Woohoo!!! Mr. ESL is getting married!!! To commemorate his last days as a bachelor Ms. Awkward Diner organized a fantastical and super fun stag for him. It all started with dinner at The Irish Heather. Or was it the Salty Tongue?? I say this because although we had reservations at The Irish Heather, we were seated in a communal table at the latter, and the restaurants were side-by-side.
Both restaurants are really just one long corridor each, but I guess that’s true with most Gastown establishments.
On to the food!
I had the Steak & Ale Pot Pie ($16.75) which came with choice of fries, masoed (mashed?) potato or Kale Caesar salad. I picked the kale caesar as it sounded interesting.
Their pot pies came in a vegan version also and they differentiate them with either a doggy or an acorn!!! Aren’t they darling???
Both pot pies were huge. The meat version came with au jus and there was a lot of filling. Upon cutting into it gravy came pouring out to mix with the jus so it basically was one big delicious mess. The steak pieces were tender enough and were mixed in with chunks of celery and carrots. My only gripe was that the crust wasn’t cooked through: the top was cooked while the inner layer was pretty gummy and doughy.
The Kale Caesar ($8 for a small) was absolutely delicious. I always thought that kale would be too tough to eat raw in a salad, so I’ve always just made kale chips. But the kale here was cut into a chiffonade so it was tender and easy to chew. There was just enough dressing to cover everything without being overly rich and satiating. I finished this over the pie.
After having this I was even inspired to make my own kale salad at home!
Now on to some picks from the peeps:
Grilled flatbread and dips of raita, hummus and sun-dried olive tapenade ($10).
Lamb Papardelle ($21) with flat noodles and lamb ragout.
Ms. Awkward Diner actually was very excited about this because she recently went to Merchant’s Oyster Bar after my recommendation of their parpadelle, and like me she really enjoyed it.
According to her this was really really good, with the gaminess of the lamb combined with the goat cheese. I was sitting across from her and I could smell the intoxicating aroma…I’m so getting this when I return.
Bangers & Mash ($17).
Napoleon Salmon Escalope ($20)
Mr. ESL was on a diet so he was trying to keep with it even at his stag. I commend him for it.
Overall really really enjoyable dinner here at the Irish Heather. Super fun night also!! Congrats Mr. ESL!!! (He actually speaks and writes perfect English~ I only tease him with that name =))
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