I didn’t end up posting the next day after all…but here’s the rest of it.
The next day I visited Granville Island with Pretty Sis. She wanted to visit The House of Switzerland (not really a house, just Bridges Restaurant offering a few Swiss menu choices), I wanted to visit Atlantic Canada House.
First up House of Switzerland. They had the bistro option or the restaurant option. However you needed to make reservations in advance for the restaurant option, and the lineup for the bistro was around 45min-1 hour. We ended up not doing that.
Instead, we lined up at the front where they had a tasting of Raclette Cheese on bread for $8. Now $8 is a lot but we actually didn’t feel too badly about it because the way it was prepared, we didn’t think we would see or be able to experience it again here in Vancouver.
What they do is, the heat up half a wheel of the Raclette cheese under an interesting burner. Once the cheese is melted, they slide the cheese out and spread it onto slices of bread. It is served with pickled small pearl onions and mini pickles. See the video below!
This is the end result. It was DELICIOUS. The cheese was very fragrant (some might call it pungent). Our mouths were watering even as we were lining up and we could smell the cheese. It was definitely a small portion for $8 but it really was something quite interesting to us. It was intensely flavored and it left us wanting second servings, but we had another place to head to~
And it was to the Backstage Lounge at the Arts Club Theatre for some Atlantic Canada food sampling! We were in line for about 30mins, and went in about 15mins after the start time of 2pm. The sampling and to go in was free but they do serve drinks if you choose.
First up was the Pickled Herring with Candied Yellow Beets, Saffron Aioli and Leek Frites. Obviously as it was a small serving it was difficult to taste all the flavors. However it was as you would expect Pickled Herring to taste like…bit sourish. I expected herring to be a bit fishy but it wasn’t at all.
Then there was the Steamed Mussels. From reading Ho Yummy‘s site it would seem like they serve this every day. Although the mussels were small they were very fresh and sweet. The sauce was buttery and delicious. We each got seconds afterwards. I was surprised they would serve this for free.
Lastly was the Miniature Tourtieres, which are like a meat pie. I really enjoyed this as it was very flavorful. Between this and the herring I think I enjoyed this more. The pastry was flaky and it was all served warm.
We didn’t get to go into the actual pavilion though as it was closed for a private function. That seemed to be the case in many places, as the same night we tried to go to FANcouver in Yaletown but that was closed for a private function too. Boo!
This post is so stellar, I’m going to have to mention it on my blog!
The cheese tasting must have been too popular, as I was offered a free sample in the early days. Also, the cheese fondue was delicious, although pricey at $44. You could definitely taste and smell the liquour in it.
You were lucky to get in so quickly to the Atlantic House as I heard people have lined up for 2-3 hours for the free tasting and frankly, for 3 items, I just can’t get that excited after such a long wait.