Category Archives: visa

Nook~Quite Possibly The Best Pizza In The West End

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Nook is a place that I’ve had the pleasure of dining at more than a couple of times and is a favorite of mine if I’m looking for a solid authentic pizza or if I’m in need of great Italian comfort food and don’t want to travel out of my neighborhood to get it.

I’ve had the dueling burrata platter here~it’s how I was introduced to burrata at Nook, I don’t have a picture of it but it’s a piece of Californian burrata on a nice prosciutto topped crustini and drizzled with nice fruity evoo, there is a nice heirloom tomato salad in the middle of the plate that is lightly dressed with balsamic and more of that awesome evoo and then you get a piece of Italian burrata with the same toppings as the other crustini so it really is all about the cheese with this plate.  At $18 it’s a plate built for 2 to share but f you’re a burrata lover like myself I usually order it for my appy when I feel like indulging.

Nook is known for their thin crust Neapolitan style pizza and were making it before the craze hit Vancouver, The crust is thin and has that nice chew to it that you expect with great Italian pizza.

The classic Margherita pizza here is a solid choice and for $13 it’s a great value.  The tangy tomato sauce and creamy cheese is a pizza lovers dream and the fresh basil is one of my favorite toppings here~I really love how they put a good amount basil and having it cut like this adds to the perfect basil dispersion~it’s a pet peeve of mine when I get a Margherita pizza and there are only 2 or 3 whole leaves on my pie.

Nook’s version of the prosciutto pizza has the arugula on the bottom and the freshly sliced prosciutto is placed on right before service so for $15 it’s another good value.  This pizza definitely is a rich tasting pizza and will fill you up, they have some good chili oil that is great drizzle to help break the richness of the pizza.  On both pizza the bottom is charred nicely but still has some bend to it.

I’m happy that Nook has been able to cement its place in the neighborhood offering something that you can’t get anyplace in the West End and is a place I am happy to recommend to my friends and anyone in search of a great meal.

Nook doesn’t take reservations so its first come first served, they are also Zagat Rated and you can check out there page on the Zagat website by clicking here.

Nook on Urbanspoon

Dirty Apron Deli and Cooking School

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The Dirty Apron is one of the more unique places to grab lunch in the downtown area. Nico and Karri Schuermans~the owners of Chambar and Cafe Medina have combined a deli of fine meats and cheese’s, ready to eat freshly made sandwiches and salads, a hot carvery and a gourmet grocery store all in one but to cap it off the also have a great cooking school with a variety of classes all in one cleverly designed space.

Great meats

Killer sandwiches

Tempting baked goods

The seating is communal at long tables and the have their house made chili sambal oil for you to jazz up your food if you like to.

I went with one of the baguette sandwiches~roasted chicken, arugula and sun-dried tomatoes with grana padano Parmesan and pesto mayo.  They make their bread fresh all through out the day in small batches so whenever you get your sandwich have no worry~you bread is usually no more than an hour old.  There was two halves to this sandwich and it was wrapped up nicely in paper, the chicken was moist and tender and all the ingredients worked well together.

I also got some of their fresh salads, they sell them on a /100 gram rate that’s around $3.50 (ish).  I went split it up choice wise seeing everything was the same price so the hardest thing was choosing what to get out of the 6 different choices.

This is a Brussel sprout salad with prosciutto and broccoli.  It was a nice fresh salad and the sprouts were cooked nicely but still crisp but without that cabbage taste, one thing I wish there was more of was the prosciutto.

The Mediterranean couscous was the other salad I got, it was a brightly flavored salad with the roasted red pepper and roasted onion being a balance to the vinaigrette.

With my sandwich and salad~I bought 100 grams of each my bill was around $17 with tax, seeing it’s really fresh great quality food the price is justified and I’ll totally be back.

Dirty Apron on Urbanspoon

Suika Japanese Snack Bar

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A place that I have been wanting to hit up for a while is Suika on West Broadway and knowing that Mary has been here before and loves it we set off to have a Wednesday night adventure.

The space is great and there were a couple large groups when we were having dinner~the space is set up great for a mix of different party sizes and I really liked the Sake bottle light fixture. It is a izakaya so the volume of the place is quite loud with the Japanese welcomes as diners come into the restaurant and adds to the atmosphere that’s for sure.

