren’t forgotten either with their own section on the menu. The cafe also has a full selection of dishes that are packaged and frozen for you to enjoy at home, prices are really reasonable for the items I saw and everything is preservative free.
Another student came by my table with a chilled amuse-bouche of a Puttanesca Prawn, it was an interesting bite but the prawn for me was over powered by the puttanesca sauce.
This was the main attraction for me, it looked great and also smelled delish so I was looking forward to chowing down.
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.
