Ling

^I don't know. I didn't ask. But you've gotta wonder when they serve you what looks exactly like farmed Atlantic salmon.

^Thanks. I wasn't too interested in Maurya, but heard a good report recently so I thought I might give it a try. Rangoli it is!

Yeah....it's not 'foo jook' for sure. It's not 'foo pay' either, as those come in flat rectangular sheets. Same colour though.

Do they have a la carte menu items during lunch? Not too keen on buffets. Anyone been there lately--is Maurya still good? Trying to decide between that and Rangoli. Thanks.

Has anyone been to Maurya lately, and I recall that they used to be open for lunch. Is this still the case?

That ravioli looks delicious, Klary!

I heard a few months ago there was supposed to be a downtown location opening...I don't know what happened with that.

I didn't recognize any of the former staff when I was eating today, but perhaps they have a different staff at lunch. Certainly the sushi chefs behind the counter were new to me, though.

I just had lunch at Sushikan, and while it wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't as good as I remember. The $11.95 all-you-can-eat lunch special they were advertising should have tipped me off. We ordered a plate of assorted sashimi ($25), which came with 2 of the following: sake, hotate, maguro, tako, and hirame. The sake was pretty bad--on par with all-you-can-eat quality, unfortunately. Everything else on the platter was OK, but certainly a big step down from what a good Japanese restaurant should be serving. The clam miso soup was good--clams were very plump and tender. The spider roll and the BC roll both came with lots and lots of sushi rice. I think I'll skip this place in the future.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the lemon bar and the slice of coffeecake I had for breakfast that day. Brings my dessert total up to 9! Yesterday I had coffee ice-cream for dessert...today I'm baking a chiffon cake.

Help identifying the other items I photographed would be welcome: ← I can try...the first one is "sert yee" (snow fungus in English?), the second one I see all the time but I don't remember what it is. I was going to guess shark fin but the pieces look too small. The third is just Chinese dried black mushrooms...you use them in soup or you can braise them in sauce and serve them on a bed of Chinese greens, and the fourth one I'm also not quite sure about, but it looks ike "fish maw" or "fa gao" in Cantonese (fish stomach? fish bladder?) and it's used in soup. Fish maw soup is one of my favourite Chinese soups, but only if it's of excellent quality. I like it even more than shark fin.

Dried WHAT? There's a FACE in there!! ← I'm reasonably certain that the left picture is abalone, but I've no idea what's the stuff in the right bottle. Great blog Therese! ← I know what the dried stuff on the right is called in Cantonese...it is something from a young bamboo shoot, I believe. It's one of my favourite vegetables! It has a really "soong" (crunchy?) texture when you bite into it, even though it's soft and holds a lot of sauce because it's so porous. And yes, the one of the left is abalone.

Does anyone know where I can get fresh duck eggs?

Yeah that's Ellie...I haven't eaten there yet though. Hard to pass up the dan-dan noodles at Traditional Taiwanese (order "thick" noodles, I think those are handmade). If you go, please report back!

^Thanks I'm sure there are people on this forum eating even better than me, but perhaps they just don't post about it.

^Haven't had their pain au chocolat, but that's what I'm getting next time if you like it more than the danish! My strawberry danish didn't have many strawberries on it either, but that didn't really bother me. It's the pastry that I like best, anyway.

At that price, I could afford to eat a bar a day.

I didn't save them for last, but I don''t eat eggs and strawberries in the same bite.

You're right. The gouda was 4 years, I remember now. I've never had Perisieil di Beaujolais before, and it's right up there on my favourite cheese list too. Really? The foam wasn't foamy...it was creamy. Perhaps they use an ISI whipper? I usually think Bamix when I think foam. Anyway, the meal was incredible.

Yesterday in Seattle: Sweets and Savoury -lemon bar -coffee cake -asparagus, blue cheese, bacon, and roasted red pepper sandwich Baguette Box -truffled French fries (twice fried) -coconut milk-braised, then fried tofu sandwich with pickled daikon Dinner at Mistral. The dishes tasted better than my recent meal at The French Laundry. ETA: left out the bacon in the S&S sandwich...

I had...uhm...6 desserts last night, 7 if you include the cheese course. I ate at Mistral, and it was one of the best meals of my life. pictures here!

