I had clutched my ticket for Vancouver Foodster's West End Tasting Plates in my hot little hands since early bird discounts applied, and I couldn't have been more excited on Wednesday evening! I recently started fooling around on Instagram and am drawn without self control to the delicious food photos that people post, including some from this evenings stops! We met at Milano Coffee on Denman for an espresso (let's pretend that I wasn't already wound up), to pick up our tickets and to listen to some last minute instructions from Richard Wolak (Vancouver Foodster) and off we went!
My first stop was at Izakaya Gon's right across the road.
I am a big fan of open kitchens. It is fun to watch chefs plying their craft and they are not slouches here!
We were served Premium Wagyu Beef Carpaccio which was sublime. I have never had Wagyu Beef before (and yet I call myself a foodie). So tender and rich ...and beefy! Veggie Tempura, Inari Sushi and Aburi Unagi Oshi-Sushi made up the rest of our taste and based on it, I will be back to try more! After a respectable pause for appreciation, it was on to the next stop, Casablanca Crepe!
Another decent place to eat at the other wise, kind of sad Robson Market. Here our tasting plate
consisted of Moroccan Beef Couscous topped with caramelised raisins. Very nice with mild seasoning and delightful sweetness. Accompanied by Cheesecake Crepe and homemade Macaroons, this was a very nice sampling. Casablanca offers a variety of savoury and sweet crepes at decent pricing and provides a bit of variety at this end of Robson.
I have to insert right here that I returned to Casablanca Crepe the next day and actually got to talk with the man behind the crepes and taste another of his offerings.
This is his Kefta Crepe Gourmand with his own homemade cheese, lovely baked ground beef filling, topped with a fried egg. I also enjoyed Mint Tea. The proprietor is from Marrakesh, no less and has been in Canada for 12 years. In the past he worked as a tour guide (in Morocco ) and a chef, and opened Casablanca Crepes a year and a half ago! A very nice gentleman with some tasty food to serve to you! Put this on your list!
Back to Denman and south to Pasture to Plate. I will admit that I have had misgivings due to content on their website. Naturally they are invested in the organic side of things and I do not blame them for that even though organics in my opinion, is a first world luxury and will never feed the world. On their website, apropos of nothing it states that eight year old children make up the fastest growing cancer getting group. If this is to suggest that non organics or even poor diet are the source of that, one has only to visit the American Cancer Societies page to learn that childhood cancer is not thought to be related to lifestyle! But enough of that!
This was delicious! Organic grassfed marinated beef patty, house cured bacon, quail egg and all the trimmings on a sweet potato bun. So good! Never mind that the greatest thing that you can do for the environment is become a vegetarian, I loved it!
And Kombucha. I have never had this before and assume it is some kind of superfood of which there is no such thing! Regardless it was very refreshing! I will be back to try more here also! Stay tuned for part 2 where I get too full and forget my ear buds on the table at Davie Dosa Company!
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