The drink selection here is great, I love my beer and always order a Asahi Black if it’s on the menu and Mary went with a pint of Sapporo. Despite the Asahi being really dark it’s actually a smooth light beer and should be tried if you’ve never had it before.

My Ebi Mayo, cilantro battered prawns served with house made chili mayo for $7.80 you get 6 large prawns.  This was some of the best ebi mayo I have ever had, the prawns were nice and plump and the batter wasn’t too thick or too greasy.

After reading great things about it I had to get an order of Suika’s Sweet Corn Kakiage, this lightly battered sweet corn was like  a corn fritter and was enjoyed by the both of us, the individual corn kernels would pop in your mouth when eating them because of the frying.  I’d totally order this dish again.

Miso Marinated Grilled Sable Fish was the last item we ordered off the menu, for $9 it was a decent piece of sable fish for 1 person but not to share~the end that I go had a ton of bones in it~I found 10 and stopped counting.  The skin of the fish was nice and crisp from the grilling so if you like crispy fish skin this dish is worth ordering despite my problem with my dish.

We had a great time at Suika and will definitely be back, we got to try some other dishes on this visit that will be part of another post coming up so please stay tuned for my upcoming flavor town adventure next this time next week.

Suika on Urbanspoon

 

Wikipedia: An izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. →

Drinks and Eats at Ebisu Robson St.

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On a recent Friday night after a long week some drinks and eats were in order and Ebisu on Robson was the destination for @MaryInVancity and myself.

The place is known for being busy a popular spot for birthday party’s, when we arrived it was the last half of happy hour so if you do plan on stopping in making reservations is advisable if you have a more than 2 or 3 people in your group.

We were able to get in on the happy hour drink specials with $11.50 pitchers of Granville Island Brewery Hefizien, you can also choose from lager or honey lager.  During our visit we ended up getting another pitcher but it was after the special period so it was $16.

Prawn and Cheese Gyoza with Guacamole and some tortilla chips for $5.95.  The gyoza are fried and stuffed with cream cheese and prawns~a totally delicious creamy and crispy savory bite, the guacamole is a nice touch on the side.  I’d totally order these again.

Tokoyaki with Bonito Flakes for $4.80.  This was our first time trying these, they are available with in some different flavors but we went with the original for our first try,I didn’t like the flavor of the bonito flakes on top and Mary wasn’t a fan of the texture, I’d give these another try some other time but with a different flavor topping.

Deluxe Tempura for $12.95.  This was some damn great tempura, it had a couple ebi, some white fish, asparagus, yam, sweet potato and a shiitake mushroom, served with a warm dipping sauce we enjoyed all of this but we’d both pass on the mushroom, it wasn’t greasy and the batter was light and crisp through out.

At the end of the night we had a good time and ate a ton of other yummy food that will be in a post coming next week so stay tuned for the good eats update.

Ebisu on Robson on Urbanspoon

An Afternoon Of Eating and Drinking Notturno Paninoteca’s New Menu

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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.**

Notturno Paninoteca on Urbanspoon

Kin Resto Bar

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The other night I had the pleasure of eating with my fellow blogger @MaryInVancity at Kin Resto Bar.  It’s been on our radar for a while now because of the partnership with the great guy’s at VANEATS.ca, the have put together a great dining package called Kindle With Kin and for $25 it’s a great way to get a taste of the signature dishes at this great West End eatery.

The space is nice, it’s split into 2 area~one with a darker more intimate mood and a projector showing the game on the wall and a more lit dining area that can accommodate bigger groups.

We started with some beer, the Red Truck Lager was the drink of choice for us at $5.50 each, it went well with all the dishes in the package and was an extra cost and not included in the VANEATS.ca package.

For our starter we were served the Prawn and Thai Basil Rice Paper Rolls.  These were totally delicious and we both gobbled them up, the prawn was nice and tender and the roll had some nice crunch from the lettuce and veggies and crispy noodles in the center, the dip for these baby’s was a great house made peanut sauce.  These were enjoyed by almost every table that was dining when we were there and I can see why there so popular.

