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Water Street Cafe Crab Fest 2019 on until July 1

June 21, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Now on until July 1 is Water Street Cafe‘s second annual Crab Fest menu. Executive Chef Alan Tse and his team have sourced fresh BC Dungeness Crab for this limited available menu.

Water Street Cafe Crab Fest 2019 Vancouver Gastown

I had the opportunity to enjoy the Crab Fest menu last year and enjoyed the dishes I tried. The team really did a great job in showcasing crab as the key ingredient in each dish. I’m happy to see that the menu has returned this year.

Water Street Cafe Crab Fest Menu 2019

The Crab Fest menu is available daily all day and features 5 dishes and 2 weekend brunch bennies. There are the BC Dungeness Crab Bisque, West Coast Crab Cakes, Crab Napoleon, BC Dungeness Crab Club Salad, and Surf & Surf (1/2 chilled BC Dungeness Crab and halibut). For brunch, there are the Fresh Crab Benny and Crab Cake Benny.

The Crab Napoleon ($23.50) is a new dish to Crab Fest this year and features handpicked BC dungeness crab, puffed pastries, whipped avocado, and Asian soy ginger vinegar dressing. I ate this layer by layer by hand but some might want to eat with a knife and fork.

One of the weekend brunch features I tried was the Fresh Crab Benny ($27.25) featuring English muffin, BC Dungeness Crab, free range eggs, crushed avocado, and house-made hollandaise sauce. The crisp, golden potatoes and fresh salad make this a wholesome brunch option.

The BC Dungeness Crab Bisque ($12) was a hearty soup with creme fraiche and chive oil. You could most certainly taste the crab in the bisque.

Check out the menu before it’s gone! Reservations are recommended.

Water Street Cafe
300 Water St, Vancouver, BC
www.waterstreetcafe.ca

Related post:

Where to Eat in Metro Vancouver on Canada Day 2019

Gastown Weekend Brunch with Live Music: Pourhouse

June 3, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

Back at Pourhouse in Gastown is weekend brunch service from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm with live music 12 – 2 pm. The Pourhouse brunch menu was designed by Executive Chef Alessandro Vianello, who recently joined the Kitchen Table Restaurant group that owns and operates Pourhouse.

Gastown Weekend Brunch with Live Music: Pourhouse

Pourhouse Brunch Menu

The brunch menu features sweet and savoury small plates such as cured duck (compressed melon, arugula, fresh basil), tuna conserva (olive oil, capers, dried tomatoes, sourdough) and carrot cake bomboloni (carrot and date filling, cream cheese icing).

Some of the larger dishes include mushroom frittata (eggplant caponata, Parmesan, arugula salad), 6 oz flat iron or 16 oz bison ribeye steak & eggs (potatoes, two eggs, chimichurri, sourdough) and more.

Guests can enjoy boozy brunch libations like the PH Bloody Mary (sangrita, choice of Beefeater gin, Altos tequila, Buffalo Trace bourbon or Wheatley vodka, chili salt, pickled bean, Breakfast Negroni (Campari, Rosso vermouth, Torrontés and so forth. Non-alcoholic options are available like the Arnold Palmers (iced tea, lemonade) and Almond Bucks (almond, lime, ginger beer).

What I Tried

On a recent media brunch, I tried a variety of dishes: Scotch Egg, Carrot Cake Bomboloni, Peameal Bacon Sandwich, French Toast and PH Mimosa.

The Scotch Eggs ($11) came highly recommended and did not disappoint! There’s nothing like an egg wrapped in meat, lightly breaded, deep-fried and accompanied by spicy mayo. The Scotch Eggs are also available on their dinner menu. They were so good that I suggested that they make this an entree as I could easily eat four of them in one sitting!

Brunch or dessert item? Either way, the Carrot Cake Bomboloni ($6) is a treat to be had at any time of the day. It was a light and fluffy doughnut with carrot and date filling and cream cheese icing.

The last time I had a peameal sandwich was from Carousel Bakery in Toronto a few years back so it was excited to enjoy this right in Vancouver. The Peameal Bacon Sandwich ($17) had bacon that was nicely juicy and tender with a nicely crispy cornmeal edge.

For those who enjoy French Toast ($16) for brunch, Pourhouse has a unique take on it with a rum and pineapple upside down cake topped with Chantilly cream. It was a rich, melt-in-your-mouth type of entree where I enjoyed every bite.

And to wash it all down, the Pourhouse Mimosa ($10) (sparkling wine, Aperol, cantaloupe, lime).

Did you know? Pourhouse is celebrating their tenth anniversary this fall and continues to be one of the city’s hotspots for cocktails and comfort food in a warm and convivial atmosphere.

