Restaurant Review: Wildebeest
WILDEBEEST
120 West Hastings Street ~ wildebeest.ca Twitter: @WildebeestYVR ~ Instagram: @wildebeestyvr Co-Diner: Tim Golem
Of all of the restaurants in Vancouver, Gastown’s Wildebeest was one of the main ones on my radar that I have been anticipating to try. I’d heard a lot of good things about it via word of mouth, plus it was listed in enRoute magazine’s Dining Guide 2016 and landed at #57 on Canada's 100 Best Restaurants 2015 list. I got my chance on a very special date night, mine and my husband’s first night out together since having our baby! Reservations are a very good idea and we were seated immediately. We barely had a chance to sit down when two glasses of champagne were delivered to our table, a gift from our babysitters (and friends). So incredibly thoughtful and kind.
The bubbly was crisp and delicious. We toasted as we began to look over the menu. The restaurant itself is exactly what you would expect; extremely hip and cool. They serve Canadian food using great ingredients and make epic cocktails. The room seems to center around the beautiful gleaming bar, each bottle twinkling like a gem, the vintage chandelier reflecting off of each one. If you want distressed wood and exposed brick, this is the place for you. The interesting light fixtures above each table are suspended with pulleys. The busy kitchen is open toward the back from the room. Essentially, it’s a hipster paradise and you’re invited.
Every single item on the menu sounds incredible, but we were easily drawn to the Omakase. This is the first time that I’ve seen the term “omakase” used outside of a Japanese restaurant. The menu states: 1. A Japanese expression that can be loosely translated to "trust the chef" or "let us order for you." 2. The best way to experience Wildebeest - trust us. Tasting menus (or omakase) are one of my great joys in life. Obviously I was all in for this! Our gracious and friendly server explained that Wildebeest truly was created with the intention to offer their food this way, and I couldn’t support this idea more. He asked if we had any sort of restrictions, to which we responded “no!!” He also let us know that their omakase can be created to suit various price points. He said that a typical average would be around $70 per person and would include 5-6 courses, but that it could be less or more. We said that $70 sounded good, and that we would be happy to go with that. (“What if you said that you wanted to pay $200 per person,” I joked. “Would they serve you only foie gras and truffles and lobster?”) Our reservation was at 7pm and we had tickets to a show nearby which was to start at 9:30pm. We didn’t think to mention this, as 2+ hours seemed like plenty of time.
We excitedly awaited our first tastes and were soon delivered the Glazed Boar Belly.
Decadent, caramelized cubes of goodness. I was blown away by the incredible smokiness and perfect cook on the fatty belly meat. The dash of bonito and sesame added to this “snack’s” Asian flavouring and we loved it! Every meal should begin this way!
Next up was another “snack,” the Shaved Foie Gras.
This was served with a mushroom tapenade and was a small and luxurious bite. The shaved whisps of foie gras were pretty minute compared to the slabs of seared foie that appeared seemingly everywhere in Montreal, but I appreciated the melt-in-your-mouth flavour none the less.
Next we were moving onto the “smaller” plates portion of the menu and were served the Rosé Veal Carpaccio.
Hazelnut & truffle vinaigrette, shaved radish, celeriac remoulade, sorghum 'popcorn', arugula.
The striking pink, thinly sliced petals of veal explain why they call it rosé. The aroma of truffle hit our noses immediately. This plate was so interesting, delicate, and delicious! The veal itself was very tender and played so well with each component. I loved the texture and playful nature of the popcorn!
Next was the Beetroot & Burrata, a dish that I probably wouldn’t have thought to order on my own, yet might have been my favourite from the entire meal!
Fresh burrata, salt-baked beets, spiced maple granola, pickled Okanagan apricots, smoked yoghurt, basil oil.
I’m already a fan of beets, but this very well might have been the best preparation of beets that I have ever experienced. This dish was everything; earthy, fragrant, salty, sweet. The granola was such an interesting idea and I loved that it packed some heat. The burrata was ultra fresh and beets gleamed like rubies, full of life and flavour. This was beautiful.
I was very happy to receive the Bone Marrow next, one of my favourite dishes.
Roasted leeks and oyster mushrooms, crimini mushroom vinaigrette, grilled sourdough bread.
I really enjoyed the way that the vinaigrette played with the oily marrow, and the dense sourdough was a great vehicle to sop up the flavours with. The leeks and mushrooms were a lovely and tender touch. On the down side, I didn’t find that there was very much marrow to work with.
After this, we were moving on to the “larger” plates section and each dish was also served with a side. At this point the meal was starting to take quite a long time, with longer stretches between the arrival of our plates. We were starting to get a bit worried that we might run out of time. The Game Lasagna eventually arrived with a side of Green Beans.
Braised goat & venison, handmade pasta, pickled cherries, mushroom and madeira purée, crispy leeks, bordelaise.
This was an interesting take on a lasagna and I enjoyed the flavour of the game meats very much. The meat was almost served like a sausage, enveloped in the very crispy layers of pasta. It was almost more like a cannelloni. I absolutely loved the pickled cherries and could have eaten ten more of them. The beans (Miso glaze, toasted sesame seeds, pine nuts) were delicious and I loved the miso sauce that they were bathed in.
At this point the meal had taken so long that we actually had to get going or else we would miss our show. I normally would not have had a problem with this, except that we had someplace to be! We didn’t know how much more food was supposed to be coming, either. So we let our server know that we were almost out of time. He said that the kitchen was running behind and that we had one more dish left, so we assumed that it was likely a dessert? No, it was yet another main! The Roasted Elk Loin served with Brussels Sprouts Caesar.
Crispy potato terrine, pickled & roasted winter squash, rosemary oil, dark chocolate jus.
Caesar dressing, shaved grana padano.
At this point, we were in such a hurry to leave, that I don’t think that I was enjoying the food properly anymore, which is a shame. I truly wish that I could have luxuriated over it without the time crunch. I really thought that two hours and fifteen minutes would have been plenty of time, but we did spend long stretches of our meal doing nothing but waiting. The elk was very nice and cooked to an ideal medium rare. The fact that there was a slab of seared foie gras on the plate, not mentioned in the description of the dish, was not lost on me!! I loved it! The potato terrine was crispy and nice, but a little one-noted. The brussels sprouts were extra amazing!! I was so sad that we didn’t even get to finish them. I absolutely loved the idea of preparing them like a caesar salad and they tasted incredible this way. The cheese and the bit of bacon on top all worked so well.
Then the bill came and we found ourselves a bit confused. We had asked for our omakase to be $70 per person, but we were being charged $84 per person instead (not including tax). Whatever, not a big deal, but not what we agreed upon. Then our server explained that we were also supposed to have had a free dessert (so nice!!) but since we had to leave, he just took some money off of the bill instead. First of all, I was very sad to have missed out on dessert. I wish that the meal could have been more efficient so that I could have enjoyed it. Secondly, our bill was supposed to be even more?? But it was already more than what we had discussed! Third of all, going through the menu and adding up the à la carte price of each dish came to a lower price than what we were being charged. So... We could have just ordered the exact same things off of the menu ourselves instead of the omakase and paid less?? We were running late and had no time to contest this. We just paid and left. Aside from the slow service and the weirdness with the bill, I really loved the food at Wildebeest. I would have given it 5/5 if it weren’t for the issues. There are a lot of other things on the menu that I would love to try and they also offer brunch on the weekend which sounds amazing! Just make sure that you don’t have anywhere else to be.