Dumpling Girl

You've probably already got yours now, but in case you haven't, I've seen duck confit sold at the bakery, La Petit France, on Arbutus St., which isn't downtown, but not too far away.

Thanks for the tip! Calling one week before Christmas, Fleuri had almost completely booked out for dinner, and had booked out for their buffet lunch, but I managed to snag the time I wanted for dinner due to a cancellation. I'm really looking forward to the meal.

Me too! One of my favorite malaysian digs ← Ok I need some help on this one. I've been the banana leaf on multiple occassions now and I always leave lukewarm about the quality. The food is good but to me it hasn't lived up to the hype. Perhaps I'm ordering the wrong thing....what is that you love? I'm always willing to try again. Cheers. ← I LOVE the roti canai - the chewy, sweet bread served with curry sauce as an appetizer. Also love the green beans, and curries. I find the overall food quality much better than Tropika (on Robson), and just generally less greasy feeling than Tropika. The crab is also supposed to be quite good at Banana Leaf, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

We're consideringn Bacchus for Christmas dinner, but it's $120/person, without booze , gratuity and taxes. Is that par for the course at a hotel on Christmas day? ← I'm also looking for a restaurant for Christmas dinner, so I'd be interested in what everybody finds. I'm considering Fleuri at Sutton Place which has a 5 course meal for $74/person. Here's a link where you can see the menu. http://www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Holiday_Festivities.htm

As all of us in the industry are aware, the purpose of the autograt is to ensure that after all the guests in the group have chipped in their share, the server ends up actually getting a fair gratuity. The reasons are: If a server has a table of 20, it is highly likely that this is the only table that the server will be serving for their shift, so essentially your table has a private waiter. Without an automatic gratuity, the server's entire night is at the mercy of the very likely event that guests incorrectly calculate what they owe + tax + grat, and when the bill barely gets covered in the end, they must rely on the chance that someone will notice. Can you imagine serving 20 people for 2.5 to 3 hours and making $20 on a $500 cheque? You wouldn't be very happy when the other servers in the room with regular sections are walking home with $150. So it basically functions as a tool to 1. ensure a fair grat and 2. it takes the responsibility from the guest to calculate the grat. Not that I agree with 20% as a number, however............... ← Thanks, McTee. And even being outside of the industry, I did understand that purpose, and I do sympathize. And that group effect still surprises me every time - even when I'm dining out with a very intelligent, fairly mathematical bunch, it always seems that someone undercalculates, and sometimes it falls to me to top it up (since I'll be part of the smaller group of people totalling everything up to make sure we have enough). I don't really have trouble with the 15%, and have had that happen many times, and thankfully, the service has always warranted at least that. But I'm dreading the day when it doesn't measure up. Best group dining service I've had recently was Steamworks, where they gave us all individual bills, and it worked out beautifully (with the 15% added). I still stand by my comments though. If I do not get service that deserves 20% (in this case, it's for groups as small as 6 people! In a space that used to be like a cafeteria?!), then I find it offensive to have that on my bill automatically, and you can say that if the service is subpar, you can have a discussion with the manager about it, and not pay it, but I find that kind of confrontation very distasteful, and it would ruin my evening to be forced into engaging in that. So, knowing ahead of time that there is that high of an autograt would be enough for me to choose not to dine at that establishment in case they suck. And ideally from a consumer point of view, I would still prefer some sort of system of tip suggestion, even with groups. For example, have the 15% and 20% totals worked out, but present it as a separate piece of paper rather than as a seemingly mandatory "service fee." It's just a philosophical matter for me. I would still wind up tipping 15 or 20%. This will probably never happen, but if a restaurant did that instead of the autograt or "service fee", I would definitely prefer that restaurant for group outtings purely from a philosophical standpoint (and you can be sure that I'd total everything up and make sure that the servers were rewarded for good service). Anyhow, I know it's unlikely to happen, as the autograt is so standard now. Oh well. No harm in throwing it out there. Oh, how IS the service at LK, btw? (as I try to steer back on topic... ) Nancy

I certainly don't mind paying 20% (and usually more) for great service voluntarily, but I think that's steep for an autograt. What if they're not that good? You're still stuck with the tip, and I thought the whole point of tipping was to reward and encourage great service. Mental note - be sure not to bring too many people with me to LilyKate.

One more for me. When I dined at Fleuri at the Sutton Place Hotel a couple of years ago, I was very impressed with the flavours, presentation, and the inventiveness of the dishes, and my first thought was why doesn't anyone ever talk about this place? I'm not sure if the chef is the same now. The room is also beautifully elegant, and is really fun for feeling extra "fancy" for an evening. I've enjoyed their chocolate buffet a couple of times, and more recently, booked a really nice afternoon tea for a bridal shower in a private room, with the food coming from the Fleuri kitchen. So I would recommend the afternoon tea too, which is served in the restaurant.

Amarcord is one of my Yaletown faves. Little mention is ever made of the Heather or Burgoo these days, nor of Fiction Five on lower Lonsdale, the Quattros, Glowbal (great express lunches), the Guu's, or Brix. 'Tis the season to blow our cash and eat like swine. Let's get to it. ← I agree that the Guu's (Gastown and With Garlic) deserve more attention. They are always packed though

Mine are Yuji's Japanese Tapas (W. 4th at Maple), and Amarcord in Yaletown.

Welcome to eGullet Nancy! I've read your blog (actually have it bookmarked), which has awesome reviews. Good work ! I hope you enjoy your meal at Cru, it's one of the places I feel has great consistency. ← Wow, thanks for another warm welcome! My wine knowledge is extremely limited, but I've really started to enjoy experiencing food and wine pairings, so I'm looking forward to the layout of the wine menu, with all the pairing suggestions. (warm fuzzies...I'm bookmarked! )

Thank you! I was hoping for that dish! Nancy

Thanks all for your reports and pics. I'm looking forward to my first visit to Cru next week!