A while back, I revisited AnnaLena, a MICHELIN-starred tasting-menu restaurant near Kitsilano Beach. Chef Michael Robbins and operations manager Jeff Parr opened AnnaLena in 2015. The name comes from Robbins’ two grandmothers, Anna and Lena.
The restaurant serves contemporary Canadian food through a multi-course menu divided into chapters. Local seafood and seasonal produce appear throughout, along with French cooking techniques and some humour. Some dishes required a bit of assembly, and a few were finished at the table.
Here’s what we tried.
The Cheeseburger 2050 was made with elk tartare, cheese sauce and tallow-caramelized onions. Torn brioche came on the side so we could put together our own little cheeseburgers.
The elk was tender, the onions were slightly sweet and the cheeses tasted sharp and aged. There was red sorrel in there too. It helped break up the richness, though this was still very much a cheeseburger. Once assembled, it was messy, which seemed appropriate.
A palate cleanser came next. Clarified limoncello, sake and elderflower were made to look like a lemon wedge, right down to the shape and colour. It was tart at first, followed by some warmth from the sake and a floral taste at the end.
Seafood Lottery came in two parts. The albacore tuna crudo was served in blood orange oil, starting citrusy before some chili heat came through.
The oyster was mostly hidden under shaved frozen foie gras. I thought the foie gras might overpower it, but the shavings melted almost immediately and gave the oyster a creamy finish. Underneath was an apple-jalapeño mignonette that tasted fresh and a little spicy. I could still taste the oyster, which was what mattered to me.
The Early Influence was a crisp spring roll filled with pork and chicken liver. It came with gem lettuce and shiso for wrapping, plus a basil emulsion on the side. There were little pieces of preserved cherry in the filling that gave certain bites a sweet and tart taste.
I used a lot of the basil emulsion. The liver was easy to taste, but it became less pronounced once I added the herbs and lettuce. I liked that this course could be picked up and eaten with my hands.
One of my favourite seafood courses was Off the Coast. The Argentinian red prawn was roasted over charcoal, so the sweet flesh had a bit of smokiness around the edges. Small pieces of Salt Spring mussel, cauliflower and charred cabbage sat underneath.
The smoked lobster bisque was foamy rather than thick. At first I tasted mostly lobster and prawn, then the cabbage started to come through after a few spoonfuls. I nearly missed the mussel salsa since the pieces were so small, but they had a concentrated seafood taste.
Under Story featured carrot agnolotti with several mushroom preparations. The carrot filling was sweet, then the chili crisp added heat and crunch.
Warm mushroom consommé was poured into the bowl at the table. The longer the pasta sat in the consommé, the more mushroom flavour it picked up. My fried had the upgraded version with truffle.
For Slow and Low, we had striploin and braised beef cheek. The striploin was pink through the centre and well seared on the outside. The cheek was so soft that it separated with barely any pressure from my fork.
I went back and forth between the two cuts instead of eating them separately. The Madeira jus was slightly sweet with warm spice from the vadouvan. It did not make the dish taste like curry. The charred broccolini had some bitterness, which I appreciated next to the sauce.
Griddle Goat was not quite a cheese course and not quite dessert. Lemon-caraway sourdough had been grilled until crisp, with some dark edges, and came with warm goat cheese and goat cheese mousse.
We scooped up the cheeses with the bread and added quince jam. White chocolate and local white truffle were shaved over everything. I noticed them more once they began melting into the warm cheese. There were a lot of strong flavours on the plate, but the quince jam helped bring them together.
The plated dessert was Far From the Tree, made with roasted apple and a hazelnut financier. The financier was moist in the middle with a browned, nutty exterior. The roasted apple tasted simple and familiar next to some of the less expected ingredients.
Sunchoke appeared in the ice cream and again as thin, crisp chips. It had an earthy sweetness that made sense with the apple. There was a miso-apple caramel too, which added a salty note and kept the dessert from tasting too sweet.
We finished with the off-menu Cryo Jack Frost Marshmallow. The duck fat marshmallow was frozen with liquid nitrogen and served at minus 70°C. We were told to eat it immediately.
The outside cracked when I bit into it, and a small cloud of vapour came out of my mouth. After a few seconds, the centre softened and felt more like a regular marshmallow. I did not taste much duck. The duck fat seemed to change the texture more than the flavour, then the whole thing disappeared very quickly.
My friend also had the wine pairing.
AnnaLena
1809 W 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC
