What could be better than a warm sunny day in January? Having a lovely lunch with your best friend in an award winning restaurant featuring regional cuisine in Vancouver’s stylish South Granville district; West is all this and more!
Our first course began with a creamy golden beet and orange velouté poured into a large bowl with a delicate garnish of tarragon crème fraiche and crispy bacon panko waiting patiently on the bottom. The subtle flavors of beet were offset by the crunch of bacon crumbs and occasional zing from an orange segment making this dish a superb rendition of a traditional classic.
We paired our first two courses with the 2012 Buehler Russian River Chardonnay. The wine was a light golden hue with abundant stone fruit and floral aromas, with hints of toast and hazelnuts. The mouthfeel is creamy, fully bodied, with flavors of peach, pear, and vanilla but with a marked acidity from the Russian River showing good purity and freshness that carries the wine through with a long lingering velvety finish.
The main course was a generous portion of wild Pink Salmon atop a fluffy Yukon Gold potato blini with sunchoke puree and a black truffle and parsley marmalade. The salmon was delicate, yet rich enough to carry the flavours of the truffle marmalade with the light herbaceousness of the parsley adding another layer of depth to the dish.
Not that we needed dessert but it was included so how could we say no! So we shared two. The first one was a heavenly vanilla bavarois sitting on a spiced wafer topped with a mini scoop of raspberry swirl ice cream drizzled with raspberry coulis and vanilla bean crème anglaise. It was excellent. Our other dessert was a delectable and rich triple chocolate torte, topped with roasted banana ice cream, sitting in a petit pool of buttered rum crème anglaise and garnished with crumbled pistachios. Fab!
West is a must for both locals and visitors looking to experience distinctive cuisine using seasonally fresh and locally sourced ingredients elegantly presented in an award winning room by a team of polished professionals wanting to create a unique dining experience.
That was a mouth-watering description! I want to go and experience it. The Dine Out festival should go at least three weeks instead of two. There are so many great places to try. I’m really enjoying it.