Dine Out Vancouver 2017 Yaletown Brunch Crawl Review

Dine Out Vancouver is well underway, as well as Vancouver Foodster’s Brunch Crawls for Dine Out.  I recently attended the Yaletown brunch crawl and had a great time visiting restaurants and other shops that I have not had a chance to visit before.  That is always the nice thing about the Brunch Crawls.  Following are pictures and some comments from my Yaletown experience at the various venues.

Rocanini Coffee

• 8oz Rum latte with 2 shots of espresso (decaf/caffeine), 6oz of steamed milk (other milk alternatives – soy, almond, skim, whole) and rum flavouring (no alcohol).

A great way to start the Brunch Crawl.  The coffee really did have a nice rum flavour to it, without the punch.

Rocanini Coffee’s Rum Latte

House Special

• Congee Noir – Black & White rice porridge congee with house-made Chinese donut, boudin noir sausage, and house-made XO sauce
• Vietnamese Festival Cake – Sticky rice roulade with pork, house-made 5-spice sausage, mung bean, cucumber, pickled cabbage and celery, sriracha chutney
• Steamed Glass Dumplings – Banana leaf wrapped tapioca dumplings, ground pork, cured shrimp, nouc cham, pork crackling and red chili.

This restaurant was really interesting.  I like Vietnamese food.  I do not have congee too often as there are other dishes that I prefer.  This one was quite flavourful with the boudin and XO sauce.  My favourite item though was the Vietnamese Festival cake.  I like sticky rice in general, and then adding the extra crunch from cucumber and spices from 5-spcie sausage and sriracha chutney made it a small flavour bomb.

House Special – Congee Noir, Vietnamese Festival Cake, and steamed glass dumplings

Ganache Patisserie

• Croissant aux Bleuets-Mures -vanilla pastry cream, blueberry-blackberry compote
• Goyave Citron Mandarine – blood orange chiffon, lemon mousseline, guava gelee, lemon curd, and mandarin oranges
• Madeleine
• Raspberry Macaron

Probably my overall favourite stop at the Brunch Crawl.  The pastries here are done so well.  No item was overly sweet.  My favourite of my favourites was the Goyave Citron Mandarine (the item looking like a cake).  The guava flavour paired so nicely with the citrus and the mandarine oranges; and to top it off with fresh berries was a nice touch.

Ganache Patisserie – Crossaintm Madeleine, Macaron, and Goyave Citron Mandarine

Living Produce Aisle

• Pea Shoot & Kale Microgreens, Apple & Banana, combined with Grapefruit Juice and Aloe Vera Juice
• Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie with Pea Shoots, Broccoli Microgreens, Peanut Butter & Banana, combined with Chocolate Protein Powder & Almond Milk
• The Microgreen Salad – A mix of Pea Shoot, Sunflower, Purple Radish, Broccoli, Nasturtium, & Kale Microgreens combined with Pumpkin Seeds & Cranberries & lightly dressed with a Balsamic,
  Honey & Olive Oil Vinaigrette

I do not try smoothies that often that are made with greens, but gave it a try.  My preference was the Peanut Butter Cup smoothie.  The smoothie did have a strong peanut butter flavour and was very creamy.  It did not have too green or bitter a flavour which can come from greens.  I felt full and healthy after stopping here.

Living Produce Aisle – Green Dream and Peanut Butter Cup Smoothies

TeaJa Organic Teas

• Double Cream Earl Grey OR Vanille Rouge teas

I chose the Vanille Rouge tea to try, made with Roobios tea leaves and had a drop of honey stirred into it.  Roobios is a red tea and is soothing to drink.  Try it.

Teaja Organic Teas – Double Cream Earl Grey and Vanille Rouge teas