The Irish Heather GastroPub – Long Table Series 2

Restaurant: The Irish Heather GastroPub – Long Table Series 2

Cuisine: Pub food/Irish/West Coast
Last visited: January 24, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (West End/Downtown)
210 Carrall Street

Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: n/a (only came for LTS)
Service: 3.5 (for Long Table Series event)
Ambiance: 5 (for Long Table Series event)
Overall: 5 (for Long Table Series event)
Additional comments:

• Irish cooking in Irish house with Irish people working
• Sister restaurant to Salt Tasting Room, Shebeen, & Salty Tongue
• Since 1997
• Classy pub with affordable food
• Homemade comfort food w/twist
• Handmade sausages
• Some fusion items or globally inspired twists
• Sandwiches made with bread from Vancouver’s local Terra Bakery
• Fine tuned menu
• Extensive beer and wine list
• Very popular Long Table Series offered – reservations required
• Vegetarian options available
• Casual, yet sophisticated
• Lively atmosphere
• 2 rooms – one brighter lighting the other darker
• Serves lunch and dinner

**Recommendation: Long Table Series

It was my first TwEAT-up for Follow Me Foodie and I decided to host it at The Irish Heather for their Long Table Series. The 1^st time I tried the Long Table Series was back in Christmas for their Roast Duck Leg. The event and food made a lasting impression so it was no doubt I would come back for seconds.

This time I was joined by some close friends, new faces as well as Vancouver bloggers Kim (I’m Only Here for the Food), Nicole (Le Mode Du Jour), Kathy (Kathygko), Michelle (2010 Cheap Eats), Adela (On the Fringe) and Elaine and Chris (Parker Pages). Thank you for coming guys! Everyone is welcome to these TwEAT-ups so if you’re interested just e-mail me at mpak@followmefoodie.com.

This time I wasn’t late and was able to see how the whole event goes down. While dinner starts promptly at 6pm, people are invited at 5pm-6pm for pre-dinner drinks in the Shebeen (a private room/lounge) in the back of the restaurant. At 6pm they open the doors to the dining room where there’s a mad rush of hungry people and a game of “musical chairs” at a 40 foot long wooden communal table. (I still felt like Oliver Twist getting a meal from the Upper East Side.) Next Chef Lee Humphries comes out and explains the menu and paired drink for the evening. All this happens for only $15 (tax + services included). It’s good food, a fun time, and more than a fair deal so I have nothing to complain about. They also offer homemade desserts at $5 for those that are interested, but I wasn’t too impressed by them.

Note: The portions are a bit inconsistent and late arrivals tend to get bigger plates!

On the table:

Smoked Pork Chop 4.5/6

• Smoked Pork Chop with Bacon Braised Cabbage, Crisp Potatoes and Roasted Apple-Raisin Gastrique with 16 oz - Pint Orchard Hill Cider $15

• I liked the Roast Duck Leg better than this dish, although this one was still good.
• I was actually expecting a pork loin chop, but I guess at $15 I can’t expect that. I should have clued in when it said “smoked pork chop” because that means it was slowly cooked….which is usually a cheaper cut.
• The pork chop was I’m pretty sure a chump chop which tastes more like a ham than it does a pork chop. This was mainly due to the fact hat it was smoked as well. It was quite tender, relatively lean with some fat around the edges and cooked with the bone to retain juices and flavour.
• It’s a big slab of it and it’s a pretty cheap cut, but they didn’t do a bad job with it. By slowly smoking it they were able to get a nice smokey flavour with a slight sweetness throughout the meat.
• The apple-raisin gastrique was very hickory in flavour but they needed much more of it. The raisins needed to be cooked longer because they weren’t as plump and juicy as I would like. It matched the pork chop really well, I just wish there was more of it or even if it was a bit more saucy than compote like.
• The bacon braised cabbage was the best thing on the plate! I could have eaten a whole bowl of it. It was almost like creamy garlic mashed potato cole slaw. It was sweet, salty and tasted like a scallop potato mash with braised cabbage and carrots. They definitely thickened this braised cabbage with some creamy mashed potatoes, it was so excellent!
• I think it was braised with a touch of vinegar and maybe even sour cream because there was a savoury tang to it. I mixed my apple-raisin gastrique into it and it was even better! The only thing is the bacon wasn’t crispy or cooked to enhance all the flavour it had to offer.
• The crisp potatoes were very crisp and dry. They were almost like crackers and they could have used more salt. I dipped these into my braised cabbage and that worked really well.
• The cider was a great match for the dish. It really brought out the apple flavour and enhanced the sweetness of the meat and their was a slight bitterness that was welcoming and not overpowering.
  