I had an extraordinary meal at Mistral last night. The dishes that came out of that kitchen were well thought out, expertly executed, and the flavour combinations were refreshing and interesting. The service exemplified everything I look for at a fine dining restaurant--informative without being stuffy, unobtrusive, and friendly. I read a few EG reviews before posting this, and some diners have commented that the food at Mistral is on par with the 3-stars in France. While I haven't yet had the opportunity to dine at the 3-star level, I must say that our meal last night was better than our recent meal at The French Laundry. We started with an amuse of o-toro and sushi rice ice-cream and lime zest. Of all the dishes we had last night, this was the only one that fell a little flat. The ice-cream did not have any sugar in it, but I didn't think it paired very well with the tuna. We had forgotten our camera, but Chef William offered to take pictures for us. Not only did we get photos of our food, but he included some shots of our food during the prep as well! 1st course: Foie gras panna cotta with tarragon, toasted pinenuts, and sweet corn foam. Laurent-Perrier brut champagne (There was also the tiniest bit of mint in the dish, which brightened up the flavours.) My bf and I couldn't stop talking about this dish last night--it is quite possibly the best thing either of us have ever tasted. The panna cotta was very loose (i.e. held together with a very small amount of gelatin.) This is a dish the chef de cuisine, Charles Walpole, had been playing around with and I hope it becomes a permanent item on the menu as it's just too good! I think I swore in disbelief after I took my first bite. This is what it looks like before the foam is spooned over it. 2nd course: Roasted scallop with hot tomato jelly and herbs, fennel puree, burnt scallion oil La Chablisienne '02 Chablis (Vaillon) The scallop was seared very lightly in the pan and then finished in the oven. The combination of the sweet jelly and the earthy puree was incredible. I can't recall when I've enjoyed a scallop dish more. The wine--with its hint of oyster shell--was perfect with the scallop. 3rd course: Pea soup with shrimp ceviche style, carrot foam I was really looking forward to the pea soup, as it's only served with the peas are fresh at the Market--a testament to the level of quality in the ingredients. The pea soup is often served with a seared scallop, but we got the shrimp instead, and I'm very glad we did. The shrimp was just cooked on the outside from the hot soup, retaining that sweet creaminess of the raw flesh on the inside. (kitchen shot) 4th course: Roasted belly of white salmon with asparagus, fava beans, rice beans, beet, vanilla, and 25 year old balsamic vinaigrette Du Mol Chardonay '03 Russian Iver Sonoma This particular wine went beautifully with the salmon rich salmon belly. The bit of vanilla in the dish, in particular, seemed to bring out the sweet nose on the wine. This was my favourite wine pairing of the evening. 5th course: Seared artisan foie gras with '97 Quarels Harris port, Demerara sugar, rhubarb puree, crispy apple chip Castel Nau De Suiduraut 2001 sauternes The portion of foie gras was generous. I don't even have to say anything about how perfectly it was seared, as the picture says it all. Love this shot of the prep: 6th course: Roasted squab breast with fingerling potato puree, swiss chard and white carrots cooked in carrot juice, zahtar spice Beaux Freres 2004 Pinot Noir (upper terrace Willamette Valley) I apologize there's no close-up shot of this dish. The squab was incredibly tender, and seared to a medium-rare, which was the perfect doneness for me. I also loved the bit of zahtar spice on the plate, which gave the dish another dimension. The wine also went very nicely with this dish, and it was interesting to note a distinct fungal aroma in a young New World pinot. hhlodesign obviously enjoyed this dish very much--check out the faux pas. Miss Manners is rolling over in her grave. (The breads served were both from Macrina--one had a slight sourness, though it wasn't sourdough, and the other was the potato bread--one of my favourite Seattle breads. ) With our desserts, we had a bottle of the Laurent-Perrier demi sec split. (The chef told us the winemakers don't ferment all the sugar in this particular wine.) The cheese plate was excellent, though the only cheese I remember is the Comte! (Oops.) Served with a candied Marcona almond, red pepper jelly (there was citrus in this...orange?), and pear. The bread is the cranberry walnut bread from Macrina. The first dessert was date toffee cake with caramel dust and vanilla ice-cream. I dove right into it before I remembered to take a picture, oops...a little too eager there. The caramel dust was a really interesting part of this composition, echoing the caramel in the sauce while adding crunch as well! (It was so good that I scooped another date toffee cake, this one with Earl Grey caramel and buttermilk ice-cream. ) The second...(er, third dessert) was cantaloupe jellee, mango ribbon, mango and cantaloupe sorbet...just pure, fresh fruit flavours. Next came the hazelnut pound cake with orange foam and apricot jelly. I missed the description of what was in the shot glass, but it tasted like a very custardy, loose panna cotta. The hazelnut pound cake was incredible, and unlike any other pound cake I've had before. There was almost no crumb--it so dense and smooth, almost like the best cake batter ever, but without the taste of raw flour. I don't know how Stacey, the pastry chef, did this but I loved it! We then had a fun dessert that was a play on the pea soup we had earlier in the evening. It looks very similar, but this was fennel and coconut soup with passion fruit marshmallow, and carrot. Very creative, and the flavours worked well together. The best part was the passion fruit marshmallow. I neglected to get a picture of the last dessert--Chocolate brownie ice cream with passion fruit sorbet and brownie. Brownies in ice-cream form! With a brownie underneath! Needless to say, it was the perfect ending to the perfect meal.

ouch! When is the Oyster Shucking competition episode airing? I would be interested in seeing that.

Valrhona 71% is selling for only $2.69 per 3.5 oz bar at TJs! It was my first time there yesterday so I don't know if it is always that cheap. I bought more than 10 bars. ETA: I didn't see Domori or Santander there, but they even have the 85% Scharffen Berger bar, which I don't see too often in Vancouver.

I'm not really one for vegetarian food, but I had the coconut milk braised and fried tofu sandwich with daikon pickles yesterday at Baguette Box and DAMN is that a good sandwich. Great bread too, from Le Panier. The truffle fries (fried twice) were also really tasty.