the Kitchen - Korean Restaurant

Restaurant: the Kitchen

Cuisine: Korean
Last visited: November 3, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Kerrisdale)
2110 West 40th Ave
Price Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: 4.5
Additional comments:

• Wife and husband operation
• Literally & figuratively mom & pop style
• Very homemade (from scratch)
  
• Literally made by Korean mom "mom's recipes"
• Very authentic
• Hole in the wall
• Seats 10
  
• Pre-made cold appetizers available for take-out
  
• Attracts locals/Koreans
  
• Eat-in/Take-out
• Mon-Sat: 11am-8:30pm
  
• Closed Sunday

**Recommendation: Korean Pancake

Want to try: Korean Sushi

Their tag line is "the kitchen" - "the original Korean House Wife Cuisine with the Best Ingredients." They sure mean it! I'm not sure about the "best ingredients" part, that's self-proclaimed, but the "Korean House Wife" part could not be more accurate!

We ordered take-out and she literally packs it like how your mom would pack your lunch when you were in elementary school. There's so much care in the cooking and packaging. I even felt bad ordering the pancake because it was going to take her 20 minutes to make it (since it's all from scratch) - she even sighed. It wasn't a rude sigh though, it was one of those sighs like how your mom would sigh if you asked her to make a meal for you that took a long time.

For me, this was the most authentic Korean food besides going to my Korean friends' houses and having their dinners.

On the table:

• **Korean Pancake 4.5/6
• Pancake with assorted seafood, green onion and vegetables $12.99
• It took 20 min. to make because she started from scratch and that's probably why it was $12.99. It is a bit expensive, but it's because of the labour it takes to make it.
• This pancake or Korean style omelette was loaded with ingredients. There was lots of long pieces of green onion and bell peppers and all the veggies were sauteed until soft and sweet. It's all held together with this potato-egg batter. It's served hot with a light soy sauce for dipping.
• The outside is fried until brown and the middle is moist, creamy and a litle gummy - yet there's no cream or sauce. It's pretty thick and exploding with ingredients. I think she overcooked it a little bit because the outside was a bit too brown, but the inside was still very moist and the seafood was tender so it didn't bother me. I also liked that it wasn't too oily, because these can be very oily.
• The only complain is that she skimped out on was the seafood. It had some bits of squid and some baby shrimp in it. The amount of shrimp was I guess decent but hardly any squid. You just know that if she made it for herself or for the family she would have put way more seafood in it.
• It's usually eaten as a snack, appetizer or side dish.
• 
• Bibimbap 3/6
• Rice mixed with beef and vegetables served with a fried egg $8.99
  
• This is basically a Korean-style fried rice. It's usually served in a hot stone bowl and the heat of the bowl helps to crisp up the rice. You leave it for a while before mixing all the ingredients together. Since we got take out we didn't have the benefit of letting the rice crisp up, nonetheless it was still a good bibimbap. Best eaten upon order for sure.
• The vegetables for bibimbap vary from restaurant to restaurant. Here they used sauteed carrots, spinach, zucchini and bean sprouts. Some other places may use mushrooms, cucumber, daikon and even pine nuts (although pine nuts is very rare...but so good when they're in there).
• The Kitchen serves it with ground beef (most common) and top it off with a fried egg, some shredded seaweed and sesame seeds. I wish they gave more ground beef though. It was so minced up and it had a good nutty/sesame taste, but just not enough actual meat.
• The texture of the dish is great. There's different levels of crunchiness and then it's all saucy and creamy from mixing in the egg yolk and meat sauce. the rice is almost like Japanese sushi rice, it's all sticky and delicious.
• It comes with this chili pepper paste or sauce (looks like ketchup) but very spicy and you mix it into the bibimbap with all the other ingredients.
• Kimchi
  
• I like the kimchi here, she uses a lot more daikon than cabbage though. It's homemade and very saucy. Use it as a condiment or side with everything you eat.
  

Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder ChowDown

Event: 2nd Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder ChowDown

Topic: Seafood Chowder
Date: November 25, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Stanley Park)
Vancouver Aquarium
Tickets: $35

I attended the 2nd Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder ChowDown as "Follow Me Foodie"...so I'm going to focus on the food and briefly discuss my experience.

The event was held at the Vancouver Aquarium where 10 chefs from Vancouver's high-end restaurants battled for the title of "BC Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Champion 2009". They had 10 stations set-up, each station representing a different restaurant, and people would line-up to sample about half a cup of seafood chowder.

Ocean Wise is a non-profit organization that partners with Vancouver Aquarium to encourage restaurants and the community to support sustainable, environmental friendly seafood choices and practices. Chances are you have probably seen the "Ocean Wise" logo at some point or another.

All utensils and bowls were bio-degradable which suited the theme. However I think everyone should have put down a $2 deposit for a metal spoon upon entrance and just used that for the whole night. At the end people could have returned the spoon and gotten their deposit back or opt to donate it to Ocean Wise. I tried using my one biodegradable spoon the whole night, but I kept forgetting and tossing it with my bowl...so a lot of spoons were wasted.

Overall I enjoyed the event...this year they actually had beer pairings for every chowder...I'm not familiar with beer though so I'm going to leave that part to the experts. The part I am familiar with is the chowder...I had 13 bowls at the end of the night. I repeated 3 because I wanted to compare them more. I'm serious about food. So let's get started!

Participating restaurants: C Restaurant, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA), Whistler Blackcomb, Provence Marinaside, ZEN Japanese Restaurant, The Refinery, Vancouver Aquarium Catering, O'doul's, COAST Restaurant & Go-Fish.

Chef Matthew Christie from Go-Fish pan frying the biggest scallops I've ever seen for judge's tasting.


The Official 2009 1st place winner: Go-Fish (plating for the judges tasting)

Official 2009 Winners:

• People's Choice: O'Douls
• 1st Place: Go-Fish
• 2nd Place: The Refinery
• 3rd Place: COAST Restaurant

Follow Me Foodie Winners aka my personal choice:

• 1st Place: O'Douls (on the right)
  
• 2nd Place: Whistler Blackcomb (on the left)
  
• 3rd Place: The Refinery

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

**My following ratings represent the seafood chowder served this evening and not the actual restaurant/chef/regular menu.

On the table:Chef Wesley Young cooking the ingredients and the chowder broth separately.

A spoonful of the ingredient first, and then tops it off with the chowder broth.

• C Restaurant 4.5/6
• Chef Wesley Young
  
• Shellfish New England Chowder - the sign said "Manhattan", but it was a mistake.
• Some ingredients include: scallops, back bacon, celery, carrot, onions, clams etc.
  
• Most attention to detail...very representable of C Restaurant.
  
• All the ingredients were diced to the same size.
  
• Juicy salty pork bits and the vegetable were perfectly tender.
• Thinner texture
• Nothing out of the ordinary, but simple and well executed.
• Chef cooked the ingredients and the chowder broth separately in different pots. He lightly sauteed the ingredients in one and cooked the seafood broth in the other. Therefore the seafood, veggie and meat flavours didn't blend into the broth. It's a good method because he can control the temperature and everything is cooked perfectly. It's a bad method because the broth is just a cream broth with no seafood taste.
• Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA) 2/6
  
• Student chef: Sarai De Zela Pardo
• Colypso Chowder
• The creator is a student, so I don't want to be mean...but it wasn't great. She tried doing something different, and she did, but it just didn't work out that well.
  
• Some ingredients include: sweet potato, stuffed mussels, tomato, garlic, Sablefish, back bacon, oregano etc. Served with a spot prawn fritter.
  
• The base was a sweet potato puree which made the chowder too sweet. Most sweet.
• It was a bit smoky and surprisingly a thinner texture even though she used sweet potatoes.
• I felt like it banked on the plump juicy mussel and BC spot prawn fritter...which were both good.
  
