Blue Water Cafe

I procrastinated for way too long on this post. Blue Water Cafe became part of my top 10 after leaving the restaurant that night. What I remember liking most was the service. Once you have been seated at your table, they cater to your every need. Blue Water is a must-try in Yaletown, Vancouver.

Oysters are a must if they are are on the menu. We ordered 2 orders of the 6 featured oyster types: Beach Angel, Kusshi, Glacier, Reed Island, Satori, Sawmill Bay.

BC Tasting for 2 $16.50 per person. Dungeness crab salad, scallop ceviche, albacore tuna tartare, smoked sockeye salmon terrine. All amazingly prepared but my favourite was the salmon terrine. (Excuse my horrible camera skills, my screen was half broken that night)

Halibut and Prawns $30. This was a special for the week. What can I say, I have absolutely nothing bad to critique about this. You know they put a lot of tlc into preparing everything on the menu.

Qualicum Bay Scallops $33.50. Ill probably remember this for the rest of my blogging life. The best and biggest portion of scallops I have ever ordered. However, it comes with a wild rice griddle cake which I didn't really find appetizing.

Kalamansi Cheesecake $11. We were never into citrusy cheesecakes but I really wanted cheesecake that night. I ended up setting myself up for disappointment. Don't get me wrong this was amazing (if you like citrus flavour in your cheesecake).

Warm Dark Cuban Chocolate Cake $12.5. Can you really go wrong with a brandy truffle melted inside of a light, crispy cake? I think not.

This was NOT big enough to share.



Website: bluewatercafe.net
Address:
1095 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

Ouisi Bistro: First Time Trying Gator Meat!

"The Ouisi Bistro is a New Orleans style restaurant, which incorporates two styles of cooking; Creole and Cajun."

First of all, excuse the horrible photography in this one. It was extremely dark and I had to use the flash on my iPhone. I should really invest in a real camera but I like having all my pictures in one place! My boyfriend brought me here, just for the gator meat. He had been here once and loved it, so we made our way down to Granville Street. I wish it wasn't so dark because I couldn't get a good picture of the restaurant. My first impression was that it felt very welcoming and homey, a place you can go to, grab a beer and relax with your buddies for the night. Somewhere you can find real soul food. It is a bistro, but they serve brunch (weekends), lunch and dinner. There are so many other restaurants in this area that I would like to try to look out for those posts soon.

Gator Bites $14.50. This was the only thing on our minds as we sat down. We ordered this before we even got our water, then looked at the menu for more. It came out minutes later and I almost forgot to take the picture. As you can tell, it looks delicious and nothing like alligator meat at all. I really cannot describe the texture of alligator meat, it is something else. My first thought, was that it tastes something between chicken and fish, a cod perhaps. Anyway, it was good, and what made this even better was how amazing they seasoned this dish. You've really got to try it for yourself, I am NOT joking.

Cajun Style Crab Cakes $11. Although this was seasoned well, with many Cajun flavours, I thought it was very very doughy and did not have anywhere near enough crab. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want CRAB in my CRAB CAKES!

Fresh P.E.I. Mussels Lafayette $15. Aside from that amazing plate of Gator Bites, this was my favorite. I devoured these mussels. The white wine and cream was amazing, and the mussels were very large.

The Dinner Belle $20. This was my least favorite, as you can probably tell already. The description the the menu, read "crab stuffed chicken breasts with a citrus-beurre blanc and roasted new potatoes" and now, thinking back when eating this, all I remember was the potatoes, NOT the crab. Once again, crab from the menu disappoints and I am left with a crabless chicken and potatoes. The potatoes were awesome, by the way. Nicely cooked and spiced. I thought their chicken tasted very frozen as if it was one of those from a frozen dinner box you buy at the grocery store. At least it wasn't dry. At this point, I am really appreciating the makers of this menu. I'm realizing that everything I have ordered did not lack in flavor, and they did not have to be spicy to do so!

Sauteed Gulf Prawns $18. I don't have much to say about this order, other than the "prawns" were tiny, and the dish was a little boring in appearance. Otherwise, they tasted very good.

Before I get to dessert, I want to mention their delicious corn bread, which I forgot to take a photo of. I never knew how much I love corn bread until I tried their home made ones. It comes, complimentary with your dinner and oh, is it good. I'll be taking some home next time.

Blueberry Cheesecake. I'd have to say this is one of the BEST cheesecakes I have ever consumed in my life. They have a special every day, with a different fruit, baked inside in the cheesecake. This tasted extremely wholesome, home made, and rich. Just how I like my cheesecake to be.

I had a great experience here and I will be coming back to try other things on the menu. Highly recommend this restaurant, although the service was HORRIBLE. Just for the food, and the gator bites, I will be back!

Address: 3014 Granville St.
Vancouver, BC
Website: http://www.ouisibistro.com

RauDZ: Saved the Best for Last

This was by far our best experience in Kelowna. The service was amazing and the food was even better. This place might even be the best I've tried in all of BC. I would come here over and over again.

