DOV 2018: YEW, fantastic fish dishes!

Restaurant: YEW (visit their website here)

Location: 791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Seafood, Canadian
Dineout Price: $40

Date of visit: January 22, 2018
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

For date night, we decided to revisit YEW since their Dine Out was so enjoyable last year. Sadly, we weren't able to try all three options available, though I saw other people order the scallop, beef, and cookies n' cream dessert-- all looked equally delicious.




We were started with some bread and a lobster spread (didn't get the name, only heard lobster and olive oil). It was delicious! Reminded me of a tuna paste but with some lobster and in the form of a mousse-like concoction.

Couldn't resist also ordering some oysters ($3.75 each), they had Paradise Cove rotating through this evening. These were medium sized, plump, and fresh. Briny and creamy with a sweet finish. Yum! It came with fresh horseradish, a red wine vinaigrette, and hot sauce.

Appetizers

Tiger Prawn Ceviche
peppers, red onions, lemon, coriander
The funny thing about this was that I actually got the vegan version first! I dug around trying to find my beautiful prawns...to no avail. Our server promptly brought me the right dish after this was flagged.

I enjoyed this bright dish, it was light and tangy with fresh veggies and large prawns. Some of the butter lettuce pieces were larger than bite-sized, but easily folded to fit a mouthful.

Salmon Gravlax
cucumber, avocado, toasted sesame, tamarind sauce
Adorables started on this dish first and he was quite impressed. The salmon was smoked and the flavors of the tamarind sauce enhanced the creamy avocado. Just the right amount to start our meal.

Entrees

Steelhead Salmon
brussels sprouts, pickled daikon, bonito consommé
This dish won my heart. The salmon was so perfectly cooked it melted in my mouth. Upon first entry, it has a crispy exterior and buttery salmon inside. Brussels sprouts and consomme felt a little detached to the dish, as if it could've been there or not. Tasty nonetheless.

Ling Cod
parsnip chiboust, winter vegetables, Jerusalem artichokes
Every year we seem to order both fish options for our mains, so here's the other. Still beautifully cooked, this ling cod was full of rich fish flavor of its own. It was falling apart a bit though. Exterior was golden and crispy.

Desserts

Pistachio Cherry Tart
brandy soaked cherries, crème Anglaise, sweet butter crust
As I've noticed, pistachio seems to be a common choice of ingredient this year for dineout. The plating of this dish was so elegant and beautiful. Aside from the brandy soaked cherries, which I don't like to begin with, this was a delicious dessert. Not too sweet, the pistachio concoction atop the sweet butter crust created a wonderful combination of textures and flavors.

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse
38% milk chocolate, orange gelée
The star of the show goes to this dish. I mean, look at the sparkles on it! Although a small piece it was rich, creamy, and just the right amount. The earl grey was prominent in the mousse and not overpowered by chocolate. The base itself was dense but also had crispy bits in it! A wonderful surprise in textures. We both felt it was amazing because it wasn't overly sweet and strong in tea flavor.

And thus concludes another memorable Dine Out experience at YEW for us. They ended our meal with some complimentary financiers-- chewy on the outside and fluffy moist cake on the inside. I loved them, and even ate Adorables' share (only half,  I let him have a bite). 

Aside from the food, service is always attentive and friendly. A solid choice every year!

YEW: Last dineout-- datenight!

To end our Dine Out adventures this year, we decided on YEW, located at the Fairmont beside Pacific Center. They offered a $40 3-course menu with optional wine pairings for each course (various prices). The inside decor is classy but felt comforting. Our server was very friendly and started us with some hot water. Adorables said that he looked familiar, almost like a person he had met during a volunteering mission many years ago!

We were provided with bread to start, Adorables and I gorged on their bread with herb butter.

I ended up dipping my bread in their Yew Lobster Bisque with crispy leek and croutons. I enjoyed this dish the first time I came, but it had been so long I didn't really remember the taste, only "it was good". This was a very creamy but thin bisque. Rich lobster shell flavor. Although it was a small bowl, it soon proved to be a little much all for myself (of course I shared the rest with Adorables).

I talked Adorables into getting the Albacore Tuna with green lentil salad and winter vegetables. Plated as a tower of fish on top of a green lentil salad and garnished with winter vegetables, it was a beautifully colorful arrangement.

Tuna was nice and fresh, lentil added texture to the mushy tuna. Gotta say their plating was simple yet elegant.

I knew it was a silly idea but we both chose more fish for our meal, with Adorables getting the Roasted Salmon with Greek style vegetables and coriander. The fish was cooked perfectly, flakey and not overdone. A golden sheen on the outside on a bed of veggies and soup. Adorables enjoyed the pairing of soup to his fish. I was impartial to this.

I had the Pan Fried Sablefish with vegetables spaghetti, coconut and bouillabaisse. This was a magnificent dish. The sablefish was flakey, moist, and melted in my mouth. Paired with the delicious bouillabaisse-- the dish was well enhanced. I liked this "soup" base more than the one Adorables had since it was more fragrant and full-bodied. The vegetable spaghetti was fine and nicely twirled on my fork.

Onto the dessert round! Their Green Mountain was made with green tea, chestnut, and vanilla yuzu creme. It was a smooth, creamy explosion of green tea flavor in my mouth. The chestnut was very sweet but in small amounts was fine with the rest of the dessert. I loved the shape of it, so cute!

