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

The Vintage Room

Located in the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna. I had high hopes for the place after reading good reviews but it turned out to be a lot different than I thought it would be. I wish I would have taken a picture of the restaurant while I was still there. My first impression of the place was very bad. It basically was a square room with low ceilings, old carpets and nice table settings. Sort of like a banquet room. Yes, it was a hotel but this is supposed to be a restaurant.

Mushroom Dusted Qualicum Bay Scallops $18. Served with a mint risotto. The scallops were perfectly cooked and well seasoned. This risotto, I really didn't enjoy. It was very minty in the sense that I felt like I was eating risotto with gum in my mouth. They should really re-consider serving this dish. Props on the scallops though.

New York Cut Steak $24. A little over done but we didn't find anything special on this plate.

Bacon Wrapped Artic Char $29. This is what turned my night around. That tarragon remoulade (the sauce) was so good! The char was nice and moist and the bacon added a nice smokey-ness to the dish.

They're are way too many good restaurants in Kelowna to come back here for round 2. Especially at this price point, I will not be coming back.

Address:
1171 Harvey Avenue
Kelowna BC V1Y 6E8
Website:
The Vintage

Quails Gate: Old Vines

This restaurant is located at the Quail's Gate winery. Even in the dark this place is beautiful. I especially wanted to come here because the chefs that cook here are not just your typical chefs, but they specialize in cooking with wine.

My first thought was that this reminds me of the Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver.

The restaurant was very empty since we came on a Tuesday night at 9 pm and the drive out here is a pretty long and dark.

The complimentary bread was fresh and crunchy.

Pan Seared Scallops $16. These were cooked perfectly with a very deeply seasoned sauce which was calmed with the citrus from the fennel leaves.

Side of sauteed beets $7.50.

Braised Wild Boar Gargenelli $25. I loved this one. Perfect seasoning, braised perfectly, with lots of mushrooms. The portion was also huge.

Ling Cod $26. This was not on the menu and was a special for the week. It came out so beautifully plated. The cod was a little dry but that puree made up for it.

Address:

3303 Boucherie Road
West Kelowna, BC


Website:
http://quailsgate.com/restaurant/

Ora: Great appies, not-so-great mains.

This place had a very "Joey's/Cactus Club" feel to it. Very modern, loungy and a place where a lot of youngsters would go to. I was here for St. Patrick's day, sitting next to a VERY loud group of teenagers which ruined the mood a little but we didn't mind. Not as much as the couple beside us who asked to move tables.. I felt bad for them..

We had a very nice server, who was a ditzy blonde girl.. the cute kind. She suggested the Gyozas $10, which were the best I've ever had at a non-asian restaurant. Many times, I get the kind where the outside of the dumplings are hard and chewy (from being frozen) but these tasted very fresh and light. I would order this again!

Poached Pear and Prosciutto Salad $16. The only thing I didn't like about this was the candied pecans.. Probably cause I don't like any extra crunch in my salads.. The greens are enough for me. But anywho, any salad with prosciutto is good to me!

I wish the 2 delicious appetizers weren't so good because they very much hyped me up for the mains which I was obviously expecting to be good. Both were just below mediocre and were left unfinished. This is the Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms $17. I did however like that it came with 2 instead of 1 and they were overly stuffed with meat and such. The bad thing about this was it was extremely bland.

Kahlua BBQ Ribs $24. This definitely NOT worth $24. Sure, the rack was big and the potatoes were good but they were dry and didn't come with enough sauce to balance it out. Other than that, ribs are ribs.

I was NOT prepared for this Triple Layer Chocolate Cake $7. I know it doesn't look big in the picture but it was bigger than the size of my hand. And my hand is pretty big to begin with. That little scoop of ice cream was not enough to even out the sweetness and dryness of this cake. I didn't like it at all, even if it was smaller.

New York Colossal Cheesecake $7. This one reminded me of the Earls cheesecake (which is discontinued by the way) with the blueberry compote (a lot of it). This was also very big, hence "colossal" but good. It
was a cheesecake.

Overall, I liked this place and would come back for JUST appies and a couple drinks. I'd love to try what their other appies have to offer!

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.

Breakfast at Wild Apple

This restaurant is located inside a hotel resort which is very common in Kelowna. We just came here for a quick bite to start the day. 

I can't remember what this is called but it was just a couple eggs, toast, sausage and potatoes. Pretty basic stuff. The only thing you can mess up is the sausage which were awesomeee! Anyone else like to dip their sausage in egg yolk? Well I do and its mm mm gud, yep.

Spinach Omelette. The potatoes they serve for breakfast here are the more heavy ones you would expect at dinner time but they were actually really good! So was the omelette. This place did us right! Service was crap though, sorry guys.

The Wedding Cafe

A little cafe with a big concept! The Wedding Cafe, as you can imagine, is a Wedding themed cafe where Brides and Grooms-to-be can come, have some coffee or tea and plan their wedding. Why didn't I think of this first!?

The cafe is equipped with books and magazines, wedding favor ideas, pictures, venue options and much more. How cute is this!?

We ordered 2 paninis - Pesto Chicken and Cranberry Turkey. Both were okay, typical cafe food.

Pretty expensive cafe food though cause these costed us almost $8 each...