Rustique Bistro

For dinner on the second night, we were originally going to go to Tuscany, but was told nothing was available for two people. I didn't really want to eat pasta anyway, so we decided to go to Rustique.

As we've been drinking beer all day, we weren't really hungry, so we ordered an appetizer and a main dish to share.

For appetizer, we ordered the French Paté. As you can see, it's quite obvious that they had store-bought paté, which is kind of disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I love the Freybe paté that you can find at local grocery stores, but if you're going to be an upscale restaurant, you should make your own paté.

For the main, we ordered the Bouillabaisse. I would never normally order Bouillabaisse because I'm not a fan of tomato soup. But we saw another couple eating mussels and clams and really enjoying the sauce, so I thought they ordered the Bouillabaisse and was really enjoying it. I was wrong. They ordered the daily special, was which a seafood salad.

The Bouillabaisse was not a good dish at all. The tomato broth was bland, the vegetables undercooked, the potatoes overcooked, the shellfish gritty, and the cod was so rubbery neither of us got past the first bite. The only thing I liked was the bread on top. This restaurant has a 4.5/5 star rating on Google, but if it weren't on Bowen Island, it'd probably be more like a 1/5 star rating.

Bistro Pastis

We'd always wanted to try Bistro Pastis every time we walked by it back when we lived in Kitsilano, but never got the chance until now. We got a Travelzoo dinner for 2 coupon as a Christmas gift so what better time to try it than during the holidays?

The restaurant was decorated for the season and it was so great. It felt warm and welcoming. It was well lit and clean. I felt comfortable in the restaurant.

Everyone was also very professional and treated us well despite the "coupon" that we possessed - you know how you hear about diners with Groupon who get snubbed? We felt that we were treated the same way as every other diner in the restaurant.

As our shared appetizer, we had les vis de veau (crispy sweetbread, sauteed wild mushrooms, butternut squash, port wine sauce). I've always wanted to try sweetbread but every time I see it on the menu, it's often overshadowed by the choice of foie gras.

It wasn't what I expected at all. I expected something resembling more like internal organs, but it actually reminded me of crispy boneless chicken thighs instead. We wished the exterior were a little more crispy, but it tasted just like chicken, which was pretty good. the mushrooms and squash were cooked perfectly to the point where they were soft, but not mushy. I wish the squash were cut into even cubes, because that would be what I expect from a fancy French restaurant, but at least they were cooked evenly despite the uneven size.

The sauce itself was a little too tart for me - though still sweet. If we dipped the bread that came with dinner into the sauce, the tartness goes away. Speaking of bread. Though served warm, which I love, the butter was ice cold, which made it difficult to spread on the bread. It should have been taken out at least an hour before dinner service and left to sit at room temperature.

As my main course, I had le foie de veau et la moutarde (provimi calf liver, potato puree, onion ring, mustard jus). I was given the option to have the liver cooked medium or medium rare. As I've never had this option in my life before, I decided to go with the medium option to be safe. I think if I could choose again, I would go for the medium rare - just to make it more tender.

The taste of the liver itself was fine. I love the taste of liver so I loved this dish. It was cooked very well and did not have that metallic taste liver often has when not cooked well (i.e. at a dim sum restaurant rolled in rice noodles). It was well seasoned and had a great texture. B didn't like it so much as he doesn't like the taste of liver itself.

The vegetables that came with it was cooked perfectly. A little tender yet still crispy. I wished the potatoes were roughly mashed instead of pureed, but at least it wasn't mushy and still had a bit of texture - which I believe most people prefer, just not me personally.

I don't like onion rings, but B does so I let him eat all of it. He likes to order them whenever given the chance, so he's had quite a few. The onion rings were well coated with a delicious batter and fried expertly to a golden brown. It was still crispy when served.

B had le steak et les frites (grilled angus new york steak, pommes frites with herbed foie gras butter). The steak was cooked to a perfect rare - which is, forgive me for the pun, rare. Every time we order rare it comes out medium rare. There was a big piece of fat at the end which was a little off-putting. B cut off a bite for me with just the fat and it made me sick. It was also the most difficult portion of the steak to slice. We think most "professional" chefs would trim the fat a bit so that only a thin slice of fat was left on the steak to give it a bit of flavour. It was certainly not necessary to leave it on, as B ended up simply discarding the piece of fat because it was disgusting to eat.

The fries were really good. They were fried perfectly crisp, salted well, and still tender and moist inside. They were also served with a home made mayonnaise that was interestingly tangy instead of the usual bland mayonnaise you get in a jar.

The foie gras butter was a little disappointing as it tasted very little like foie gras. There was a bit of herb but mainly tasted of butter. We like butter, but in our opinion, it was too much butter. We were also disappointed it didn't come with a bit of roasted vegetables.