Limited reservations for Pourhouse’s weekend brunch services are available with a valid credit card by calling the restaurant at 604-568-7022. In the event of no-shows or cancellations/modifications with less than 24 hours notice, the credit card will be charged $25 per person, with $5 donated to Pourhouse’s monthly charity of choice.

For more information, visit pourhousevancouver.com, /pourhousevancouver on Facebook and follow @pourhouse_van on Twitter and @pourhouse on Instagram.

Pourhouse
162 Water St, Vancouver, BC
www.pourhousevancouver.com

Di Beppe “Festa della Polenta Dinner” on April 28

April 9, 2019 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

On Sunday, April 28, Di Beppe in Gastown will pay homage to its roots by hosting a Tuscan-inspired “Festa della Polenta” dinner with two seatings offered at 5 pm and 8 pm.

Di Beppe Festa della Polenta Dinner Vancouver Gastown

The origins of the event date back to the 16th Century when members of the nobility offered polenta to hungry townspeople to help counter a famine that was ravaging the region of Tuscany. The gesture grew into a time-honoured annual communal feast that continues throughout many towns in Italy to this day.

Guests will enjoy a welcome aperitivo of Aperol Spritz and mingle during a cicchetti course of small snacks and a Vermouth Martini Riserva Speciale.

Long communal tables are then filled with polenta and accompaniments such as osso buco, fennel sausage & peppers, and rapini with Calabrian vinaigrette served alongside tumblers of Pinot Grigio and Valpolicella.

The dolci course also showcases the festival’s star ingredient in polenta almond cake with blood orange and mascarpone.

DI BEPPE FESTA DELLA POLENTA MENU

— $79 per person plus tax and gratuity —

aperitivo
Aperol Spritz

cichetti
polenta with baccalà mantecato
anchovy, egg & olive
roasted mortadella & pistachio pesto

Vermouth Martini Riserva Speciale

polenta
osso buco
fennel sausage & peppers
rapini with Calabrian vinaigrette

Di Lenardo Monovitigna Pinot Grigio 2017
Folonari Valpolicella Classico 2016

dolci
polenta almond cake, blood orange & mascarpone

caffè
espresso and il rimorchio

Media Preview

I attended a media preview of this special dinner which was absolutely delicious and enjoyable as a communal feast. Here are a few photos of the preview.

The dinner will be hosted by Di Beppe General Manager Matthew Morgenstern alongside Di Beppe Chef Andrew Morales and special guest Alessandro Vianello, who recently joined the Kitchen Table family as Executive Chef of Pourhouse and collaborated with Morales on the menu for the event. The Festa della Polenta is close to the heart of Vianello, whose family hails from the Northern Italian region of Veneto.

Tickets

Tickets to Di Beppe’s communal “Festa della Polenta” dinner with seatings at 5 pm and 8 pm are available for $79 per person plus tax and gratuity and may be purchased online at here.

Taishoken Ramen Review

March 21, 2015 by foodgressing Leave a Comment

I had heard of Taishoken Ramen on Abbott being known for their tsukeman. It just so happened that as I was grocery shopping at T & T Supermarket, I began to have ramen cravings. Taishoken was conveniently around the corner from T & T, so my husband and I headed there to try it out.

What is Tsukeman?

Taishoken is famous for their “dipping noodles” or tsukeman. It is a serving style where cold ramen is eaten after dipped into a bowl of hot soup. This differs from regular ramen where the soup, toppings, and noodles are all in one bowl. Because the tsukeman soup is dense, you should only briefly dip a few noodle strands into the soup. This is so that the soup flavor does not overwhelm the noodles.

Taishoken Ramen Menu

Their menu items range from $10 – $13. It includes torigara chicken, tonkotsu, ramen and tsukemen.

Extra ramen noodles are $1.50 and take 3 minutes. Tsukemen noodles are $2 and take 5 minutes according to the server.

The Atmosphere

Taishoken is a smaller restaurant with small dining tables, a communal table and counters near the window. We were greeted at the door promptly and had our orders taken in a timely manner.

The Noodles

I had the original tsukemen ($11.75) which had 2 slices of pork chashu (shoulder and pork belly), a soft boiled egg, scallion, bamboo shoot, dried seaweed and fishcake. I found the noodles to be very springy and chewy.

The dipping soup was definitely dense and flavourful.

My husband had the shoyu torigara chicken ramen ($9.50). It had three slices of chicken chashu, a soft boiled egg, scallion, sauteed zucchini, dried seaweed, fishcake and daikon radish sprouts.

He also found this broth to be flavourful with al dente noodles.

Overall Impression

The soup noodle dishes we tried were flavourful and the noodles were chewy. We did order some extra noodles in the end as we were not quite full. I can see the appeal of eating cold noodles during the summer. I would be interested in returning to Taishoken for the tseukeman on a warmer day when I have ramen cravings.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/taishokenramen.vancouver