Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant

Restaurant: Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant

Cuisine: American/West Coast/Fast Food/Seafood
Last visited: January 9, 2010
Area: White Rock, BC
15479 Marine Drive
Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: Fish: 6 Other stuff: 2
Service: 5

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 5

Additional comments:

• Family owned
• Since 1975
• Specializes/famous for fish and chips and tartar sauce
• Huge portions, huge pieces of fish
• Only one kind of fish: Cod
• Deep fried and breaded everything, except for salads
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Line-ups
• Homemade, family recipes
• Great for families/seniors
• Very casual, fun atmosphere
• Special: Buy 3 pieces and get 1 FREE
• Great option for picnic on the beach
• Some burgers, sides, salads available
• Award winning “Travelocity.ca selected local favourite”
• Dine in/Take-out
• Take-out window, patio area
• Accepts inteac/Visa/Mastercard

**Recommendation: Fish and tartar sauce (I’d even pass on the chips)

The first time I heard about Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant was at a family dinner. Thanks to me we always end up talking about food! :D My cousins and I were sitting at a table talking about the best fish and chips in the city. I was talking about how I wasn’t impressed by Pajo’s in Richmond and then with high enthusiasm one of them blurts out “Moby Dick! Moby Dick in White Rock is THE BEST Fish and Chips in Vancouver!” I could hear the passion in his voice and the excitement in his eyes. We could all feel it…it was pretty hilarious. Nonetheless all of us put it on our list of places to go!

So I came here literally right after my 3 course brunch at Giraffe Restaurant down the street. This was pretty much my second lunch, but I just had to try it! While waiting for Kim to arrive, I spent 20 min. walking up and down the street to burn off brunch so I would be hungry again. Kim and I have been talking about it for ages, so I’m glad we finally made it!

Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant has been around for ages, and not much has changed since its opened…not that I was alive then, but it doesn’t seem like anything has changed. It has the family owned atmosphere with that “tacky” quality fish and chip places have. It’s fun though and it suites the atmosphere, so I liked it! Even the service is very family-owned – everyone seems to be grinning from ear to ear and you can feel that they really appreciate your business from the moment you walk in to the minute you leave.

Some (very few) people may call it a "tourist trap", but I don't think so. I was there visiting in the winter and it was packed with locals. Ultimately you do get a huge piece of quality fish that's fried very well with homemade tartar sauce...I could pass on the other items though.

On the table:

**3 Pieces Fish & Chips 6/6

• $16.60 (If you order 3 pieces you get 1 free! The offer isn’t advertised, but they’ll give it to you.)
• Yes, this was the best fish and chips I’ve had yet. However I don’t have much to compare to because I don’t have fish and chips too often. I could, but I doubt I will find better than this.
• The fish is premium quality Alaskan Lingcod and they slice and filet it in house! It’s the biggest deep-fried fish I’ve ever had. The meat was was juicy, tender, flaky and fried golden brown to perfection.
• The batter is the 2^nd part to what makes this fish perfect. It’s a really thin crispy batter, to the point of almost forming air pockets. It was that light and I’m so surprised at how well it held on to the fish, the fish didn’t separate from the batter. I want to taste more fish than I do batter, and in this case I did. It was the perfect ratio.
• To my surprise, one of the first things I noticed was that the fish and batter were not seasoned. There was no pepper and very little, or I think none at all – salt! Usually this would be a big deal to me, because there should be some salt to enhance the flavour, but it didn’t bother me here too much because the star of the show was the tartar sauce!

  

Tartar sauce 5/6

• Small: $.80 Large $1.40
• The tartar sauce is another famous item at Moby Dick Seafood Restaurant.
• Start off with a premium ingredient and serve it with a homemade sauce…how can you go wrong?
• People say it’s the best tartar sauce ever, so I had my expectations set high. I wouldn't call it a classic tartar sauce though.
• It smells and tastes like dill vegetable dip and ranch salad dressing mixed together. It’s mayo based, so a bit thicker than a salad dressing. There’s lots of dill, some pickles and minced onions too. It could really be used as a potato chip dip or for a potato salad. It was creamy, but maybe a bit thinner in texture than a traditional tartar sauce. It was excellent, but the dominant flavour is dill and for a tartar sauce I would like a bit more of a pickled flavour.

