Dine Out Vancouver - Fleuri

Fleuri was the first restaurant I went to for Dine Out Vancouver this year. Fleuri is located inside the Sutton Place Hotel and it was the restaurant that my sister wanted to try. When we arrived, we were a bit early, and we were seated right away. During Dine Out, Fleuri also offers their regular menu alongside their dine out menu.

We were hungry and we knew what we wanted to order. For appetizers, they offer 3 different choices, a Baked Onion & Parsnip Veloute, Smoked Duck & Beets Salad, or Walnuts & Goat Cheese Salad. My sister and I ordered the Smoked Duck & Beets and my brother had the Baked Onion & Parsnip Veloute. For the entrees, the choices were a Ling Cod, Beef Tenderloin Medallion & Braised Beef Flat Iron, or a Pappardelle Pasta. We all had the Beef Tenderloin Medallion & Braised Beef Flat Iron. For dessert, there was only 1 item available and it was the Buttermilk Ice Cream Demi Sel & Chocolate Bar.

Restaurant Interior

 Dine Out Vancouver Menu

Read more - Om nom nom

Whistler - Araxi

My friends and I went to Whistler this past weekend for some snowboarding and food. Last year when we were at Whistler, we visited the Bearfoot Bistro and this year we decided to try Araxi. Araxi is part of the Top Table Group of restaurants that also include Cincin, Blue Water Cafe and West.

Great day on the mountains!

Read more - Om nom nom

Nu

We bought a number of Groupons over the holidays and decided to use up our Nu one last Friday.  We have not been there since they converted their menu from west coast cuisine to greek, so we were very curious to see what had changed.  We were seated right next to one of the floor to ceiling windows which gave us a great view of the water and of Granville Island.

Read more - Om nom nom

The Noodle Box

After hearing my co-workers rave about how good Noodle Box is and how good the Spicy Peanut Box is, we all decided to go there for lunch. When we arrived, the restaurant was relatively busy so we ordered our food to go. Noodle Box is the type of restaurant where you would order at a counter and then sit down while they make the food and bring it out to you. After looking through all the options on the menu board, I decided to listen to my co-workers recommendation and got the Spicy Peanut Box with Tofu. The Spicy Peanut Box cost about $13. The Noodle Box is a bit pricier than most noodle places. Average prices here are about $12.

Menu

Read more - Om nom nom

R.TL - Regional Tasting Lounge

We had a coupon for a 3 course meal for two with a bottle of wine at Yaletown's Regional Tasting Lounge, and having not been there before, decided to give it a shot.  When we arrived, despite our reservations our table was not ready, as they had sat someone there earlier and they were taking longer than they thought to finish.  They let us wait at the bar and gave us some complimentary white wine which was good, because waiting at the front of the restaurant is a lost cause;  they have a sensor-triggered sliding door entrance, and if you sit in the chairs seemingly there for waiting, you hold the door open.  30 minutes and one accidentally spilled wine glass, and we were finally seated.

It would appear that they've sold a lot of these coupons, as they have a separate menu printed for them.  You get one appetizer to split, 2 mains, a dessert, and a bottle of wine (you can choose from a selection of around 8).  I'm not entirely sure that this is a better deal than their normal 3 course menu, where for $29, you get an appetizer, a main, and a dessert.  Essentially we traded an appy and a dessert for a bottle of wine which is fine, but neither of us are big drinkers and I probably would've rather had the food.  That being said, the wine was quite good.

Read more - Om nom nom

Sanpachi

I've been hearing and reading a lot of things about the new ramen restaurant that opened near Robson on Bute and was curious to try it to see how it compares to all other ramen places in Vancouver. There are so many in Vancouver!

When we got to the restaurant, it wasn't busy and we were seated right away. They have the standard 3 broths that is offered at all ramen places: Miso, Shio, and Shoyu and they have 2 other varieties: Yatai and Tonkotsu. There are also combos for the ramen where you can get a side of gyoza, cha-shu rice bowl or nori-mayo (rice with mayo wrapped in seaweed) added to the ramen. Extra toppings include ajinegi (From the look of the photo, I think those are leeks or onions. I'm not quite sure...), butter, extra cha shu, corn, an egg (or what they called a "Tasty Egg"), bamboo shoots and seaweed. The extra toppings are about $1 - $2 extra.

I ordered the Negi Ramen with Miso Broth (leeks & onions) and a side of corn and an egg. My boyfriend ordered the Tonkotsu (pork bones) with the Mini-cha shu Rice Bowl combo and added an egg. Originally, he wanted the gyoza combo but couldn't get it because they were out of gyoza!

Read more - Om nom nom

Dine Out Vancouver 2011 - Jan. 24th to Feb. 6th

Dine Out Vancouver is a yearly event celebrating BC food and wine. This year will be the 9th year for DOV! With over 200 restaurants participating, each restaurant will offer a 3 course meal for either $18, $28 or $38. This is a chance for people to try different types of food at a variety of restaurants. This year, DOV will run from January 24th to February 6th. The menus were released today and restaurants are already taking reservations. There are a select few that aren't taking reservations and are doing a first come first serve basis.

The list of restaurants can be found here:
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/dining/dineout.php

After looking through most of the menus, only 2 restaurants caught my interest... So it looks like only 2 restaurants for me this year =)

The One Restaurant

After an afternoon of baking at a friend's apartment, my boyfriend and I left to go get dinner. We decided to go to The One restaurant because it was close-by and my friend suggested we go try the food there.

When we arrived, I noticed that for their entrance, they had sliding/automatic doors! I've never seen anything like this for a restaurant! Imagine if those doors broke down, then no one can get in! There was a group of people ahead of us, but we were seated relatively quick and given no menus. It took us a few minutes to flag down a waitress for some menus. After looking through the menu, we decided to order a Cool Mixed Dry Bean Curd to start, I had the Eggplant and Minced Pork with Rice special and my boyfriend had the Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets with Rice.

Cool Mixed Dry Bean Curd

Bean Curd, Edamame Beans, Carrot

When the Cool Mixed Dry Bean Curd dish arrived, it looked like someone just took a handful of the bean curd and just dumped it onto the plate without a care. Quite messy looking, but it tasted fine. The neatest presentation I've seen of this dish was at Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle Restaurant.

Read more - Om nom nom

IHOP

We woke up on the later side today and wanted to eat something quickly, so we stopped by the Brentwood IHOP location which happens to be close to where I currently reside.  Expectations tempered, we were seated after a 5 minute wait, and got waters.  Normally FlowerBunny would order coffee, but our last visit to this place resulted in extremely bad coffee so this time she declined.  Upon receiving our order, someone tried to eat her pancakes before she could:

Read more - Om nom nom