• The fritter tastes like a lightly breaded and deep fried corn muffin made with lots of cornmeal and sweet corn kernels stuffed with a spot prawn. It was good! Perhaps better then the chowder.
  
• The bacon was a back bacon, and it was better at C Restaurant.
  
• Back bacon is more like ham than that crispy bacon.
• Executive chef Randy Jones from Whistler Blackcomb preparing his chowder
  
• 
  
• 
• Whistler Blackcomb 5.5/6
  
• Executive Chef Randy Jones
  
• Wild Chinook and Indian Candy Salmon Chowder with Honey Lager Mussels
• Some ingredients include: Salmon, lemon, thyme, local honey, mussels, honey lager, Pemberton potatoes etc.
• I really liked this one. It tasted very "Canadian" if I can say.
  
• I would call it a salmon chowder, it was definitely the most fishy tasting out of all the chowders.
• It was savoury and sweet with nice pieces of salmon throughout. The salmon pieces tasted like candied smoked salmon - it almost had a maple syrup taste to it. It was tangy too, almost like there was sour cream in it.
  
• The mussels were steamed in honey lager and you could taste that slight sweetness which was beautiful.
  
• It was nice and thick because the chowder was thickened with pureed Pemberton potatoes. There were also chunks of potato throughout. It was very rich in flavour and texture.
• Provence Marinaside 2.5/6
• Sous Chef Jasen Gauthier
  
• Sablefish Chowder
• Some ingredients include: Sablefish, mussels, clams, potatoes, pancetta, fennel etc.
• If you go to Southern France this is what you find. It reminded me of a Bouillabaisse but lighter and more delicate in flavour. Rather than saffron it had a licorice taste. This was a seafood chowder for adults.
  
• The seafood was cooked throughout the broth and all the ingredients were very well balanced although the fennel and fresh parsley really stood out.
• It was very French.
• Too many potato chunks though and the "pancetta" (wasn't really pancetta but this French style bacon that resembles pancetta) was too fatty.

Zen Japanese Restaurant's seafood chowder for the judge's tasting.

• 

• ZEN Japanese Restaurant 1.5/6
  
• Executive Chef Nobu Ochi
  
• BC Spot Prawn Southern Style Seafood Chowder with Toasted Rice Croutons.
  
• It wouldn't have been a 1.5/6 if they didn't burn it. You could smell the burning and the chowder just tasted burnt throughout...it's really sad because there was potential.
  
• Some ingredients include: BC spot prawns, Lingcod, BC mussels, scallops, carrot, potato, onions etc.
• This was more of a bisque than it was a chowder. It was the thickest and creamiest of all the chowders. I think they put barbecue sauce or maple syrup in it because there was a hickory sweet taste and the flavour was that bold. It was hard to tell because the burnt taste was really distracting.
  
• There were big chunks of really soft carrot and potato throughout. I think some of the seafood and potato were pureed to made the chowder base. Very thick and rich with a lot of cream. It was sweet too.
  
• The "toasted rice crouton" was a rice ball that was lightly toasted. I liked breaking it up into the soup...the sample was basically a meal...really filling.
• The Refinery 5/6 (Official 3rd place)
• Executive Chef Michael Carter
  
• Smoked Cod and Crab Chowder
• Some ingredients include: dungeness crab, smoked cod, corn, coconut cream, red hot chillies, lemongrass etc.
• If Thai people made seafood chowders...this is what it would taste like. Thai-style seafood chowder.
• It stood out the most for sure. It was definitely the spiciest of all. It tasted like Tom Yum soup made into a chowder.
• It was full of corn and dungeness crab and topped with red hot chillies and cilantro.
  
• It was the only chowder that had zero potatoes, and instead they used coconut cream to thicken it.
• The lemongrass really stood out too. It was a very South East Asian style chowder.
  
