It’s Dine Out Vancouver time. Today I plan to get out there and give one of the special menus a try.
When I looked through the restaurant list it looked like there’s around 400 different establishments offering special deals on their lunch and dinner menus.
It did not take me long to choose today. Once I saw Hawksworth on the list it was a done deal
I had dinner here in September to celebrate a birthday and it was fantastic. Read that review here.
My daughter Amanda is joining me today. I suspect this is the first time she will have been in a Michelin quality restaurant. Hopefully her palate can handle the more complex dishes she will experience today.
As we are here for Dine Out Vancouver there is a set menu with fewer choices than the usual lunch menu.
My comments follow, I asked Amanda to give me her thoughts on her first fine dining experience. I will add them at the end of my review.
On first glance of the menu I was mildly disappointed. None of the options offered were anything I was too excited about.
For a starter I decided on the Celeriac soup. Celeriac, or its other name, celery root, is a root vegetable I am pretty familiar with, having had it a few times over the years in various dishes. I also use celeriac puree as mashed potato alternative occasionally or throw it in some soups. It’s quite versatile, with a mild celery like, earthy flavour. I’ve never had a Celeriac soup though.
The bowl arrives at your table with a few greens and roasted hazelnuts presented nicely in the bowl and the soup is poured in front of you.
The soup was excellent. The hazelnuts surprised me most, not only with the textural component, but their nuttiness enhanced the natural nutty flavour of the Celeriac.
I went with the Rockfish for my second course.
it was coconut crusted and fortunately wasn’t too coconut forward. It’s not my favorite flavor. It certainly raised a simple white fish to another level. The kitchen cooking it perfectly also made this an excellent choice. The crispy noodles added a nice crunch. There also was a few Enoki mushrooms in there too. Mild and slightly crunchy, it’s one of the few fungi I actually like.
Dessert wasn’t much of a choice. Carrot cake or sorbet.
Those little blobs are pineapple jelly, the quenelle is Mascarpone ice cream and the ribbon cream cheese icing.
The ice cream was perfect, the cake was light and the cream cheese icing not overly sweet. An amazing treat to end a lovely meal.
Now I’m typically of the opinion that carrots belong on your dinner plate, not your dessert plate.
But if it’s always Carrot Cake like this one I’ll have to change that opinion.
And so while at first I was a little disappointed with the dine out menu, in the end it turned out to be a delicious meal. And so well worth the measly $36 charged for such fine food.
10/10
Amanda’s comments
The celeriac soup was delicious—well balanced and a little salty, but in a good way. For my main I had the ricotta cavatelli (with no mushrooms) and loved it; the sauce was bright, lemony, and herby, and made the whole dish feel fresh and comforting at the same time. I finished with the carrot cake and mascarpone ice cream, which was excellent, and a Rum Jungle cocktail that tasted like banana and pineapple. Yum!
