Restaurant: Dolce Gelato
Cuisine: Gelato/Desserts
Last visited: August 13, 2011
Location: White Rock
Address: 15045 Marine Drive
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Small family owned gelato shop
• Fresh, made daily gelato
• Made with fresh local fruits
• High quality gourmet gelato
• Sorbets available
• Very busy/popular
• Local favourite
• Open only for the summer
• Family friendly
• Limited seating
• Eat in/Take out
• Open daily until 9pm

**Recommendations: I’d recommend all of the flavours I had. It’s hard to go wrong here, and their fruit sorbets (sorbetti) are packed with fresh local fruit.

When a place can afford to open only for a few months in the summer, selling essentially one product, you know it’s got to be something really good! And boy is Dolce Gelato making something really good!

I’ve known about this tiny family owned gelato shop for a few years, but due to its exclusive opening period, I’ve never had the opportunity to blog about it. Now I can finally give it the attention it deserves and share with you this great local favourite and hidden secret in the heart of White Rock, BC!

There’s a whole lot of choices for ice cream and “gelato” on the White Rock restaurant strip, so they don’t even win by lack of competition. This is pretty much the only one you have to visit for real gelato. It’s not ice cream, so I won’t compare it to those shops, but for gelato this is the stop, and it’s easily a local and tourist favourite.

I’d even say forget about dessert at whatever restaurant you’re at and just head here! Or order your dessert and have dessert #2 after. I like to believe gelato is part of a “liquid diet”, so it doesn’t count.

Authentic gelato should always look like the above, it should never look like a scoop. Ice cream is a scoop.

Yes, it’s no Bella Gelateria, and as much as I love Bella Gelateria, this would hands down be my second favourite! In fact it was my favourite before Bella Gelateria came along! I like it better than Dolce Amore and Amato Gelato (Mario’s Gelato), but I’m not keen on Mario’s anyways, or even really Dolce Amore. I know it’s hard to go back to anything else after Bella Gelateria, but even I can still appreciate Dolce Gelato. I fully embrace the gelato and sorbet they make here. They know what they’re doing and their prices are very fair.

They’re made fresh daily and in small batches so it’s never exposed to much air and there’s no crystallization.When the flavour is gone it’s gone and there’s no mass production or even fancy machines, and it’s simply excellent gelato.
It’s super creamy, melts fast as authentic Italian gelato should, and made with fresh and local ingredients that are high quality too. It’s not an actual scoop of gelato as authentic gelato should never be an actual scoop. You can just tell by the colours how much real fruit is in that sorbet. The apples for their apple sorbet used to be picked from the trees of White Rock, and I’m pretty sure they still are. Basically this is a must try if you’re in White Rock, and I’d consider it the “Bella Gelateria” of the suburbs.

On the table:

**Pistachio Gelato – 5.5/6

• Cones or cup. 1 flavour $3.85 2 flavours $5.45 3 flavours $6.35 Kds 1 flavour $3.20 Affogato $5.90
• I personally love pistachio, so this was my favourite. I love any nutty flavours though.
• This was incredibly rich and intense with pistachio flavour and it even had little bits of pistachio nuts in it.
• It was made with real pistachio nuts and pistachio paste and it tastes like the real deal.
• It was smooth and creamy, not too sweet and there was a surprising amount of pistachio nuts in it, which is costly, so I was impressed.
• You can tell by the colour if it’s a good pistachio gelato. The darker green in colour the better for me. See my recipe for pistachio gelato here.

**Ricotta & Caramelized Pecan – 5/6

• Cones or cup. 1 flavour $3.85 2 flavours $5.45 3 flavours $6.35 Kds 1 flavour $3.20 Affogato $5.90
• Again I have to go with a nutty flavour.
• The ricotta was very mild, being that ricotta is a mild cheese I expected in to be. It was very light and creamy and just tasted like a fior di latte or natural gelato base.
• It had a decent amount of caramelized pecan bits in it although I could use a bit more, I could always use more.
• They were crunchy and coated with crystallized caramel, but they weren’t sticking to your teeth and not too sweet either.
• It was nutty, crispy, and crunchy and I loved the sweetness the caramelized component brought to the ricotta. Delicious!

**Lavender & Honey Gelato – 5/6

• Cones or cup. 1 flavour $3.85 2 flavours $5.45 3 flavours $6.35 Kds 1 flavour $3.20 Affogato $5.90
• This was amazing! I love this combination of ingredients, so I was a fan to begin with.
• The milk was infused with lavender leaves so there was no actual lavender flowers in it. Therefore the flavour is very mild, but still obvious and it’s quite floral, but not soapy. Even lavender haters would like this because it’s nice and light.
• The honey was quite faint and it wasn’t that sweet so I don’t think there was much used.
• I would have preferred maybe a slightly higher honey content, not that it needed to be sweeter, but I did want to taste real honey bee honey.

**Peach Sorbet – 5/6

• Cones or cup. 1 flavour $3.85 2 flavours $5.45 3 flavours $6.35 Kds 1 flavour $3.20 Affogato $5.90
• The sorbetti here is amazing. All their fruit flavours are bursting with real fruit purees and they’re absolutely incredible.
• They have no cream so they’re a bit icy, but not crystallized. It’s still creamy from the generous amount of real fruit puree used.
• The peaches used were incredibly ripe and also local and the sweetness was very natural and not tart at all.
• I could actually see the pureed peach skins and bite into little pieces of peach.
• You can just tell by the texture and colours of their sorbet that they’re incredible fresh, made with real fruit, and high quality.

Restaurant: Giraffe
Cuisine: West Coast/Seafood/Pacific Northwest
Last visited: December 19, 2010
Location: White Rock, BC
Address: 15053 Marine Drive
Price Range:

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: n/a
Service: n/a
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Executive Chef David Chow (Dubrulle Culinary Institute)
• Fine dining
• Focus on West Coast/seafood
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Globally/fusion inspired menu
• Creative/Fresh/gourmet homemade
• Great view of waterfront
• Small/intimate/cozy dining area
• Beautiful intimate patio
• Seasonal menu
• Weekly specials
• Sustainable seafood
• Lunch Thurs.-Sat. 11:30am
• Dinner M-Sun. 5:30pm
• Sunday brunch 11am

**Recommendations: Lamb is a favourite. I also like their crispy crab wontons, chicken flippers, steamed Salt Spring mussels, and from their specials this week the Steelhead Trout. The brunch is also worth checking out.

