Date Visited: Late Dinner on Wednesday June 3, 2015
Company: AJ's Convocation dinner for 6
Last week,
+Will invited me to dinner with his family to celebrate AJ's convocation from Queen's U. They had recently found out about my food blog and Will advised me I would enjoy the restaurant they chose for dinner. He gave me the link and told me to check out their interesting cocktails. The location was walking distance from Will's and had a very cool exterior with large tall door. Upon entering, the decor was a bit more fancy but with a modest atmosphere. They had an open kitchen which we were seated right next to with a mirror on the ceiling to see the chef's working stations. There seemed to be a lot of students in the kitchen learning as well.
We were explained a bit about the difference between their five-course and seven-course tasting menu, each contains an amuse bouche, 1 or 3 appetizers, fois gras, a red-meat course, a cheese course and dessert. The
Seven-Course Tasting Menu was decided upon and I also got the
George - 75 Cocktail for a drink. The cocktail consisted of
Tanqueray Gin, Aperol, St. Germain
Elderfower Liqueur, Champagne,
and
a dash of fresh lemon juice. I hadn't really had anything similar to it before but it was very delicious, not too sweet and a bit tangy. We also got some interesting bread for the table to start with some crisps that were very oily but delicious and different breads on the bottom.
Our first dish was the amuse bouche, a bite-size hors d'oeuvre. Mine kind of fell apart while they brought it out so AJ switched so my photo would look better :) It was a
mushroom puree on top of grilled eggplant and chipotle mayo with Plum relish. Everyone enjoyed the flavour and it got our taste buds ready for the rest of the meal. This is also when we realized that we'll have to take notes of our dishes as they were way too complicated to remember. Most of the table received wine pairings for each dish so it was interesting to hear the sommelier speak to each of them.
So when our first dishes came, we knew we were in trouble for remembering ingredients as they decided to do two different dishes for our table of 6. The plus side was that that we were able to try even more dishes by sharing. We received a
Potato wrapped Tuna and
Sesame Crab Cake with Lentil Salad. I'm not usually a fan of Tuna but this may have turned me into a fan, the middle was so soft and the potato exterior provided a crispy edge, great textures. The crab cake was not like anything I'd had before, very rich in flavour while the lentil salad provided good balance.
Next, we had
Salmon Tappanyaki with Saffon in the front and
White Asparagus and Peas in the back and
Steelhead Trout with grilled white Asparagus. The Trout had an mild flavour as I've never had it before but I definitely preferred the Salmon, it was cooked perfectly and was presented with interesting ingredients. I was surprised how un-fishy all of the seafood tasted as they were mostly raw.
Our last seafood dish was an
Octopus Carpaccio over a Radish Carpaccio and
Butter Lobster with Sesame Soya Noodles and Tempura. I adored the presentation of the Octopus, it was like a drawing on paper, the flavours were light and refreshing. I was happy to see an Asian inspired dish with the Soya noodles, it was the heaviest of all our dishes so far but have a variety of textures to keep it interesting.
Next would be our Fois Gras plates, and once again our Chef decided to be creative and make two separate dishes. One was the
Duck in a Mint Crepe with Buffalo Mozzarella with Fois Gras on top and Tomato Foam and the other was a
Fois Gras on Sweetbread. So I read and seen a lot of videos about fois gras before so I was both nervous and excited to finally try it. So the duck was basically raw which made it very difficult to cut through and chew. It was probably my least favourite dish of the night, there was just a lot going on on the plate. The fois gras specifically was extremely tender and melts in your mouth, it tasted pretty much how I'd expected. It made it a bit harder to eat just knowing so much about the controversies over it. A few bites were do-able but I didn't think I could eat it all. The second dish was served over sweetbread, which I just Googled now to find out what it was. I definitely thought it was just chicken and sweetbread was the coating they used over it. It tasted very good though and I'm glad I didn't know what it was when I was eating it.
Our peak of the courses were the red meats, I received a
Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Asparagus and Sweet Potato while Will got the
Beef Tenderloin with Cheese and Peppercorn. There was also some Pesto and Gnocci on the plate for sure but our waiter kind of stopped after the first part, I think he forgot what it was. Will and I were both happy with what we got so we weren't sure if we were going to do halfsies on this one. The Lamb was spectacular, pink on the inside but subtle flavour and so tender. The sweet potato were in sheets and stacked on each other, so creative and fun to eat, not to mention it accentuated the flavour. Will cut me off a piece of his steak, it was too rare for my usual liking but tasted pretty tender. The gnocci was an interesting addition but tasted great.
Our second last plate was cheese which is something I've never experienced before. This time they gave us three different types instead of two. I had the
Pasturized Cow's milk with Apples and Pecans. The cheese was very creamy and thick almost like brie. The flavour was very tart so it was nice to pair with the other various things on the plate which were all generally sweet.
And finally, our desserts! We got three different ones again this time. Both Will and I were lucky to receive the
Chocolate Souffle with Mandarin Tea! I thought at first it was Lava cake but once you broke into it, it was so soft, creamy, and held together. The Mandarin flavour was quite sour, all the sweetness was left to the chocolate. I didn't really enjoy the texture the cookie crumbs added to the plate, a bit unnecessary for me. I also tried some of AJ's
Lemon Pie, it was so sour but actually tasted really good as it had equal sweetness, very lovely.
As an end note, I think everyone had a fun and enjoyable time at George Restaurant, I love discussing food over a meal and we were able to do that with this tasting menu. It offered so much variety and I don't think anyone wouldn't have enjoyed it! A foodie's dream meal :)
Food: 4.5/5 - Experienced so many new flavours and all done brilliantly.
Decor: 5/5 - Very classy, interesting decor and views into the kitchen.
Service: 4/5 - Mostly knowledgeable, a few staff weren't very detailed with their descriptions of the food.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - Great experience and would love to return.
Overall: 4.5/5
Website: http://www.georgeonqueen.com/
We didn't have a reservation so they had to give us a buzzer to wait for a table as it was really busy. Luckily, the view and surroundings is beautiful to check out while you wait. We got a table about 20 minutes later and I have to say that the decor inside is equally as beautiful... There were a ton of windows to bring in light and even a sun room section of the restaurant. Teahouse would definitely be a good way to describe it or even like a fancy garden party, the crowd was on the older, well-dressed side. 
For my main, I couldn't decide between the Salmon Burger or Caesar Salad, I knew I wanted to try salmon since I hadn't yet while in Vancouver. In the end I went for the Salmon Caesar since I knew I would get full from the starter and drink. Sam got the burger so at least I could see what it looked like also. I was a bit surprised how thin the salmon was, especially on the burger, I thought it would be more like a steak. On the salad was fine since it is a lighter dish. The flavour really stood out especially with the way they cooked it, really crispy on the outside. The flavour of the dressing was on point as well and they didn't put too much on it. They left their leaves long on the salad which I do enjoy being able to cut them yourself with the fresh salmon.
