Arsenic

Where can I get a great steak in the Downtown area? Also - any recommendations on mid-price ranged restaurants in the Downtown area?

I'm a little bit surprised that no one has mentioned Parkside yet. You are sure to have a fantastic meal there, and it's located pretty much at the end of Robson on the beach side . Chambar is also a nice loungy kind of restaurant with excellent mussels. Walking distance from Le Soleil. Oh, and make sure you have the Fois Gras here!

Okay, they are working, good haha. Let me continue with the Trio From the Sea then hehe. (Sorry this is not the greatest picture ) First off, we have the Dungeness Crab - Tomato-Chive & Couscous Salad, Citrus Vinaigarette. This was one of my favourites of the six, but there wasn't that much crab. Or maybe the bf just ate too much of it before passing it on to me . (Haha, sweetie, if you are reading this, I'm just joking hehe.) The couscous was very good though - it was the sidedish I enjoyed the most. Then we have the Sablefish - Smoked Oyster Mushroom Risotto, Apple Chips, Brandy Glaze. This was the best dish of the six, with the fish cooked perfectly. The bf liked this dish the best too I believe, as he couldn't stop commenting about it and the risotto . The risotto was slightly undercooked, IMHO, but it was still tasty. Lastly, we have the Albacore Tuna - Grilled Avocado, Stewed Tomato Preserve, Sauteed Green Onion. Perhaps this dish was meant to showcase the natural flavour of the fish... I'm not sure... but, to us, it was a little bit bland. (Maybe because we had a fabulous Ahi Tuna at The Fish House not too long ago.) Bf commented that he thought the fish didn't seem very fresh. I just don't have much to say about this dish... it was just okay. Oh, and the grilled avocado I found very strange hehe. And now for the desserts!!! We'll start off with what the bf had, which was the Baked Cheesecake Mousse - Caramelized Apple Puree, Walnut Cookie, Green Apple Espuma I was extremely full at this point, so I only had a couple bites. It was just a very light cheesecake. IMHO, it's very hard to make an OUTSTANDING cheesecake, so I find it very difficult to "review" cheesecakes. I had the Chocolate Canadian Maple "Moose" Torte, Pate of BC Orchard Fruit and Berries (that's what it said on the menu, but it actually came with a Blood Orange Sorbet) The sorbet was TO. DIE. FOR. YUMMMM. Chocolate mousse was very good as well, but if it was a little lighter, I think I would have enjoyed it more. (Maybe I was just TOO FULL haha.) But yes, it was a very good dessert, especially the first few bites which were quite osgasmic . Overall, I thought it was about a 7.5/10. I don't expect too much from these CityDine type events, but the restaurant was quite empty so I thought it would be a bit better. I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Metro again on a regular day and try out some of the other items, and of course get more Pomme Frites Service was fantastic, as is the ambiance. Slightly corporate, but still a nice place for a date.

CityDine 2007 - Metro Restaurant Started with Grilled Citrus Humboldt Calamari - Lime-Habanero, Coconut and Garlic Sauteed Gai Lan Beautiful presentation, and cooked perfectly (not overcooked at all, which is common with calamari). I thought it was good, but nothing to write home about, maybe because I don't prefer lime/lemon flavours in my dishes. Bf really enjoyed it, and thought it was very good. Gai lan was also perfectly cooked, nice and tender. In addition to the CityDine offerings, we ordered Truffle Parmesean Pomme Frites With Sundried Tomato Ketchup ($6 extra). AMAZING pomme frites!!! Dare I say, I like 'em even better than the ones at CRU which are my favourite in the city. The truffle flavour was very subtle, but enough was there so you'd notice it, and the parmesean was a nice touch. Ketchup was interesting and good, but not fantastic. Next, me and the bf ordered both the entree choices and shared. We'll start with the Trio From the Land - description to follow. First there was the Berkshire Pork Tenderloin - Apple Puy Lentils, Sauteed Fennel, Birch Vinaigarette. I found the meat quite dry, and wasn't impressed. It seemed like it had been ready for awhile, and they just heated it up before serving (which I'm sure wasn't the case, but that's what it seemed like; maybe they were waiting for the Trio From the Sea to finish up). The lentils were quite nice though... reminded me of the lentils you get with the scallops at Chambar. Then there was the Certified Angus Striploin - Peppered Crosnes, Field Mushrooms, Carrot Chips. Again, I found the meat dry and not juicy. It was a little overcooked for my liking - I asked for a medium-rare, more on the rare side. Mushrooms were okay (very natural flavour), and I've never had crosnes before, so that was interesting. Sort of like popcorn! Lastly, there was the Nicola Valley Deer - Lingot Bean & Olive Oil Salad, Taro Root Sticks, Cherry Preserve. My favourite of the trio, but overall this trio was not as good as the trio from the sea. The deer was the most tender of the meats (as expected), but still, only about as tender as tender steak you would find at another restaurant. Again, I felt it was overcooked for my liking, but the flavour was quite nice. I loved the bean salad. Let me press submit now and see if my picture links are working hehe.

