The inside has a nice, wide and spacious seating area and we sat at the high top tables. In the centre of the restaurant is the bar that has several beer and wines available on tap.
What I love about Forage is that their menu is locally sourced whenever possible.
We ordered Sparkling Water to start ($3/person) – half of the money goes to charity, so why not!
Their dine out menu is $28 which is a great value.
For appetizers, Brian and I ordered the Seafood Chowder and the Bison Carpaccio.
The Award Winning Seafood Chowder is served with Smoked Chicharron and Soft Quail Egg. Chef Chris Whittaker took home the title at the Vancouver Aquarium’s Chowder Chowdown in 2013 and it’s easy to see why. This delectable bowl of chowder is packed with just the right amount of seafood and topped beautifully with a crispy smoked chicharron. To give it an extra oomph, a soft quail egg is tossed into the mix that just blends beautifully with the creamy chowder. By far the best chowder I’ve had!
We also shared the Spruce Tip Smoked Bison Carpaccio served with black pepper cranberry jelly, crisp parsnip, house made pickles, Charred leek and bone marrow aioli. I loved the taste of this dish which is smoked in house, I feared that the bison would have a gamey taste to it, but it was really delightful. The house made pickles were of carrots and they packed a punch when you bit into them!
For our Entrees, we ordered the Pork Belly and the Spring Salmon.
The Roasted Gelderman Farm Pork Belly with Crackling is served with Alpine juniper braised cabbage, Celeriac Potato Puree and Okanagan Apple Chutney. Oh. My. God. I’m pretty sure I died and went to heaven. This pork belly is by far the best I’ve ever had – it was moist and tender with the right amount of fat distributed and the crisp crackling was perfect. It was crunchy and salty and never chewy like you would get at other places – it was pure perfection.
The Pacific Provider Spring Salmon is served with potato and smoked onion hash, Leek fondue and a celery root remoulade. Not only is it plated beautifully, it tastes just as beautiful as it looks! The salmon was moist, tender and meaty. Easily broken off with a fork. The Leek fondue and celery root remoulade really complimented the salmon without being too overpowering. It’s side, the potato and smoked onion hash is fantastic in terms of texture to balance out this dish and flavour that again, does not overpower the main spectacle of this dish.
Finally for Dessert, we ordered both the French Toast and Financier.
The Blueberry Hazelnut Financier is served with membrillo creme, pulled hazelnut praline and quince jelly. I have to be honest that I had to look up most of these ingredients, membrillo is a sweet spread and quince jelly is made from a small tree that bear fruits that resemble pears. I’m typically not a big fan of blueberry but this dish was perfect. The financier is nice, light and moist and paired well with the blueberries inside. Between that and the different flavours from the membrillo and quince jelly, it gave this dessert a lovely sweetness without being too overwhelming.
The Crumb Crusted Maple Rye “French Toast” is served with tonk a bean drinking chocolate and Forty Creek Cream whipped marshmallow. Did I just die in your arms tonight? Probably after eating this delicious dessert. It sounds super decadent, but it was very enjoyable. I loved the taste of the drinking chocolate below the french toast rounds. The french toast rounds were perfect when I dipped them into the drinking chocolate – sweet but not too over indulgent. The roasted marshmallow on the side gave a nice, slightly smokey taste to the dish and the popcorn balanced the sweetness with salt.
Forage, you have found a new fan in me. I wish that these menu items were on there permanently! I also love the fact that they have such an innovative Dine Out menu! I’ll be back.
Check out their Dine Out Menu here. Check out their regular menu here.
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