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.

Strawberry Syrup

My church had a summer picnic this past Sunday and I struggled a lot with what I wanted to bring.  So I decided to bring drinks!  But it's not my style to just bring some store bought pop.  I have to put my culinary spin into it.  So I made strawberry syrup, home made unsweetened lemonade, home made unsweetened iced tea, home made simple syrup along with store bought club soda.  The idea is that people can make strawberry soda by combining strawberry syrup and club soda, or strawberry freckled lemonade, or strawberry iced tea.  For the non-strawberry people the simple syrup was for them.

Strawberry syrup is actually really easy.  I saw it on a youtube video by Food Wishes' Chef John.

Take 2 lbs of fresh strawberries.

Then using a pairing knife cut out the green stems and quarter the strawberries.

In a pot with 2.5 cups of water dump in the strawberries and bring to a boil.  Then simmer on low for about 15-20 min.  Afterwards strain the strawberries out of the water.  You'll see most of the colour gone from the strawberries.  Dump in 2 cups of sugar, bring to a boil again, then simmer at medium for 5 min.

I then put the pot in a sink full of cold water to cool.

Then bottle up the syrup - yay you're done!























To make strawberry soda, fill a cup with about 1/3 of the way with the syrup and then fill the rest with club soda.  It's refreshing and delicious!

Salade de Fruites

My co-worker treated me to lunch today at Salade de Fruites and I ordered the "Moules et frites" or "Mussels and Fries".  Whenever I come to eat here I always see people order this and I always said to myself "I have to get this the next time I come here!".  I guess the best time to do it is when someone else is treating!

So you're served this big pot of mussels.  Steamed in a delicious white wine cream sauce it was great with subtle notes of garlic and spring onions.  The mussels themselves were plump, tender and perfectly cooked.  You get A LOT of mussels - and the sauce is pretty rich.  So as good as it is, about 1/2 way through you don't feel like finishing.  I would definitely recommend splitting this as an appetizer with a friend instead of eating an entire order by yourself.  But if you've ever craving mussels - you would be satisfied.... and them some.

The fries are crispy, seasoned well, but otherwise fairly plain.  Served with mayonnaise for dipping.

My pile of empty Mussel shells.  I made a bit of a mess eating this, spilling the broth on myself and almost hitting the gentleman seating next to me.  I must have smelled like mussels for the rest of the day.

Diva At the Met

If you seen my facebook food blog photo album you would have already seen this meal.  But I felt obligated to document one of my all time favorite foodie meals in Vancouver for my general food blog audience.  The following meal was from December 2011:

I had an amazing dinner with a friend of mine. I've been reading about Chef Hamid Salimian (executive Chef of Diva) on a popular food blog - so I've been interested in trying his food out for awhile. He's also one of the chefs that I've heard of dabbling in molecular gastronomy in his dishes. One day I just called up a friend - want to go out for dinner? And away we went!

This is the bread course. Left to right: Onion and Nuts, Rye, Ciabatta.  Sprinkled on the butter is 'brown butter powder'

Amuse Bouche #1 - Olive Marshmallow 

An amuse bouche is a complementary gift that the chef prepares for you. It's supposed to be one bite and gets you excited for the meal to come.

Olive marshmallow starter was very interesting. It already sets the tone that this meal will stretch your culinary palette beyond a typical meal. It was pillowy soft and texture was like a marshmallow but with that olive flavour and basil accent.

Amuse Bouche #2 - Crispy Salmon Skin with Liquid Nitrogen blasted Gravlox

I love the crispy salmon texture. It had a nice crackle to it when I bit into it. Inside it had a cold pure type of filling. I don't know what a Gravlox is, but it tasted almost like salmon mousse. I really enjoyed this one.

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/11/30/chef-hamid-salmon-gravlax/














Amuse Bouche #3 - Parsnip and Mapled Cured Bacon

This tasted like crispy maple bacon, but it was perfectly flat, and no greasy texture at all. The maple syrup and smokey cured bacon flavoured balanced each other very nicely.