I was at Metro for CityDine last night - I will review it later with pics, but I noticed the hostess didn't give most people the CityDine menu (myself included, I had to ask for it). Perhaps that's why many people went a la carte.

I didn't actually buy it, but the guy told my friends it was $6.50 There is a comic stand-up Apu behind the counter, and all the workers are wearing the Apu-looking shirts with "Apu Wannabe" on their name tags

FYI, you can also get the Simpsons goodies at all other 7/11s, not just the Kwik-E-Mart (in fact, they were sold out of everything except the Squishees when I went). The Krusty-Os are $3.99 and the Buzz Cola is $6.50 for a 6-pack.

Thinking of going for Belgian Waffles this holiday Monday - anyone have some suggestions? (For brunch, so Chambar is out of the question ) I'm in Burnaby so some nearby ideas would be great, but willing to travel!

Any comments on Spinnaker Seafood House anyone? And Triskell for dinner?

What are "beef muffins" lol? And to the other poster who mentioned the cinnamon and brown sugar filled pancakes - I just had myself one on Monday night and it was indeed FABULOUS just be careful... I wasn't, and all the sugary goodness spilled out onto my shirt

In Victoria, I absolutely loved the Wild Saffron at the Swans Hotel, as well as Cafe Mexico for Mexican food that I think is very hard to come by in the Lower Mainland. None of that feels-unauthentic-but-trying-too-hard Las Margaritas kinda stuff, it just tastes great!

I also think that Chicco Cafe is a very interesting place to have a dessert. I love the black sesame ice cream, although it may not be for everyone. Of the Asian inspired places listed above, I think Hapa Ikazaya is the best of the bunch, and there is also newly opened EBISU which is very close to the shopping area so it would be very convenient for you two. The creme brulee cheesecake there is to die for!

The Chocolate Lava Cake at Saltlik is actually very yummy. And it comes with a generous portion of vanilla gelato as well

If you have an Entertainment book, Bogarts Chophouse would fit the bill. You can either do the 2 for 1 entree, or if you show your card you get 20% off the entire bill.

I may have missed it, Arsenic, but where is "here"? ← Whoops!!! SIP resto-lounge. My apologies for all the confusion!

Although the Chinese are not big on desserts, there are these ice cream balls you can get that are yummy! I think my friend said before that they're called "Mochi Balls", but don't quote me on that. They are about 2 inches in diameter, and come in red bean, blueberry (my favourite), and vanilla, and are covered with a thin doughy skin. It doesn't sound appetizing but it's great! I think it's about $3 for 8 of them, and they even come with mini skewers you can eat them with!

Wild Saffron was EXCELLENT when I went in the summer. The service was phenomenal, and the presentation was fabulous also. The flavours of the dishes were very good, and I thought they were quite creative, with very reasonable prices. The only thing I was upset with was the creme brulee, which was very sour (passionfruit flavour) and not thick... in fact, it was near soup texture, and drooped off my spoon. Fire and Water has the best creme brulee I've ever tasted in my life, although the food there isn't anything special. For an after dinner dessert though... an option

Sushi Town - for a quick take out of Alaska Roll and Goma-ae. The Goma-ae was HUGE tonight for some reason... I've never eaten so much spinach in my life! Haha. Miki Sushi - Yuck. Manager at work was buying, but I think this place is just awful. Had a Spicy California Roll, and it was strange... some weird brown sauce on top that wasn't spicy at all. Subway - Ham sub with lots of Southwest Sauce and BBQ Sauce, so good for a quick lunch

