Goldfish Pacific Kitchen

Restaurant: Goldfish Pacific Kitchen - Restaurant Review
Cuisine: West Coast/Pacific Rim/Fusion
Last dined: December 8, 09

Area: Vancouver (Yaletown/Downtown)
1118 Mainland Street
Price Range: $20-30

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

Food: 3.5 (Based on lunch)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 5.5
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Located in Yaletown
• Mostly Asian chefs/cooks – Chef William Tse (previous sous chef of Joe Fortes and Chop House)
• Asian fusion/Asian inspired menu
• Focus on seafood
• Sophisticated and creative food
• Extensive Wine Bar
• Contemporary, trendy & “Yaletown” atmosphere & décor
• Quite a large dinner menu
• Dining Room/Lounge/Patio
• Covered sun room with lounge couches
• Great for appies/drinks/late night
• M-F 11am-4pm “$10 Gold Plates”
• M-F 4pm-6pm Happy Hour – appies and drinks

**Recommendation: Chicken satays, tuna tartare, short rib sliders, bacon fried rice (very popular but I haven’t tried), Trio of West Coast Sushi Pizza, Shiitake mushroom meatloaf

I posted my resstaurant review for Goldfish’s Happy Hour yesterday so this review focuses on the lunch I had there. For more details on the restaurant and overall review please see my post from yesterday: http://tinyurl.com/yfqzr6l

I came for a late lunch at 3pm and it was almost empty. Therefore I think the food I had was actually probably better because they could take the time to prepare it and do it well. It’s not always the case, but just my thoughts…

On the table:

• Flash Seared Ahi Tuna Sandwich 2.5/6
• Sweet onion marmalade, mustard greens $14

• 

• I love ahi tuna and when I see it on the menu I’m likely to order it. There was nothing really wrong with this one, but I expected more from it. The ahi tuna was slices of ahi tuna rather than an ahi tuna filet. I felt like they used their tuna tataki appetizer and made it into a sandwich by serving it on toasted white bread. There wasn’t that many pieces of tuna, but just enough slices to cover the bottom layer of bread. I think it could have used more ponzu sauce. It was more sweet than tangy because of the marmalade.
• 
• The sweet onion marmalade was basically a red onion relish – it was tangy, sweet and savoury and went well with the tuna, however there was a little too much of it and not enough tuna.
• I wish they used better sandwich bread – they either used Wonder Bread white bread or the white bread from T&T Supermarket. I think they used a combo of butter and garlic aioli before toasting it. It was nice and crispy, but boring at the same time.

• It came with fries which were I think are hand-cut. They were quite starchy but were really good with the garlic ginger aioli. The aioli is made in house and you can really taste the ginger – it’s so aromatic. It came with ketchup too – I really think they should start making their own ketchup. The new restaurant Society also in Yaletown does and it’s great. I really like the sauces at Goldfish so I think they should really make their own.

• **Shiitake Mushroom Meatloaf 4/6

• Tomato Hoisin jam, confit of whole shallots, roasted garlic jus $10
• This is their Tuesday Gold Plate – basically the Goldfish lunch special of the day for $10
• It was a bit small, but that was somewhat expected. It was only $10 anyways.
  
• 
• The meatloaf was actually really good. It was made of pork, shiitake, white pieces of bread (not crumbs), onions, garlic, Hoisin sauce, and some other spices. It was really tender, soft and moist. It was almost like bread pudding, but in a good way. There was a decent amount of pork pieces, almost chunks and I was surprised they didn’t use ground pork. This made it more gourmet and I appreciated that. I loved the addition of shiitake mushrooms. It absorbed so many juices they were all plump and juicy and gave the meatloaf a whole other level of sweetness and moistness.

• • 
• The meatloaf was baked and maybe even pan-fried to the point where the glaze became charred. I liked it though. I was scared it was going to be dry, but it wasn't. It had a crispy crust and was very well marinated and coated with a deep and rich tomato Hoisin jam. The Hoisin jam tasted like it was made with a cranberry jam. It was sweet, tangy, savoury and tart. I would have appreciated more roasted garlic jus though. There wasn’t enough sauce for both the meat and the rice.
• 
• I didn’t like the rice, it was really dry and needed sauce. The whole shallots were amazing though. They were really really soft and basically melted in your mouth.