Next up was a combo plate of Beef Short Ribs and Kin’s Beef La Lot Rolls.

The short ribs were marinated and grilled in 17 different spices, they were sweet, savory and tender like a great Asian short rib should be, because they were so thin the meat melted in your mouth and again we loved this and should have ordered more.

The beef la lat rolls were something that I have never heard of or had at other Vietnamese restaurants, they consist of grilled minced beef, star anise, black pepper and jicama, rolled in betel leaves.  They were totally delicious, the inside was crunchy from the jicama.

A salad was our next course, it was there Seafood Salad, it had shrimp, basa, asparagus, mango, grape tomato and rau ram sauce.  Originally it was supposed to have scallops in it and we were both looking forward to this but they served it to us with the different fish so it was a bit of a let down, all the other ingredients were great~the shrimp were plump and juice and the tangy dressing with the sweet mango worked great.

The Chicken Chay Curry was our main you could say.

I’ve never had this before, it reminded me of a Thai yellow curry, it had chicken, lots of veggies and tofu.  All the ingredients were cooked perfectly except a couple of pieces of yam which were on the underdone side but other than that it was a great bowl of curry, we could have easily eaten a bowl of this for each of us easily.

For dessert we split a Lemon grass Ginger Creme Brulee with Pineapple Chutney.

This was not your typical creme brulee, it wasn’t as heavy but still was satisfying and not overly sweet, the pineapple chutney was a great compliment to the custard, there was almost a jasmine tea sent to the custard part of the brulee.  It was a great way to end the meal and we both really enjoyed this.

This was one great meal and for $25 it fed 2 people nicely, if you’re a more hungry eater a couple extra items from the menu would be a great addition to this dining package and would leave you full and happy.  Were totally looking forward our next visit already.

To purchase a VANEATS.ca Kindle With Kin dining package they’re available till the end of February 2012, their for use during evening/dinner hours and the can be found by clicking here.

**Just a note of disclosure, this dining package was paid for by ourselves and not part of our normal previews of VANEATS.ca dining packages.**

Chau on Urbanspoon

C Restaurant

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On my first dine out adventure I checked out C Restaurant on beautiful False Creek. Seeing it was my first ever Dine Out dinner I felt it appropriate to invite @MaryInVancity with me, she has been here before for brunch and really loved her experience, you can read about it here.

I used the Open Table reservation service to book us a table, I’m new to that type of service and I loved how easy it was to book and also see what times are available for your visit plus you earn points that can be used for restaurant gift certificates for future dining, I arrived and was greeted by name at the door and the hostess quickly offered to check my coat seeing it was raining out, the service is really great and what you would expect for a fine dining restaurant.

The room is a split level space with a more intimate dining area upstairs, the room downstairs is all about the False Creek view with floor to ceiling windows, the space was not so busy when we got there so it was pretty quiet with soft music playing in the background but as the night went on it got packed and the volume definitely went up.

C is all about the Ocean Wise fish and seafood program and head Chef Robert Clark is the man in the kitchen coming up with innovative dishes that really you can’t get anywhere else. The restaurant is part of the Kambollis group of restaurants that include The Rain City Grill and Nu Greek.

Like I said we were here for Dine Out 2012 and they were offering a unique 4 course menu for $38~all the other restaurants in town that are offering the $38 menu are only offering 3 courses, you also have the option of adding additional courses for a nominal charge and also wine pairings are available if you choose.

We were served some complementary house made bread and butter, the bread here is delicious, one of the types were served is their famous seaweed bread, both Mary and I loved this, it’s such a nice treat when a restaurant makes delicious in-house bread.

Our amuse bouche was a Smoked Salmon Cannelloni with Preserved Lemon and Creme Friache. The salmon was melt in your mouth tender and the creamy yet slightly tart creme friache added another nice note of richness. I’m not a big smoked salmon fan and I really liked this I must say, the salmon smoke wasn’t too strong so it would appeal to a wide range of dinners.

For our first course I chose the sautéed BC Spot Prawns with kale,chilli, lime and romesco sauce for a $9 extra charge. They were succulent and really good!, the romesco sauce added a great smoked note to the plate, the kale was a great touch but the chilli and lime didn’t really come through.