I was at SIP resto-lounge for DOV tonight. I don't know where to start honestly. I made a reservation for our party for 8pm, and we were not seated until 8:50pm. The manager (or owner, I'm not sure) seemed very worried, but didn't offer us anything to rectify the situation. Some complimentary drinks while we were waiting would have been nice, but that didn't happen. At first, I was upset at the diners who were at our table - the manager explained to us that they had been there for over 2 hours; however, after we started eating, I understood. Each dish took FOREVER to arrive. We ate at a pretty fast pace (since it was already an hour later into the night than we wanted it to be) and we still took an hour and forty minutes to finish our meal. For the appetizer, they were sold out of the Ahi Tuna selection, something that would not have been the case had we been seated on time. We had all ordered our steaks medium-rare - two of them came barely rare, and the other two came blue-rare. Sigh. They had to be sent back, and took forever to return. The entree was supposed to come with zucchini, but I guess they were out of that as well, with no mention to us. The creme brulee dessert was supposed to be a trio, but turned out to be a duo instead. They didn't say a word about it until my friend asked why there were only two. The waitress simply said they ran out of the third flavour - no apology. We had to ask for water refills several times. The food itself wasn't bad, a little better than average I would say. However, it was very difficult to enjoy since the service was SO TERRIBLE. I will probably never return. And their premise of having alcohol in all their dishes isn't really all that great... you can't taste the alcohol at all.

I went to Infinity Dining Experience on Saturday night for DOV. To be honest, expectations were not high, as it's DOV but with that said, Infinity defintely surpassed them, and for $25, I thought it was a great deal. I would definitely recommend it for those of you looking for a place to go. They were quite busy though, so hopefully they still have room available. The Foccacia was the table bread. It was a small piece to share between two people, and it wasn't that soft (it wasn't as fresh as it could have been), but the spread that it came with stole the show. I don't know what it was, some sort of butter/mayo spread that had cranberries and parsley in it. I don't even particularly like cranberries, and I don't like parsley, yet I found myself spreading more and more on each piece of bread I put in my mouth. Yum... I'm salivating just thinking about it! In the background you can see the dinner date's appetizer which was the Sauteed Jumbo Prawns with mandarin salsa, a roasted red onion vinaigrette & parsley oil. The date didn't comment too much on it, so I don't know how good it was. I did my research on Infinity beforehand, and so I ordered the Roasted Butternut Squash Fondue with spinach, 3 year old cheddar, fontina cheese & homemade garlic bread - Infinity's signature dish. I was a little bit disapointed with the size of the fondue when it first arrived, but soon came to realize that it was the perfect size for the amount of bread it came with (which is quite a bit, imo). It was a unique dish, and made me extremely happy haha. For the entree, the dinner date and I (along with everyone else in the restaurant, quite literally) ordered the Certified Angus Beef Sirloin 28 day aged & marinated, served with a stilton blue cheese fondant, warm potato salad, and a sweet corn relish. There was no hint of any blue cheese, which to some would be bad, but to me it was great. To me, the steak was not better than anything I would have at the Keg, but it was definitely a good size, and an interesting flavour. The corn relish was very different, a bit tangy, with red peppers. I really enjoyed the "warm potato salad", which really was potato wedges with bacon and a bit of red onion. (I don't eat onions... but I ignored it since there was very little.) The dessert was a Chocolate Ganache Cake with toasted almonds & Jagermeister gelato. I almost missed my chance at this dessert, all because I didn't want to have the Jagermeister gelato, but the waiter insisted that we HAD to have this, as it was what the restaurant was famous for. (It's true, I read about it several times when I was doing my research.) Oh my... this was heaven in my mouth. The hint of Jager in the gelato was very faint, but enough to make it better than a regular vanilla. My dinner date even loved it, even though he does not like alcohol at all. I was a little bit upset when the cake first arrived, because again I thought it was small. Again, I was wrong. It was perfectly sized because it was sooooo rich. Oh good heaven... it was like having a truffle in my mouth, bite after bite... just a little bit firmer. The serving size was perfect to just leave you content. The service, although polite, was a bit unattentive. I found my water glass empty pretty often, and they certainly could have benefitted from one extra waiter. However, when the waiter was present, he was very helpful, enthusiastic, and friendly. The ambiance of the place is interesting... it's quaint but modern. A nice place to go for a date where it isn't too presumptuous, but not so noisy that you can't get to know the person you are dining with. I will definitely be back on a regular night, just to have the fondue and cake again. I also wanted to try the other DOV appetizer which was the Poached Mussels with onions, English cucumber & soba noodles in a spicy tomato broth. (I just got a posting membership ... )