• **Trio of West Coast Sushi Pizza 3.5/6
• Hokkaido scallop, salmon, albacore tuna, wasabi tobiko $10

• This is their Thursday Gold Plate. I actually tried it on September 10 when I went for happy hour – but I’m including it in this review because it’s a main dish.When I ordered it they had it as a special, so you would choose 1 of the 3. Now they offer it as a sampler. I tried the salmon and the albacore tuna pizza. Those were the 2 the waitress recommended so I just went with that.
  
• This was a sushi rice patty pan-fried until crispy and topped with chopped sashimi. I liked the salmon better than the tuna, but both were good.To make it better they should marinated them in a little bit of ponzu or something. Give it more flavour becuase they don't have too much going on. It's a very simple recipe.
• It’s not too greasy and the patty is nice and thin so you really taste a nice ratio of ingredients. The fry the rice up very nicely to the point where it’s a bit charred so it’s all nutty and crispy on the outside, but still soft on the inside. They drizzled a teriyaki citrus glaze or reduction before serving it. The wasabi tobiko tastes like regular tobiko to me – I missed that spiciness.

• I liked it better than the sushi pizza I had at Sushi Sky. I liked the rice patty here better, but I liked the addition of avocado at Sushi Sky. Ideally I would want to have a drizzle of teriyaki glaze and wasabi mayo. They use Teriyaki glaze at Goldfish and Japanese mayo at Sushi Sky, but it’s not wasabi mayo. To see my review: http://tinyurl.com/yefvj9r

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen – Happy Hour Review

Restaurant: Goldfish Pacific Kitchen – Happy Hour Review
Cuisine: West Coast/Pacific Rim/Fusion
Last dined: December 8, 09

Area: Vancouver (Yaletown/Downtown)
1118 Mainland Street
Price Range: $20-30

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

Food: 4 (Based on happy hour)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Located in Yaletown
• Mostly Asian chefs/cooks – Chef William Tse (previous sous chef of Joe Fortes and Chop House)
• Asian fusion/Asian inspired menu
• Focus on sea-food
• Sophisticated and creative food
• Extensive Wine Bar
• Contemporary, trendy & “Yaletown” atmosphere & décor
• Quite a large dinner menu
• Dining Room/Lounge/Patio
• Covered sun room with lounge couches
• Great for appies/drinks/late night
• M-F 11am-4pm “$10 Gold Plates”
• M-F 4pm-6pm Happy Hour – appies and drinks

**Recommendation: Chicken satays, tuna tartare, short rib sliders, bacon fried rice (very popular but I haven’t tried), Trio of West Coast Sushi Pizza, Shiitake mushroom meatloaf

I’ve came here on a few occasions before I started blogging so I’m going to summarize my visits. This review focuses on my happy hour visit. I tried everything on their happy hour menu besides their house made potato chips and toast & jam, which sounds a bit boring. I can’t be as detailed in this review because it was a visit from September 10, 09. So I’m writing on recollection. The positive to this is that I can tell you what was truly memorable about the dishes I ordered. Overall their happy hour is worth it and I must give credit to their dips and sauces which were all really good. I actually think the food during happy hour is better becuase they have more time to prepare it. I will post my lunch visit tomorrow. (For my lunch review)

The restaurant isn’t as busy as it should be and I’m not sure why. The food is not bad and the atmosphere is fantastic. It’s very trendy, contemporary and spacious. They have a lot of room to occupy so I think they would do better with a smaller space. I’ve sat in covered patio in the back, the lounge, and the dining room. I liked the patio the best. The patio has blankets, heat lamps and comfy lounge sofas. It’s not great for lunch or dinner, but it’s great for drinks, appies, and after work/late night socials. I would prefer the patio in the back over the lounge in the front.

A while back they were closed for lunch, but they decided to re-open for lunch recently.

The food is very East meets West – very Asian inspired. It’s probably because the owners and chefs are Asian, so they reinvent a lot of Asian classics by putting an “American” or West Coast twist to it.

