We have been here once before and thought it was pretty good.

Dinner tonight includes 2 and a half courses for $70 each. On the menu are three appetizers, three mains and one dessert.

Only one dessert? Seems a bit lazy to me. At least it’s something I like.

To get it started tonight Merilynn had a gin based cocktail. Frankly I don’t recall the name and it wasn’t really anything worth remembering. It was fine though.

I kicked things off with a personalized wine flight.

The Phantom Creek Cabernet Franc from BC was very good. I’ve had this wine a couple times and it’s excellent. Vanilla and cherry on the palate.

I also had a Penley Estates Cabernet Sauvignon. Australia does those big Reds really well. Dark berries and subtle flavours of herbs.

The most interesting of the three though was the Marachel Foch from Quails Gate. BC as well.

This is an old vines grape from BC that predates the great pull out of 1988 when the BC wine industry tried to turn their reputation around, successfully I might add.

If you’ve ever had a crummy to mediocre red wine from BC way back in the day this’ll bring back memories.

Interesting to try, but it doesn’t live up to modern day grape varietals.

We chose the garlic shrimp and beef tartare for our appetizers.

These were great, well seasoned and garlicky. But the 80s called and wants it’s garnish back. Ease off on the parsley guys.

The beef tartare was very tasty, though a bigger portion than you need I feel.

The mustard and Parmesan complemented the beef very well.

That’s the second plate I’ve had Focaccia on by the way.

As far as Focaccia bread goes this was all right. Personally I prefer a higher hydration version of this Italian staple. But in a restaurant I get it. This takes a lot less time.

With the beef tartar it came toasted, costini like, which you could use to eat the tartare with. Honestly though I didn’t really need a second helping of it.

For my main I had the Hake.

This was the winner tonight.

If you aren’t familiar with this fish it’s in the same family as cod and haddock. I prefer haddock over cod as it’s less fishy but this was a nice compromise in between the two. Flakier and not quite as fishy tasting. The white wine reduction was beautiful. And the vegetables, zucchini, beans and peppers made a well-rounded complete dish.

Marilyn went with the rack of lamb.

While it looks good it did not live up to the appearance.

While it was cooked very well it was very chewy. Which of course just takes away from the enjoyment of what should be a very good dish. It was lacking in flavour as well.

The mashed potatoes were nice though. Not Joel Robuchon nice, but still very good.

Three bites and we sent it back

Now on to the finale, the chocolate cake.

It was moist and delicious. I should have asked if it was made in house though. I’d be surprised if it was.

Whoever did make it did a very good job in my professional opinion.

As we wrap up the meal tonight we cannot be but disappointed. While the appetizers and the Hake were very good, the lamb was such a let down it spoiled what otherwise would have been a very nice meal.

But though we will look at the positives I’m not sure we will be visiting again any time soon.

6/10

The post The One Sixty Wine Bar and Cafe appeared first on Gregs Food Blog.

Here for brunch on this long weekend. We had heard good about it. Best restaurant in Port Moody apparently.

The place is a pretty cool vibe. It’s new and has some cool artwork on the walls. There’s a nice patio outside but I think we’re past patio weather for the most part now in Vancouver. 

They also have a date night, $78 3 course meal for two here on Tuesday nights which we do plan to try.

As for today we were here for brunch.

My usual go to for brunch is Eggs Benedict. Now I am not one that usually enjoys any alternative to the  standard English muffin for the base of an Eggs Benedict. So I wasn’t very happy to see the options on the menu this morning.

Option one used toasted focaccia as it’s base. I had this once my eggs Benedict in a New West restaurant and it was by far the worst Benedict I’ve ever had. Next.

Option two was on a waffle. I actually like waffles but the idea of an Eggs Benedict on one didn’t thrill of me.

But much to my surprise I really enjoyed it.

The salad on the side didn’t impress though. The lettuce was rather soggy. And pickled apples? Definitely not in my list of things I like. But the candied pecans added a nice touch. I’m getting potatoes next time

Merilynn had a Albacore tuna salad.

By the time I tried it I found the salad the same as mine, soggy.  However she said when she is started eating it it was fine. I didn’t care for the preparation of the tuna. I’m guessing Sous Vide. That ring around the edge is just too perfect to be seared. Quick dip in hot water methinks. It was pretty bland. Salad  overall was okay. But Brown’s is better. Honestly I can’t believe I’m saying anything positive about Browns but there you go.

The atmosphere here is nice. It’s pretty new and I like the vibe.

The service was good, but it wasn’t busy.

We do plan to come back for date night.

Food 6/10

Ambiance 8/10

Overall 7/10

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