Couldn't decide on the other dessert, our server recommended the Jitters Gateau made with coffee and brown butter Pain de Gênes, coffee cream, and coffee hazelnut streusel. It was amazing! I don't know what made the crunchy bits, but along with the cream and cake-- this was a wonderful dessert experience with a variety of sweet and bitter and textures too!

By the end of the night, we had fully enjoyed our meal and spent some time looking through old photos trying to remember the name of the guide who led the volunteer mission in Morocco-- it turns out our server was indeed the same person! He was still building the school, and it had expanded to become a community center with healthcare included. What an amazing end to our evening, and what a small world it is to reunite with old faces halfway across the world!

YEW: Affordable fancy brunch

Happy new year everyone!! First post of this year! My blogger resolution is to finish all my draft posts and actually publish them! What's yours?

Restaurant: Yew Seafood & Bar (visit their website here)

Location: 791 Georgia Street, Vancouver (inside Four Seasons Hotel)
Cuisine: Seafood, wine, breakfast/brunch
Price range: $25+ per person




Date of visit: January 3, 2015
Atmosphere: 5/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 5/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

To start off the new year, met up with friends from high school for a nice little brunch! You get to choose a main and add $10 to make it three courses (add appie, $11 regularly, and dessert, $9 regularly), pretty good deal! None of us could decide what to get and eventually everyone got three courses! Brunch is offered Saturday and Sunday 11:30am-2:30pm :)

We were started with complimentary Mini Donuts with a side of Strawberry and Raspberry Puree. These were deliciously chewy yet fluffy. The puree was amazing. Not quite jam but went very well with the donuts (and not to mention the pancakes which arrived later).

Some had no holes, but tasted the same (just more deep fried goodness!)

I ordered an Albacore Tuna Tataki for my first course, and the presentation was beautiful. It was lightly seared tuna slices topped with celery hearts, green apple, spicy ginger vinaigrette, and walnuts. Instead of the green apple I got tart grapes (I guess they switched it out), which was fine if they weren't eaten alone. Eating one alone made me gag. If one could manage getting all the ingredients into one bite, the flavors complimented each other well and was a burst of sweet, sour, and salty together. Amazing!

Starfish ordered Buttermilk Pancakes it was topped with walnuts, caramel (?), and bananas. These were super fluffy and didn't cause that odd gritty feel afterwards in my mouth. Super satisfying. Everyone seemed to enjoy them too!

Now, FrostieToots ordered their Seafood Chowder, which had cod, apple, and... I forgot what other ingredients but it was a lighter chowder. She enjoyed it and it looked quite full of ingredients. Pistaccio ordered Root Vegetables. This actually looked the fanciest with Smoked Ricotta (thought it tasted more like goat), Carrots, Beets, and Hazelnut "soil". She said it was good.

Onto our mains, FrostieToots and Pistaccio both ordered the Lobster Benny ($22.00) and swapped the back bacon for avocado mash (as per our waitress' suggestion). Simple, nice presentation there was lobster, avocado, Romesco, Hollandaise, and poached eggs on an English muffin. I tried some of the potatoes on the side, they were perfectly cooked. It looked like a lot of lobster in the benny too. Pistaccio noted that the Hollandaise was very tart, and I agree. They added their twist to it with lemon and basil.

SunStar ordered a 'BLTA' Open Faced ($15.00) and it was giant. Also a bit hard to work at because there was so much in there! This was crushed avocado, double smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, topped with sunny eggs on Brioche. It looked like a tower of food. The egg presentation was a bit unappealing though, they reminded me of side boobs =/ But that was only me thinking it xD

Finally, for myself, I got Pork Belly and Eggs ($18.00). This intrigued me because of the Root Beer Braised Pork. It was topped with Gluten-free Corn Bread, Jalapeno, Apple, and Poached Eggs. The pork was delicious with the bread and apple mixed in some egg yolk: moist, sweet and tender. Beautiful. The poached eggs were well executed as they looked like marshmallows and held its contents after I rolled it around a bit.

I love the shape of the corn bread because it made it easy to portion off while eating, but by itself, it was really bland. Overall this was a wonderfully prepared dish.

Onto dessert! FrostieToots got the Butterscotch Pudding which had caramelized figs and toasted hazelnuts with some sort of biscuit/cookie thing. The pudding itself was creamy and rich, but the biscuits were just odd things in the cup. There was some sort of cherry drizzle on top too, but I didn't taste it much overall.
Pistaccio was disappointed with her Panna Cotta, which FrostieToots quite enjoyed haha! I agree with Pistaccio that the texture of the panna cotta was off... It was far too soft and fluid. Almost like it was overcooked or the egg/cream had curdled. The flavor was light with a perfume-y aftertaste. The description allured her though, with Imperial Black Tea Panna Cotta, Black Seasame Seed Crumble, Pineapple Compote, and Passion Fruit Sorbet. I thought the sorbet was refreshingly tart, but after her tart Hollandaise sauce, this was too much tart for brunch.

SunStar and I both ordered the Warm Chocolate Cake because well, warm. Chocolate. Cake. It came with a side of Whiskey & Fig ice cream with caramel sauce and chocolate crumble. I was amused by the ice cream because it barely melted. I could definitely taste the whiskey with hints of fig, quite liked it with the cake.

The chocolate cake was super moist but not quite like a brownie. It was fluffy yet solid and melted in my mouth.

Can't believe we finished everything! It was very satisfying with wonderful service, lovely company, and beautiful surroundings. Well worth the buck!