 The room is very casual and welcoming but still a place you can go for any occasion, with a date or your girlfriends. I know it seems like I'm advertising this place but it really is great! I'm getting excited to even write about it.

 Our very friendly server recommended this bottle and man was he spot on what we wanted.

 Crab Cakes $13. Topped with a cabbage cole-slaw. I usually push the coleslaw over and go for the crab but this was was actually very good! Then we get to the crab cake and it was almost ALL CRAB MEAT. Enough said. We finished this in seconds... literally.

 Butchers cut Duck Breast over Gnocchi $25. This was a special for the week and wasn't on the menu. This is by far, the best duck I've ever had, and it probably will be for a very long time. The sauce was amazing and so was the gnocchi. They put so much TLC in their dishes, if you can't tell already. Combined in the sauce were 3 types of mushrooms. I was in heaven. If you look on their menu, they now have a duck breast with scalloped potatoes.

 Beef Tenderloin topped with Blue Cheese $28. Don't you love this place already!? This huge steak for $28. The steak was cooked perfectly. The blue cheese, which he ordered extra of, was the perfect softness and the peppercorn sauce was amazing. My mouth is watering as I am typing.

 Looking at the dessert menu, we really couldn't decide, so we went with 3! This one is the Double Chocolate Mashed Potato Brioche with a Raspberry Sorbet, their signature dessert $4.50. Yes, it is really made with mashed potatoes. You couldn't taste it if you weren't told what was in it. It was basically a chocolate cake, that's all. The concept is pretty cool though.

 My side order of ice cream $2 came with a homemade cookie! This has never happened before.

 Tiramisu $4.50. This one was my favorite. A classic made better.

 Pumpkin Cheesecake $4.50. The topping of this tasted a little like apple/pumpkin sauce but the actual cheesecake part was delicious and you can really taste the pumpkin in it.

As I've said, I would come here over and over again if I lived in Kelowna. This was was seriously amazing in all different ways.

Address:
1560 Water Street,
Kelowna, BC
Website:

http://www.raudz.com

Wild Apple

The same place we went for breakfast, earlier that week. We couldn't help but to come back and try the dinner menu.

Risotto Croquette $14. With 3 dips: tomato compote, lemon basil aioli, red onion jam. I liked the lemon basil the most. I just love any aioli dip. The croquettes were okay but a tad bit dry. My boyfriend loved them though!

Duck Ala Confit $26. The sauce that came with this was A AMAZING. The duck was a little dry and tough but very forgiving with the sauce.

I ordered the Red Wine Braised Shredded Short-Rib Rigatoni $26. How can you NOT order that!? It didn't look very good coming out but lift the blanket of rigaoni and ....

....you get THIS! The short-rib was cooked to perfection and you can really taste the red wine in it. OH SO flavorful. I also love anything with lots of tomatoes.

One of my new favourite chardonnays: Red Rooster from our very own province.

Chocolate Cake $8. How delicious does this look? It reminds me of something you would see on the food network, on that "sweet genius" show. There were so many different elements on this plate that combined together to be amazing.

Blueberry Crepe $8. This one was okay but was definitely NOT fresh. The only thing I liked about it was the fresh whipped cream topping.. and ice cream of course.

You already know I ordered ice cream but I took this to show you they're edible chocolate label. Yes, its chocolate! Never seen that before.

Gotham Steakhouse

My boyfriend and I hadn't had a nice meal in a while. I was feeling steak that night so we ended up at Gotham. The first thing that caught my eye was the ipad wine menu. How cool is that!?

I only like to drink white wines so we ordered a couple glasses, even though we both we eating steak. Oh well.

This was my biggest regret of the night. The complimentary bread. And you'll see why later. We were starved by the time this came. It got to our table less than a minute after ordering but we were so hungry! We shared almost all of it between the 2 of us. And it was delish.

Fresh Oysters $18.50. The most I have ever paid for oysters. You can probably tell this place is over priced due to the name "Gotham". It wasn't anything special. Fresh oysters are always good.

Steak and Lobster $56. Sorry, I didn't realize how blurry it was till I got home. This is what my boyfriend ordered. The lobster was huge and the filet was nicely cooked and tender.

I had a whole Porterhouse Steak to myself $54. What this is, is a T-bone steak which contains 2 types of meat. On the right you get the filet, and the left is the new york. I did NOT realize it would come out this big. Aside from that, I loved how you get to have both sides and really taste the difference. I liked the filet side better. It tasted very buttery and was so easy to cut. The New York was almost there, but a little dryer. Now don't get me wrong, if I was eating just the New York, I would say it was delicious. I'm just comparing  the 2. The meat was very well-seasoned and makes me excited just to take the next bite.

We ordered 2 sides: Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions $10 and Garlic Mashed Potatoes $5.50. They were both very good and came in a large portion. I think it is a little strange how you have to order your own side, which comes in 2 servings. What if you're eating alone? What if you just want a spoonful of 3 different sides? And if you don't want any sides, you just get a steak with nothing? I would much rather have the sides picked out for me or have the option of choosing small portions of sides. We barely ate half of these ones.