I’ve been to Giraffe probably a dozen times now, if not more. It’s my reliable West Coast fine dining restaurant in the Surrey/White Rock suburbs. I’m incredibly biased though because the Executive Chef David Chow is my best friend’s brother. Therefore we’re almost related so I’m not going to rate anything on this post. Feel free to check out their rating on Urbanspoon though because I’m not the only one that thinks it’s great. It has a strong standing and loyal customers for good reason too. (He’s also making a gourmet Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict for Christmas brunch this year and there’s no way I’m risking any chance of losing my invitation to that )

This is actually my second post for Giraffe, and my first one was on Sunday brunch there – see here. This post is specifically on the specials available this week only so if you see something you like I recommend making a reservation and trying it before Christmas Eve (this Friday). I know this sounds very promotional, and there was a family discount, but be sure there were no expectations for a post. I simply enjoyed my Steelhead Trout dinner special and people expressed interest in the Bruleed Banana Bread so I’m just sharing my experience. As always my posts are very centered around the food.

My best friend and I had actually just finished a Christmas high tea at Tracycakes Bakery just down the street and we decided to take a 2 hour break eating break before dinner. At this point, you’ll only be shocked if you don’t know us, or at least me by now.

On the table:

Complimentary Bread (Photo from previous dinner)

• It’s always a regular white bread or sourdough, and then a sun-dried tomato bread.
• It’s not made in house, but it’s from Hillcrest Bakery & Deli just up the street.
• I’ve always liked the sun-dried tomato bread, it’s quite traditional in texture, but I love the tangy flavour and dried herbs.

Grilled Pineapple & Scallop Salad – n/a

• With pickled red onion, shaved fennel with citrus soy vinaigrette $13
• It came with 4 medium sized seared scallops and a well dressed salad.
• The citrus soy sauce was actually much tangier and more pickled in flavour than the pickled red onions. It was quite a zesty and light salad, yet still substantial from the scallops and pineapples.

• There was a layer of thinly sliced grilled pineapples at the bottom and I was surprised to find so many. There was at least 5 and I originally expected it to be served like a salsa on top of the scallops, but I actually enjoyed it this way because I got even more pineapple flavour.
• The pineapples actually could have been a dressing alone they had so much flavour. They were incredibly sweet especially since they were grilled, but the pickled citrus dressing helped balance it out and together it created a citrus zing.
• It reminded me of Hawaii and I wanted to throw some Macadamia nuts in it too, however that would be risky because the scallops were already being out shined a bit.

Dungeness Crab Fettuccine - n/a

• With peppers, asparagus and a lemon parsley cream $17
• This was quite a simple cream sauce fettuccine with fresh and tender shaved asparagus and sweet red bell peppers. There was a subtle hint of lemon that brought out a freshness rather than a tanginess.
• My favourite part was the juicy dungeness crab which was easily seasoned and coated with the light cream sauce. The cream sauce isn’t that rich or thick, so it’s actually not that hearty especially for a fettuccine.
• I would enjoy this more as a starter size, which I kind of did because I shared it with my friend.

**Seared Steelhead Trout – n/a

• With a Green goddess dressing and pesto lemon orzo $24
• Rarely am I most impressed with the main, and I totally was in this case. This dish reminded me of a new age and reinvented salmon with lemon dill sauce.
• Despite the sauce being an old fashioned forgotten sauce, it actually worked really well and the dish was presented modern.
• This Steelhead Trout was executed perfectly, skin on, crispy, flavourful, flaky and moist. It was perfectly cooked and seasoned and incredibly juicy.
• The skin was very crispy and almost nutty and the flavour of the trout was fresh and it tastes like a slightly milder salmon if you’ve never had it.
• The sauce was made with 5 different herbs, and what I could taste was the dill first, followed by terragon, parsley and chives. My palette couldn’t get the other herbs though. It was almost like a thin lemon dill ranch dressing meets a pesto cream and it’s quite tangy and herby.
• The orzo was lemony and fresh and well flavoured, although a bit soft… mind you they were super busy that night with Christmas parties.
• The lemon dill Green goddess dressing and the pesto went together very well and I actually enjoyed the fish with or without the sauces.
• I always love the variety of veggies here. They’re local and fresh and always cooked perfectly. From beets, baby carrots, red peppers, brocollini and green beans, there’s always at least 3-4 seasonal varieties on my plate.

Desserts

All desserts are actually made in house and it’s quite surprising considering how small the restaurant is.

**Banana Bread – n/a

• Cinnamon butter brulee, mocha gelato $9
• This was very creative because of the brulee technique which I’ve never seen done on a loaf of bread. Brilliant. Also, I’m about 95% sold with just the idea of putting ice cream or gelato on any warm baked good.
• It reminded me of banana bread french toast and it was actually similar to the one Jethro’s Fine Grub serves for brunch.
• This one was much more of a dessert though, and instead of a crispy egg batter it had a crispy thin sugar crust and then a nice cinnamon flavour that wasn’t overwhelming.
• The banana bread is dense and it wasn’t too sweet or even very banana-y but the caramel sauce added a nice sweetness and richness and I enjoyed it.
• I’m going to put a shameless plug in here, but this would have been super delicious with my Follow Me Foodie Maple Cinnamon Creme Brulee gelato available until Jan. 8, 2011 at Bella Gelateria… it really would have though!

This is a dessert sampler platter I had in the summer. I won’t write too much about it since the desserts have now changed, but it gives you an idea.

