DOV 2018: Fishworks, wonderful staff and seafood!

Restaurant: Fishworks (visit their website here)

Location: 91 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver
Cuisine: Seafood
Dineout Price: $30 lunch and dinner menu

Date of visit: January 20, 2018
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 5/5
Food variety: 4.5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

For our second dineout, Adorables and I had a double date with my parents in scenic Lonsdale. I apologize in advance for the quality of photos this time as our key equipment (the camera) was left at home for safety due to heavy rain. I was quite excited about the menu, with three selections for each course and dominant in seafood. A nice intimate storefront, we felt welcomed by the friendly staff. 

While waiting for our meals to arrive, we were served warm foccacia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip. I missed the explanation of what the creamy ball on top was, but it was delicious with hints of sesame oil and chickpea-based. This went well with the soft fragrant bread.

Appetizers

Albacore Tuna Poke
avocado, mango, edamame, mixed greens, sesame seeds, tamari, wasabi aioli, brown rice
Presented in a large clear bowl, this was a colorful dish, albeit a tad messy. A good balance of every ingredient. The salad portion had bigger pieces which didn't go well with other finer ingredients. Everyone agreed it was too saucy and could have been more tart. Fresh and refreshing though!

Prawns Po'Boy Taco
fresh tomato salsa, cilantro aioli, pickled Spanish onion
This beauty came with two golden prawns stacked high and topped with the fresh salsa and onion on a bed of cilantro aioli and soft taco. The shrimp was fresh, had good crunch, and went well with the whole taco. Favorite appy out of them all!

Vegan Cream of Mushroom
coconut milk, wild mushroom, leeks
Adorables asked why I took a photo of soup because it was just soup, but we need photo evidence for everything eaten right? A simple soup of literally minced wild mushroom and coconut milk with some shredded leeks, this was as simple as it got. The coconut milk was fragrant and dominant in the soup, you taste the mushroom after a little while.

Bonus: Crabcakes
We were informed of this fourth option by our server when he was explaining the dineout menu for us, what a treat! More variety! This appeared with a small salad and tartar sauce spread beside the browned crabcake. He mentioned a wasabi aoili with the crabcakes but we didn't taste any traces of that. It was packed full of crab and fresh, however didn't scream anything spectacular to us.

Entrees

Pork Osso Bucco
pork crackling, carrot, celery, potato puree, red wine sauce
Ok. I knew this was a seafood restaurant, but had to try everything in their offerings so this was also ordered. Presentation-wise, perfectly traditional-looking osso bucco. The sauce is runny and made the dish look a bit messy with everything splattered. However, it looked succulent atop the potato puree in red wine sauce. Pork was dry in some parts and too salty for our liking. Pork crackling needed more presence in the dish, almost had to dig around to find it, but it was light and crispy when found.

Wild Salmon
poached lobster, sauce American, winter vegetable
The highlight of the entrees, the salmon was presented beautifully atop perfectly seasoned and cooked winter veggies. I was actually expecting a poached lobster tail instead of the little bits scattered on top, but enjoyed the buttery bites nonetheless. The salmon was perfectly cooked and paired well with the sauce. A dish full of flavor, my mouth still remembers the rich buttery lobster mixed with the salmon.

Mussels & Risotto
fresh basil, sweet peas, sardo cheese
I admired the detail they put into placing all the mussels open-side up to receive the risotto. A deceivingly simple dish, this was remarkably full of flavor. The mussels were fresh and delectable. The risotto was rich, creamy, and exquisite. Some grains weren't cooked through and we found it almost too overpowering in flavors (too salty).

Desserts

Tiramisu
coffee syrup
Ah, onto my favorite part of the meal-- dessert! Now, this tiramisu wasn't outstanding in appearance, but it was light, not overly sweet, and perfectly balanced with the coffee and cream. Everyone enjoyed this dish. One note is that it is a bit too moist.

Pistachio Ice Cream
saffron biscuits
This was neatly arranged in a cup but partially melted already. Unsure if the biscuit had saffron, not too strong. The ice cream itself was marvelous. A light cream swirled in with crushed pistachio to create a memorable icy treat. Contrasted well with the tart berries for an indulgent experience.

Vanilla Panna Cotta
strawberry compote
My personal favorite, this beautiful panna cotta was simple and delicately plated. I dug into the creamy panna cotta and topped it with the sweet and tangy strawberry compote for a heavenly combination of flavors. Alone, the strawberry compote would've been too sweet but with the panna cotta it was perfect.

Our server was attentive, funny, interactive and quite interested in NotMooStachio's story! Definitely enjoyed our meal more at Fishworks because of him! Portion sizes were on the smaller side, but we all went home stuffed.

We ended our meal with complimentary fish-shaped truffles, which were rich, smooth, and deliciously bitter. Bravo!

Vancouver Foodster Presents: Tasting Plates Lonsdale North Van (July 23, 2014)

Another tasting plates so soon! Surprised by Adorables, we went as a group this time, and it was in the Lonsdale area of North Van. Never occurred to me there could be interesting food all the way out there, but I was treated to a pleasant surprise this evening!

Registration took place at Pier 7 Restaurant and we were served in a private dining area upstairs. Their Tasting Plate consisted of (1) Compressed melon salad with yuzu, (2) Scallop ceviche, and (3) Prosciutto carpaccio. The melons were just melon to me. The scallops were fresh and pretty good, they placed salt beneath the shell to stabilize it. Finally the prosciutto was a bit salty for my liking but everyone else said it was good prosciutto-- ah well, what do I know? Rated at 6 -7/10 by the group, I'd have to  lean towards the 6.