AAND this is why I regretted eating all that bread. This is all I finished in the end! I probably would've eaten the whole filet and half the new york if it wasn't for all that bread! Anyway, I took this home, left it in the fridge for a whole night and ate it the next evening. All I did was fry it up as it was and basically continued my meal. It tasted almost the same as it did at the restaurant. The meat was still very tender and I gobbled all of it up in minutes. My parents had a bite and they couldn't help but ask for more. I didn't tell them it was a $54 steak. They'd probably kill me.

New York Cheese Cake $10. All the desserts on the menu were equally $10. Nothing really seemed to catch our eyes so we went the safe route. We didn't like it. The textures were nice and so was the crust but it had a very strong lemon flavor. We both are no fans of lemon in our desserts.

Overall, I think it was an exceptional experience. Our server was very kind, informative and on his game. The atmosphere was very nice and I would come here again. Probably not for a very long time though cause this place is damn expensive! \

Address:
615 Seymour St
Vancouver BC
Website:
http://www.gothamsteakhouse.com/

Italian Kitchen: Late Night Menu

I have been wanting to come here for a while. My plan is to try all the Glowbal Restaurants within the next year. I haven't read any reviews on Italian Kitchen but I just LOVE pasta! So my 2 girlfriends and I came by for their late night menu. Honestly we didn't even realize they had a late night menu. Obviously, we would've preferred the regular menu (It looks huge on their website) but this one had to do for that night. 

Beets & Arugula Salad $12. A great start to the night. This thing had like 3 different kinds of beets, all delicious of course. I couldn't get enough of that cheese! If you've been reading this blog for a while you will very well know I am a fan of goat cheese. A very well made salad and very recommended.

Linguine with Jumbo Prawns $23. This one was mine. For some reason, it wasn't very photogenic but it tasted like heaven.. well not really, but very close! This entrée included 4 perfectly cooked jumbo prawns that actually look jumbo! The sauce looks a littler watery but as I can remember, it was the perfect consistency as well. The capers and olives added a nice and salty "zing" to this dish. I definitely got what I paid for.

Lobster Tagliatelle $25. Before arriving, we had looked up their menu online and were so hungry that we sort of picked out what we wanted already. This wasn't on the late night menu but B really wanted some lobster pasta! The chefs made an exception. This one looked the best out of the three but tasted the worst in our opinion. If you can't tell from the photo, the "pasta" in this dish was rice noodles. This basically ruins the whole dish. We obviously didn't realize what Tagliatelle meant. Anyway, aside from the rice noodles, everything else was awesome. This had so much lobster and the tomato mascarpone sauce was delish! I just might order this with a different pasta type the next time I visit. Probably linguine.

Spaghetti with Spicy Kobe Meatballs $25. This one was my favorite. Pretend all that parmesan isn't there. I forgot to take the picture pre-cheesed. I really liked how this one had a white truffle cream sauce for the spaghetti and a marinara for the meatballs. The 2 went very well together. I probably don't even need to tell you how good, soft, and moist those Kobe meatballs are! Ironically, Kobe was right across from Italian Kitchen! These meatballs were HUGE! She couldn't even finish them all. Oh yeah, and the whole thing was topped with a big chunk of goat cheese, which is hidden under the huge layer of parmesan.

Tiramisu $8. I really liked this one. The mascarpone mousse was awesome. I really like it when the lady fingers are still moist when served and whoever made this, nailed it! 

Overall, my experience here was very good. 9/10. The servers were very kind and welcoming till almost the end because they wanted to close. We were the last ones there so I really don't blame them. I will be returning soon. Hope you guys get to try this place!

Address:

1037 Alberni Street

Vancouver, BC 

Website:

www.glowbalgroup.com/italiankitchen

Moxies: Quick bite and dessert!

Mosaic Dip. "A base of fresh tomatoes, garlic and sweet red onions topped with a layer of creamy diced mushrooms and finished with a seasoned Quebec goat cheese, served with naan bread." MMM doesn't that sound good? Well it was! This dip really reminds me of Pâté. The naan had some hard and some soft pieces. I ate all the soft ones and left the hard ones for the bf. =)

Crab and Scallop Cakes. I was very iffy about ordering this cause they tend to come out too salty. Sadly, it was. I completely hated this one. Aside from the saltyness, there was too much "filling", meaning a lot of extra bread and not enough crab. Also, didn't taste ANY scallop.

Bite of Brownie. This is the mini version of the White Chocolate Brownie. In case you're wondering, its about a fourth of the bigger one. This is just perfect for me. Its the only reason why I come to Moxies. 

Callebaut Chocolate Cake. This one was WAY too chocolatey. We had to order extra ice cream. Its basically a lava cake with the "lava" around it, a HUGE chunk of dark chocolate, strawberry and ice cream. I wouldn't recommend this if you're not a big fan of chocolate. You'll be disappointed.




Address:
10608 151A St, Surrey, BC V3R
Website:
moxies.ca