through the eyes of the a70

Seasons in the Park – Queen Elizabeth Park, West 33rd Ave. & Main St. – January 29, 6:30pm

Price per person: $28

Appetizer: Lobster Sherry Bisque – goat cheese mousseline, fresh dill
Entrée: Braised Lamb Shank – dried apricot demi glace, grilled scallions
Dessert: Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake – caramel sauce, cinnamon chantilly

Dine out for 9 with my HungryDev friends! Don’t ask about the name… it’s a long story :-P

It’s really too bad it was a bit foggy up in Queen Elizabeth park, the top of Vancouver, otherwise we would’ve dined with the best view of the city! (though I could still see a bit of the view through the thin fog). The atmosphere in the restaurant was definitely great!

The dinner was pretty good for a $28 dine out menu. To start off, their bread was the best of the three restaurants I’ve had this year! First the lobster bisque (soup) had a light hint of lobster, but the more you drank, the less the flavour, perhaps a bit unexciting :-P The lamb was cooked nicely, the meat was still quite moist. For dessert, I think I probably would’ve liked the lemon pie more, but the pumpkin cheesecake is tasteful for those that don’t mind its special flavour!

I give 8.0/10!

Second dine out of the year!

Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar – 1095 Hamilton Street, Vancouver – January 21, 6:00pm

Price per person: $38

Appetizer: Albacore Tuna Tataki – seared albacore with ponzu sauce and honey-mustard
Entrée: Kurobota Pork – twenty four hour braised pork shoulder with bourbon bbq sauce, corn bread, baby spinach, rutabaga
Dessert: Hazelnut + Almond Meringue – coffee butter cream and chocolate ganache

This was another one on my shortlist of must-try restaurants! After looking at their regular menu though I see why dine out would be such a steal here… the entrée itself costs the entire dine out menu!

Seriously, the Albacore tuna was soooo good, I would come here twice for that! The shrimp salad was definitely a surprise, didn’t think that a regular “greens” salad would be this unique.

The pork shoulder was pretty good too, it might be a bit dry on its own, but having it with the sauce was good. I also loved the crispy skin on the char, and that it was very moist on the inside.

And finally for dessert, the meringue, it’s almost like a Napolean dessert, except it was more chocolaty.

I give 8.5/10!

Dine Out Vancouver starts again this year! Restaurant prices are set at $18, $28, $38, a $3 raise over previous years.

Cannery Seafood Restaurant – 2205 Commissioner Street, Vancouver – January 18, 6:00pm

Price per person: $38

Appetizer: Chilled Seafood Mélange – smoked tomato & Portuguese olive oil vinaigrette
Entrée: Pan Seared Lamb Sirloin – risotto with garlic parsley pesto, thyme demi glaze
Dessert: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tower – preserved berry coulis

I’ve wanted to try this restaurant since last year, hearing that it’s been good! And that they will be moving out of the area due to security reasons soon.

Finding the place was a challenge, I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a remote restaurant within the city. You have to pass the port security before you can get there, and we waited while the trains crossed the road… all this in fog too.

I liked the appetizer, it was definitely fresh. The entrée was so-so, definitely could’ve had a bigger serving. The dessert was amazingly chocolaty for all the chocolate fans out there, very sweet but it was good! Though for $38, it was definitely on the more expensive side in terms of value-for-money.

I give 7.5/10! (ok 8.0/10 if I had a view!)

Seems like there are some that enjoy the snow more than others (aka the rest of us who have to shovel everyday!)

This is a mosaic of the 626 photos that I had posted last year on my photoblog in the image of the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria where I took a small trip to during the summer. Click for the original size!

My New Year’s resolution for the photoblog is to spend more time editing and posting photos whenever I can (I was too occupied with other stuff last year that I didn’t get to edit much photos towards the end of last year). Hope I can do it!

Happy New Year everyone!