La Terrazza

1088 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

Christmas time is a time of gatherings and celebrations. W and I and a couple of friends decided to dress up and have a fancy night out to treat ourselves for getting through the year. K-chan suggested La Terrazza for dinner as it was a classy and refined restaurant with excellent Italian cuisine.

Wine Spritzer

I wasn't a fan of red wine so I ordered a cocktail spritzer for myself.

Calamari e Gamberi ($17.88) - grilled Humboldt squid, crispy baby calamari, tiger prawns, toasted garlic - jalapeno lime reduction

The best way to have a variety of dishes to try and save a little in the wallet is sharing. We ordered 2 appetizers, 1 entree and 2 pasta dishes to be eaten family style. We started with a grilled squid (that looked like a piece of steak) topped with some crispy calamari and prawns. The squid was meaty and not chewy at all. An interesting take on the calamari that we're used to!

Bisonte ($17.88) - thinly sliced raw bison tenderloin, grainy Dijon aioli, wild arugula, crispy root vegetable chips

I chose the Bisonte over the beef carpaccio as we don't usually have bison meat. It tasted just like beef to me but it was tasty and beautifully presented. One little complaint for me is that the menu indicated crispy root chips (as in plural, as in multiple pieces of chips) but there was one ONE PIECE of root chip that was more for garnish than anything else. Boo!!! I was expecting more!

Anatra ($34.88) - pan seared Fraser Valley duck breast, golden beet, baby bok choy, roasted cipollini, spicy apricot glaze

For our entree, we had the pan seared duck breast. It was amazingly TINY LOL... I know, this is fine dining...

Spaghettini Alla Carbonara ($31.88) - spaghettini noodle, double smoked - Applewood bacon, Nova Scotia lobster, green peas, Parmeggiano Reggiano - quail egg yolk, Parmigiano Reggiano

The pasta dishes were the stars of the night. Both the Carbonara and Giulio's Pasta were delicious and the noodles perfectly al dente. The carbonara was creamy and salty that went will with the sweet and succulent lobster meat! I think I ended up eating all the peas because both W and K-chan did not like them =__="

Giulio’s Pasta ($27.88) - taglierini noodle, black-tiger prawn, capers, garlic - pepperoncino olive oil, toasted prosciutto bread crumbs

There was only one prawn on this pasta which I understand because it's not really meant for sharing, but still... At least it was large enough that we were able to cut it into 4 bite-sized pieces. This pasta was also very savoury with a slight spicy kick to it.

Tiramisu

We all just wanted a couple bites of something sweet to end the meal so we decided on sharing the Tiramisu. It was light and creamy with a balanced coffee flavour.

All in all, a lovely meal to celebrate the holidays with friends :)