Cork & Fin

221 Carrall Street

Vancouver, BC

 

To post-celebrate my birthday, my co-worker, K, and her girlfriend treated me to oysters!! She took me to Cork & Fin in Gastown for happy hour oysters.

 

It was a warm and sunny late afternoon so the small patio out front was already filled with patrons while the inside of the restaurant was empty. The front window was wide open though so it let in a nice cool breeze and brightened up the dining area.

I'm so sorry, I have completely forgotten which types of oysters I sampled here. I believe the larger, meatiers ones (half a dozen) were Royal Miyagi? They tasted creamier and heavier while the other half a dozen were a smaller sized oyster but it tasted crisper and had a clean ocean-y saltiness to it.

We also ordered the oyster motoyaki from the happy hour menu. Not my favourite way to eat oysters because I don't like the goop of mayo on top. The oyster underneath was baked to just the right doneness though.

I liked the smaller oysters from the first round, so we ordered this type exclusively for our second round of oysters. This time, the platter came with a dish of grated horseradish. I'm not educated in oysters and I don't have much intention on learning but eating freshly shucked oysters was still fun!

Joey Coquitlam

550 Lougheed Highway

Coquitlam, BC

 

For my birthday dinner, I didn't really know where to eat. I browsed the menus of some popular chain restaurants around home and finally settled on Joey. We had a reservation so we were seated promptly.

 

Since it was my birthday, I ordered my favourite alcoholic drink haha! Lucky me, Joey had an all day happy hour drinks menu and the Bellini was included! The bellini is a nice frozen cocktail for the warm summer. Joey's version had an iced peach slice for garnish.

 

 

Bellini

$2.99 - All day happy hour menu

Steak & Sushi

Soy marinated tataki style top sirloin and rainbow roll

We skipped the appetizers and ordered our entrees right away. I chose the steak and sushi because I thought it was an interesting combination and it satified both my cravings for sushi and grilled meat! I was a little disappointed in the rainbow roll because I was anticipating a variety of toppings on the roll. This one just had salmon and avocado slices on top. There are more than 2 colours in a rainbow you know. Well, I guess the sauces (a spicy mayo and a teriyaki type sauce) drizzled on it added 2 more colours. The roll, overall, wasn't too bad.

The steak was sliced after being grilled and placed in a skillet pan with a cup of sweet soy sauce for dipping. The beef was quite tender and grilled to a nice medium rare. It was good on its own but I liked dunking the meat in the accompanied sauce for more umami-ness (savoury-ness).

Steak aux Champignon

CAB top sirloin, mushroom demi-glace, a fully loaded crispy mashed potato and seasonal veggies

W had the "steak with mushrooms". He also requested the meat to be grilled to medium rare and it was nicely done as well. The mushroom demi-glace was savoury and rich. I bet it would go well with mashed potatoes! We all didn't know what the fully loaded crispy mashed potato would look like so when we saw it on the plate, we were quite surprised that it resembled a spring roll. With shredded cheese and, I believe, sour cream on top, the crispy mashed potato seemed laden with calories...

Blue Cheese Sirloin

CAB top sirloin, blue cheese butter, mashed potato and seasonal veggies

As my dad liked blue cheese, he ordered this version of the sirloin steak. The warm steak semi-melted the salty and "fragrant" blue cheese so it acted like a sauce for the meat. It was grilled to rare but my dad preferred Sammy J's sirloin more as this one was a little bit more chewy.  He opted for regular mashed potatoes as his side.

California Chicken Burger

Aged cheddar, smoky bacon, spicy mayo on a Portuguese bun, served with fries

The only one who didn't order steak was my mom as she does not eat beef. I did not try any of the burger but I did eat some of the bacon. It was crispy and delicious (how could bacon not be delicious anyway??).

We had to leave room in our tummies for my birthday cake so we did not have any dessert at Joey. Overall, the food was not bad and service was attentive. It's not a restaurant that I would be craving to go but for the times that I did go, I was satisfied.