My Top 3 West End Restaurants during Dine Out Vancouver Festival
Dine Out Vancouver Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary and is one of the anticipated events for food lovers! From now till January 31st 2022 experience gastronomic adventures in the city. Over the weekend, I visited 3 West End restaurants participating in the festival that interested me!
Davie Dosa Company - $20 DOVF Brunch
IDLY, VADA, MINI MASALA DOSA served with sambhar, coconut, tomato chutneys & 1 hot or cold beverage
Idly is a type of savory rice cake and popular as breakfast foods in South India. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils and rice
Medu Vada is crisp, fluffy, & delicious donut shaped black lentil fritter
Sambhar is a lentil-based vegetable stew
I picked Davie Dosa because I was interested in trying a traditional South Indian breakfast. Overall, I enjoyed the simplicity and can see it as something I’d enjoy eating daily. The DOVF menu comes with a hot or cold drink and we opted for their chai tea! Careful, it’s piping hot!
Davie Dosa Company - $30 DOVF DinneR
APPETIZERS
Cauliflower or Chicken 65
Deep fried south indian spiced, served with mint & tamarind sauces.
ENTREES
Chickpeas or Chicken Curry served with rice and parota
DESSERTS
Home made Mango or Pistachio Kulfi Ice Cream
On top of their brunch menu, they’re also offering a dinner menu for Dine Out. A great deal to explore different flavours and textures!
Forage - $45 DOVF DINNER
Forage is one of our favourite restaurants in the West End and we were excited to see them participating in DOVF again. Their creative plating, and flavours always something to look forward to. When we sat down and looked at the menu we realized there were some dishes not listed on the Dine Out website due to a limitation in their upload portal.
Check out the full menu at Forage’s website!
Appetizer Course:
Duck breast pastrami, haskap berries, sunchoke crackling, pickled cipollini onions, smoked duck fat sourdough
Golden Ears Jersey Blue panna cotta, marinated mixed mushroom, hazelnut mushroom soil suggested
When I thought sourdough, I was thinking it be served on toast so it was creative to see it being used like croutons on top of the pastrami. I like how the menu has a Sea, Land, and Soil theme which I found very successful. I wish we had 3 people dining in to try their Sea themed appetizer as well. We saw the table next to us order it and it looked lovely!
ENTREE COURSE:
Pan roasted Gindara sable fish, grilled collar and octopus, roasted pepper ragout, shio koji, grilled pickled garlic scapes
Canadian bison butcher’s cut steak, winter squash, pomme puree, charred cipollini onions, chimichurri, Walla Walla onion jus
We tried two items that weren’t listed on the DOVF website. They costs an $8 upgrade each but totally worth it! Both of us loved everything so far.
Dessert Course:
Forage Neufchatel cheese puff, ginger and vanilla ice cream, gin spiked blueberries
Sticky toffee pudding, dark chocolate marquise, burnt honey whisky sauce, Chantilly cream
Finished our meal with both dessert options. Overall, our DOVF experience from start to finish was excellent. Forage always exceeds expectations. I’m tempted to come back and try the other dishes before the festival is over!
Espana - $43 DOVF Dinner
Our third stop is Espana. The low lit intimate environment, great food, craft cocktails and friendly service make it one of the best spots in the West End for date night.
Make your reservation ASAP.
TIP: If you book your reservation at 4:45 you'll be able to order a few items off the Happy Hour menu before switching over to the DineOut menu at 5PM!
Here’s what we ordered from the Happy Hour menu:
Right: Smoked Honey Old Fashioned
Below: Marinated White Anchovies on Toast, Chicharrones coated with Paprika Honey, & Manchego Toast & Honey
Appetizer Course:
Roasted Baby Beets, House Made Labneh, Citrus Segments, Pine Nut & Herb Picada
Grilled Romaine Lettuce, White Anchovy & Garlic Caesar Dressing, Croutons, Manchego Cheese, Charred Lemon
Entree course:
Sherry Braised Beef, Garlic Mashed Potatoes,
Grilled BroccoliniRoasted Rock Cod, Crispy fingerling Potatoes, Wilted Arugula, Sherry, Caper & Anchovy Burnt Butter
dessert course:
Hand Rolled Churros with House Made Yoghurt & Dulce De Leche
Vegan Chocolate Mousse, House Made Raspberry Jam