• It had quite a kick though and I love spicy so I could handle it. However I couldn't taste anything afterward for at least 15min. until the spicy wore off and my taste buds went back to normal. It was too spicy for a lot of people. I liked it though!
• Vancouver Aquarium Catering and Events 2/6
  
• Sous Chef Myke Shaw
  
• Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder
• This had the disadvantage of being set up across from The Refinery. After trying The Refinery chowder, which was very spicy, you couldn't taste the spicy corn and crab chowder. The Refinery table was before you got to the Vancouver Aquarium table...so it was unfair.
• On the other hand they were giving out full bowls of chowder rather than half cups, and because it was so hearty some people got sick of it...a lot of us did. So that was on them.
• Some ingredients include: 3 types of potato: Pemberton, Yellow Butter potatoes from Langley, Russet, 2 types of corn: purple and peaches and cream. roasted Poblano peppers etc.
  
• They tried really hard with this chowder...but it didn't show through. I only know because I asked otherwise you couldn't tell how unique and varied the ingredients were. I didn't eat it thinking "ooohh yeah these potatoes are from Langley".
  
• I actually don't remember much seafood being in there, but I do remember lots of corn and potatoes. Too many and too big potato chunks that made it too hearty.
  
• This was basically mom's really good clam chowder - the most traditional of the chowders.
• There was a slight kick, but honestly after The Refinery, I could barely taste the kick.
• O'Douls 6/6 (People's Choice)
  
• Executive Chef Chris Whittaker
  
• People's Choice and my favourite.
  
• Smoked Qualicum Bay scallop and House Cured Sloping Hill Farms Pork Belly Chowder. The garnish was fresh homemade Yukon gold potato chips.
• Some ingredients include: scallops, pork belly, potato, carrots, organic celery root etc.
  
• Nothing fancy, just good...and I LOVE fancy and different...so this says a lot about their chowder. The flavour is what stood out and I think the use of pork belly is what won the people over...also those Yukon Gold potato chips were a fantastic garnish!
• It was sweet, smoky, tangy and savoury. All the components were there. Very well rounded in flavour.
• Women, men, epicureans, foodies, kids, old and young would like it.
• It had the most tang or acidic notes, but it was by no means overpowering. The tang came from the champagne vinegar they used.
  
• It was thick and the 2nd creamiest chowder for me.
  
• It was very chunky and the pork belly was the best use of pork. It was the saltiest and the most flavourful bacon. I really think this is was drew people in.
  
• I also loved the potatoes in it. It was chunks of Yukon Gold potatoes that melted in your mouth. Creamiest potatoes that night.
• COAST Restaurant 3.5/6 (Official 3rd place)
  
• Executive Chef Josh Wolfe
  
• BC Sea Urchin and Smoked Pacific Oyster Chowder
• Some ingredients include: Clams, sea urchin, potato, smoked oysters etc.
  
• Most experimental. Creative? Definitely! But not a real chowder...so I didn't think it was that fair that they won.
• This is in a different category of it's own.
  
• It was the thinnest chowder for sure. Thin as milk. They actually blended it up in a blender before serving it. It was more like a seafood cappuccino. It had a frothy layer.
  
• No flour was used. A real definition of a chowder has flour. To get the thickness they boiled potatoes just to get the starch out of them and then they tossed the potatoes. Yes, the wastage bothers me...
• They got the saltiness and the rest of the thickness from the sea urchin. They blended them right into the broth.
• It would have been great as an appetizer and I really think they should have served it in shot glasses...that would have been perfect.
• It was served with a little piece of Chef's Creek oysters that was smoked for 4 hours.
  
• You could definitely taste the sea urchin because these are salty little guys.
  
• It was still rich in flavour, but just not thick.
  
• It left a filmy texture in my mouth, it's the only chowder that did that.

• Go-Fish 4/6 (Official 1st place)
  
• Chef Matt & Andrew Christie
  
• Smoked Corn and Scallop Chowder
• Some ingredients include: corn, scallops, parsnip, bacon, celeriac seed, fingerling potatoes etc.
  
• I called this "Chilliwack's interpretation of Seafood Chowder"....but maybe I was partly influenced by the chef's look?...My other reason is because use of corn stood out the most. They actually used the corn off the cob and you could really tell. The kernels were biggest and sweetest. This chowder was loaded with corn.
  
