Cache Bistro - Dinner #2

1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

W invited a badminton buddy of his to have dinner one weekend. They decided to make it a double-date so his friend, Griffin, brought his wife along while W brought me! Since Griffin and his wife rarely head out to have nice leisurely dinners due to child-rearing duties, W thought that bringing them to Cache would be a nice outing for them.

We arrived at 6 in the evening and it was pretty empty inside. I know it’s not exactly good for business but I liked how we could chat without a lot of noise disrupting us. It got a bit busier as the night went on though.

I saw that Cache hung a new chalkboard menu by their open kitchen which detailed the daily items available for their newly added charcuterie platter. I think I might want to try it one day. Cache seems like an unintimidating place to be introduced to the world of cheese and cured meats. Anyway! Back to the dinner!

Half Moon Ice Tea ($6) - green tea, fresh lemon, mint, soda

I started with a drink while perusing the menu. The ice tea was cold and refreshing! It wasn't very sweet, which would be nice for some, but I would have liked it more if a little more green tea syrup was added.

W had a hard time choosing what to eat so he went and asked Chef Alex for recommendations. Chef Alex said that the pork belly on their Menu 35 3-course dinner was really good so, putting all his trust in Alex, he went with the Menu 35 meal!

Boutique AAA Tenderloins - Black pepper crust, bacon wrapped AAA tenderloin, celeriac purée, port glazed pearl onions

For W’s choice of appetizer on Menu 35, he opted for the beef tenderloin - tiny bite-sized cubes of beef wrapped with bacon. The dish seemed small but it was really tasty. Despite the size, the meat was well cooked, not tough to chew at all, while the bacon provided a pleasing salty hit. The other appy option was the seafood crepe (lobster, mussels, squid, and salmon, veloute de poisson).

*Please note that I did not take any photos of Griffin and his wife’s food… I just met them and I didn’t want to scare them off by halting them of any eating and shoving my camera phone in front of their dishes ~_~

Pork Belly - Braised pork belly, pomme dauphine, baby carrot

This was the chef recommended pork belly! It was braised until the meat was fork-tender. The fat practically melted in my mouth! The pork belly was seasoned well but the flavour was kind of one-dimensional. The pomme dauphine were actually the fried round mashed potato balls! These potato balls reminded me of Japanese croquette because of the crispy exterior shell, the soft and creamy potato interior, and it also had a little bit of meaty demi-glace sauce in the middle.

When a server passed by our table holding the other entrée option for Menu 35, I thought that one looked quite delicious too! It was a wild sockeye salmon marinated with miso, accompanied with fennel, and had basa noodle.

Beet Salad ($11) - Roasted golden, candy & red beets, roasted carrot, crispy goat cheese

Upon reading the description for the Menu 35 meal, I wasn’t too interested with the choices so I decided to order from the a la carte menu. I went with the beet salad to start as I wanted something light to whet my appetite. I’m starting to like beets more and more, especially the roasted variety! They were so sweet and tender! The carrots were sweet and delicious too! The little crispy goat cheese nuggets were soft in the inside and had a golden coloured panko crust on the outside. Really good textural contrast to the soft beets!

Duck Breast ($24) - Seared Fraser Valley duck breast, roasted fingerling potato, honey carrot flan, blueberry demi

I was actually a little disappointed with my entrée. By all means, it was still tasty but somehow it didn’t really meet my expectations. The meat of the duck breast was moist yet a little chewy but I thought the fat under the duck skin was not rendered enough so I felt it was not as melty-soft as I liked it to be. With the description of “honey carrot flan”, I expected this orange-coloured soufflé to taste light and sweet. However, my palate detected a very savoury and cheesy tang from this circular side dish. Totally not what I expected it to be! The taste was interesting and the texture was light and fluffy (hence why I called it a soufflé) but…where were the honey carrots?! Also, colour-wise, the whole dish seemed too "earth-tone" (brown, yellow, orange...). A nice, bright pop of colour somewhere would have been more eye-pleasing. =P

I think the best duck breast I’ve eaten was actually at the now-closed Hong Kong style café called Seventh Heaven Cafe, which was located in Aberdeen Centre at Richmond. Same with Cache, it was seared with a crispy skin and paired with a blueberry sauce but I thought it was cooked to a doneness that was just right for the meat to be slightly chewy and the fat to be melty-soft. /end digression/

Dessert sampler

Red velvet cake (cupcake), dark chocolate crème caramel, vodka and dark chocolate zabaglione

Menu 35 came with a dessert sampler to round out the meal. Cache’s dessert sampler changes daily so this night it included a red velvet cupcake, a dark chocolate crème caramel pudding, and a vodka and dark chocolate zabaglione. The red velvet cake was ok, nothing incredible about it. It was just like a normal cupcake but it was deep red in colour. The crème caramel was more interesting. Though the caramel sauce drenched over the pudding was quite sweet, the dark chocolate eggy pudding balanced the flavour out with its bitter cocoa notes. Pretty good!

The last of the trio of desserts was the zabaglione. I have never heard of this word before so I had to Google it up! Apparently, it is an Italian dessert, also known as Zabaione or sabayon. Typically, it is made with egg yolks, sugar and a sweet wine. In Cache’s case, it was made with vodka and chocolate. The consistency of this dessert was like a drinking chocolate. It was smooth and thick. You could eat it with a spoon but you could also sip it from the little cup! If I had to pick, though, I would say I liked the crème caramel the best.

Crepes Suzette ($9) – warm crepes, vanilla ice cream, orange marmalade sauce

Don’t expect the chef to come out and prepare this dessert tableside; though, I know it’s pretty hard to find a place that will serve this dessert with the traditional flair. Aside from that, the crepes were a pretty substantial dish! Easily shareable between 2 people! The crepes were warm with slightly crisp edges and stuffed with 2 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream!! The sauce that accompanied the crepes tasted like warm orange marmalade. Not that it wasn’t good; it just seemed like it belonged on a home-made dessert rather than on one found in this fine restaurant. I would love to try Crepes Suzette prepared tableside the traditional and fancy way though.

Overall, another good dinner at Cache Bistro. There were some hits and minor misses but the changing seasonal menus and friendly staff will keep bringing me back! :)