Dessert Sampler Platter

• Cheesecake – White Chocolate, almond shortbread crust, raspberry coulis
• Creme Brulee – There’s always a version of this on the menu.
• Chocolate Torte – There’s usually something like this as well.
• Assorted shortbread cookies.
• Assorted gelato & sorbet – these are ordered in, and in the summer they get them next door from Dolce Gelato – the best gelato shop before Bella Gelateria came along.

This is another dessert I had in the summer, but again their menus are seasonal and change often.

Lemon Tart

• With Raspberry coulis and sorbet $9

Complimentary After Dinner Chocolate Giraffes

• These are their iconic chocolate giraffes they give to everyone at the end of the meal.
• It’s delicious dark Belgian chocolate and they’re custom made by Daniel’s Chocolates.

Restaurant: Tracycakes Bakery Cafe
Cuisine: Bakery/Pastries/Sandwiches/High Tea
Last visited: December 18, 2010
Location: White Rock, BC
Address: 15015 Marine Drive
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3 (based on afternoon tea)
Service: n/a
Ambiance: 3.5
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Baked daily cupcakes
• Known for cupcakes
• Home made foods
• Home baked goods
• Light lunches
• Cozy/quaint
• High tea available
• Patio seating
• Ocean view
• To-go baked goods
• Catering available
• Private party bookings

**Recommendations: Scones, lemon tarts

Tracycakes is a bakery, cafe, and tearoom with three locations in Abbotsford, Fort Langley and White Rock. Apparently the Abbostford location is the cutest, but I haven’t had the opportunity to check them all out yet. I was invited to the annual Tracycakes Jazzed Up Christmas High Tea and I decided to attend the White Rock location which faces a lovely ocean view.

The Jazzed Up Christmas High Tea was a special event, however I think their regular high tea service is almost the same, or at least similar. The event was open to the public and incredibly affordable at $16/person. I suggest calling to make a reservation because I’m not sure if there are anymore throughout the holidays. It was supposed to include piano jazz Christmas music, but unfortunately that was replaced with a Christmas CD. I’m guessing the word didn’t travel fast enough or the ugly weather kept people away, because it was a relatively quiet afternoon.

It was a cozy and quaint tea room, but they don’t have the fine details of authentic fine bone china cups or plates and the tea selection was quite limited. The high tea is much more American than British in style and almost everything was made in house. The food was okay and the baked goods were quite average, but for the price ($16/person), it’s definitely well worth it with decent variety.

Tracycakes is probably best known for their cupcakes which come in 40+ flavours. They also have baked goods to go, but I think I was left a little underwhelmed although it’s still fun and the experience was still nice.

To give you an idea, Applewood Country Gifts, Tea Room & Bakery in Delta and The China Cup Tea Company in Cloverdale (Surrey) charge $20/person for high tea. This is still considered inexpensive compared to the $30+/person high teas you are pretty much guaranteed to pay anywhere in Vancouver and especially in downtown. I haven’t tried the high tea at Applewood yet, but I have gone for lunch on a few occasions. Overall I would have to give it to The China Cup Tea Company for providing excellent high tea in Vancouver’s lower mainland.

Added note: I have to say that none of these places are actually offering high tea though. The service being offered is afternoon tea, not high tea. The terms are often confused, and I admit I wasn’t 100% sure of their meanings until a couple months ago after tweeting with @gastronommy. I knew that high tea usually consists of heartier foods like mini pot pies and wellingtons, but I didn’t know it’s usually had at 5-7pm before dinner. I still thought it took place in the mid-afternoon 2-5pm, but in this case it would be called “afternoon tea” and it would consists of the traditional crustless finger sandwiches, scones and pastries. Anyways that’s just a little background to set things straight.

On the table:

Tea – n/a

• Mighty Leaf served in your own pot.
• I was a bit caught off guard that it was Mighty Leaf, because I was expecting more of a boutique tea company or imported brand.
• Organic Hojicha Tea
  • Slow roasted green tea leaves hold a rich nutty brew – it’s quite strong, bold and dark.
• African Nectar
  • Organic African rooibos leaves – this was delicious. It was naturally sweet, floral with hints of vanilla.
• I have to say that The China Cup Tea Company still serves tea best – see here.

High Tea - 3/6 (overall)

• English sandwiches, scones, dainties, Christmas cupcakes, coffee and tea $16/person (Price could be a holiday special)

Sun Dried Tomato & Goat’s Cheese Quiche – 4/6

• These were enjoyable. It was quite tangy with lots of sun-dried tomato, fresh tomato, cranberry and creamy goat’s cheese. The goat’s cheese helped to round out all the tangy flavours. It was served in a buttery tender tartlet and served warm.

Sausage Rolls – 2.5/6

• I loved the flaky buttery and crispy pastry, but there was a bit too much of it and I couldn’t really taste the sausage. The sausage filling was flavourful, soft and moist, but overall it seems dry because of the overwhelming amount of pastry used.

**White Chocolate & Cranberry Scone – 5/6

• Fresh baked scones $1.95
• Try them with Devonshire cream & jam +$1
• This is my favourite part to any tea time. I look forward to giant fluffy home baked scones and these ones were definitely the highlight of the meal. I’d come back for these.
• This is a holiday special and well worth ordering for Christmas morning! It’s a bargain for the size and very well priced in general.
• They were incredibly moist, soft and fluffy and perfectly baked with a semi-crispy exterior. It was almost biscuit meets muffin meets cake.
• The inside was so moist that it almost seemed under baked, but it was actually perfectly baked. It’s probably extra moist from the melted white chocolate which I think could have been directly incorporated into the batter.
• It had a great balance of sweet white chocolate and tart juicy real cranberries. There wasn’t really pieces of white chocolate so it wasn’t too sweet either and the powdered icing sugar topping was a great touch. I only wish they were served warm.
• It was served with jam and lemon curd which I think are both store bought. The jam I’m almost certain, and even if the lemon curd wasn’t it had an artificial flavour and gluey thick texture. It does bother me too because I expect homemade jam and real lemon curd from any tea room of this style.
• The devonshire cream is made in house, but it tasted like the easy method of devonshire cream, which is adding cream cheese to whipped cream. It was quite thick, sweet and tangy, but almost cheesy too. Nonetheless I did thoroughly enjoy it with the scone.

