The Belgard Kitchen - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Fondue is Da Bomb!

This little hidden gem called The Belgard Kitchen is located in the DTES area inside the Settlement Building. My friends Queen B and Hipster heard this place serves up wine flights so they really wanted to give it a try. I just tagged along for the ride. :P 

It's unassuming on the outside so I would definitely recommend using Google Maps to guide you here.

Once you step inside, the environment transports you to a different world. Full of rustic wooden and metal steel decor, it's half brewery and half pub/restaurant. When I say half brewery, I literally mean they brew the beer next to where you eat and you can see the 'factory'. Super cool.  

 They had a pretty good selection of beer for the Beer Flights ($8.00). I honestly don't remember the exact names, but all of them were premium craft beer.

I went with the White and Pink Wine Flight ($12) and I absolutely loved it. I am in no way a wine connoisseur so it was really interesting to taste all the different flavours and tones of the white and pink wines. All were delicious and if it weren't a little pricey, I would've gotten another one. :P

They don't give you that much wine in each flight so I would recommend trying the flight, finding the one you love, and getting a glass of that.

 The Shrimp Spaghetti Nero ($16) while super delicious and was everything I love about squid ink pasta, the portion was a bit small and lacked depth of flavour. For 16 dollars I feel like the portion could definitely have been doubled but that's just my gluttony talking. :P

Now this ladies and gentlemen, should be the reason you visit The Belgard Kitchen. They elevated the comforting homey grilled cheese and tomato soup to a dish called Tomato Soup Fondue with Grilled Cheese Toasties ($13). The cheese could not be gooeier and more delicious when paired with the concentrated tomato fondue. So good....just...so good.

The Red Wine Flight ($12). I didn't try this so I can't speak to how the red wine was. 

Flank Steak with Chimichurri ($15). Very delicious but similar to the other dishes, I wish there was more of it.

Even though the Belgard Kitchen offers a lot of unique offerings I have yet to find in other Vancouver restaurants like wine flights and tomato soup fondue, I found the price/portion ratio to be a bit off for me. We all spent around 45 dollars and when I got home I was already hungry again!

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$$$-$$$$$$

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!


                      I'm always hungry >.<

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Taste of Yaletown (Preview) - Available October 15 - 29th

For those who love the concept of Dine Out Vancouver but can't wait till next January to try your favourite restaurants and get your prix fixe menu, you've gotta try "Taste of Yaletown"! It's very similar in that it's a two-week dining event showcasing dishes from 27 restaurants in the Yaletown neighbourhood. The menu combinations are offered at set prices of $25, $35, $45.


Annette O'Shea, Executive Director of the Yaletown BIA says "Yaletown is home to some of the city's best chefs, many of whom view Taste of Yaletown as a time to showcase their creativity. We're excited by some of the new restaurants in the area this year and are looking forward to seeing what the chefs are going to serve up this year for their exclusive Tatse of Yaletown menus."


I attended their media event and previewed Taste of Yaletown menus from two of the 27 participating restaurants. First up was The Parlour. The Parlour is an interesting place to be because you see business people coming here for a business lunch as well as cool hipsters drinking beers near the lounge area in the back.


They offer the $45 menu in which you can choose any two appetizers (excluding the cheese and meat board) and one pizza. These Ahi Lettuce Wraps ($15) had tuna, avocado, citrus ginger soy, mint, spicy ponzu aioli, and crispy shallots. These are also gluten free! :D


The Classic Bruschetta ($10) on thick white toast. Pretty standard.


Apparently this is their signature appetizer. I really enjoyed this Salmon Tartare ($15), but I mean, who wouldn't? It has perfect combination of steelhead salmon, seaweed, bonito, sesame seeds, ponzu, macadamia nuts, and micro cilantro. Anything that resembles poke is a tick in my book.


Stacked Short Ribs ($15)


These Meatball Minis ($11) were the bomb! It had Brioche, reggiano, tomato sauce, sambal, caramelized onion, and roasted garlic aioli. The head chef Matthew said they don't have a freezer or fryer so everything is as fresh as it gets. It was apparent with this ridiculously fresh and tasty meatball slider.


The signature Yaletown ($20) resembles the typical west coast palate. Albacore tuna, red onion, avocado, green onion, cilantro, and spicy aioli. I never thought about putting raw tuna on pizza so this was actually pretty eye opening for me.


I was the odd duckling in the group because I really loved their Standard ($20) Gluten Free pizza. The texture of the crust was nowhere as crispy as the regular wheat variety, but it was chewy, hearty, and totally up my alley.


This is a play on a pear, walnut, blue cheese salad. It's called Hamilton Street ($20).


The next tasting was next door at the Hamilton Street Grill. For T of Y, they are offering a $35 menu.


I believe this was the Chef's Creation Vegetarian Soup consisting of carrot and ginger. Everyone at the table thought this was unbelievable. Give me a big bowl of this with some (gluten free) bread and that can be my dinner.


The Red Onion and Blue Cheese Salad was refreshing but definitely not a huge standout.


As an appetizer, I love the fact that they have a Butternut Squash Risotto on the menu. It's a fabulous opportunity for people to try it out without choosing it as a main. I don't know about you but I always tend to gravitate towards the meatier protein mains versus vegetarian mains when eating a prix fixe menu.


Now this was a showstopper. It's the Icelandic Cod Saltimboca which is a pan seared and proscuitto wrapped black cod. Similar to a filet mignon, the proscuitto added a really nice smokiness to the fish.