Amuse bouche #4 - Parmasean crisp with eggplant and onion purée

This was very light and delicate. Although parmesan crisp is not an original concept, I never seen it quite like this.

Amuse Bouche #5 - Potato crisp with truffle shavings

This tasted like one of those kettle chips, i.e. Thunder crunch. But it's so thin - it's transparent. Even though it's delicate, it still had a crunch to it. My dining companion and I puzzled on how it was made.










Amuse bouche #6 - Brioche topped with creme fresh and sturgeon caviar.

The caviar flavour was very subtle and it didn't have the salty briny flavour I associate with caviar.

Amuse Bouche #7 - Liquid Nitrogen grapefruit soda 

This served as our palette cleanser before our first course. It tasted like frozen grapefruit soda!

Beef Tartare 

Hidden underneath the topping (I couldn't remember what the topping was) was the beef tartare. It had both the creamy elements and acidic, bright limey elements that I enjoyed when I had beef tartare @ The Market. Instead of spreading it on a canopy that most tartare is served with - it came with beef tendon puffs! The puffs almost had a texture of pork rinds which was an interesting pairing with the tartare.







Sunshine coast sturgeon 

The sturgeon was cured, and was accompanied by some prawn, dill ash cured scallop, salmon roe, and champagne jelly. I enjoyed the cured flavours of the seafood and when I bit into the champagne jelly it transformed the dish again and brought out different flavours. It was topped with grated egg. What's grated egg you ask? I'm not sure either. The server was trying to explain how it was made and all I got was that it took many days just to get the egg itself prepared.








Puffed Fois Gras 

This was really interesting. Normally when I have fois gras it's either pan seared, or made into a pate. This is the first time I had it in a puffy light texture. It's served to you cold, but you spread it on top of warm brioche and it melts into the bread. When you eat it you get the light puffy texture, but then it turns melts into that rich creaminess that you associate with fois gras.


This dish was featured on Chef Salimian's column in the Vancouver Sun.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/12/19/puffed-foie-gras-how-to-make-it-at-home-diva-style/

Sweetbreads 

If you don't know what sweetbreads are - you don't want to know. Sweetbread is something that if you don't know what it is - you'll think it tastes great. But once you know - it'll probably turn you off. Hint: sweetbreads are neither sweet or a bread.

Despite knowing what sweetbreads are, I enjoy eating them on rare occasions. The offal flavour was very carefully controlled, and I only got a hint of it when eating it.

White alba truffles with smoke pork hock 

This dish has a very comforting flavour. My dining companion says it reminds him of chicken noodle soup and that it was his favorite dish of the evening. An entire white truffle was supposed to be in this dish but I couldn't even smell that truffle earthiness nor taste it. The noodles I found interesting though. No wheat was used to make the noodles at all - but they somehow turned a cipollini onion into the noodles. There is no oniony flavour at all either.

Thiessen farm squab

Accompanying the squab was pomegranate pure, walnut, deep fried kale, quinoa.

This is just a single breast of the squab. No gaminess at all and pairing it with the tart pomegranate was interesting. The chef came from Iran and our server says that this dish reminds him of back home. Apparently pairing the tart flavours with savoury dishes is common in persian cuisine.

Leek ash crusted beef tenderloin

The round white ball you see at the top of the plate was a horseradish cloud. Have you ever ate a cloud before? I can say I have now! You break into it and taste it - and it's texture is what I imagine a cloud to taste like! The horseradish flavour was there but not overwhelming. On the left hidden underneath the crisp was something that tasted like a cheese dumpling. The dark green smear at the bottom of the plate was sunchoke pure.

The tenderloin itself (hidden on the top right under the crisp) was covered in black - apparently that was the leek ash. It was sous vide prepared and cooked to a perfect medium rare.

Dark chocolate praline bar

Underneath the chocolate wafer was hazelnuts. The top of the plate was hazelnut ice cream.