Mary went with the Northern Arm Farms Beet Panzanella salad with harissa dressing and shaved ricotta, this is the standard first course on the Dine Out menu. We ended up sharing so we split all the dishes in half to get an accurate taste of the menu and did this for the whole dinner. The harissa wasn’t too strong or spicy, the beets were pickled and are a favorite of mine and Mary’s. We both loved this dish and would order it again.

For my second course I went with the Poached Lobster with a lemon herb risotto and a cognac creme, it was a $12 extra charge for this dish and I think it was worth it, there was a nice big lobster claw on top and the dish was smothered in cognac cream, the lobster for mine and Mary’s taste was over cooked and quite firm, besides that one negative it was a great bowl of risotto, the rice was perfectly cooked and it all went down quite nicely!

The other second course was a seared Albacore Tuna with a Winter minestrone, Parmesan pistou and crisp basil. Melt in your mouth tender tuna and a hearty Winter minestrone with orzo pasta was a great accompaniment to the tuna, there was also a basil pesto on the plate that rounded out the plate and reminded me of an Italian tuna dish.

The main course or third course in this menu they are offering a lake Babine Salmon with a squash puree and almond tapenade. The salmon was nice and pink inside, the flavor was nice and rich and was the star of the plate that is for sure. Both of us enjoyed this a lot.

Mary wanted to try the beef option on the menu, for $12 extra they had a Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a walnut polenta, tarragon butter and confit of Portobello mushroom, there was also candied dates on the plate. It was a great beef dish and I ended up cleaning the plate clean, the walnut polenta accented the beef nicely but the Portobello mushroom was a bit to mushroomy for my taste.

We both opted for the Lemon and Olive Oil Sorbet palette cleanser for $4, they served this with little shortbread cookies, it really worked to get our palette ready for dinner.

The standard dessert on the menu is a Spiced Chocolate Pudding with caramelized rice cereal and a Chantilly cream.

It was also available with an orange sorbet for a small extra charge, Mary for this on her plate and I took a taste~it was great but I like my chocolate without orange and would love this on its own (I know the sorbet looks like the olive oil lemon kind we also had but it was definitely orange!). The pudding was spiced with cardamom and the flavors were GREAT!, the caramelized rice cereal wasn’t too sweet and added a nice texture to the pudding, the Chantilly cream rounded out everything nicely.

We had a great time at C and I wold come back and check it out for a lunch seeing they have a killer patio in the summer, our bill after our add-on’s, taxes and a beer I had came out to $142~definitely a bit more than we were thinking but when splitting the bill down the middle it came to $80/person including tip which wasn’t so bad for a 2 hour dinner and as a bonus Mijune Pak was dining in the restaurant so it was finally nice to meet and dish about food with the lovely @FollowMeFoodie but the menu could have been clearer with what courses were extra!

C Restaurant is also Zagat rated and can be checked out here.

C Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Max’s Burgers~Bacon Marmalade Topped Goodness

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Attention burger lovers and addicts~there’s a new dealer in town and his name is Max and he’s gonna have you coming back for more!

Chef Connor Butler is the chef and rain’s behind the menu and the space used to be Max’s Deli owned by Bruce Redpath and Redpath Foods, he’s still the owner of the building and is the owner of Max’s Burgers.

It’s a step up from Vera’s and Sunset Burgers and is ment to appeal to the Stackhouse Burger Bar and Romer’s Burger Bar crowd with fresh ground chuck brought in from Alberta and in-house made Brioche bun’s, with extra add-ons like blue cheese, applewood smoked bacon and house-made bacon marmalade!, Hollandaise sauce, red onion rings, sautéed mushrooms he’s really setting himself apart from the others on the market. Besides burgers the menu also features ancho-chili spiced Sloppy Joes, pigs in blankets, real black truffle mayo dips, crab po’boys, a $55, 24 ounce “Behemoth” burger that comes with a pitcher of beer and all the types of fries they have~it’s gonna become a Vancouver go to spot for burgers I totally think.