• My 2nd favourite use of potatoes. They're good because they're really tender and the skin just pops away from the potato...both are really good! These potatoes have the best skin - nice and thin.
  
• It was very chunky and the chowder broth was creamy, but not thick. It was on the thinner side similar to Restaurant.
  
• It had the longest line-up, but the chefs were also the most entertaining/energetic...they were having the most fun which is great.

Society - Dessert: Junk Food Platter

Restaurant: Society - Dessert Junk Food Platter

Cuisine: American
Last visited: November 18, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)
1257 Hamilton Street
Price Range: $10-20

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

Junk Food Platter: 4
Savoury Food: 2
Service: 3.5
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Comfort food with a twist
• Executive Chef Brandon Thordarson
• Attracts trendy crowd - Glowbal feel
• Great decor/playful and contemporary ambiance
• Better for drinks/desserts
• Part of the Glowbal Group family
• Heated patio, outdoor seating
• Open 11:30am-12am
• Open 4:30pm Sat/Sun

**Recommendation: Junk food platter

This review is focused on Society's dessert: The Junk Food Platter

There was too much to review on this huge platter so I had to split it up. The menu says it serves 2, but really it can serve between 4-6. Everything comes in 2, but you'll be pretty full if you ate everything. It's pretty big. For $18 I would order it again - however some things were better than others. I think the ice cream sandwiches were the best.

The platter is full of old-fashioned/circus/carnival desserts or "junk food": cotton candy, caramel corn, chocolate cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Oreo milkshake, doughnut holes, cookies and rice crispy squares. Overall it's a fun/playful idea, very well-presented and suits the restaurant and what they aim to do.

For my review on the savoury dishes: http://tinyurl.com/yg3ok8k

On the table:

• Junk Food Platter 4/6
• Cotton candy, caramel corn, chocolate cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Oreo milkshake, doughnut holes, cookies and rice crispy squares $18
• Cotton Candy 4/6
• The cotton candy is fresh and really good. It's really fun and never really been done at a restaurant. Better than the stuff you get an carnivals. You get quite a bit, but it's just spun sugar so it doesn't cost much to make.
• Caramel Corn 1/6
• This was found in the cup that was holding the cotton candy up.
• They burnt the caramel so the caramel corn was bitter and hard. It was really crunchy and they were in clumps, so it was more like brittle than it was caramel corn. This was better at carnivals.
• Doughnut Holes 2.5/6
  
• I think they make a version of these at Trattoria too. You can order these separately for $8.
• They taste really good, except they're filled with a cream anglaise that is much too sweet. On top, they're covered with white icing sugar so it makes them very sweet. They're served warm though so I liked that.
• It come with this pink "white chocolate" dip - which was not good at all. It was flavourless. It looks like Pepto-Bismol and I tried it on it's own. It tastes like pure sugar watered down and dyed pink. I enjoyed the doughnuts better without the dip.
• Ice Cream Sandwiches 4/6
• These were fantastic! Gone first. It was homemade.
• The cookie part tasted like chocolate brownies more than they did cookies. It wasn't the best brownie ever or anything, but it was still good. It was really fresh, soft and chewy. There's vanilla ice cream in the middle, which is not homemade I'm pretty sure. But overall the whole thing is yummy. I wish you could order them separately.
• Rice Crispies 3/6
  
• These were just your regular rice crispy squares. Not too buttery, not to sweet. a little harder than I'd like. I like them soft and chewy.
• Chocolate Cupcakes 3/6
• These reminded me of gourmet Ding Dongs. They were chocolate cupcakes filled with marshmallow cream and covered in chocolate ganache. These were nice and moist - a very decadent chocolatey treat.
• Oreo Milkshake 3/6
  
• This tasted great (how an Oreo milkshake would taste), but it wasn't a thick milkshake. It was definitely more milk based than ice cream based. I wonder if their other milkshakes are as thin as this one was...?
• They top it off with whipped cream and chocolate cookie crumbs. I wish they used Oreo cookie crumbs instead. They could easily make that switch with the help of a food processor.
• Cookies 2/6
• There were 2 mini chocolate chip cookies inside the mini white doggy bag.
• I have a feeling they started off warm, soft and chewy...but because I got to them last they were hard and not chewy. It was really too bad. Just because a cookie cools down it doesn't mean it has to be hard - but it happened to these ones which was disappointing.
  

