Canadian

The Mackenzie Room: We Couldn’t Get It All

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The Mackenzie Room is located in East Vancouver by Oppenheimer Park. The neighbourhood has seen better days, but there are some great restaurants located within a few blocks of each other. Make sure to book reservations as it can get quite busy, even on a weekday.

I wanted to come here for my Birthday because the menu looked great and I wanted the “I Want It All” Tasting Menu for $65 per person. But, more on that later.

Interior

The dining room is all set prior to guests arrival. We made our reservations at 5:30pm when they open and it was quiet, until more around 6:30pm when most people booked their table.

The space is cozy and I love the old rustic look.

Menu

I was so excited to try the menu of 12 items, but unfortunately, you can only have it all if you have a minimum of 4 people. As we came here with a party of 2, we could only do half of it. The chef chooses what those 6 items will be, so it is completely a surprise. If I knew ahead of time, we would have came with more people. Its not written anywhere that you need 4 people to truly have it all.

Pinot Noir

We started with the Pinot Noir from Carson, Okanagan Falls with a 2015 vintage. Full-bodied and very delicious with hints of stone fruit.

Veggies From the Garden

The first dish to arrive are the Veggies From the Garden featuring locally grown veggies with a ‘Bagna Cauda’ of anchovies, garlic and other ingredients. It is then topped with a gremolata.

Simple but very delicious and a good way to start the meal. Even my carrot looks like it has 2 legs. Love these perfectly imperfect veggies.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Leek

This dish has squash, sous vide egg, frisée, pesto, mutsu, apples, and blue cheese. An interesting combination of ingredients but it worked out pretty well with the pungent blue cheese balanced with the pesto, and sweet apples.

Chicken of the Sea

This dish has sea urchin paté, ink brioche bread, pickled pears and hazelnuts. This was definitely a rich dish and may not be for everyone. My husband didn’t like paté in general, so this was all mine.

The ink brioche was pretty awesome but the slab of paté is pretty generous.

Sicilian Octopus

This dish has pepperonata, fennel, chickpeas, meyer lemon, and some local greens. The octopus was tender and matched well with the crispy chickpeas and the sauce.

Boar’n Ultimatum

This slab of bone-in boar is topped with soubise, Nduja, quince, and fermented turnip. It was a good size and the taste of boar really reminds us of pork.

Movie Night

This final dish was awesome. It has torta caprese, puffed sorghum, and popcorn ice cream. A fun way to end the night and I liked the different textures.

Final Thoughts

We were disappointed that we couldn’t have it all. The six dishes we had were unique but there were some items that we both didn’t like. Our favourites were the Veggies From the Garden, Sicilian Octopus, Boar’n Ultimatum and the Movie Night.

Address:
415 Powell St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.themackenzieroom.com/

Diana started Foodology in 2010 because she just eats out everyday! She started a food blog to share her love of food with the world! She lives in Vancouver, BC and adores the diversity of food around her. She will go crazy for churros and lattes.

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