Posted by Roland Tanglao on 7/16/03; 10:56:09 PM
From the Restaurants dept.
High end but delightfully non-pretentious and excellent Italian tasting menus. That is Bis Moreno (1355 Hornby St., 604 669-2812) in a nutshell!Some people spend their tax rebates on cars and mortgages. We blew most of ours on an excellent birthday meal for myself at Bis Moreno and a camera (a Canon S400) to take pictures of food! And, boy oh boy, the Bis Moreno food was photo worthy! There are several tasting menus ranging from a pasta menu for $45 to an eight course chef's menu for $80. And matching flights of wine from BC and Italy are available from $45 to $80. Or, even better you can opt for a customized tasting menu which I christened the 'lucky dip' (after my fondness that I developed for trying out new country pubs in Britain which the British refer to as a 'lucky dip'). Just specify your likes and dislikes as well as your price level. Of course we went for the lucky dip! Since it was my birthday dinner, I opted for the 8 course tasting menu for $80 and a matching $50 flight of wine. Barb also opted for an $80 lucky dip with just one glass of Riesling since she was driving. We specified our likes (truffles, porcini) and dislikes (Barb is sensitive to some shellfish and I have an irrational dislike of polenta) and we were off! The food was spectacular. Especially the halibut and the goose! And my matching wines were superb. As usual, I liked the red wines especially the Pinot Noir Optimum from the Gehringer Brothers and the Barbera from Asti and Alba. They must of ironed out some of the opening bugs because none of our food was overcooked as Alexandra Gill wrote in the Globe and Mail review of Bis Moreno. This is something that Barb is particularly sensitive to. It seems that the Cantonese like their food juicy and a tad undercooked compared to Canadian standards. Although Barb is Canadian through and through (after all she was born in Vancouver!), she has retained the Cantonese food sensibility about this and so she is often disappointed by overcooked meat and fish at restaurants. Not at Bis Moreno. All of our meats and fish were perfectly cooked especially my goose and halibut courses. The flavours of the porcini and tomato blended really well with the fish into a beautiful whole. Needless to say, we will be back as soon as we can for a mini-review. Hopefully I'll make some money off of blogging and we won't have to wait for next year's tax rebate! In the meantime, here are the photos we took. The Halibut: 
The Goose: 
Link: # | Discuss | | 
|