Society - Restaurant & Lounge

Restaurant: Society

Cuisine: American
Last visited: November 18, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)
1257 Hamilton Street
Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: 2
Service: 3.5
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Comfort food with a twist
• Executive Chef Brandon Thordarson
• Hometown classics/favourite - made gourmet
• Attracts trendy crowd - Glowbal feel
• Great decor/playful and contemporary ambiance
• Better for drinks/desserts
• Part of the Glowbal Group family
• Heated patio, outdoor seating
• Busy during peak hours/after hours/weekends
• Express lunches (under 45 min. or free)
• Housemade Ketchup
• Open 11:30am-12am
  
• Open 4:30pm Sat/Sun

**Recommendation: Junk food platter, Flight of hand cut french fries (not the poutine one though), housemade ketchup, roast garlic aioli

The Glowbal Restaurant Group is a powerhouse when it comes to opening restaurants. Society is the newest addition to family located where the old Coast (another Glowbal restaurant) used to be. I was really excited to try Society, however the ambiance and overall experience was more exciting. On paper the menu looks delicious and the majority of dishes are well-presented however the flavour and execution were lacking. I wanted to like it because I do think the Glowbal restaurants are good, but for the price I was paying I think Cactus Club does a better job. I would even prefer Glowbal/Trattoria before Society.

The food is definitely your American classics like mac n' cheese, shepherd's pie, milkshakes, cookies, cotton candy, and meatloaf - however everything is done with a twist or "Glowbal style", which means gourmet or fancy. The ideas are there, but I found that everything I tried I could easily think of a place that makes it better. In fact I'll list where I think they're better.

I thought the only thing that was up to Glowbal standards was the decor. The atmosphere is casual, playful and pretty girly yet the crowd is 25-45 and trendy. The staff "uniform" are light blue jeans and plain white t-shirts yet the atmosphere is more luxurious than this. It really does carry that "opposites attract" theme they are aiming for. I would go back with friends, but only for the experience and to enjoy some drinks or desserts. I MAY go back to try other things so I can really make a fair judgment.

• Click for my review on the junk food platter

On the table:

• Mac and Cheese Balls 2.5/6
• Jalapeno & white cheddar $8
• It was 6 white cheddar and jalapeno macaroni and cheese rolled into balls, lightly breaded and deep fried. It's served with housemade ketchup.
• They were well fried well with a crispy exterior however the inside was just not cheesy or creamy enough. It looks better in the pictures. When I order mac n' cheese I expect it to be indulgent and very cheesy...that's the point right? But it wasn't. It wasn't necessarily dry but they need to use a stronger cheese because it was kind of bland. The jalapeno kick was right on though and I did like that part.
• They serve it with their housemade ketchup which is great! However these mac n' cheese balls are best eaten with their roast garlic aoili. Dipping the mac n' cheese balls in this aoili gives it the flavour it needs...with this condiment I'd give it 4/6.
• Deep fried mac n' cheese balls are better at Cheesecake Factory in the States
• **Flight of Hand-Cut French Fries served 3 ways 3/6 $9
  
• It's pretty well-priced, however I think places like Fritz and even New York Fries do a better job. The fries were soft, but not really crispy. They're comparable to Fritz, but I think Fritz does a better job overall. The execution of each is better at New York Fries although the fries themselves aren't as good as the ones at Society.
• They need wider dishes to serve them in because only the top of the fries had sauce.
• **Au Natural - housemade ketchup, roast garlic aoili 3/6
  
• These condiments are great...I'd give both 6/6
• The ketchup tastes like ketchup, but better.
• We dipped all the fries into the garlic aoili.
  