Dessert

• The available homemade desserts for the evening:
• Lemon Trifle
• Boston Cream Pie
  
• Chocolate Mousse
• To be honest, nothing seemed appealing except maybe the lemon trifle. I didn’t get to try it but I did get to try the Mud Pie.

Boston Cream Pie 1.5/6

• It didn’t look good and it also didn’t taste good.
• It was a very dry Boston cream cake with a very light and thin custard layer.
• It was more sponge cake then cream and looked like it had been sitting there.
• The chocolate glaze was hard and looked/tasted artificial.

Lemon Trifle

• Didn’t try it, bit Nicole liked it!

The Bread Company - Bread review

Fig & Anise Bread - Loaf
Cranberry & Pumpkin Seed - Mini bun

Restaurant: The Bread Company - Bread review
Cuisine: Bakery/Breads
Last visited: August 15, 09

Area: Kelowna, BC
363 Bernard Ave
Price Range: $10-20

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

Additional comments:

• All breads made on site daily
  
• No refined sugars added
  
• Vegetable/Olive oil only
• Made with filtered water
  
• Breads are aged 16-24 hours before baking
• Hearth baking
• Organic bread available
  
• Each day features a new bread
• Weekly/Daily menu for breads found on website
• Sturdy/chewy breads - not the fluffy buttery type
  

**Recommendation: Fig and Anise Bread, Multigrain, all breads are better toasted

I have dedicated a separate blog just to talk about the different types of breads I tried.

On the table:

• **Fig & Anise Bread 6/6
  
• Flour, rye, whole wheat flour, water, sea salt, toasted walnuts, raisins, figs, anise

• My favourite! You MUST try it! I discovered it at Raudz, one of the best restaurants in Kelowna. They used this bread for their BLT and let me tell you it set the tone for the whole sandwich. I didn't know the bread was from The Bread Company until I went here for lunch the next day...then of course I had to take a loaf home.
• This bread has generous amounts of figs throughout the bread. A lot of figs! Every bite has some figs or some raisins. It was more figs than raisins and figs are more expensive. I didn't taste or see any walnuts though....I don't think they were in there. I couldn't really taste the anise either...but it doesn't matter, this is a great bread! Keep in mind it is bread though - not pastry bread, so don't let the figs fool you into thinking this is a sweeter pastry bread.
• It's best eaten toasted - no need for butter, but you can if you want. The figs just plump up wihen you toast it and the flavour is so much better.
• A bit expensive for almost $5, but the ingredients are high in quality so it works.

• Tasty Twist Ideas:
• Toast it and spread a layer of maple walnut ice cream on top...to die for! Makes a nice dessert.
• Toast it and drizzle with balsamic glaze. Delicious!..if you like goat's cheese, melt a thin slice on the bread before the balsamic glaze.
  
• **Multi Grain Bread 5/6
  
• My next favourite after the Fig & Anise bread

• Flour, whole wheat flour, rye, water, sea salt, flax seed, sunflower seed, oats
• Organic
  
• Great toasted with butter.
  
• Very nice crust and you can bite into and see all the seeds, oats and flax - great texture! You can really taste the ingredients and the quality of this bread.
• Better than Good Hearth
  
• Walnut Raisin - mini bun 2/6
  
• Flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, water, salt, levain, walnuts, raisins

• I had this in a mini bun form and it was better toasted.
  
• It was actually more salty than sweet in flavour which is unexpected. A nice amount of raisins, but not enough walnuts. Not my favourite, and not spectacular, but still good.
  
• Cranberry Pumpkin Seed - mini bun 1/6
  
• Flour, whole wheat flour, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, water, salt, yeast

• I had this in mini bun form and I was really dissappointed. I wouldn't order it again. I expected it to be bursting with cranberries like the figs, but it wasn't. It hardly had any cranberries or pumpkin seeds - just look at the picture.
• I thought this would be more tart, but it was actually sweeter than the walnut raisin. I think they could have purposely added less cranberries to make it not as tart. But I think if you're ordering this, you like the tartness cranberries add and thus they should have been liberal with them. It's still not a sweet bread, but it was sweeter than expected.
• I also tried Good Hearth (Multi Grain is better) and the Sourdough, but it was nothing really special or different than what I could find at other bakeries.

