Dine Out Vancouver 2010: The Refinery

For my last Dine-out experience of 2010, we went to a place called The Refinery which is located on Granville.

It’s a very small restaurant located on top of Sip Lounge (I think they’re owned by the same people). However it has quite an intimate setting and we were impressed.

For my appetizer I picked the Albacore Tuna Tartar which was described as “Local B.C tuna, fresh orange, Serrano chili peppers, burnt orange vinaigrette, cilantro“. This was quite a big portion. The tuna tasted very fresh but it could’ve been mixed with a bit more flavor. I ate this with the potato chips served with another appetizer which I’ll talk about later. Despite the semi-bland taste, I enjoyed this.

The next appetizer was the Roasted Vegetable Salad described as “Roasted red pepper, grilled asparagus, butternut squash, caramelized pearl onions, pesto, garlic crouton“. This was obviously the vegetarian dish and even though none of us were vegans we liked this.

Again it was a large portion and seemed like a meal in itself. It had an abundance of the listed veggies and I especially liked the tiny pearl onions. They were very cute.

The last appetizer was the Lamb Carpaccio served with “Rosemary potato chips, truffle aioli, cherry tomato relish“. Man was this delicious! They were obviously sliced very thin, so thin that they kind of stuck to the plate, so we had to scrape the pieces up. But it had the distinct “aroma” of lamb, and was so flavourful! Wished we had more! Thankfully this is part of their regular menu so I can always come back for it.

The lamb was served with rosemary potato chips which were homemade. They were quite salty so they fit with my tuna tartar very well.

On the right are some french bread chips which I assume were the complimentary bread restaurants like to serve.

It took quite a while for our entrees to arrive even though at that time we were the only ones in the restaurant. Anyways we were in a good mood that day so I digress.

My entree was the Coq au Vin which was “Slow braised chicken thighs, caramelized pearl onions, roasted onions, red wine demi glace“. At this point I would like to say that since there really wasn’t that many people in the restaurant, we were given a lot of attention by the server. She was very knowledgeable about the dishes and was able to tell us about each dish. This may already be well-known but she told us that “demi glace” meant that the red wine sauce was reduced 5 times.

This resulted in a very richly flavored red wine sauce which was extremely aromatic. The chicken thigh was a bit dry which was weird since it’s THIGH. But I contribute that to the fact this is the Dine-out menu so it’s perhaps premade. But then, a Coq au Vin requires a lot of time to make right? So it’s supposed to be premade…the pearl onions in it were all infused with the sauce and were so goooooooood….

The Wild Mushroom Ragout (Wild local mushrooms, white beans, roasted red pepper, spinach, sage, parmesan) was the veggie entree. It smelled so good. However it was a bit salty, probably due to the insane amount of cheese in it. We especially loved the mushrooms.

Last was the Seared Tenderloin Flatbread (Caramelized onions, parmesan cheese, arugula, truffle oil). At first when I heard flatbread I though it was going to be thin and crusty and that really wasn’t something I felt like eating. However it turned out to be thicker and softer than I thought.

The tenderloin was indeed tender and delicately flavored. It was more enjoyable than I thought.

As for the dessert, this really was the reason why we chose to come here. It’s the Goat Cheese Cake which was served with “Chocolate wafer crust, sour cherries“.

I’ve never had Goat Cheese Cake before and I was so intrigued in what it would taste like. It was in fact very very goat-cheesy. Some people might find it overwhelming but I loved it.

Even though it was a small piece, it was more than enough since it was so rich. The chocolate wafer that was also in between the pieces served as a nice break from the cheesiness. The sour cherries did the same. I really enjoyed this, and it’s also the only other thing from the Dine-out menu that’s also on the regular menu (albeit with different condiments), so I”ll definitely be back for this.

It was a very nice experience at The Refinery and we really enjoyed the atmosphere/ambiance. It’ll be a great place for drinks or an intimate gathering. I greatly recommend this place.