Sunday 20 July 2014

The Blacktail Florist.

José took me on a date on Friday, which I had been looking forward to all week. I had no idea where we were going, but I had to be at Waterfront Station at 6.40 - wearing something cute. I put my velcro rollers in and pulled out my most flowery dress! Of course, I arrived at Waterfront first and had to wait for José, which really took me back to our days of dating eight years ago ;-)
We started off with americanos and macaroons at Coffee Bar. It's so nice to just sit and chat sometimes, and eat dessert before your dinner!




He took me to the restaurant, which is a fairly new place on Water street in Gastown called The Blacktail Florist. Inside, it is very white and there are lots of very botanical-looking bunches of flowers. We had a little table at the back with really pretty views out onto the street. We could hear Gasey Jack chiming in the background and as the sun went down, the pretty fairy lights in the trees were sparking outside. 









The menu is quite small, but focuses on culture and produce of the Pacific north-west. All of the portions are on the smaller side; however, the presentation and taste is very interesting. It's one of those places that's not just for stuffing your face, but more of a 'food experience'. Saying that though, the taste of everything was very nice and we had a really great meal. The prices are pretty reasonable for a downtown restaurant; although we ordered quite a lot and had four drinks between us so we didn't really benefit from the 'reasonable' bit!




For appetizer, we shared a couple of things: 
Salmon belly (Really blurry picture! I hadn't planned to blog and so I just had my iphone)
Mushroom caps
BC Nugget potatoes



For main course, we shared:
Ling cod
Braised lamb shoulder in a cabbage roll



As a side salad:
Salad of spring vegetables - This salad has to be mixed at the table. It has mushroom soil in it, which was a bit alarming at first but the server explained it is basically just dehydrated mushroom. Mixed in with the sauce, this salad is so delicious. 



For dessert:
Chocolate Goat Milk Rice Pudding, apricots, cinnamon, chocolate parfait, smoked salt, and honeycomb. - This is kind of a fancy-pants Crunchie bar - a bit salty, bit sweet and a bit of a peppery heat too... so good. Anything with honey and I'm sold!


To drink:
Two glasses of Rose, Le Vieux Pin, Voïla Rosé 2012, Oliver, British Columbia to be exact! Jose also bought me a beautiful flowery hand cream as a little present. 





I look a bit hippo-ish in this picture but an interesting idea on Jose's part. 


On the way home, we were feeling a bit young and free and went to two bars (such rebels). First, we went to The Ascot, which seemed to be really popular a year ago, but it was almost empty and although we had a nice drink, we didn't feel like staying. Really cozy, old-fashioned British themed decor. 


This was called the Queen's Fist. A gin and tonic with a sprig of rosemary. Got it up my nose a few times. 


We walked into Yaletown and thought we would try a Mexican place called El Azteca. The have a lot of tequilas to choose from, but also Mezcal and other drinks. We didn't eat, but the menu looked really authentically 'Mexican' so we want to go back and try the food another time. 
We had a lovely night and then went home, snuggled into bed and fell into a blissful tequila-induced sleep.  


¡Pa' arriba, pa' abajo, pa' centre, pa' dentro!

No comments:

Post a Comment