Onwards in this rainy weather, we didn't quite beat the crowd but found ourselves a table promptly at the small seating area of Anatoli Soublaki. Their Tasting Plate arrived with (1) Grilled Haloumi caprese, (2) Avgolemono soup, (3) Spanakopita, and (4) Houmus + pita. It was a plate with two portions, and it looked really huge! The grilled haloumi caprese was delicious, highlight was the chewy cheese. I personally enjoyed the Avgolemono soup, which was a chicken rice soup with egg and lemon. Some found it to be like congee with lemon-- rather confusing. The rich chicken flavor fueled this soup. Spanakopita was fluffy, light, and crispy. Seasoned well. Houmus and pita. . . needed more pita. We couldn't finish their generous portion of houmus because we ran out of pita =( It was creamy and had a light hint of garlic-- just perfect.

Moving on just down the street was Fishworks Restaurant. A rather unique dining experience standing up and eating, but cool because they just effortlessly made a simple Halibut poutine beautiful. I mean, how can four fries, a piece of halibut, cheese, some scallions and balsamic vinegar be so good? Well they did it. I found the fish a bit overcooked but the rest was amazing. The cheese was light, the balsamic vinegar cut the oily feeling and the fries were crispy and fluffy. DELISH.

Already feeling a bit stuffed, we meandered over to Two Daughters Bakery. It was a bit sketchy as we had to go to a back alley to where their entrance was. Inside it was nice, and luckily they had their goodies packaged to go, so we could enjoy them later! In the bag was a (1) Gluten free vegan mini donut, and (2) Gluten free vegan brownie. I enjoyed the brownie more as the texture and taste were that of a normal brownie. The mini donut... was too dense and had an odd flavor + texture. However the chocolate on top was normal. I'll just be thankful that I don't have to go gluten-free/vegan for my food =P

Still raining, we march onwards to Plantoplanto, which was UP (yes, very uphill) the street. A cute little (seemingly, there were more tables in the back) cafe, they offered (1) Smoked tofu caprese salad, (2) Beets and feta, (3) Wasabi spiced potato salad, and (4) Sesame soy corn & quinoa. The smoked tofu was a dense chewy tofu on a skewer with tomatoes and lettuce. Average. The beets and feta were well liked, the flavors of the beet were present and the feta added a bit of saltiness to the skewer nicely. I enjoyed the potato salad a lot, wasabi wasn't overwhelming and the potatoes were tender but still had some bite to them. The corn and quinoa didn't suit my tastes... bland but the quinoa was cooked well. They also had a bonus kale salad which most of us didn't care for as it was an odd flavor and the kale was tough.

For a break we decided to travel (now by car) to The Juicery Co. Their tasting cups were (1) Strawberry lemonade on tap, (2) Mini raw cocoa acai bowl, and (3) Vanilla bean & pear almond mylk. I tried the almond mylk first and it was like milk with some sediments and vanilla flavor, quite rich in flavor/creaminess but still/light. The strawberry lemonade was very tart and I barely tasted the strawberry. However, it was refreshing-- they said they used alkaline water, which I forgot the benefits of ^^".

The mini raw cocoa acai bowl had ice cream on the bottom which was meant to be partly melted-- this was the highlight for me. I really liked the granola's sweet crunchiness against the cold creamy ice cream =D (or I'm just a sucker for ice cream overall).

Travelling onwards further away from the core of all the other restaurants, we arrived at The Little District. Inside it was really homey and they were preparing their tasting plate, Cod and shrimp fritters with spicy mayo. By this time most of us were stuffed and this was too filling.

I found I only tasted the mayo and dough. Not much cod or shrimp that I could pick out and decipher the flavors. It was too much for me to just chew on deep fried flour at this time of the meal. It was however, freshly made and nicely "plated".

At our last stop, was a little shop by the name of Rosemary Rocksalt. As we stepped in, we were greeted by a delicious aroma of freshly baked goods-- it was stunning. Very little seating, we were super glad we beat the crowd and got some seats. On the platter was (1) Montreal smoked meat on a rosemary rocksalt bagel, (2) Lox & cream cheese on a bagel, and (3) Sweet rugelach pastry (we got the apricot one). Everyone was super pleased by the flavors of every item.

I loved the smoked meat, there was so much meat but it was delicious. However the pickle on the side was too sweet =/ The lox and cream cheese on bagel was lovely as well, creamy and moist the cream cheese with capers heightened the flavor of the salmon.

Finally, the sweet rugelach pastry, it was amazing. Everyone was surprised at how flakey it was-- just melted in my mouth. They said they'd return here for more! The little chunks of apricot were really nice.









Afterthoughts:

Pros
- Lots of variety: different types of dining atmospheres
- Portion sizes were reasonable
- Registration was simple and efficient
- Special seating ares were easy to find
- Staff were helpful and friendly at all the restaurants

Cons
- Definitely not walkable to all locations
- (out of their control) perfectly normal Raincouver raining on our party
- The food felt really.... hipster (excuse the lack of a better word) and more vegan than the others I've been to
- Felt a bit rushed as we wanted to get to all 8 locations in the rain

Regardless of how wet we all got, it was still good fun and delicious food. Also quite the eye-opener for me as I never imagined North Van to have any food worthy of travelling there for. Now I guess I have to give it a second chance! =) Also a lovely new picture (taken at The Juicery Co).