My visit was on their 2nd day of opening, I walked in just 12pm and it was totally packed so I went and relaxed out of the pouring rain at the Starbucks close by. I got back in around 1:30 and it I got a table without an issue. When you walk in your intuition tells you to walk up to the counter and place your order and grab a seat but it’s not the case here and confused me and a lot of other people~grab a seat if you want to eat in and a server will come over and take your order.

The menu is full of really great sounding burgers and sandwiches and the boozy shakes sound great and something that I’m definitely going to try in a future visit.

For this adventure I wanted to try something that I heard great things about~the British Columbian Burger for $12.50, it has their house made bacon marmalade as well as Apple Wood Smoked Bacon on it as well as all there usual toppings~shredded lettuce, tomatoes and fried onions that are a free option as well as their house Big Max Sauce. All burgers come with hand cut Kennebec fries.

This bad boy was totally delicious, the different flavors from the bacon marmalade and the beef went totally beautifully together, I had to employ the Tripple D Guy Fieri move~the hunch, the juice would have totally ran down my arms!, it’s a 3 napkinr’ and a definite must try.

My fries unfortunately were the weakest part of the meal and needed to be cooked longer~I left 3/4 of them and just chowed on my burger, I’d totally try the onion rings that they have~I saw some orders of them and they looked really good.

Max's Burgers on Urbanspoon

Ensemble Tap’s Taste Of Tap Special

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Ensemble Tap has become a favorite of mine for the great beers, great service and most importantly killer food that has kept me coming back for more.

From January 20th-Feb 4th,2012 you can get a Taste Of Tap, Dale has picked some of his best dishes and made them available in a 3 course menu for $29 (plus tax and gratuity) that is available with beer pairings for an extra $15 and it’s available at lunch and at dinner.

The menu options are as follows:

Asian Vegetable and Green Salad
Enoki Mushrooms, Cashews, Black Sesame Seeds
or
 Popcorn Prawn
Tempura Sea Asparagus, Spicy Mayo
suggested pairing of La Chouffe Belgium Strong Blonde Ale, draught

plus

Bangers and Spætzle
House made Sausage, Tarragon Spætzle, Mushroom-Onion Pan Gravy, and Onion Slaw
or
 Ensemble Burger
Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle, Fries
suggested pairing of Tap Pale Lager, draught

plus

Key Lime Pie
Chantilly, Toasted Coconut, Lime Zest
or
Root Beer Float
Dad’s Old-Fashioned Root Beer, Vanilla Ice Cream, Root Beer Rim
suggested pairing of Russell Cream Ale, draught

On my visit I wanted to try a couple of dishes that I had yet to nom on, I didn’t do the beer pairing because I was visiting at lunch and couldn’t get hammered!

This is the Asian Vegetable and Mixed Greens Salad, it has enoki mushrooms, black sesame seeds and cashews, the dressing is a peanut/sesame tasting creamy yet light vinaigrette, you do have the option of adding seared tuna or chicken to this if you want some protein but I went with it as is, I’m a big fan of dressings that taste like this so it was a winner there and the ingredients all went well together, the nuts provided a nice crunch, I’d definitely order this again. The price for this alone on the menu is $14 but it’s a bit bigger and served in a bowl~a lady next to me ordered this so I got to see regular version of this with tuna but the size of this was filling enough and a great starter.

The other option I’ve had on a previous visit~Popcorn Prawns

They are in a nice, light crisp batter and are scented with kaffir lime, the spicy sauce isn’t too hot and the dish is garnished with tempura sea asparagus.

For my main I chose the Bangers and Spaetzle, house made sausage, tarragon spaetzle, mushroom-onion pan gravy, and onion slaw. This was totally delicious!, the sausage was juicy on the inside yet had a great “snap” to the casing, the other star of the plate was the spaetzle, whenever I’ve had spaetzle it has always been cooked right~boiled in broth and then tossed in melted butter, they way they do it here really won me over, they crisp it yet its nice and tender on the inside~just the right amount of texture to make it hold up to the gravy that was rich yet not overly heavy, the chunks of sausage was a great touch~it reminded me of a Southern Sausage gravy that you would serve over biscuits and the onion and cucumber slaw cut the richness of the dish perfectly. This plate got a lot of looks from a couple diners around me and the common comment was how creative the twists on classic dishes are here. I almost couldn’t finish this plate and the regular version comes with another sausage and a bit more of the other goodies so beware~it’s a big plate and a full meal.