For dessert we had the trio of sorbet. Today's flavour's were (from left): mango, pineapple, and blood orange. After such a rich meal, we wanted to have something light, and this definitely hit the mark. All three were refreshing, not too sweet, and tasted exactly as they should. We also appreciated the texture from the crumble of almond and granola (maybe? That's what it tasted to us). It could have used a dash of calvados, but I guess that would make the crumble turn to paste. Either way, it was a delicious dessert to round off a really good meal.

Overall we had a great time. Unfortunately for Bistro Pastis is that we only have room in our lives for one fancy French restaurant and Le Crocodile has taken that spot. It's the little things that count. When we walk into Le Crocodile, they offer to take our coats right away. At Bistro Pastis, I see they have coat hooks for each table, but they did not offer to take our coats. At Le Crocodile, we don't even get a chance to check out the menu before they tell us the specials. At Bistro Pastis, we had already decided what to get and didn't even get to hear the specials. Not that the service at Bistro Pastis was poor, in fact I really liked our server and tipped him above the designated 15% that was a part of the Travelzoo coupon, but everything at Le Crocodile was just a bit more refined. We most likely will not return, though we would recommend to those who are looking for a good French meal at a more reasonable price than Le Crocodile.

Cafe Salade de Fruits

Went to this community centre restaurant with some family tonight. When we arrived at 6pm, there were already quite a number of tables on the patio and most of the tables inside were reserved. Luckily, we also made reservations and were seated promptly.

One of us were a little late, but the server didn't really check up on us and we had to flag her down to order. Even then, she took a while. I don't think anything is computerized at all so everything you order would be written down on checks and probably written down again for the cooks.

I ordered the duck pate (Rillette de Canard) to start. It tasted nice and came with a side salad. Unfortunately, the pate was a little dry and lacking in fat. It tasted like bits of duck were packed together like a burger patty and not really creamed together like pate usually is. The salad was overly drenched in vinaigrette and was too acidic for my taste. Luckily, we had unlimited bread to go with the dish.

I ordered the frog legs (Cuisses de grenouilles) as my main dish. That butter sauce was like liquid gold, but too bad our "unlimited" bread wasn't refilled so I couldn't really enjoy it. The frogs were sautéed nicely: the meat was perfectly cooked and well seasoned. Although by the end, it was a little overwhelming and I couldn't get the garlic taste / smell off my mouth.

I also ate half of one of my cousin's rack of lamb (Carre d'agneau). It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and well seasoned. I didn't use any gravy that was served with it, but I was not lacking in seasoning at all. The lamb meat was tender and easy to tear off the bone. It came with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The vegetables might have been a little overlooked by the heat of being next to the mashed potatoes, but still nice to have with the meat.

My other cousin ordered the halibut (Fletan), and that was very well done. The halibut was tender but still had texture. The mushroom clam sauce was refreshing once you added that squeeze of lemon to it.

Another cousin ordered the mussels with fries (Moules et frites). Those fries were like a meal on its own. I'm glad it came with mayo and not ketchup. Also, despite what the English menu says, it's a choice between fries OR salad; it does not come with fries AND salad.

The mussels themselves were the star of the dinner. The server brought out a place mat for my cousin, then this big pot. Then she lifted the lid off the pot and all you got was this delicious lemon-y aroma. The mussels themselves were small, but they were so soft and creamy and the broth was very flavourful. Again, I wish they refilled the bread so that I could dip it in the broth.

Overall it was a good experience. I wasn't blown away but it's a solid restaurant with fresh ingredients. It's a little tight, cash only, but I'd recommend a try. I probably won't be returning though: I'd rather have French food from my French cooking classes.

Provence Marinaside

I went to the Provence Marinaside in Yaletown for dinner last night. My friend chose it based on whether they had enough space for five on Sunday night and also served seafood. When she chose it, I was a bit outraged at the prices.

I ordered the Chef Specialty, Rack of Lamb:

As you can see, the rack of lamb were cooked quite perfectly at medium rare. There were potato slices on the side topped with cheese, carrots, and spinach - all cooked perfectly as well.

For dessert, I ordered the double chocolate kahlua cake. I didn't really taste the kahlua, but it was very chocolate-y.

My friend thought it was too rich, but if you took a bit of the cream in each bite, the lightness from the cream nicely balances the denseness of the cake.

Overall, it was a pretty good dinner - I only ate half the rack of lamb, so it was enough for two meals. It's up to you to decide whether or not it will be worth the money spent.

I personally thought it was worth it because the server was so friendly and attentive. Usually, as an Asian, I get the feeling servers don't like to serve us because there's a stereotype we don't tip well. I also used to be a server and hated it when diners ordered hot water. However, our server was very accommodating. Two of my friends arrived earlier and one ordered iced water while the other ordered hot water. When I arrived, the server asked if I wanted hot or cold water. He was a quick learner. I ordered a room temperature water just to test him out and he was professional and took it like it was just another glass of water. I later ordered a glass of red wine from France - I forget the name though. He kept up his game all night, even when the five of us shared two desserts.