Cache Bistro - Brunch #2

1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

My sister organized a bridal shower for her good friend and the afternoon's activities were relaxing mani and pedi's at a spa in Yaletown. So, we decided to have brunch first at Cache since my previous brunch experience there was pretty good.

Perusing through the menu, I didn’t know whether to order a breakfast item or a brunch/lunch item. Decisions decisions! My sister was gracious and agreed to share our plates so I could sample 2 dishes.

House smoked wild Coho salmon and gruyere sandwich

Open faced with onion jam cream cheese, onion, fried caper, hand cut pomme frites, soup or organic green

I selected the open-faced sandwich as it sounded appealing. For my side, I opted for the lobster bisque. Visually, everything looked really fresh and tasty. In reality, it was just so-so, except for the bisque. The bisque was A++!! There was no lacking in flavour and richness in this soup and it was yummy to the last drop. The sandwich, on the hand, needed a bit of work. Essentially, it was the baguette that was the problem. It was cold, hard, and the crust was super chewy. Even the steak knife that I requested to cut it did not help at all. While I was trying to saw the open-faced sandwich into bite-sized pieces, all the toppings came tumbling down onto the plate. In the end, I took bites of each element individually rather than eating them all in one well-mannered bite. I think it would have helped if they toasted the baguette so the crust would be crisp and easier to cut through. Either that or they should have used fresh baguette. Bread was not good at all.

Double Cheese French Omlette

Swiss cheese, cream cheese, black forest ham, chives, choice of white, whole wheat or multigrain toasts

My sister decided on the omelet and I requested for the yam hash rather than regular potato hash. A few minutes after we put in our order, the waitress came back informing us that they ran out of yam hash!!!!! NO YAM HASH!?!?!?! I was so looking forward to their yam hash!!! I was greatly disappointed and I seriously had half a mind to just walk out and go somewhere else to eat. She advised that the chef could give us yam fries instead. Well, with no other choice (I was very adamant on having yam) we reluctantly went with yam fries. I have never paired yam fries with an omelet.

The omelet was not bad but not spectacular either. The cheese inside the omelet was not ooey-gooey but there were ample amounts of cheese and ham inside. The yam fries were good in that they were crisp on the outside and soft in the inside but it just wasn’t my yam hash. They also apparently forgot the toast that was supposed to arrive with the omelet. My sister did not realize this until the next day. I was too distraught about no yam hash that I did not realize this either. Another disappointment.

Dessert Sampler

(L-R) Blueberry tart, Chocolate pot de creme, Ginger creme brulee

Between 9 girls, we ordered 2 dessert samplers to share amongst us. Their desserts of the day sounded attractive when the waitress recited it for us. When I heard “ginger crème brulee” that did me in and I convinced the other girls to order the sampler.

What a big fat disappointment. As a crème brulee, it was quite good. It was creamy, thick, rich with vanilla and had a nice “not-too-thin, not too-thick” crunchy torched topping. As a GINGER crème brulee, it was absolutely blah. There was no ginger flavour at all. I’m not sure if they were trying to be considerate so as not to overwhelm people with ginger but seriously, if they called it ginger crème brulee, I expect at least a tinge of ginger aroma or flavour. There was nothing here.

The blueberry tart was your regular blueberry tart. Nothing special there with a seemingly store-bought frozen tart crust, fresh blueberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Totally something that I could re-create at home.

The chocolate pot de crème was the best out of the 3. The dark chocolate was dense, smooth, and just slightly sweet so the dark chocolate shined through. But still, only 1 out of the 3 desserts met my expectations. I felt so guilty too because I convinced the whole table to order the desserts but they fell short of expectations.

Side note: When we were ordering, some of the girls asked me for recommendations. I suggested the crab cake benedict as I quite liked it when I had it last time. The girls wanted their eggs poached to medium and it was noted by the waitress. However, when their food came, their poached eggs were fully cooked! The yolk was hard throughout! When I saw that, I immediately wanted to tell the waitress but the girls didn’t want to make a big deal out of it so they just ate it as is. I felt so guilty (again) because I recommended it to them but it did not come out as expected. I was so enraged too!! I know the chef is usually not like this so I am thinking that this is an extremely off day for him. But if the chef is a professional and has expectations of himself, I think the chef has a right to know…

I was majorly disappointed in my second brunch at Cache. After this visit, I talked to W about it and he said that one of the sous chefs had left the restaurant not so long ago so he’s guessing that the head chef was still trying to handle the kitchen without a helping hand. Hopefully, this was just a one-off situation and that he’s gotten a better hold now. Because the chef and the owner of the restaurant are friends with W, I really hope that Cache will succeed. I do think that this place is a gem in the Yaletown neighbourhood.

*Sorry for the long-winded post; I really wanted to air out my disappointments from this meal.