Five Sails Restaurant

So last night was the first day of Dine Out Vancouver 2012. I've been looking forward to it because I am anxiously hoping to get my socks knocked off this year. For Dine Out's first night, Jan. 20, we went to Five Sails at 999 Canada Place at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Beef carpaccio with anchovy puree

For $38.00 Michael and I had a three course meal. To start, we both got a complimentary appy, a beef carpaccio with anchovy puree and radish for garnish. It was something light and not too heavy, a good choice to start off our appetite with something like this.

Lobster bisque cappuccino

 
For actual appetizers, we both had the Lobster Bisque "cappuccino" with fresh Atlantic lobster. This appetizer was a delight. It looked like something I had seen from Iron Chef America that Bobby Flay had made. The plus side was, this bisque really did look like a convincing cappuccino with foam on the top and everything. The bisque was packed with flavour, like O-M-G, it struck every direction in my taste buds.  Did I mention it tasted fabulous? The lobstery goodness was spot on, with generous amounts of lobster bits inside, but also not overwhelming. Definitely a highlight in the meal. I'm still thinking about the taste as I write this, and that bisque-y goodness has my mouth watering all over again! 

Napoleon black truffle infused homemade pasta

For entrees, I had the napoleon of black truffle infused homemade pasta, with sauteed vegetables, and herb butter emulsion. In my opinion, the pasta reminded me of a naked lasagna, but looked nothing like the napoleon dessert, with just the layers of the pasta stacked against one another without the cheese. For those who don't know me, I despise mushrooms, and hate them with a passion. I also rarely eat beef, so the only option I had was the pasta in this case - with was ironically packed with mushrooms - my shroom phobia started kicking in. But since I had a good experience with truffles at The Market by Jean George at the Shangri-la Hotel, I thought I would take a leap of faith with these ones. And to my surprise, it wasn't that bad! The sight of the mushrooms did freak me out a little bit though. The taste was masked through the dish's infused butter that I forgot I was eating mushrooms, but the overall entree experience was 'meh' at best. 

Lobster and pork belly

As for Michael, he had the duo of butter poached 1/2 fresh Atlantic lobster with orange & tangerine scented butter emulsion, a crisp Kurobuta pork belly berry gastrique, roasted squash puree and shiitake mushrooms. He said the pork was very tasty, the lobster was lobster, but his favourite part was the squash puree used as a lobster dip. Coming from a guy that loves meat and rarely eats veggies, that squash puree must've been really good. The actual amount  of food didn't fill him up, but he said that the dish was very well decorated and presented. Simple yet classy. 

Crisp phyllo pastry with chilled lemon cream

Last but not least, the dessert - pretty mediocre, but pretty. Michael isn't a dessert fan and I'm not a huge fan of fruits, unfortunately. I had the crisp phyllo pastry with chilled lemon cream, salted caramel sauce, roasted pear and golden pineapple warm sour cherries. In my opinion, I would have been perfectly happy with just the phyllo and the cream nothing more. I simply just ignored the pear and berry garnish. YUCK! 

Pavlova with fruits

Michael's dessert was interesting, it looked really funky, but other than that he thought it tasted okay. Overall I think this Dine Out experience was a fair pass, if I were to grade it I would give it a B-. I wouldn't say it knocked my socks off like how I hoped, but Michael and I do have two more Dine Out experiences coming up. 

This coming week, I am also going to a Dine Out, not with my boyfriend, but with my best friend. Since it is frowned upon for me to talk about food adventures that I didn't share with Michael, I would like to give a shout out to my bestie! We are going to Italian Kitchen on Burrard Street to pay homage to a special Italian someone. I know we will have a fabulous time there because she and I always have a great time wherever we go, even if it's just to watch paint dry.


Stay tuned for next week's Dine Out!


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