DINE FINE - DYNASTY SEAFOOD RESTAURANT 皇朝海鮮酒家 - VANCOUVER WEST

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Wishing you all a healthy and prosperous new year! May all your wishes come true :)

I wanted to share my family Chinese New Year dinner at my favourite chinese restaurant with you all. I had an amazing time, I highly recommend Dynasty Seafood (皇朝海鮮酒家) above all chinese restaurants in Vancouver. With all the chinese restaurants around town, I made a very bold statement, and I couldn't be more happy to!

The presentation of their dishes blow me away each time. They always come up with a way to surprise me. Their thought and talent keeps bringing us back for more. Our family loves this restaurant and established a close relationship with the staff, -their service is great and the chef always comes out to ask if  everything is okay. I highly highly recommend this restaurant.

Below, I have just chosen a small portion of the many dishes we had (those who have been to a chinese dinner will know the many many dishes we eat haha). I chose the ones I thought were best presented, most unique. I did not list dish names, because I do not know what they are called and they are off-menu items discussed with the chef. Enjoy!

 

108-777 West Broadway

604876-8388

DINE FINE - FRAICHE - WEST VANCOUVER

 

This is the BEST date restaurant I can recommend. Here's why:

- I love the surprise factor. 
The drive up the mountain to West Van is a tedious, but filled with anticipatory. As we drove through the residential area, where each street seems to look exactly the same - trees and mansions on both sides, I was starting to get worried that we might have gotten lost. Then in the middle of nowhere, the restaurant stands.

- The INCREDIBLE view.
When the ocean, the Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge, heck, the entire Vancouver is celebrating the meal with you, I cannot ask for more. A rather bittersweet moment for me actually, our day turned out to be a thunderstorm. We lost what could have been a gorgeous sunset, but we gained a chance of a lifetime while the lightening flashed across the sky.

- The classy yet not-intimidating ambiance.
Fraiche is exactly the type of restaurant, that is simple but elegant. Fine decor, not empowering or over the top. Feels very down to earth with a mix of class. (Though for the price, no, it is certainly not down to earth). But Fraiche creates a great ambiance for bonding and chatting. The servers are impeccable.

FOOD | The food at Fraiche is what I call art from inside out. I mentioned in my last post how some restaurants seem to focus more on the presentation while sacrificing the quality of the food. Fraiche brings in the perfect balance. The food is interestingly paired. While there are lots of interesting ingredients, all ingrediants work its part, nothing more, nothing less.

Apologies I had such a wonderful time I have completely forgotten the names of the dishes, the online menu does not include the "Chef's Creations" that we ordered. 

2240 Chippendale Rd.
West Vancouver BC
V7S 3J2

DineOut Vancouver 2012: MISTRAL FRENCH BISTRO - KITSLANO VANCOUVER

I never really hype about Dine Out Vancouver. To be honest, I think Dine Out Vancouver are not the "special deals" that they advertise themselves to be. As the years pass, while my food expectations have gone up, I feel the quality of Dine Out participants to significantly decrease.

Mistral French Bistro is the first Dine Out restaurant I went to this year ( I went to a total of 2, reviews to come soon). I have been eyeing this restaurant for a while to satisfy my escargot craving after Le Crocodile (escargots were not part of the Dine Out menu, but I was still excited to scope out the restaurant nonetheless). My girlfriend and I went for dinner after a long tiring day at school and as soon as we walked in, the both of us fell in love with the romantic decor and charming male french servers.

Miss Dimply ordered- Provencal Tomato Cream Soup - Pistrou Foam, Topenade Crouton
Daube de Boeuf - Beef cheeks in red wine stew, olives, carrots, mushrooms and pear onions, served with fresh spaghetti
Fresh pineapple in mint sirop, raspberry sorbet

I ordered - Soya and black pepper marinated Albacore Tuna - in Dijon-sesame crust, cucumber and celery salad, lemon-dijon dressing
Duck leg confit - duck jus with orange, green beans, Gratin Dauphinois
Giant macaron - Tiramisu cream


Both with added Gin and Tonics on the side

 

 

AMBIANCE | Mistral French Bistro itself is petite, delicate and cozy. Soft natural paintings and warm cream and golden flecks certainly creates a very sensual feel. That is, only when we first walked in. After about half an hour, the restaurant was filling up, people were lining out the door, the restaurant became irritably crowded. I had looked at pictures of the restaurant prior to going and I can almost guarantee they put in more tables and chairs. Dine Out Restaurants are constantly fully booked, reservations are to be made 2-3 weeks in advance - putting in a few extra tables are expected. There was a clear problem getting out of my seat and to the washroom, let alone the high noise level. I was almost yelling back and forth to have a conversation - not my definition of French fine dining.