The dessert I chose was Dale’s Key Lime Pie and seeing that it was National Pie Day on my visit I thought it was a totally appropriate choice, served with Chantilly, toasted coconut and lime zest on a graham cracker crust. It was a killer pie and hit the spot, the filling was just tart enough and it was light and airy, if you’ve never had it before it’s a must try. The other option is a root beer float that is super popular and worth checking out as well.

If you haven’t been in yet to Ensemble Tap it’s a perfect reason and a great way to get a real taste of Ensemble Tap.

ensemble Tap on Urbanspoon

Leonidas Fresh Belgian Chocolates

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Leonidas is a new name to me and I’m really happy that @MaryInVancity turned me on to this fine Belgian confectionery store!, we were out walking after a great lunch and we were looking for some dessert, she used the Groupon app to see if there were any deals in the area and saw that they had an instant Groupon available~$5 for a hand crafted hot chocolate and a leiage waffle, seeing it was the first day of the hot chocolate festival we figured that is was worth checking out.  You can read Mary’s post here.

With a history going back to 1910 there certainly is something to be said about a name that can stick around that long doing what they do best, here is a bit of info about them from their website:

“At the dawn of the 21st century, Leonidas chocolates are on sale in 40 different countries in the world through a network of some 1,400 sales outlets. And the adventure continues … Today, the name Leonidas has come to stand for the quintessential Belgian chocolate. To the Belgians certainly, but also to chocolate gourmets and gourmands all over the world, who are enjoying the Belgian Leonidas chocolates across the five continents. Leonidas chocolates are on sale in 1,400 sales outlets, from Paris to Rome, from Sydney to Tokyo, from New York to Vancouver… Indeed, Leonidas chocolates are being sold everywhere; which ever country you travel to, whichever city you find yourself in, you will find a shop carrying the Leonidas emblem. Leonidas chocolates have featured in articles in some of the world’s leading daily newspapers and lifestyle magazines. Leonidas wins hands down! In response to the question “What is your favorite chocolate?”, most consumers said: Leonidas, the undisputed fresh Belgian chocolate. This was the outcome of the well-publicized “National Brands competition 2004″ organized by the LDV advertising agency, and its partners. The basis for the competition was very simple: a list of the leading brands in each sector, from cars to washing powder was drawn up. A panel of consumers (25,252 as it happens) were then asked to express their likes and dislikes, choosing their preferred brand in each category. In the “Chocolates” category, there was only one winner: Leonidas chocolates.51.7% of consumers consider Leonidas to be and remain the most popular chocolate in Belgium. The National Brands Competition is organized every year, over the Internet, attracting an ever younger section of consumers, who clearly love Leonidas chocolates, just as much their parents do. For the first competition, held in 2003, Leonidas won the “Chocolates” category in the National Brands Competition hands down.”

The location in Vancouver is the only one in Canada so it’s a must visit if you’re visiting the city from another part of the Country or World for that matter!

The space is bright and on the side of the Trade and Convention Center, the scenic shot above is from just outside of the shop.  They have a selection of hand-made chocolates that are flown in from Belgium on a weekly basis, they are sold in a weight basis for everything and look totally delish~they had another Groupon for a custom chocolate tasting and an espresso but like I said~we came for the hot chocolate!

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.

I went with a blend of chocolate~a mix of milk and dark chocolate for my drink, it was absolutely delicious and I would totally order it again.  The blend of chocolate made for a rich and not overly sweet hot chocolate and I didn’t miss the fact there wasn’t any whipped cream~it was rich enough.

The leiage waffles here are from a Belgian bakery on W.2nd Ave, they are totally authentic and contain sugar crystals that make for great flavor and a bit of crunch when eating the waffle but also make for a great golden caramelized color and flavor in the waffle that makes it a step up from another place in the city that is famous for their waffles.  Also when you order your waffle it’s heated for you in a toaster oven so it’s piping hot and SO GOOD!

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