Chips 1.5/6

• Small $3.90 Medium $4.90 Large $5.90
• To be honest I could do without the fries. They’re hand-cut Yukon Gold fries with the skins on (even though the menu says they peel the skins by hand).
• They’re a bit sweeter because they’re Yukon golds and they would have been excellent if they cooked them well. They were very oily though and soggy because they were soaked in oil. They were almost wet, and I had grease all over my hands.
• They could have been so good, but I think they need to re-assess the cooking temperature and time…or even just fry them twice or fry them longer in hotter oil. It catches me off guard because they nailed the frying time on the fish and the batter was so light and crispy.

  

Clam Strips 1/6

• Breaded clam strips served with cocktail sauce $4.90
• I was not feeling this at all. The batter was completely opposite of the batter on the fish. It was dense, crunchy and reminded be of the batter cheap pubs use for their onion rings. Or it reminded me of heavily battered popcorn shrimp, but with a fishy taste. The batter separated from the clam meat; however the clam itself was quite tender. It was a whole lot of batter and not a whole lot of clam.
• The clam strips were also quite bitty too. There were a few that were at least 2 inches and then a bunch at the bottom that were really small.
• I also didn’t like how they served it with 2 random onion rings. It was almost like they knew the clam strips looked a bit pathetic so they added the rings last minute to make the dish look fuller. How did they taste? Like a regular onion ring. It wasn't the fish batter or the clam batter, but somewhere in between.
• Cocktail sauce: The cocktail sauce was more on the ketchup side than it was on the horseradish side. It was quite mild, so I think it catered more to kids and seniors with sensitive taste buds. It was a bit tangy and lemony but I like a stronger kick to my cocktail sauce.

Giraffe Restaurant

Restaurant: Giraffe Restaurant

Cuisine: West Coast/American/Fusion
Last visited: January 7, 2010
Area: White Rock, BC
15053 Marine Dr
Price Range: $30-50

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

Food: n/a
Service: n/a

Ambiance: n/a

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Executive chef David Chow (Dubrulle Culinary Institute)
• Fine dining
• Focus on West Coast/seafood
• Familiar to locals and tourists
• Globally inspired menu
• Creative/Fresh/gourmet homemade
• Really delicately executed, attention to detail
• Great view of waterfront
• Small/intimate dining area
• Beautiful intimate patio
• Weekly specials
• Lunch Thurs.-Sat. 11:30am
• Dinner M-Sun. 5:30pm
• Sunday brunch 11am

**Recommendation: Giraffes’ Eggs Benedict, Bacon wrapped Filet with Egg (I didn’t get to try their Belgian Waffles, but I really want to)

The reason why I had to rate everything as “n/a” is because the chef is my best friend’s brother. Therefore, under the circumstances I can’t rate this restaurant with a neutral perspective.

I’ve dined at Giraffe Restaurant for dinner more than a handful of times, but this was my first time for brunch. This brunch was also complimentary, but I would have no problems paying full price for it. It was definitely worth it. The brunch prices are actually really affordable, especially for fine dining...heck it's a bargain! I would be spending the same if I was having brunch at White Spot for half the quality and half the atmosphere (and I really like brunch at White Spot!)

As good as the Giraffe brunch is, I am definitely going to do a dinner review one day. I am lucky enough to have tried almost everything on the menu as well as some custom made appetizers. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything, although I do have my favourites. The menu is more fusion and contemporary, but the atmosphere is more traditional and formal and suitable for couples or small intimate groups.

On the table:

Complimentary Scones

• These are complimentary for everyone during brunch. I could have eaten 3 of them. They’re made in house and they’re so good!
• These aren't the traditional fluffy scones like the ones at Applewood Bakery, but these ones were more like cookies. They were crispy soft and chewy and reminded me of freshly baked oatmeal cookies. I loved them, it was a great way to start brunch! I feel like there was some rhubarb or apple, oatmeal and definitely some cinnamon in them. They were perfectly baked and so delicate. It also came with a really fresh raspberry jam. I do miss that devonshire cream, but these scones are complimentary so I think I'm pushing it. I would pay extra for it though.

