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| Araxi |
Michael and I decided to do a mini vacation to Whistler. Our first day of arrival we hit up the village and walked around. We came across the holy of the holy restaurants in Whistler, Araxi located in the heart of the village at 4222 Village Square, they had a huge sign advertising 12 fresh shucked oysters for $12 from 3-6pm. A buck a shuck, well don't mind if we do.
In my previous entry I had mentioned that it is rare that Michael and I visit high-end dining. We appreciate good food and of course love, love, love food. But we don't feel that paying 30 something dollars for a plate of food is right. I love my fair share of fine dining when I'm with my mom of course, nothing beats a little mother daughter time... when she's the one taking care of the bill. Naughty me. So it came as a nice surprise to see that a high-end place like Araxi was offering such a sweet deal.
We were seated outside of the restaurant to enjoy the beautiful sunny day in Whistler and of course we did some people watch. We ordered our oysters with an order of truffle fries ($9.50). We only ordered two items and two drinks: a beer and a fruity non-alcoholic beverage, but we had to wait an awfully long time for our food. We noticed a lot of other diners got pretty angry as well. We also thought our waiter was a little curt, we thought maybe because we look so young. But excuse me for our fountain of youth, that's coming out of your tip mister!
After a long time of waiting our food finally arrived. The Zen oysters we were told came from Cortes Island, it was served with a sherry vinaigrette sauce. The oysters tasted amazing and beyond. Michael and I joked about, just a few years ago, when I didn't love oysters and I'd only ever eat one whenever we ordered them.
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| Zen oysters |
Michael and I both agree that they tasted really fresh, just sliding down beautifully. The fresh seafood aroma was just magnificent and incredible. Slurp! slurp! slurp! The vinaigrette was sour, tangy, with a hint of garlic taste. The sour taste added the sweet oyster flavour and enhanced everything the oyster has to offer. Although oysters from Rodney's were much bigger I also felt Rodney's did a better job shucking the oysters. I came across a lot of bits and pieces of unpleasant shells here. Michael on the other hand didn't find any of these unappealing shell bits.
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| Truffle fries |
Moving on to the truffle fries, I have a great passionate hate for mushrooms, but I have had a minor appreciation for truffles. My mom and I eat at The Market at the Shangri-La Hotel often, and that's really changed my opinion on truffles after trying their delicious truffle pizza. The fries were simple but very tasty. Ah the difference between posh fries and fast food fries! It had a crunchy exterior, there was a light truffle drizzle taste over the fries that was also seasoned with light salt and parmesan shavings. The truffle flavour of the potato and the light salt seasoning just gave the natural flavour a slight push that completed the dish.
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| Complimentary bread worth mentioning |
Last but not least is a dish that we wouldn't even call it a dish actually. Our complimentary bread, it was very tasty for a complimentary item. It looked hard as a rock but was very soft. We were served with organic butter and extra virgin olive oil. Of course it's usually with either just butter or evoo with balsamic vinegar. But replacing and mixing the butter and olive oil together created quite something, a creamy factor. Towards the end Michael was scraping off the butter with his bread as if he was scraping gold.
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| Perfect Breeze and a Whistler pale ale |
It was a light snack and for a hot summer day it's perfect weather to slurp some shucked oysters. The definition of west coast dining, but as much as we enjoyed lunching at Araxi, Michael and I do believe in loving food, putting an effort in the food and also getting more bang for our buck in it as well. What do you think?
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