FOOD | After less than 5 minutes of ordering, our appies came! Immediately after we were finished, the entrée came right away! I was famished so I was happy the food came at such a efficient pace. It is not a surprise that Dine Out sets are pre-made and re-heated, but perhaps I would appreciate a little white lie that made my dish was made timely with thought. Nonetheless, the food was pleasant - nothing out of the ordinary, but still very much enjoyed.
One critical critique (haha) that I must say, the bread was absolutely terrible. The dough was not only cold, but hard as rock. I could not cut it open or tear it with my hands without great difficulty. I took about one bite and decided to dip the rest into Miss Dimply's cream soup. Which by the way, Miss Dimply loaded the cream soup with Tabasco sauce, and as much as I cannot handle spicy foods, I'd say the soup is much more flavorful and outstanding.

Final thoughts, Mistral French Bistro is a wonderful and thoughtful restaurant. I will not judge the quality of the food and service from Dine Out session, because I definitely see a great potential in them. I will definitely return to try their main menu - especially escargots and French onion soup. Will keep you posted!

2585 West Broadway, Vancouver

604-733-0046

Dine Fine: LE CROCODILE - DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER

I am going to make a bold statement here in the world of Blogger: I think I have found my new love. Le Crocodile is the GEM of Vancouver. I am sure many of you would agree.

My birthday was a few months ago, pardon the late post, I stalled on my post for Le Crocodile to wholeheartedly sit down, and do this wonderful restaurant the justice it deserves.

Mr. F ordered - Bisque de Homard parfumée au Cognac - Lobster Bisque served with Fresh Cream and Cognac

Carré d’Agneau Rôti, Jus de Thym et Sabayon à la Moutarde - Roasted Rack of Lamb, Fresh Thyme Jus and Mustard Sabayon

I ordered -  Escargots Maison - Snails baked in Pastry Shells, with Garlic Butter

 Caille Grillée et Foie de Canard Poêlé, Réduction de Calvados - Grilled Quail and Pan Seared Duck Foie Gras, Calvados Reduction

Dessert ordered - Panache de Sorbet aux Fruits Frais - Fresh Fruit Sorbets Made Daily 

Crème Brulée a l’Orange - Crème Brulée with essence of Fresh Orange

Menu found here 

 

AMBIANCE | I described the setting of Modavie (my first blog post set in Montreal) to be very "old school Mary Jane". Today, I would describe Le Crocodile to be "Maria Jane". Modavie is a romantic down-to-earth country bumpkin restaurant (down to earth, I mean decor NOT prices). Le Crocodile is also a romantic, but upscale and smart French venue. Imagine Mary Jane flat shoes compared to Mary Jane stilettos. "Mary" being the shorted from "Maria" is such that both restaurants are similar in French cuisine and tradition, but Le Crocodile is much more sophisticated. 

Le Crocodile is definitely an impressive restaurant for dates and anniversaries. While it is a swanky restaurant, its decor is far from flamboyant and extravagant. Its mood is very floral and clean. Simple with swatches of oak, burgundy and champagne, it is dated yet classic, minimalistic yet chic. 

Valet service, coat check, ushers and servers, service is only the best. Our server's light humor was a pleasure.

FOOD |  Le Crocodile is not marketed to be a "light" diner, all dishes are intricately designed to be rich and thick. Do not come with even a half-full stomach, come prepared to feast on quality food.

The presentation of the complementary starting bread is like a trailer to a movie. It is the very first impression and tasting of a restaurant, all while holding a suspense towards the courses to come. Many places surprisingly, in my opinion, fail to see the importance and significance of this starter - for I have been to many places with not only rock hard, but slightly stale, day-old bread. Le Crocodile left me with a smile on my face even before I started the courses. The choices of white and multi-grain fresh oven bread was warm and fluffy. The warmth melted further melted the butter into a golden essence. This sneakpeek was definitely a thrill before the main launch

Mr. F's choice of lobster bisque with lamb is a perfect combination. The creamy and smooth texture was a lovely entrance to a lamb entree. While lamb is quite filling, the side veggies complement the heavy sauces wonderfully. Mr. F critiques that Modavie's "lamb specialty" title still holds champion, but Le Crocodile's lamb is in a close second place.  

The lobster bisque would not have eased me into my heavy duck main course, as the bisque is far too rich in flavour, but the escargots were amazing! Garlic and buttered escargots were sitting in thin crispy pastry shells looking not only adorable, but tasting golden and juicy. I even used the remaining complementary starting bread to soak up all the sauce left on the plate after we finished the shells. It hurt me to leave any bit of this dish to waste. The Escargot Maison, literally translated as the "House of snails", is my favourite dish on the menu and I say that with a certainty even though I haven't tried everything. My bird entree was beautifully tender and soft. A rather large dish, the sauce while a bit heavy, did not dominating the meat. I simply cannot get enough of fois gras - the luxury of this ingredient was cooked to perfection by Le Crocodile. 

In all, I urge your to bring your loved ones here, you will not regret the experience.

909 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC