Johnny Unusual shot the food! JBear needs food badly! J&J's Food Gauntlet.

[JBear]

Lunch!

For the soup course, we had the mango cocktails, and we both agreed that they were the best cocktails of the trip.

For mains, we opted for the brie and the duck:

This was the first time either of us had tried "Peking duck". I can see why it's popular! Everything on that plate was delicious.

Speaking of, the same was true here! The brie was perfectly melting on the plate, and paired wonderfully with the nuts, pear (that's what's in the lower left), and lettuce, which had a light coating of oil and honey.

Both desserts were yummy, although I think the previous chia dessert worked a bit better.

 

[JBear]

Dinner, [Dawn of the] Final day! (24 hours remain)

For appetizers, we ordered the salad and scallops:

The scallops were on a bed of cauliflower risotto. I think the berries were gooseberries? A tasty morsel, in any case.

What a fun little salad. The bocconcini (which I've never seen cut this way) were on a bed of spinach, honeydew, and watermelon, with some yellow zucchini on the side for a nice splash of colour.

For mains, we opted for the tiger shrimp and the tofu skewer:

I love the plating on this one (although my favourite plating of the week us still to come). Under the tiger shrimp was a bed of smoked salmon couscous.

This was called a tofu "skewer", but it was just plated to look like one-- there's no actual skewer in there holding everything together. Which is just as well, since I'd rather not fuss with one. The tofu was cooked through, just how I like (I hate the texture of molten tofu), and the sauce was a delicious maple sesame.

Lucie was crushed to find out that they ran out of creme brulee (it's her favourite dessert, although I've never been much of a fan), so we ended up with the sugar pie and chocolate mousse cake:

Both were repeats, but they were both still good!

 

[Violentvixen]

What a fun little salad. The bocconcini (which I've never seen cut this way) were on a bed of spinach, honeydew, and watermelon, with some yellow zucchini on the side for a nice splash of colour.

I misread that as broccolini and spent a very long time wondering what weird wizardry they did to turn them white.

 

[JBear]

I misread that as broccolini and spent a very long time wondering what weird wizardry they did to turn them white.

If it's the same wizardry they use to get white asparagus then I'm out!

We had a final lunch after checkout:

We had the cocktails to start, and the fish and vegan dishes for mains:

This vegan plate, consisting of tofu, spaghetti squash, and imitation cheese was delightful, but no part of it was more delightful than learning that the French term for imitation cheese is "fauxmage", a portmanteau of the words "faux" (false) and "fromage" (cheese).

(Fun aside: in French, "portmanteau" just means coat rack.)

The final dish of the trip was also my favourite plating of the trip, with a vinaigrette in a little glass in the centre, surrounded by capers, smoked salmon and, in a first for me, sturgeon! (Which is why I ordered it, of course.) It was all very tasty, and the sturgeon especially, which was very fatty.

The final dessert of the trip was a black forest cake:

I'm typically not a big fan of black forest cake, but this one was very good, as could only be expected. It was a lovely note to end on.

 

[Büge]

Salmon & shrimp mousse, served with house biscotti.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

The final dish of the trip was also my favourite plating of the trip, with a vinaigrette in a little glass in the centre, surrounded by capers, smoked salmon and, in a first for me, sturgeon! (Which is why I ordered it, of course.) It was all very tasty, and the sturgeon especially, which was very fatty.

To get to the drink, we must ford the fish pile.

 

[Kirin]

Catching up on this thread is making me wish I’d taken more pictures of all the amazing food we ate on our honeymoon.

Also now I’m hungry.

 

[JBear]

There's a fancy mac and cheese competition/charity event in the city ATM, and last night we went to an irish pub to try their entry:

This was pineapple whiskey BBQ pork belly with fresh-made potato gnocchi served in a Dublin cheddar cheese sauce, and it was stellar. I was particularly impressed with the gnocci, which had a texture unlike any I had had before that I don't think I would prefer in most contexts but that I thought worked quite well here, being more... obviously potato-y, kind of a half-step between gnocci and a tater tot. The event only lasts a week, but we're probably going to squeeze one more in this weekend.

 

[Falselogic]

that mac & cheese looks and sounds delicious.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, the stuffed gnocchi was really good and though it was unmistakably gnocchi, it has a clear home made mac and cheese influence despite the pork belly addition. It's a shame they can't do it as a regular but considering the chef apparently has to make most of the gnocchi as orders come in, it would be a lot to ask for.

 

[JBear]

It's time for Dine Around Freddy again!

First up, my partner and I went to what averages out to probably be our favourite restaurant in the city, the local Italian place.

First up was drinks!

This Caramel Apple Sangria, consisting of butterscotch & apple liqueur, white wine, and apple cider, is one of those very dangerous cocktails that doesn't taste like it's alcoholic, to the point that my SO loved it, and she hates the taste of alcohol. Absolutely delicious.

Next up was apps:

The roasted squash soup, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and pesto, tasted as good as it looked. The meatball slider didn't photograph quite as well, but was still quite tasty. It was almost like a tiny meatball sub, with cheese, meatball, marinara, and some crispy onions.

Next up was the main course!

I'm a sucker for cannelloni, and these spinach and artichoke cannelloni in a sweet tomato sauce were no exception.

That said, my partner opted for the Tuscan Pork instead, and it was honestly probably the better dish. The pork loin was just a hair on the chewy side for me, but the sundried tomatoes & crispy prosciutto on top paired with a delicious sauce (that we unfortunately couldn't quite place) to really elevate it.

Which finally brings us to dessert:

I got the blueberry, raspberry, and vanilla cheesecake, and it was very good, but it honestly paled in comparison to my partner's dessert:

Argleblargle, triple chocolate mousse. Milk chocolate on the bottom, white chocolate in the middle, and dark chocolate layered and drizzled on top. Absolutely sublime.

[We also hit another place with Johnny last night, but it was honestly deeply medium, so it's not worth going to the trouble to post about. Hopefully the next place will be better!]