**Giraffes’ Egg’s Benedict

• Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, red onion, spinach and a dill hollandaise served with fried nugget potatoes $12
• I was deciding between the Giraffes’ egg’s benedict and the frittata. I went with the benedict because my friend told me that her brother, also the chef, would more likely make the frittata at home than he would the benny. (The hollandaise sauce is very time consuming).
• I was very much into my benny. The ratio of ingredients was perfect and everything was cooked perfectly. Nothing was overpowering and the flavours were all there.
• The red onions were soft, but not to the point of caramelized. It still had a crunch, but wasn't spicy anymore, it added a shallot like flavour that was very delicate.
• My egg was beautifully poached with a very soft middle. It mixed into my hollandaise and was absolutely divine.
• The hollandaise sauce wasn’t really a tangy hollandaise as it was more buttery in flavour. Made with clarified butter it’s very rich and creamy here. The dill was apparent, but very mild and I liked it with the salmon. There was the perfect amount of hollandaise to finish my benny with some on every bite.
• I really liked the crispiness of my English muffin. It sounds like a small thing, but it was enough for me to notice because more often than not restaurants don't toast it enough or it gets too soggy.
• The fried nugget potatoes were great. It was cut nice and thin so they were very crispy. This is what I meant by "attention to detail, everything here is cut to the same size and there's consistency. Therefore the cooking time is perfect for everything. A sign of true professionalism.
  
• I think it was a simple seasoning of course salt and black pepper. (Maybe one additional dried herb, but I couldn't taste it)

**Bacon wrapped Filet with Egg

• Grilled bacon wrapped filet served with a poached egg, tomato, béarnaise and roasted potatoes $16
• Okay, I don’t know what happened, but this was the first time I didn’t try something on someone else’s plate. I think I was way too into my own egg’s benedict did I totally forget to try this dish.
• However, another reason is probably because I have tried a version of this already. See My Holiday Dinners and Feasts - Chef David Chow made something similar to this on Christmas morning. I was lucky to be invited! Yes, we had beef tenderloin for breakfast! The one on Christmas had pyster mushrooms 3 kinds of potatoes for the hash, and the eggs were scrambled.
  
• You don't have to worry about overcooked steaks here, hot you order it is how it arrives. Everything is made in small batches rather than in volume.
  
• The presentation on this is beautiful, and it’s only a 4 ounce steak so it’s not as heavy for brunch as you would think.

Stuffed French Toast

• Mango-apricot Cream Cheese and Strawberry stuffed French toast served with bacon, and warm maple syrup $10.50
• This was the “dessert” for brunch. Since we had it in the end, we passed on the bacon. I am very curious and interested to try it with the bacon though...even though I'm not a fan of bacon...I know, so taboo right?
• The bread is from a bakery up the street. I wasn’t a fan of the crust, beuase it was a bit dry, but I was a fan of how it was used.
• I loved the combination of ingredients, the savoury creamy cheese, the sweet mango-apricot, and the tart strawberries, but I just wish there was a bit more of it. (I’m treading on dangerous grounds here…so I’m a bit scared).
• I would have liked more mango apricot because I couldn’t really taste it. It would be nice to have a little more stuffing to match the thickness of the bread too. I know it looks balanced in the picture, but because the bread was a bit dry it felt like it need more stuffing. Or maybe if the bread was a little more soaked in egg batter that would work. I wouldn't have minded if the egg batter had a touch more vanilla and cinnamon too... =|
• I did love how the cream cheese was warm and melted. It made for a really decadent French toast and the strawberries released their natural sugars under the heat. I really don’t think there were any additional sugars because overall it wasn’t really sweet unless you used the warm maple syrup. Which I did…and it was great!
• This French toast was really good, but just minor things and it would have been over the top. Ohhh maybe even some toasted pecans to give it a crunch? Or even some basil leaves or some finely chopped mint in the middle? Yum!
• We all loved the side of fruit! It was beautifully presented, clean and fresh. Pears, apples, mango, strawberries, grapefruits and oranges. I loved the variety and you get what you’re paying for as you can tell there are no grapes, honey dew, or cantaloupe.

Special Appetizer

• This is not on the menu, but was made especially for us…I know…I’m lucky right?!
• It was a 7 vegetable chili served on roasted potatoes and topped with sour cream.
• I’m not going to comment on this because it was special made, complimentary, and not available on the menu anyways.