English Sandwiches - 2/6

• Cucumber & Cream Cheese, Egg Salad, and Turkey & Cranberry crustless sandwiches.
• The combination of white and brown bread made for great flavour and texture, but none of the sandwiches had enough filling and it was almost all bread.
• Some of the bread on the sandwiches was also a bit dried out, and there’s no reason for these simple sandwiches to be pre-made if they were.
• My favourite was probably the turkey and cranberry, which was simply deli turkey shavings and canned cranberry sauce. It’s something you could do at home, but it was the sandwich with the most filling.
• The egg salad was also very good, but there was hardly any in the sandwich. It had a little dill and great savoury flavour and it wasn’t too much on the mayo either. A little green would have been nice as well.
• The cucumber and cream cheese sandwich was exactly that, but not enough of it.

I love that they give you a variety of cookies, but overall I didn’t find the desserts too exciting. I think I need to revisit and try their coffee cakes and pies etc. for a better idea.

Lemon Tarts – 3.5/6

• These lemon tarts weren’t that traditional, but I still really enjoyed them.
• The lemon filling was baked and almost solidified, and it looked like a jelly candy, but it was deceivingly good.
• The lemon custard centers were sponge like and squishy, yet creamy, fluffy and mousse like after biting into them. They were sweet, but also tart and it had a slightly grainy texture that actually worked really well with the buttery tender and soft tart shell.
• It was an obvious homemade custard, so I don’t know why they don’t use it for their lemon curd they serve with their scones as well…

Sugar Cookie – 3/6

• I enjoyed the sugar cookie the most. It was soft, sweet and buttery and it was almost like shortbread and melted in your mouth quite easily.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti – 2/6

• Made with dark bittersweet chocolate, very lightly sweetened and a bit hard and stale in texture, but not in flavour.

Gingerbread Cookie - 2/6

• The cookie was almost thick and fluffy and it wasn’t that sweet. I could taste the ginger, but it didn’t taste like a traditional gingerbread. It was spiced, but a bit dull and not really sweet. I wasn’t keen on the flavour.

Black Forest Cookie - 2.5/6

• I’m not sure if that’s what it was, but that’s what it tasted like and it had a Maraschino cherry in the middle. It was like a black forest cake in cookie form and the cherry flavour was in the chocolate cookie batter as well. I’m not a fan of chocolate and cherry really, but I didn’t mind this.

Oatmeal Raspberry Thumbprint Cookie – 2.5/6

• It wasn’t a soft and chewy cookie, and again it wasn’t that sweet. I didn’t mind it, but it wasn’t that memorable either.

Holiday Cupcakes

• Egg Nog Cupcake, Candy Cane Cupcake, Oh Holy Night Cupcake, Mint Chocolate Cupcake (with a whipped cream filling).
• Cupcakes come in two sizes – regular ($3.25 each, $14.50 for six or $29 per dozen) or babycake ($1.40 each, $11.95 per dozen).
• They offer 40+ cupcake flavours and they get pretty creative as well. They all have buttercream icings.
• The cupcakes are more or less their specialty and what they’re known for, so my expectations were high.
• I can’t say I was a major fan of them and I found them quite inconsistent with some of the cupcakes sticking to the paper liners. Although they’re baked daily I felt like some of them had been sitting in the fridge for a while.
• Most of them were moist, but the icings overpowered the cake. The icing was much too sweet for me, and I wouldn’t have guessed it was buttercream because it tasted like sugary icing. As sweet as it was it was hard to avoid because the icing is what carried a lot of the creative flavours rather than the actual cake portion of the cupcake.
• My favourite was the Mint Chocolate Cupcake because it was the most balanced in flavour without being too sweet. The whipped cream filling was also a great addition to keep it moist.

The top tier was a selection of fresh fruit which is always nice.

Restaurant: Five Corners Bistro
Cuisine: American/Seafood/Pacific Northwest
Last visited: November 14, 2010
Location: White Rock, BC (White Rock/South Surrey)
Address: 15182 Buena Vista Avenue
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 1
Service: n/a (see note)
Ambiance: 2
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Sister restaurant to Five Corners Cafe
• Canadian/Euro cuisine
• Family owned/operated
• Local ingredients
• Extremely slow w/bigger groups
• Home style
• Very cozy/family run feel
• Casual fine dining
• Focus on seafood
• Tues-Sun 5pm
• Closed Monday
  

**Recommendations: Honestly, I think your money is better spent elsewhere.

Five Corners Bistro in White Rock, BC is the sister restaurant to the very successful and local favourite Five Corners Cafe, literally just around the corner. I’ve heard great things about the cafe and I’ve been meaning to check it out, but I made it to the Bistro first. My guess is that they should stick to flipping burgers and hash browns.

I love supporting local family run restaurants, however this was perhaps one of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve ever had. The food was home made and not in a good way at all. I feel really bad for saying this but I have to be honest. The food seemed and tasted like food I would make when I was in elementary… not even though because by then I would know when food is black, it’s burnt. I’m not exaggerating.

I was with a group of 10, and we ordered 3 orders of lamb and 4 orders of the same pasta as well as other dishes, and the meal took AGES to be served. There were only 2-3 other small tables. We literally waited well over an hour for the mains to come out. The server didn’t know the menu and neither did the chef. Apparently they had a new chef on board who was still learning the menu and how to cook the dishes for the first time that night… so I guess they decided to practice with our order? Word of advice to the owners, telling us that fact does not help your case.

Nothing was done to rectify the situation after bringing up the several problems we had with dinner to the server. The server was too young (so I bit my tongue at times) and overall the service was unprofessional with no apology from upper management. It was like a horrible episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Boo-urns. BOO-URNS.

On the table:

Complimentary Bread and Butter

• Store bought bread, but it was served warm. It was one of the best things of the night.
• The butter had garlic powder mixed in and I actually like it.

