Adesso Bistro

1906 Haro Street
Vancouver, BC

It was late August and the summer heat of the sun started to wane. To send off the last of the summer days in August I decided to drag W along and dine alfresco. I’ve read many great reviews of Adesso’s food and they also had a lovely patio so we headed there on a late Friday afternoon to catch a good table outside.
 

 

Even though it was located on a side street near the hustle and bustle of Denman street, it was fairly quiet and serene. Save for some footsteps of the residents of the area and the “clop clops” of the RCMP horses trotting by, the high hedges fencing the patio provided a barrier to the outside world.

Warm Foccacia bread

With olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Despite their small menu, we took a long time deciding what to order because they all sounded delicious! After we made our order, they brought over a complimentary plate of focaccia bread with a side of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. The bread was warm and the top was lightly seasoned with rosemary and sea salt. Excellent! I could eat many plates of this!

Asparagi

Roasted asparagus salad, truffle vinaigrette, Gratta Mangia

To start, W and I shared a warm asparagus salad. Beneath the spears of tender roasted asparagus were arugula leaves drizzled with a pungent truffle vinaigrette and topped with grated Gratta Mangia, a type of cheese with a similar texture as parmesan. There was just the right amount of truffle oil and the natural sweetness of the asparagus helped offset the slight bitterness of the arugula. The whole plate was very green though (but green is good for our eyes!)

Pollo

Roasted hen breast and leg, porcini sauce, gnocchi and cavolo nero

I wanted to try both a pasta dish and a meat entrée. Lucky for me, W agreed. I chose the entrée while he selected the pasta. The roasted hen sounded hearty and satisfying so I opted for that. When the plate came, I was surprised by how much meat there was! Or maybe I didn’t know exactly how big a hen is supposed to be. Anyway, the skin was crispy, golden brown, and perfectly salted while the meat, even the breast part, was not too dry. The skin was the best part haha! The porcini sauce added some more moisture to the white meat which was good but I thought it wasn’t salty enough when eaten with the gnocchi. The little rounds of gnocchi were not very flavourful so it was heavily dependent on the sauce (which wasn't very savoury in the first place). I also found them too soft for my liking. To balance out the protein and carbs there were clumps of cavolo nero, which is a type of deep green leafy vegetable, similar to kale. It some parts of the world, it is also known as black cabbage. The cavolo nero was a little bitter and reminded me of the leafy portion of Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli/kale).

Linguine alle Vongole

Clams, garlic, white wine and herbs

For our pasta dish, W decided on the linguine with clams. Such a simple pasta but such intense flavour!! This was the best dish of the night. The pasta was completely infused with garlicky white wine and strong essence of clam. There was no shortage of clam meat either; large and baby clams dotted throughout the al dente linguine. Hands down, one of the best pasta I’ve had to date.

Limone

Lemon and pistachio semifreddo, raspberry pate, fresh berries

The sky was still light and I wanted to linger some more in their patio so I convinced W to stay a while longer for dessert. There were 6 choices (if you include the cheese plate as a dessert…) and we narrowed down to 2. Finally, we decided to try the semifreddo as W has never heard of it before! With the texture between a mousse and ice-cream, it was light and lemony with crushed pistachio on top. However, we thought that the pistachio wasn’t crunchy enough (either not roasted or the semifreddo softened them) and didn’t pair that well with the semifreddo. The deep burgundy rectangle was the raspberry pate. It tasted like raspberry gummy candy as it was soft, chewy and coated with sugar. The raspberry seeds were a chore to eat though…and there were plenty of seeds in the pate =_= 

The whole meal came to about $70-ish dollars but I thought it was worth every penny. From the ambiance to the service to the food, everything was high quality. Of course, some parts of the roasted hen could have been better for me but that is just a slight criticism. For a fancier, romantic atmosphere, the indoor dining room would be a good place. For a casual air but with fine dining-quality food, Adesso’s patio cannot be beat.