• All their breads are chewy with a tougher crust, all taste the best toasted...brings out the flavour of the ingredients.
  

Green Basil Thai

Restaurant: Green Thai Basil
Cuisine: Thai
Last visited: August 1, 09

Area: Burnaby
4326 Kingsway
Price Range: $10-20

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

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

• Not the best Thai in Vancouver, it's ok
• I'm not Thai, neither was the clientele
• More Chinese Thai food than authentic Thai food
• Nothing looks like the pictures on the menu
• No presentation
  
• Lunch specials available M-F: 11-3pm @ $6.95
  
• Spiciness levels are pre-set
• Food comes quickly

**Recommendation: I can't really recommend anything because it was all ok, but out of the things I had, the Khaoo Phat Sap-Bpa-Roht (Fried rice with pineapples, peanuts, raisins & pork floss) was the best...actually quite tasty.

Alright so I'm not Thai and neither was the clientele. I have Thai friends and they've never heard of this restaurant, so I really question its authenticity to traditional Thia food. I felt like it was more on the Chinese side. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. Just average Thai food, and if I was in the area and really craving Thai food I would go here. But I wouldn't plan a dinner just to go here again. The owner/waiter was also kind of rude, but the rest of the staff was ok. The food also came very fast, which usually means it's all pre-made sitting on heaters or stove tops in the back all day. Because you can't adjust the spiciness to your liking, you know it's all somewhat pre-made and reheated. Yes, some curries cannot be adjusted because the curry paste is spicy on its own - but you can just tell it's probably a buffet style set-up in the kitchen...which is out of sight.

On the table:

• Tom Yum - Soup 2/6
• Hot and sour soup with mushroom, tomato, lemongrass, and Thai herbs.
• I had it with prawns. I've had better, this was actually kind of disappointing. it doesn't look like the picture and they could have been more generous with the ingredients. The care wasn't there, everything was more or less just thrown in.
• The waiter/owner was really poor at serving the soup equally - some people had no prawns, some has no mushrooms, some had more soup...bad job.
• Gaaeng Ka-Ri - Yellow Thai curry in a hot pot 3/6
  
• Yellow curry paste with carrots, potato, pineapple and coconut milk
• I ordered it with seafood and it did come with a reasonable amount of seafood for $14.50. Good amount of seafood to sauce ratio. It was better than the green Thai curry we ordered. It was more flavourful and their were some fresh green and red peppers that were probably sauteed in before serving. I feel that the potatoes, carrots and curry sauce were all precooked though.
• Gaaeng Kiew Waan - Green Thai curry 2/6
• Green curry paste with basil, eggplant, green beans and coconut milk
  
• I ordered it with chicken - which was slices of chicken breasts. It doesn't look like the picture and I feel like they could have gone heavier on the green curry paste. For 3 chili peppers, it wasn't that spicy either. Nothing really rave about, it wasn't bad it wasn't really good...just meh.
• Khaoo Phat Sap-Bpa-Roht - Thai fried rice 5/6
  
• Fried rice with fresh pineapple, peanuts, and raisins topped with dried pork floss
• Does not look like the pictures again! But it's pretty good, so I guess it's ok. It needed more cashews and raisins, we barely had any. It also had no dried pork floss when it was served, so we told the waiter and his excuse was lame. He tried to convince us that they purposely don't serve it with pork floss because we already ordered it with chicken and that most people don't like pork floss on it etc. It was a stupid excuse.
• The pineapples were fresh, plentiful and there were pretty big chunks of them which is nice. The chef did a good job frying the rice as well - each rice grain is separate (a skill to master) and it took longer to come out, which means it was made upon order. I like the sweet, salty, tangy and hint of spicy flavour this rice has. Hits all the taste buds in the right way.
  
• It was the best thing out of everything we ordered. I like it with the dried pork floss, even though it was the cheap kind...which is still good though. The pork floss, to me, is a Chinese influence, Thai style fried rice anywhere else doesn't come with this. I liked it though, even if it made it less Thai...I'd call this a Thai/Chinese style fried rice for sure. The chef is probably Chinese, hence why this was the best dish - I'm only assuming though so don't take my word for it!