Dish Crawl Vancouver launched near the end of last year to give locals and tourist a food adventure through 4 restaurants in a particular area of town for $60 per person. Imagine a pub crawl, but with restaurants. We are lead to 4 mysterious restaurants and we only know the first restaurant a day beforehand.
The DishCrawl I was on was showcasing the historical district of Gastown. There were 39 other people on this tour, so it was quite large. Each restaurant is within walking distance of each other, so all you need are your legs!
Catch 122
Our first stop was at Catch 122, lots of people arrived prior to the 7pm start. We got our name tags and sat down. I was joined by my foodie friends Sherman and Janice.
We literally filled the entire restaurant. The owner came around to each table and welcomed everyone. He told us a little about what we were having at Catch 122. If you needed drinks, you would have to prepay for it at the bar. We didn’t even get water, which was quite strange.
Chicken Cordon Bleu, Portobello Wild Mushroom Risotto & Beef Bourguignon
We had a sampling of their 3 popular dishes and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve had both the Chicken Cordon Bleu and the portobello wild mushroom risotto and they are awesome choices.
Terracotta Modern Chinese
Our second stop was at Terracotta Modern Chinese, which is located on the edge of Gastown. They opened in 2010 and have been serving their modern twist on Chinese food and tea cocktails.
We were seated downstairs and their staff told us about their restaurant. They also had aloe vodka cocktail on specials too.
Veggie spring roll, crispy fried beans & prawn wonton soup
The execution of the dishes was quite poor in my opinion. The crispy fried beans needed a dip of some sort to balance the flavours. The veggie spring roll was very oily and the wonton soup was very salty. The most delicious thing on the plate was the prawn wonton.
Brioche
Our third stop was Brioche. It’s quite a popular spot for lunch, but I was surprised they were open for dinner. They have some very delicious pasta and sandwiches.
Chef Eduardo Bilardello gathered us all in their main dining space and told us about the restaurant and his passion for cooking.
Tortellini with Italian sausage, pesto fusilli with seafood and penne with wild porcini mushroom sauce.
The dish at Brioche was the most filling of all the restaurants. Pretty good pasta dishes and the penne with wild porcini mushroom was my favorite.
Nuba
Nuba was our last stop for dessert. I know what you are thinking…Nuba for dessert? We were all surprised! We would never have guessed.
Nuba is best known for their amazing Lebanese cuisine.
Rosemary Mascarpone Mousse, Chocolate Quinoa Cake & Pistachio Mamoul, perfect way to finish the night! The 3 items had very different textures and tastes, but the best one on the plate was the Chocolate Quinoa Cake.
Overall, the DishCrawl is not for everyone. If you are a hardcore foodie like me, you might as well take your $60 and go have a nice meal at fancier restaurants. Since the restaurants are a mystery until you get there, you don’t really get a glimpse of what you will be having. It’s not necessarily a bad thing since some people like the mystery behind it all. If you are new to the city, you get a taste of 4 restaurants in 1 night! Perhaps somewhere along the way, you may find your favorite restaurant.
Even though I’ve been to all these restaurants before, I did learn a thing or two. Brioche has an unofficial dine out menu for $20 and its a great steal since lunch can be about $18. Nuba is a great place for dessert!
To check out DishCrawl Vancouver: www.dishcrawl.com/vancouver/