On the table:

• Beef Satays 2/6
• Madras curry, cucumber ginger yogurt $3.75
• The beef was a little dry and over cooked a bit all the times I’ve ordered it. The pieces are nice and lean though.
• The sauce is like a raita sauce (that cucumber yogurt condiment they give you an Indian restaurants). It’s refreshing, aromatic and bit spicy from the fresh ginger. I’m used to having these with peanut sauce from Malaysian restaurants and I prefer that version.
• Chicken Satays 4/6
• Thai red curry sauce $3
• The menu now says “Thai red curry sauce” – when I ordered it it was a Thai yellow curry sauce, which was really good! It was like a curry peanut ginger and garlic sauce. I’ll have to re-order this to see if they’ve changed it. I hope they only changed the curry paste and not the recipe beucase it was so good already…well maybe it’s better now? I’ll have to see. The chicken itself is nice and seasoned with a dry rub. These ones weren’t dry.
• Short Rib Sliders 5/6
• Spicy Hoisin mayo, crispy onions $3
• These were memorable. It was very tender falling apart beef short ribs. They were nice and saucy and tasted like an Asian barbeque sauce – which is the Hoisin sauce. It wasn’t spicy for me though. More sweet and tangy. The crispy onions were a nice touch. I think they’re using the mini dinner rolls from superstore rather than actual slider buns. It’s more like a hot dog bun. It didn’t bother me though because it was nicely grilled and crispy yet soft. You got a lot of meat and it’s nice and tender – that was the most important part. It was nice to have it not pre-shredded as well. It shred away easily just by me biting into it and th at’s how tender short ribs should be.

  

• Mini Crab Cakes 2/6
• Thai basil yogurt $4
• To be honest I don’t really remember these. I know they weren’t bad, but that also can’t mean they were really good. They were forgettable. I know they were a nice size, crispy, hot and not overcooked though. I usually take a picture of the inside of the crab cake so you can see the ingredients. I’ll have to order these again next time to give a better review.
• Freshly shucked Oysters
• Freshly shucked oysters grated horseradish $2.75
• I can’t remember which type of oysters they gave us. They weren’t Fanny Bay’s which was surprising, since these are most available being in Vancouver. I do appreciate the grated horseradish, that was a nice touch. I think they should use freshly grated wasabi though – it suits their Asian-inspired theme better.
• Tuna Tartare 3/6
  
• Crisp butter lettuce $4
• These served these with deep fried taro chips which was a great idea because I was expecting regular chips or crostini. Well from the menu I was expecting just butter lettuce.
• I like tuna tartare so that’s why I recommended it, and for the price you're paying it's worth it. The colour of the tuna doesn't look great, but it doesn't taste bad either. It has some avocado, green onions and I think some red peppers it it. They make it better at Japanese places, but this one was decent.
• Chilled Tiger Prawns
• Mango lime aïoli $4.75
• The prawns were nice and big and I don’t really remember the dip. I will have to reorder this to give a better review. I’m sure it was good though because we didn’t have one bad dip. They do a good job with all of them.

Eight 1/2 Restaurant & Lounge

Restaurant: Eight 1/2 Restaurant & Lounge
Cuisine: Contemporary/Pacific Rim/West coast/Pacific Northwest
Last visited: August 19, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC (East Vancouver)
151 East 8th Ave
Price Range: $20-30 (average bill per person)

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

Food: 3
Service: 2
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Focus on local produce
• Hidden location in a 100 year old house
• No deep fryer, no microwave
• Called Eight 1/2 because of location
• Attracts late night crowd, quiet for dinner
• Familiar to people in the area
• Pub-like feel rather than lounge-like feel after 8pm
• Great for tapas and drinks more so than dinner
• Most menu items sound better than they taste
• Service a bit slow - feels like there is only one person in the kitchen
• Some seasonal features
• Patio available
  

**Recommendation: Four Cheese Macaroni, Goat Cheese Plate

I just happened to discover this place while I was looking for parking around the area. I checked out their menu and it seemed like it as worth a shot. It looks a bit shady because it's quite hidden and you wouldn't really know about it unless you live around the area, frequent Main Street, or was given a recommendation. They call it a lounge, but it felt more like a pub because they had a sports game playing on the TV and it got really loud. The decor may be more lounge like, but the atmosphere is not.

I do appreciate the fact that they emphasize on local ingredients and traditional ways of cooking though - no deep dryer or microwave. However everything was very up and down; the food was either really good or not so good and the service was the same. The kitchen is pretty slow and I feel like they have one guy cooking everything. They don't have much dinner business and the staff seems like they're still getting familiar with the dishes...because a couple times our dish would be missing something and unless I pointed it out they didn't even notice. I feel like this restaurant is still experimenting...I wish them the best of luck doing it, because this location requires word of mouth.