• 
• Poutine - cheese curd, chicken gravy 1.5/6
• Can easily find a place that has better poutine. It doesn't even look like a poutine.
  
• Where are the cheese curds? They were melted right into the chicken gravy I think.
  
• Chicken gravy wasn't think or dark enough.
• Chili fries - housemade chili, cheddar cheese, sour cream 2.5/6
  
• The chili tastes like Bolognese meat sauce, the same thing they probably use in their lasagne except with red kidney beans mixed in.
• They topped it with shredded mozzarella and sour cream.
  
• It didn't taste bad, but it can easily be found better somewhere else especially when the chili tastes more like spaghetti sauce.
• 
• Loaded Prime Rib Burger 2/6
  
• Crispy bacon, sun-dried tomato aoili & caramelized onions $15
• It's served with fries. The presentation was great and it looks really good, but it looked better than it tasted.
• It could have been better if they only balanced the ratio of the ingredients.
  
• The caramelized onions we're great and so was the aoili, but it was all lost because the patty was so thick and overpowering.
  
• 
• The beef patty was very salty, but not falvourful. It was like eating pure ground beef with a lettuce leaf.
• It's weird because the middle was dry and it should have been moist because it's the thickest part so it should take longer to cook.

• Lobster Gnocchi 1/6
• 1/2 Atlantic lobster, tarragon cream, Parmesan crust & garlic bread $18
• It came with a side of garlic bread. This was not well presented, not worth the price and the portion was pretty small.
• The gnocchi was made really poorly. They were made much too big for gnocchi and it was very plain, mushy and too soft. I felt like I was just eating dough, they used too much flour and not enough potato in the mixture. There was no flavour or potato texture. There were also no fork ridges on them either and gnocchi should have them to hold the sauce.
• I have definitely had better gnocchi elsewhere...even their family restaurant Trattoria does a better job.
• There was actually 1/2 an Atlantic lobster in it (8 pieces), so that was good. The pieces were really tender and it was the only good thing I got from this dish.
• The cream sauce was bland and not strong enough to stand up to the overwhelming sized gnocchi. It was basically butter and cream...and cheese and tarragon which neither I could taste - a bit on the thin side too.
• Baked Lasagne 3/6
• Kobe meat sauce, tomato fondue, roasted peppers, herbed ricotta & garlic bread.
  
• You had to have seen this coming. A Glowbal restaurant without some "Kobe meat sauce" or "Kobe meatballs" just wouldn't be a Glowbal restaurant.
• This is almost their signature, so you knew it would be good...but that's the thing, it was just good, not outstanding or anything.
• It had about 7 layers and the bottom layer had roasted red peppers and the layer above had the ricotta. There wasn't enough though and the lasagne noodles and meat sauce over powered these 2 layers. I always think meat lasagnes are best homemade though.
• Lobster Shepherd's Pie 2/6
• Atlantic lobster, creamed potatoes $18
• There were carrots, celery and onions and it felt like a twist on a chicken pot pie rather than a shepherd's pie. It tasted like a chicken pot pie except with lobster...and not much of it. For $18, this was not worth it. There was way more lobster in the lobster gnocchi. This one had 5 pieces. The portion was small and it didn't look that appetizing.
• The gravy tasted like a chicken gravy rather than a lobster gravy. There was no lobster flavour except for the actual pieces and it was a bit on the watery/buttery/oily side too. I expected more from it.
• The creamed potatoes were good though. It was really smooth and creamy. I think they melted cream cheese into them because they were very flavourful and delicious. This was better than the lobster mixture/stew.
• Overall I was most disappointed with the lobster dishes, this one tasted better than the gnocchi, but it wasn't difficult to surpass that dish.
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• Recyclable/Re-usable take-out bag that probably wastes more than it saves due to the size of it.

• I also tried their junk food platter (the dessert) which I will post about tomorrow.