Steamed Salt Spring Mussels – 1.5/6

• Daily appetizer special. White wine with garlic $8.95
• They were large and plump and 2 of them were spoiled. I had one of the bad ones that was mushy and slimy.
• The sauce was a tangy and salty garlic sauce that was actually pretty good.
• They claim it’s a “special” to maintain quality and freshness. I didn’t even complain about the 2 spoiled mussels since it was only 2. I let it go.

Brie and Roasted Garlic Philo Bundle – 2/6

• With raspberry coulis and a side salad $8.25
• It’s a great savoury and sweet flavour, but it’s a do it at home appetizer.
• Take a wheel of brie, top it with cloves of caramelized garlic, wrap it in phyllo and bake it. Serve it on a bed of raspberry sauce. Done.
• I did like the salad though which had a sweetened vinaigrette and fresh berries.

Roasted Garlic Tapenade - 1/6

• Olive tapenade and roasted garlic on crostini $6.95
• It was such a literal translation of the menu. There was no incorporation of ingredients or creativity.
• The olives were dry and barely salted or seasoned. They did a great job with the caramelized garlic cloves, but now I’m just giving them credit for simple stuff.
• The salad was good with candied pecan pieces and fresh cherry tomatoes.

Crab and Asiago Stuffed Mushroom Caps – 1/6

• Baked with Asiago Cheese $8.25
• Perhaps the most disappointing looking and tasting mushroom caps I’ve ever had.
• It was 98% stuffed with Asiago cheese and barely any crab. The mushrooms were too small to hold any crab anyways.

Grilled Vegetable Risotto – 1/6

• Fresh seasonal roasted vegetables, simmered with Arborio rice and Parmesan cheese $14.95
• This was the only vegetarian main and I couldn’t believe it was a main.
• WHERE ARE THE VEGETABLES?! Fine. I see a few diced carrots and there was a few diced green beans the size of peas.
• The rice was hard and the risotto was incredibly stiff.
• The flavour was buttery, but not that cheesy and it reminded me of powdered Lipton chicken soup mix with rice.

I just wanted to show proof of the menu descriptions, just because nothing seemed to match them.

Seafood Linguini – 1/6

• Prawns, scallops, salmon & snapper tossed in our own garlic, alfredo sauce, served with garlic toast $17.95
• This was recommended.
• It was severely overcooked and had probably been sitting in the oven for 15 minutes at least before it was served. Even if it wasn’t overcooked, I wouldn’t have high hopes for it.
• The 2 chunks of salmon were completely dried out, the prawns were dry, and the scallops tasted frozen although I had at least 5 of them. The snapper was MIA.
• It’s a watery garlic and butter cream sauce made with some melted ricotta cheese and perhaps a little white wine. It was standard, but the sauce didn’t stick to the pasta.
• The baked cheese tasted like a layer of Asiago rather than Parmesan.

Pan Seared, Fraser Valley Duck Breast – 2/6

• Served with an orange demi glace, seasonal vegetables & roasted potatoes $19.95
• The skin wasn’t crispy, but at least the duck meat was tender and quite juicy. I liked it.
• The sauce was sweet and had a hint of orange taste if I looked for it, there wasn’t enough of it for the duck though.
• The carrots were sweetened with perhaps brown sugar with some overcooked green beans and unseasoned spaghetti squash.

Again, the menu descriptions didn’t match the food.

Where are the mashed potatoes? What was that? Get a picture of the other side? Okay…

Whiskey BBQ Ribs – 1.5/6

• Pork back ribs with seasonal vegetables & mashed potatoes $19.95

Okay, so there are no mashed potatoes. They’re roasted potatoes. That’s okay, honest mistake. I’m fine.

But I’m not fine with this kind of roasted potato.

The duck and the snapper advertised mashed potatoes, but all mains ended up coming with these “roasted potatoes”… almost every single one looked like this. It tasted as good as it looks.

• The pork ribs were boiled first I’m pretty sure. They were dried out though and the quality was poor with hardly any meat on them. It was from an anorexic pig. It was a sweet sticky BBQ sauce, but they weren’t saucy ribs and they tasted like it was from a grade 9 summer BBQ.

Cajun Red Snapper – n/a

• Pan seared blackened snapper, accented with a lemon dill creme fraiche, served with seasonal vegetables & mashed potatoes $19.95
• I didn’t try this, but the people that had it said it was okay. The fish was not bad except the last bite was apparently very fishy tasting and they questioned if it was frozen.

Full Rack of Lamb – 3/6

• Full or half rack of New Zealand Lamb; fresh herb & grainy dijon bread crumb crust, served with a minted demi glace. Full$26.95 Half 20.25
• This was easily the best main out of all of them. I’m not even a huge fan of lamb, and even I thought it was better than everything else.
• It was a good, tender and juicy lamb with a mild gaminess which I could still taste, but was bearable and nice.
• There was a crust, but it wasn’t crispy and I couldn’t taste the mustard or any spice.
• There was no minted demi glace.
• I’m not sure if it was the grainy or regular mustard my friend asked for. But, the server came back with one or the other and said “I brought you some grainy mustard, but if you want regular mustard we just ran out, so I’ll have to go out to the store to buy some more. It’s really not a problem and I don’t mind though.” (My friend kindly accepted whatever was given.)

Restaurant: Taka’s Take-Out Sushi
Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi/Fusion
Last visited: March 23, 2010
Location: White Rock , BC
Address: 15214 Pacific Ave
Price Range:

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 4
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Popular to locals
• Chinese chef/staff
• Quick/friendly/affordable
• Seats 10
• Popular for sushi rolls
• Creative/fusion rolls
• California style Japanese sushi
• Sashimi/some appetizers
• Good sushi rice/seaweed
• All rolls available in cones
• Lunch specials until 3pm ($9.25-$13.25)
• Popular for party trays
• Free green tea
• Eat in/Take-out
• Accepts MC, Visa, Interac, AMEX

Recommendations: Peppered Tuna Tataki. It’s hard to say – everything was good, but nothing amazing.

