Manhattan Restaurant - Dessert Review

Restaurant: Manhattan Restaurant - Delta Hotels & Suites

Cuisine: American/Regional/West Coast
Last visited: November 16, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Waterfront/Downtown)
550 West Hastings Street
Price Range: $20-30

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

Desserts: 3
Service: 3
Ambiance: 1.5 (for a hotel)
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Serves traditional soups, sandwiches, pastas, entrees
• Located on 2nd floor of Delta Inn Hotel
• Large windows, but not much view
• Good for business lunch meetings
• Old-fashioned hotel restaurant
• Cozy mom and pop type seating area
• Fresh sheet available (3 course dinner)
• All day dining: breakfast, lunch, dinner
• Dessert menu

**Recommendation: Big Apple Split

To see my review for Manhattan Restaurant appetizers.

To see my review for Manhattan Restaurant lunch/dinner.

On the table:

• Big Apple Split 4/6
• Apple fritters, rum raisin ice cream, white chocolate sauce $10

• It was half a Granny Smith apple battered in this really light and crispy brown sugar batter and deep fried until golden brown. Very simple recipe and flavours, but very well presented.
• No doubt the Big Apple Split was a sight for the eyes, but from a foodie perspective it could have been executed better. Presentation – great! But could it have tasted better while using the same ingredients? Yes. Based on the description I was expecting something different, not to say that I was disappointed, but calling it “apple fritters” means slices or pieces of battered deep fried apples, not the entire apple…so I was caught off guard.
• 
• The batter was a gourmet-type batter that was very crispy almost like a brown sugar and cinnamon chip or crisp. It created a shell around the apple. There wasn’t many additional spices I could taste, just cinnamon.
• I think it would have tasted better if they cut the apple up in slices and made them into actual fritters. Using the whole apple made it very difficult to eat especially with the ice cream. Because it was such a big piece it didn’t cook all the way through so the apple wasn’t tender. They should have either baked it and them deep fried it, or deep fried it for a longer time until it was softer.
• The ice cream was very soft and they give you a lot! There was a decent amount of raisins, but I couldn’t taste any Rum. I don’t like my ice cream to taste boozy so I was fine with it.
• On top of the ice cream are minced sautéed apples. I liked this added touch because it made it more special.
• It could have used more white chocolate sauce – they only used it for décor around the plate.
• It tastes as good as it sounds and looks, but because the recipe is so simple I was more impressed with the presentation. It’s worth the price though.
• 
• Chocolate Cake 2/6
• Truffle, mousse, cherry sauce $12

• This was a very dense, rich and sweet chocolate cake served cold. It was almost like a gourmet very dense version of black forest cake. At first bite it tasted like there was espresso or coffee in it. It was really moist and really chocolaty, you definitely need a glass of milk with it…which I had to order. In between the layers of chocolate cake was milk chocolate mousse. It was barely a mousse though because it tasted more like frosting to me. The ratio of cake to mousse was pretty off too.
• The cherry sauce was basically sour cherries from a jar with the syrup it was preserved it. It wasn't warm so I doubt the cherry sauce was made in house. It wasn't reduced or anything. It was on the watery side. There’s no cherries in the actual chocolate cake.
• The truffle is that brown oval you see served on top. It was dense and tasted like frosting. It was made of milk chocolate, powdered sugar and maybe some butter and heavy cream. It was much too sweet for me and had this grainy texture which I didn’t like.
• I prefer the 24 layer chocolate cake at CHOP in Richmond or even just the chocolate cake at True Confections