The Angus Beef New York Steak was served with their Brandy peppercream sauce, and MY GOD it was delicious. They left the full peppercorns on the steak and it was just friggin amazing. Must get dish in my opinion.


This is a half portion of the Flourless Chocolate Cake with raspberry coulis.

Personally, this Taste of Yaletown event is great for someone like me because there are a lot of fantastic restaurants in Yaletown that I've never tried before. My hope is that I find a gem during these prix fixe menus and end up loving a restaurant I otherwise would've never known about. Time to check out their menus!

Happy Eating!


                                   I'm so excited!!

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CRAFT Beer Market (Yaletown) - Big Kid Lemonade, Barrel of Nachos and Gluten Free Mac and Cheese!

CRAFT Beer Market is a casual restaurant located a few minutes away from Olympic Village and they specialize in all things beer. 

They have over 100 beer on tap and they offer the most extensive list of beer in Vancouver!

What I loved about this "Salt Building" are their high ceilings and lush furniture. We had a booth and god was it comfortable. Truly this restaurant could probably seat four hundred people- it was huge in size!

A lot of their entrees are made with some type of beer like their Craft House Beer, Beer Braised Brisket, Philips Beer Can Chicken, and more. If you're a beer lover, you gotta come here!

 

I had the Big Kid Lemonade (essentially tasted like Red Robin's Strawberry Lemonade but spiked) and a gluten free beer. Both were delicious and I was pleasantly surprised by the deliciousness of the gluten free beer!

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($13) came with carrot and celery sticks.

I wanted to try the Fast Food Sushi but unfortunately they sold out. :( Instead we got the Thai Lettuce Wraps ($12) which came with crispy noodles, tiny portion of veggies, rice, and a trio of sauces. T

The fact that this dish is vegetarian made it quite boring. The only substance were the crispy noodles which I don't particularly enjoy.

Their Nacho Barrel ($18) was no joke! Served in a legit barrel (weighing at least 10 pounds), the mountain of nachos, cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, peppers were perfect to share amongst our large table.

I chose the Craft Mac and Cheese + Gluten Free Pasta ($16+$2) and it was made with a blend of cheddar, gouda, mozzarella, and fontina cheese. 

The cheese wasn't overly creamy or saucy but it did caress each pasta enough for me to enjoy it very much. I don't know if the pasta was made with quinoa or corn or brown rice, but it held its own and tasted exactly like regular wheat pasta! Two thumbs up.

Grilled West Coast Salmon ($24) served with quiona, almonds, and green beans were delicious.

This is my boss' favourite burger at CRAFT Beer Market. The Bacon and Blue Cheeseburger ($16) is stuffed with blue cheese and topped with bacon, caramelized onions, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

The Farm Fresh Chicken & Kale Salad ($17) is tossed with cranberries, goat cheese, pine nuts, shaved brussel sprouts, and tossed in a spicy orange and cilantro dressing.

This was my second choice but I didn't end up getting it. It's the House Made Bolognese ($16) and what caught my eye was that it's fresh pasta made in-house!

The Craft Signature Sticky Ribs ($24) is tossed in a black garlic and miso BBQ sauce, served with brussel sprouts and potatoes.

My friend really enjoyed the Dark Beer Braised Beef Brisket ($25). It's braised for 10 hours and dredged in their housemade sauce.

I'll definitely be coming back to try more of their dishes and maybe catch the Canucks game with some beer and wings.

Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$$-$$$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!

 

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Havana Restaurant (Commercial) - Strawberry Ginger Mojitos and Truffle Fries

My coworker has been telling me nonstop about how wonderful the Strawberry and Ginger Mojitos are at Havana so needless to say, that was enough to get me to visit.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon so their patio was packed with a twenty minute wait. We endured because who can give up eating on the patio when it's sunny in Vancouver?!!

 Do note though, they made all four of us share a table meant usually for two (every other table we saw were also super squished). We definitely invaded each other's personal bubble throughout the whole meal and we didn't like that.

So of course, I had to try the famous Strawberry Ginger Mojito (~$7-8) and it definitely did not disappoint. It's made with Bacardi Superior Rum, strawberries, mint, fresh lime juice, and ginger ale. Definitely one of the best strawberry mojitos I've had. I think it's because of the addition of ginger ale (I like myself some bubbly :D).

These Truffle Fries ($9.95) were absolutely to die for... The combination of parmesan cheese, parsley, and truffle oil is killer on it's own but it's elevated one step further by that smokey dip on the side. Must try item!

The Enchiladas ($16.95) consisted of two baked tortillas stuffed with roasted plantain, black beans, corn, green onions, and peppers with house made mesa sauce, cheddar and goat cheese.

I thought the Latin Burger ($17.95) was a little pricey for what it is but it did come with a 6.oz beef patty, grilled turkey sausage, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, mayo, and guacamole. My friend liked it overall but thought the patty tasted like it was steamed instead of grilled which turned him off.

I chose the Chicken Taco ($13.95) which was made with chicken breast marinated in coconut jerk sauce, lettuce, guacamole, and pico de gallo. I was mildly disappointed with this dish because not only was the chicken super dry, something in the taco made it incredibly wet. It was so wet I couldn't eat my second taco with my hand and had to resort to a knife and fork. I definitely will pass on this next time. :/

All in all, Havana is a really cool hip place for cocktails and tapas. I very much enjoyed the mojito and truffle fries so maybe next time I'll stick with their appys instead of ordering their entrees.

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $$-$$$$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!

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