Taka’s Take-Out Sushi is located in White Rock, BC. It’s a small little Japanese place that focuses on creative sushi rolls. It’s very popular to locals and it’s obvious that 99% of the clinetele are regulars… especially when they sit down and the chef says “the usual”?

The chef and staff are actually Chinese but the head chef has trained and worked internationally in Japan and California. The style of his recipes are very Californian and West Coast. The menu is actually quite limited with an extensive list and focus on sushi and rolls.

Friends of mine actually recommended Taka’s Sushi to me a while ago and I heard about it from locals in the area so I was very excited to try it. Me and my best friend are notorious for trying Japanese restaurants serving creative and funky fusion rolls so our expectations are very high. Taka’s Take-Out Sushi is great for what’s in the area (and that’s why I think locals rave about it) but places that do the same sort of thing like Sushi World, Sushi Maki, Yuji’s, Kadoya Sushi and other places in Vancouver blow it out of the water.

I can’t say it disappointed me, but I wasn’t that impressed either. It’s good, but there’s better. I find that everything was rather heavy on the mayo and they kept reusing the same spicy mayo sauce on everything so I got bored quickly.

On the table:

**Peppered Tuna Tataki – 5/6

• Pan seared tuna, rubbed with peppercorn topped with spicy sauce, green onions and crunchy garlic $11.00 (6 pcs) / $5.50 (3 pcs)
• The also offer $7.37 (4 pcs) and since there were 2 of us he suggested 4 pcs.

• It was served chilled. The tuna pieces were nice and thick, firm, perfectly seared and heavily crusted with a black pepper spice rub.
• It was actually not that spicy although it looks spicy. The black pepper was much more aromatic than anything else.
• The spicy sauce is a chili mayo (that they use on everything ‘spicy’) but it’s not even spicy – it’s more sweet than spicy to me.
• I loved the crunchiness of the deep fried crispy garlic bits they topped it with. It gave it a salty and nutter flavour.
• I missed the Ponzu vinaigrette I expect from a Tuna Tataki so it was missing that tangy note. This was very good overall, but I’ve also had better.

• Unfortunately the tuna was also pre-seared and pre-made ready to go. With that being said it was still good – so I can’t really ding them for that. However I can only imagine how cook it would have been if it was made upon order.

Poached Salmon Roll – 2.5/6

• Poached salmon savoured with finely chopped pickled dills, onions, baby dills, and avocado, topped with spicy sauce and sesame seeds $4.75

• This tasted exactly what it sounds like. It reminded me of an egg salad or tuna sandwich.
• It was very creamy especially with the added avocado and it was also heavy on the mayo. I would have liked some cucumber in there to break it up a bit.
• I could definitely taste the dill in it and again it wasn’t spicy because their chili mayo or ‘spicy sauce’ isn’t really spicy.
• The sushi rice is nice and flavorful here though.

Spicy Salmon Cone – 4/6

• Spicy salmon, masago, green onions, sesame seeds and spicy sauce
• Cone: $4.28 Roll: $4.75
• All their rolls are available in cones for a little bit less.
• My friend recommended this to me and most people there were eating the spicy salmon roll so I had to check it out.
• I think I would have enjoyed it more as the first thing that came out because by now I was a bit tired of seeing that chili mayo on everything.

• The best thing about their cones is that they’re pretty big, packed and filled to the top.
• It’s loaded with chopped salmon sashimi mixed with that chili mayo ‘spicy’ sauce. It wasn’t that spicy compared to the spicy tuna/salmon rolls I’m used to.

• That’s what I liked to see! The salmon is filled all the way to the very bottom.
• They don’t just use the rice as filler although they have good sushi rice here. It’s sticky and flavorful.
• The seaweed is really good here too. It’s nice and fresh and not chewy and you can actually bite into it without pulling at it.

Cajun Roll – 3.5/6

• Crawfish tail, salmon, avocado, jalapeño, topped with spicy sauce, cayenne pepper, sesame seeds and masago habanero $6.50
• This was recommended by my best friend’s brother. He loves it.
• For here it was a 4/6 but compared to other places it was a 3/6.
• The crawfish tasted like baby shrimp so I think it might have been a mix… ??
• It was pretty creamy again and the salmon was flaked salmon. The texture was better than the poached salmon roll we had.
• It should have been quite spicy – but it wasn’t. It was the spiciest thing we ordered, but it was still not that spicy. It has no excuse to not be spicy – I wouldn’t order it if I didn’t like spicy so c’mon Taka’s… CAJUN roll… bring it on already!

Mango Roll – 4/6

• Mango, lettuce, salmon, avocado, and masago, rolled in soybean sheet and topped with crunchy pistachio bits $8.50
• The pistachio was the enticing part… and with mango… oh god – yum!

• The mango was the highlight which is good. It was ripe, fresh, and a pretty big piece so it was the dominant flavour – which it should if it’s in the title.
• The pistachio was so fresh and nicely toasted however it was totally overpowered and I couldn’t taste it. They needed more. I think they should make a pistachio sauce – like a pesto and put that on top.
• They kind of used the rice to make the roll look bigger and that really bothers me.
• The soybean wrap was almost like a thin omelette crepe – but not in flavour. It recall reminded me of the House Roll from Yoko Sushi which is better I think.

• This is the pail of candy they give you at the end with your bill. So Asian lol. Felt like a kid again! Cute.

