Tasting Plates Vancouver
Last night was the Tasting Plates event in downtown Vancouver. It was a perfect night, no rain, no wind. So walking to the restaurants/carts would be a pleasure. If you hadn’t heard about Tasting Plates it was a walk about event where you visit up to 10 food vendors, and they give you a selection of appetizers and/or drinks to try from them. For this evening the participating vendors were:
- Juice Truck
- Cosca Restaurant
- Cupcakes Denman
- Bonchaz Bakery Cafe
- Footo Delights
- Notturno Paninoteca
- WE. Coffee Inc.
- Soho Road
- W2 Media Cafe
- Leonadis Chocolate
My Highlight Tastings
I started out at 5:30pm, walking, drinking, and tasting till 8:30pm. In that time I was able to visit Notturno Paninoteca, Bonchaz, Juice Truck, Leonadis Chocolate, Soho Road and Footo Delights. What were my highlight tastings?
Notturno Paninoteca
Notturno tasting plate
Located at 280 Carrall Street, this place had my favourite food overall. A narrow restaurant with a nice bar. Just opened in November last year and recently getting their liquor license. They served 3 appetizers, and I paired them with a nice glass of Prosecco. The appetizers, all winners were:
- Tartufo di Capra – black truffle goat cheese, greens, tomato pearls
- Crudo – albacore tuna crudo, cucumber, tomato, chili aoli, balsamic pearls
- Fico – blue cheese aoli, fig, black olive, walnuts
My favorite of the 3 was the Tuna Crudo. It had high acidity with fresh flavours and some spiciness in the background. The Fico with blue cheese aoli was also quite nice. You had a combination of sweetness, the blue cheese sharpness and the crustiness of the bread.
Soho Road
Soho Road Beef Seekh Naan Kebab
My next favorite place was Soho Road, a food truck located at the corner of Smithe and Howe streets. Again 3 appetizers, some nice hot chai for a cold night. The appetizers were:
- Butter Chicken Naan Kebab – Tandoori chicken smothered in our famous butter chicken sauce and topped off with a salad of cucumber, tomato, red onion and cilantro all on a freshly baked Naan.
- Beef Seekh Naan Kebab – Ground spicy Beef kebab with chaat masala, and drizzled with a tamarind chutney. Topped off with a salad of cucumber, tomato, red onion and cilantro all on a freshly baked Naan.
- Mixed Vegetable Subji – Carrots, Peas, Potatoes and onions cooked with cumin, coriander and other traditional spices, topped with a light mayonnaise and a salad of cucumber, tomato, red onion and cilantro served on a freshly baked Naan.
Of these, there was unanimous agreement amongst the foodies there that the Beef Seekh Naan Kebab. Again bursting with flavour from the spiced beef and the salad, especially the cilantro. Some Riesling or maybe a Pinotage would have been a nice accompaniment. My next favorite was the Mixed Vegetable Subji. Lots of nice textures in your mouth.
Leonadis Chocolate
Leonadis Liege Waffles and macaron
Leonadis won my third place vote, in particular for their Liege waffle. Their tasting plate consisted of:
- Piece of Leonidas chocolate
- Liege Waffle
- Espresso Con Panna
- Shot of our regular Hot Chocolate (52.3%)
- Shot of our Frozen Noisette
This is a Belgian inspired coffee/waffle/chocolate shop. I had never had a Liege Waffle before, but loved it. The waffle had a cake-like texture, not doughy like waffles are here. It also tasted like there could have been some apple mixed in with the waffle as I picked up an apple flavour. To this I think the Hot Chocolate paired nicely. On the way out we had our choice of one of several hand made Belgian chocolates. If you want to find out more about Liege Waffles, here is a recipe I found online.
If you want to find out more about all the vendors you can follow them on Twitter. Their Twitter handles are @CoscaRestaurant @WECoffeeInc @CupcakesDenman @FootoDelights @NotturnoGastown @juicetruck @W2MediaCafe @LeonidasChocola @bonchaz @sohoroad
Thank you very much for Richard Wolak aka @vanfoodster for arranging this fun event. Enjoy!
Food and Wine With Karl MyWinePal 