With the cherry blossoms, tulips and rainy days comes the first notions of Spring. And with it, new produce and seafood that we all look forward to with the new season. YEW seafood + bar has recently introduced their Spring menu put together by Chef Evan Morgan and Executive Pastry Chef Suraj Karmakar.
Grilled Octopus made with patatas Bravas, olives and a lemon emulsion. This was one of the highlights of the evening for me. The grilled octopus is remarkably tender and the lemon emulsion gave it a nice, crisp flavour.
Burrata salad served with roasted baby beets, greens, cherry vinaigrette and a black pepper shortbread. This salad is very well rounded – it’s got sweetness and tartness to it, along with weight from the burrata. The black pepper shortbread is an interesting and necessary addition to salad.
Seared Ahi Tuna with Yuzu ponzu, compressed cucumber, sesame oil garlic chips and puffed wild rice. A beautiful dish combining fresh but familiar flavours with a great cut of fish.
Lobster served with Pommes Aligot, spring vegetables, Tarragon cream and mushrooms. I like this dish a lot and I’m usually not a huge fan of lobster. The lobster is mixed in with the mushrooms and the result is tender meat with mushrooms that have soaked up a lot of the flavour from it’s ingredients.
Fisherman’s Stew – roasted fennel, spring vegetables, grilled bread and spicy rouille. This dish is for the seafood enthusiast! You’ll get all sorts of fresh picks from the season’s bounty. The rouille is delicious and familiar, almost homey in flavour.
Halibut served with cornmeal fritters, fried cauliflower, snap peas, capers roasted shallot vinaigrette. Not only is this dish beautifully plated, the flavours from each individual item compliments one another and never too overpowering.
Finally – dessert. We had a sneak peek at some of the new desserts created by Chef Suraj Karmakar – such as the Hidden Garden and pineapple carpaccio. The Hidden Garden is yogurt panna cotta, green tea ‘moss’, edible flowers and cherry smoke. What a beautiful and show-stopping dessert!
The pineapple carpaccio is marinated overnight with pink peppercorn and paired with a creme fraiche sorbet balances the flavour out. The Pineapple carpaccio is definitely a treat and I love the balance of sweet and spiciness to it.
On top of all these delicious dishes, there are a couple new cocktails including The Beehive (gin, passionfruit, honey syrup and ginger beer), Wanderlust (white rum, banana liqueur, coconut, lemon and smoky scotch) and Xalapa (smoky whiskey, white port, red vermouth and jalapeno syrup and green tabasco). I got to try these new cocktails and I’d have to say The Beehive is dangerously addictive – you almost forget that it’s alcoholic!
For more information on Yew’s new spring menu, check out their website here: https://www.yewseafood.com/