Restaurant: Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant
Cuisine: American/West Coast/Fast Food/Seafood
Last visited: January 9, 2010
Area: White Rock, BC
Address: 15479 Marine Drive
Price range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: Fish: 6 Other stuff: 2
Service: 5
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Family owned
• Since 1975
• Specializes/famous for fish and chips and tartar sauce
• Huge portions, huge pieces of fish
• Only one kind of fish: Cod
• Deep fried and breaded everything, except for salads
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Line-ups
• Homemade, family recipes
• Great for families/seniors
• Very casual, fun atmosphere
• Orders usually get an additional piece FREE
• Great option for picnic on the beach
• Some burgers, sides, salads available
• Award winning “Travelocity.ca selected local favourite”
• Dine in/Take-out
• Take-out window, patio area
• Accepts inteac/Visa/Mastercard

Recommendation: Fish and tartar sauce (I’d even pass on the chips)

The first time I heard about Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant was at a family dinner. Thanks to me we always end up talking about food! My cousins and I were sitting at a table talking about the best fish and chips in the city. I was talking about how I wasn’t impressed by Pajo’s in Richmond and then with high enthusiasm one of them blurts out “Moby Dick! Moby Dick in White Rock is THE BEST Fish and Chips in Vancouver!” I could hear the passion in his voice and the excitement in his eyes. We could all feel it… it was pretty hilarious. Nonetheless all of us put it on our list of places to go!

So I came here literally right after my 3 course brunch at Giraffe Restaurant down the street. This was pretty much my second lunch, but I just had to try it! While waiting for Kim to arrive, I spent 20 min. walking up and down the street to burn off brunch so I would be hungry again. Kim and I have been talking about it for ages, so I’m glad we finally made it!

Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant has been around for ages, and not much has changed since its opened – not that I was alive then, but it doesn’t seem like anything has changed. It has the family owned atmosphere with that “tacky” quality fish and chip places have. It’s fun though and it suites the atmosphere, so I liked it! Even the service is very family-owned ñ everyone seems to be grinning from ear to ear and you can feel that they really appreciate your business from the moment you walk in to the minute you leave.

Some (very few) people may call it a “tourist trap”, but I don’t think so. I was there visiting in the winter and it was packed with locals. Ultimately you do get a huge piece of quality fish that’s fried very well with homemade tartar sauce…I could pass on the other items though.

On the table

3 Pieces Fish & Chips – 6/6

• $16.60 (If you order 3 pieces you get 1 free! The offer isn’t advertised, but they’ll give it to you.)
• Yes, this was the best fish and chips I’ve had yet. However I don’t have much to compare to because I don’t have fish and chips too often. I could, but I doubt I will find better than this.

• The fish is premium quality Alaskan Lingcod and they slice and filet it in house! It’s the biggest deep-fried fish I’ve ever had. The meat was was juicy, tender, flaky and fried golden brown to perfection.

• The batter is the 2nd part to what makes this fish perfect. It’s a really thin crispy batter, to the point of almost forming air pockets. It was that light and I’m so surprised at how well it held on to the fish, the fish didn’t separate from the batter. I want to taste more fish than I do batter, and in this case I did. It was the perfect ratio.

• To my surprise, one of the first things I noticed was that the fish and batter were not seasoned. There was no pepper and very little, or I think none at all ñ salt! Usually this would be a big deal to me, because there should be some salt to enhance the flavour, but it didn’t bother me here too much because the star of the show was the tartar sauce!

Tartar sauce – 5/6

• Small: $.80 Large $1.40
• The tartar sauce is another famous item at Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant.
• Start off with a premium ingredient and serve it with a homemade sauceÖhow can you go wrong?
• People say it’s the best tartar sauce ever, so I had my expectations set high. I wouldn’t call it a classic tartar sauce though.
• It smells and tastes like dill vegetable dip and ranch salad dressing mixed together. It’s mayo based, so a bit thicker than a salad dressing. There’s lots of dill, some pickles and minced onions too. It could really be used as a potato chip dip or for a potato salad. It was creamy, but maybe a bit thinner in texture than a traditional tartar sauce. It was excellent, but the dominant flavour is dill and for a tartar sauce I would like a bit more of a pickled flavour.

Chips – 1.5/6

• Small $3.90 Medium $4.90 Large $5.90
• To be honest I could do without the fries. They’re hand-cut Yukon Gold fries with the skins on (even though the menu says they peel the skins by hand).
• They’re a bit sweeter because they’re Yukon golds and they would have been excellent if they cooked them well. They were very oily though and soggy because they were soaked in oil. They were almost wet, and I had grease all over my hands.
• They could have been so good, but I think they need to re-assess the cooking temperature and timeÖor even just fry them twice or fry them longer in hotter oil. It catches me off guard because they nailed the frying time on the fish and the batter was so light and crispy.

Clam Strips – 1/6

• Breaded clam strips served with cocktail sauce $4.90
• I was not feeling this at all. The batter was completely opposite of the batter on the fish. It was dense, crunchy and reminded be of the batter cheap pubs use for their onion rings. Or it reminded me of heavily battered popcorn shrimp, but with a fishy taste. The batter separated from the clam meat; however the clam itself was quite tender. It was a whole lot of batter and not a whole lot of clam.

• The clam strips were also quite bitty too. There were a few that were at least 2 inches and then a bunch at the bottom that were really small.
• I also didn’t like how they served it with 2 random onion rings. It was almost like they knew the clam strips looked a bit pathetic so they added the rings last minute to make the dish look fuller. How did they taste? Like a regular onion ring. It wasn’t the fish batter or the clam batter, but somewhere in between.
• Cocktail sauce: The cocktail sauce was more on the ketchup side than it was on the horseradish side. It was quite mild, so I think it catered more to kids and seniors with sensitive taste buds. It was a bit tangy and lemony but I like a stronger kick to my cocktail sauce.

Restaurant: Giraffe Restaurant
Cuisine: West Coast/American/Pacific Northwest/Fusion
Last visited: January 7, 2010
Area: White Rock, BC
Address: 15053 Marine Dr
Price range: $30-50

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: n/a
Service: n/a
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Executive chef David Chow (Dubrulle Culinary Institute)
• Fine dining
• Focus on West Coast/seafood
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Globally inspired menu
• Creative/Fresh/gourmet homemade
• Really delicately executed, attention to detail
• Great view of waterfront
• Small/intimate dining area
• Beautiful intimate patio
• Weekly specials
• Lunch Thurs.-Sat. 11:30am
• Dinner Mon-Sun. 5:30pm
• Sunday brunch 11am

Recommendation: Giraffes’ Eggs Benedict, Bacon wrapped Filet with Egg (I didn’t get to try their Belgian Waffles, but I really want to)

The reason why I had to rate everything as “n/a” is because the chef is my best friend’s brother. Therefore, under the circumstances I can’t rate this restaurant with a neutral perspective.

