Le Crocodile

Long long time ago when I first started trying to learn what 'fine dining' is like, I decided the only way to learn is go to the fanciest place in town and start eating.  So I went knowing nothing about french food.  I remember feeling disappointed as I imagined french food was supposed to be plates and plates of little tasting bites but that wasn't what was served.  It's been over 5 years since then and I've grown a lot in my knowledge and understanding of food, so when one of my good friends who accompanied me to the first Le Crocodile meal was celebrating her birthday I decided it'll be fun to go back and try the restaurant again!

Crab Tart

For our amuse bouche, we were served a crab tart.  The crab tart was very good.  Creamy.  Savory.  Rich.  But not crabby.  What? A crab tart not crabby? Nope, not this one - couldn't taste the crab.  But it was good though!  If I never knew it was called a 'crab tart' I would have thought it was outstanding.

Dungeness crab cake, baby lentils, pickled red onion, tobiko, olive, spinach & basil aioli.

This was served to my friend (the birthday girl!)  She says it was full of crab meat without a lot of bread crumb filling.

Pan Seared Fois Gras in Reduced Red Wine Sauce topped with a scallop

I liked the sauce on this dish the best.  This fois gras was from Quebec duck livers and not from forced fed geese.  It still had a offal taste that I wasn't a big fan of.  Maybe forced fed geese taste better?

Escargot in Garlic Butter

The garlic butter sauce served with the escargot was sooooo good!  It's served in these very light and delicate pastry cups.  The escargot were perfectly cooked - not rubbery at all.

Oysters in a half shell with shallot Mignonette

I didn't get a chance to sample this but my friend who had this enjoyed it.  It was his first time eating fresh raw oysters too!

Chilean Sea Bass in Lobster Bisque sauce

This was one of the specials that was offered.  I've read a lot about Chilean Sea Bass.  It's supposed to be even more tender and soft than my favorite protein: the sablefish.  And it didn't disappoint!  This fish was so soft and succulent it had the texture of soft tofu.  Not to the point of mushy though.  Lots of flavour and very yummy.  

Steak Au Poivre

Steak in peppercorn sauce is such a classic french dish.  It's actually one of the first french dishes I've ever learned to make.  Although this wasn't my entree I got to sample it - and it had a way more stronger peppery flavour than what I'm used to.  The steak was also supposed to be medium and was more to the medium rare side.

Caribou

This was another special that's normally not offered on the regular meu.  The caribou meat was sooo tender!  I have no idea what they did to it as wild game meat is usually pretty tough.  The gamey flavour was slight but there.  If you don't mind the gameness I would definitely recommend this dish.

Palette Cleanser: Pear Sorbet in Pear Liquor

Very refreshing and delicious.  Sets us up for the dessert course of our meal very nicely.  My friend who's birthday we were celebrating actually remembered it from the first time we ate at 'Le Crocodile'.

Tiramisu

This was for the birthday girl.  I didn't get a chance to ask her how it was - I hope it was good!

Grand Mariner Souffle

The souffle was good but I prefer the souffle at Bigga at the Banks.  Not quite as light and fluffy.  

Crème Caramel

My friend who ordered this dessert did so because I recently made this for her.  She says mine tasted better.  hehehe.

Hazelnut Crepe

My friend who ordered this dessert seemed to like it except for the ice cream that accompanied it.  I can't remember why but for some reason he didn't like it and left it on the plate.

Overall I thought it was a great dining experience.  It's interesting how much more I appreciated the food there now that I'm a lot more educated in fine dining.  And I hope the birthday girl had a great meal too!

La Quercia

Some old friends emailed me and asked me if I'm interested in an 11 course Italian tasting meal. Yeah!  Is the sky blue?

Just a caveat with this food blog entry.  I had 4 hours sleep last night (darn the Summer heat!) so I can't remember the details of every course.  My food descriptions will probably be more brief then usual and I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Course 1: Antipasti

Antipasti

The antipasti course was interesting.  Thinly sliced, prosciutto, beef tongue, melon, olives, pickled vegetables.

Course 1 cont:

Shaved tenderloin, tuna pure, capers on crackers

Course 2: Mozzarella with cherry tomatoes

I really like this dish.  The mozzarella was home made I believe and is was super soft and creamy.  The tomatoes were very sweet with no hint of tartness at all.  I wonder what kind of tomatoes were they.

Course 3: Cheese Soufflé on zucchini capriccio

 

Course 4: Cured Salmon with saffron aioli.  Smoked salmon puree canopy.

Course 5: Sole

The fish was served at room temperature which surprised me.

Course 6: Mushroom Risotto

The server boasts that this is the best risotto in the city!  It was quite good with the texture more on the al dente side then I'm used to.  I think mushroom stock was used as the mushroom flavour permeated throughout the whole dish.

Course 7: Stuffed home made pasta with beet root tops in a buffalo butter sauce

I kept trying to figure out what's the difference between buffalo butter and normal butter but I couldn't detect a difference.


Course 8: Pasta with pork ragu

Course 9: T-bone steak

The steak was so think that it tasted more like a roast than a steak.  It was seasoned more than usually but I found it worked and I enjoyed it.

Course 9: T-bone steak side: sautéed mini yellow squash

Course 9: T-bone steak side: sautéed peas with rhubarb

Course 10: Alagio cheese with pine honey

The cheese was super strong and pungent.  The pine honey was wonderful though and offset the strong cheese perfectly.  I don't know what pine honey is but I'm guessing it's like maple syrup where it's from the sap of a pine tree.

 Course 11: Dessert

Flourless chocolate cake, some sort of cookie, lemon pana cotta.  I enjoyed the chocolate cake a lot. I've had flourless chocolate brownies before from my gluten free friends and I didn't really think much of it - but this flourless chocolate cake rocked.  It had little bits of hazelnuts that added texturally to it.  I've seen pana cottas a lot on food shows but never had a chance to had it myself.  Not bad.  It's basically flavoured cream set in gelatine.


Sorry that I couldn't describe each course better.  But I'm so tired!  Overall I enjoyed the food and also enjoyed the company of my old friends as well! Adding on a bottle of wine, a bottle of sparkling water, a cup of coffee and gratuity, the bill ended up being $97 per person.