On the table:

• **Four Cheese Macaroni 6/6
• Made with Marscapone, Brie, Parmesan, Brocconcini

• Every time I see mac n' cheese on the menu I will order it. I'm curious to see how they can change up an old classic...everyone has their own version of this all time favourite American comfort food.
• I've tried a bunch of mac n' cheeses (some gourmet, some traditional) in Vancouver and this is one of the best ones I've had. I thought it wouldn't be cheesy enough, because the choice of cheeses they used aren't too strong - but it was actually enough. The Marscapone gave it this creaminess, the Brie gave it the richness, the Parmesan made the salty crust, and the Brocconcini gave it that stringiness. Home cooked gourmet taste - you can taste the quality in ingredients and when you take the first bite you just know that time went into making it.
• The put a nice Parmesan crust on top and baked it so its nice and gooey. Very very nicely done.
• Baked Brie 3/6
• Filo wrapped brie, local buckwheat honey, sweet chili, candied apple slices

• This sounds better than it tastes - mind you they forgot our candied apple slices so we were missing a component. Actually come to think of it, it was served with champagne grapes...? These grapes were delicious and great with the brie, but it tasted a little off with the sweet chili...I would have preferred the apples.
  
• The brie was served in one big wedge wrapped in filo (which was floury instead of flaky) and some crostini. I didn't even notice the buckwheat honey, and for all I know they could have forgotten that too. It tasted like a block of brie wrapped in filo and drizzled with a little sweet chili sauce - you know the classic sweet chili sauce you find everywhere? That's what it tasted like. This is a dish you could easily prepare at home, so it sounds more gourmet than it was.
• **Goat Cheese Plate 5/6
  
• Pistachio encrusted goat cheese with lobster infused olive oil and roasted garlic

• What made this dish was the lobster infused olive oil. You can really taste the lobster in it, a little goes a long way - this shouldn't be missed. It's not made in house though, they buy it - I want to find the supplier and buy some. The olive oil deserved a 6/6.
• They could have been more generous with the goat's cheese though. The goat's cheese wasn't too pungent either, which is good becuase than you could really taste the lobster olive oil - which is the star. They gave us one ball of goat's cheese - I think they should have give us 3 smaller balls and that way the proportion of cheese to pistachio crust would have been better as well. The pistachio didn't add texture or flavour because the proportion was off.
• The roasted garlic was good though, they give you a whole bulb so you really taste the freshness and quality.
  
• How to eat: Take a crostini spread with goat's cheese, spread a piece of garlic on top, and drizzle with the lobster olive oil.
• Tofino Tuna Tataki - 2/6
• Seared Oceanwise Albacore tuna and avocado wedges with soy and wasabi aioli

• They shouldn't serve this. I just think if you can't make it well don't bother keeping it on the menu. It was Save-On making sushi - ok not that bad...but basically they had the right ingredients but didn't know how to use them. It lacked a lot in flavour. You get nice pieces of tuna and avocado, but the flavour just wasn't there. They don't give you enough wasabi aioli either or soy for that matter.
• Steak bites - 1/6
  
• Sweet chili rub roasted to medium rare steak bites with Parmesan dip

• They were NOT medium rare - almost well done. So they were dry and not very tender. The portion was small and presentation was weak. Bad pub food.
  
• I bet the Parmesan dip (which they forgot and I had to ask for) is from a bottle too.
• Cedar Plank Halibut - 3/6
  
• Line caught halibut topped with fresh mango salsa with a side of spinach risotto

• This was just good. A nice piece of halibut, that wasn't overcooked. However there was not enough mango salsa at all. Halibut is such a sturdy fish it needs stronger flavours to stand up to it - whether it's a bold dry rub, or flavourful sauce/dressing/salsa - it needs something to support it.
• The risotto was ok - lacked in flavour. They skimped out on the Parmesan cheese though so it was missing that salty bite. It's not bad for a place that doesn't specialize in Italian food - I'm glad it was a side because I wouldn't have enjoyed a full order.

Dessert

• Banana Bread Pudding 3/6
• Pretty big portion, but it took forever to come out
  
• It was pieces of banana rather than banana throughout the batter. It wasn't exceptionally moist, but it wasn't dry either. They should have put a tad more liquid in the recipe though so that your fork would sink into it a bit more.

Drinks

• Watermelon Mojito
• Very light and refreshing...barely taste the alcohol though. I think this is seasonal.