Al Porto: Great early dinner special!

It was LadyH's birthday, and she opted for an early dinner-- because there was an early dinner special! We were seated in the middle of the restaurant where there was an interesting arc above us that clearly transmitted sound, so we could speak with others far down the table without having to yell! Super cool.

Restaurant: Al Porto Ristorante (visit their website here)

Location: 321 Water Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Italian, Seafood
Price range: $25+ per person




Date of visit: April 18, 2015
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 3.5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

Adorables, ThickToast, and I decided to share a couple dishes to try more variety, so we got their Arancini Funghi ($8.95). Basically they were wild mushroom risotto croquettes stuffed with provolone served on a bed of basil tomato sauce. We were confused at first since they came in three balls (thought they were meatballs).

Anyways, cut it open to find delicious cheese that was melty and a creamy mushroom risotto shell which was crispy on the outside. The tomato sauce was nicely seasoned and made it quite appetizing. Great for dipping bread too!

ThickToast selected their House Cut Fries with Chili Mayo ($6.95). These were thin fries which were adequately crispy, with a tangy chili mayo sauce. The fries were nothing too spectacular, some were too tiny  so they ended up being overfried, but I really liked the chili mayo!

They also offer an early dinner special 4:30-6:30pm where any main course with soup or salad is $24 or any pasta with soup or salad is $18. We got a main course, Scallops and Prawns ($25.95 regularly). It came with 5 scallops, 7 tiger prawns (if I remember correctly), sweet pea and saffron risotto, beet, radish, and purple kale. The scallops were cooked perfectly, juicy and fresh! tiger prawns also cooked well, but not that big. The risotto was bland, radish took us a while to figure out what it was since it looked like sauerkraut but was just julienned radish. One of the highlights was the purple kale, it was seasoned well and cooked so that it was tender but still had some bite to it. I loved the flavor!

We chose a salad to go with our special, the Insalata Beet Carpaccio ($7.95). This was visually appealing with the arugula and frisee mix on thinly sliced beets. I think they also had candycane beet chunks on top. The Parmesan crisp was yummy. Salad was your basic salad with barely detectable honey blood orange dressing.

During early dinner there are also drink specials, but I just ordered a Grapefruit Juice ($4.00 I think), and Adorables had a small San Pellegrino ($5.50). Grapefruit juice wasn't a bright red color and tasted like fresh squeezed grapefruit juice! Very surprising to me! No bitter taste, I enjoyed this with my meal a lot.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience, service was pretty decent, the waiters and waitresses were attentive and accommodating. They have a very homey feel here =)

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!