Glowbal

My parents bought us a "Sunday Night Four Course Dinner for Two" at Glowbal, so we finally visited the new Telus Garden tonight.

The place was really large - I think their patio can seat more than some restaurants.

The deal comes with a glass of white or red wine and options to upgrade or add on to the main course.

The first course was a Robata Roasted Oyster with provencale beading, shallots, bacon, and horseradish cream. The presentation was elegant and simple and the oysters tasted very nice. It wasn't fishy at all, while retaining the taste of oyster. The cream was nice and rich and balanced by the bacon, but didn't overpower the oyster.

The second course was a boston wedge salad with bacon, crispy onions, egg, tomato, and roquefort blue cheese. While each plate looked nice, you can tell the kitchen was kind of rushed because the plates don't look identical to each other. The iceberg lettuce was fresh and the sauce was creamy and tangy at the same time. The only down side was the onions not being crispy.

The third course was the surf & turf. It's a 10oz New York strip with a jumbo tiger prawn, wild mushroom marsala demi-glace, seasonal vegetables, and mashed potatoes. The New York strip was very tender and juicy and cooked to a perfect rare.

I had upgraded mine to the snake river wagyu, but unfortunately, it was almost indistinguishable from the New York strip. While it was also juicy and tender, it did not meet my expectations of what "wagyu" beef should be. In my experience, Wagyu beef should be extensively marbled and basically melts in your mouth. The slice of beef I had at Glowbal was tough to cut because of the slab of tendon attached to it and was not the texture I expected. Granted, the New York strip also had a huge slab of tendon attached to it.

Otherwise, the prawn was sweet and perfectly cooked and the demi-glace was flavourful and the right consistency. I also enjoyed how thick the mashed potatoes were. The only thing I didn't like was how undercooked the vegetables were - although B liked the crispness.

As dessert, we had warm beignets to share. There were a total of ten beignets (2 per person) crammed into a tiny bowl with no forks or plates. However, the server brought us forks promptly after we requested it. Despite some consistency issues, they were very tasty. The jim beam caramel sauce balanced the cinnamon sugar very well and neither overpowered the other.

Overall we had a good experience. While our server was very professional and polite, we were unfortunately seated at a round table in the corner where she was forced to reach over some of us to distribute and collect our plates. We will likely only return if there were another deal or special, as we would not have enjoyed the experience at full price.