I’ve dined at Giraffe Restaurant for dinner more than a handful of times, but this was my first time for brunch. This brunch was also complimentary, but I would have no problems paying full price for it. It was definitely worth it. The brunch prices are actually really affordable, especially for fine dining… heck it’s a bargain! I would be spending the same if I was having brunch at White Spot for half the quality and half the atmosphere (and I really like brunch at White Spot!)

As good as the Giraffe brunch is, the dinner is also worth checking out  – see here. I am lucky enough to have tried almost everything on the menu as well as some custom made appetizers. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything, although I do have my favourites. The menu is more fusion and contemporary, but the atmosphere is more traditional and formal and suitable for couples or small intimate groups.

On the table:
Complimentary Scones

• These are complimentary for everyone during brunch. I could have eaten 3 of them. They’re made in house and they’re so good!

• These aren’t the traditional fluffy scones like the ones at Applewood Bakery, but these ones were more like cookies. They were crispy soft and chewy and reminded me of freshly baked oatmeal cookies. I loved them, it was a great way to start brunch! I feel like there was some rhubarb or apple, oatmeal and definitely some cinnamon in them. They were perfectly baked and so delicate. It also came with a really fresh raspberry jam. I do miss that devonshire cream, but these scones are complimentary so I think I’m pushing it. I would pay extra for it though.

Giraffes’ Eggs Benedict

• Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, red onion, spinach and a dill hollandaise served with fried nugget potatoes $12
• I was deciding between the Giraffes’ egg’s benedict and the frittata. I went with the benedict because my friend told me that her brother, also the chef, would more likely make the frittata at home than he would the benny. (The hollandaise sauce is very time consuming).

• I was very much into my benny. The ratio of ingredients was perfect and everything was cooked perfectly. Nothing was overpowering and the flavours were all there.
• The red onions were soft, but not to the point of caramelized. It still had a crunch, but wasn’t spicy anymore, it added a shallot like flavour that was very delicate.

• My egg was beautifully poached with a very soft middle. It mixed into my hollandaise and was absolutely divine.

• The hollandaise sauce wasn’t really a tangy hollandaise as it was more buttery in flavour. Made with clarified butter it’s very rich and creamy here. The dill was apparent, but very mild and I liked it with the salmon. There was the perfect amount of hollandaise to finish my benny with some on every bite.
• I really liked the crispiness of my English muffin. It sounds like a small thing, but it was enough for me to notice because more often than not restaurants don’t toast it enough or it gets too soggy.

• The fried nugget potatoes were great. It was cut nice and thin so they were very crispy. This is what I meant by “attention to detail, everything here is cut to the same size and there’s consistency. Therefore the cooking time is perfect for everything. A sign of true professionalism.
• I think it was a simple seasoning of course salt and black pepper. (Maybe one additional dried herb, but I couldn’t taste it)

Bacon wrapped Filet with Egg

• Grilled bacon wrapped filet served with a poached egg, tomato, bèarnaise and roasted potatoes $16
• Okay, I don’t know what happened, but this was the first time I didn’t try something on someone else’s plate. I think I was way too into my own egg’s benedict did I totally forget to try this dish.

• However, another reason is probably because I have tried a version of this already. See my Holiday Dinners and Feasts – Chef David Chow made something similar to this on Christmas morning. I was lucky to be invited! Yes, we had beef tenderloin for breakfast! The one on Christmas had oyster mushrooms 3 kinds of potatoes for the hash, and the eggs were scrambled.
• You don’t have to worry about overcooked steaks here, hot you order it is how it arrives. Everything is made in small batches rather than in volume.
• The presentation on this is beautiful, and it’s only a 4 ounce steak so it’s not as heavy for brunch as you would think.

Stuffed French Toast

• Mango-apricot Cream Cheese and Strawberry stuffed French toast served with bacon, and warm maple syrup $10.50
• This was the “dessert” for brunch. Since we had it in the end, we passed on the bacon. I am very curious and interested to try it with the bacon though… even though I’m not a huge fan of bacon…I know, so taboo right?
• The bread is from a bakery up the street. I wasn’t a fan of the crust, because it was a bit dry, but I was a fan of how it was used.
• I loved the combination of ingredients, the savoury creamy cheese, the sweet mango-apricot, and the tart strawberries, but I just wish there was a bit more of it. (I’m treading on dangerous grounds here… so I’m a bit scared).

• I would have liked more mango apricot because I couldn’t really taste it. It would be nice to have a little more stuffing to match the thickness of the bread too. I know it looks balanced in the picture, but because the bread was a bit dry it felt like it need more stuffing. Or maybe if the bread was a little more soaked in egg batter that would work. I wouldn’t have minded if the egg batter had a touch more vanilla and cinnamon too… =|
• I did love how the cream cheese was warm and melted. It made for a really decadent French toast and the strawberries released their natural sugars under the heat. I really don’t think there were any additional sugars because overall it wasn’t really sweet unless you used the warm maple syrup. Which I did… and it was great!
• This French toast was really good, but just minor things and it would have been over the top. Ohhh maybe even some toasted pecans to give it a crunch? Or even some basil leaves or some finely chopped mint in the middle? Yum!
• We all loved the side of fruit! It was beautifully presented, clean and fresh. Pears, apples, mango, strawberries, grapefruits and oranges. I loved the variety and you get what you’re paying for as you can tell there are no grapes, honey dew, or cantaloupe.

Special Amuse Bouche

• This is not on the menu, but was made especially for us… I know… I’m lucky right?!
• It was a 7 vegetable chili served on roasted potatoes and topped with sour cream.
• I’m not going to comment on this because it was special made, complimentary, and not available on the menu anyways.