Sunday, May 10, 2015

Chamber Restaurant (3rd Visit/Mother's Day Brunch)

0

Happy Mother's Day! Who else took their mamas to brunch today?! I set up a movie date with Mama and Sister Lu at Cineplex Odeon which is only a 2 minute walk from Chambar! Thought I wouldn't get a spot since I made the reservation at 10pm the night before, but luckily I got one at 2:15pm and everything worked out fine! This is my third time at Chambar, the vibe just keeps dragging me back!

Click here to read my previous visits:

First Visit (Dine out Vancouver)

Second Visit (Brunch #1)




My first brunch experience at chambar wasn't exactly great. I was so amazed by their dinner dishes thus I had extreme high hopes for their brunch menu as well. But I never give up on a restaurant till I've had at least 2-3 visits! therefore I chose to bring my mom and sister here for a nice mother's day brunch. 



Waffles ($3.15/ea 4/5) & Toppings ($1/ea 5/5)
Overall 4.5/5

Of course we had to order some waffles to start! This time I selected the Mixed Berry Compote and Salted Caramel toppings. They compliment very well with the waffles and were much better than the Milk Chocolate Lavender and Rose Water Pistachio I had last time. The waffles were still soft, but a lot chewyer this time. I heard from lots of food bloggers that Cafe Medina has better waffles! I will definitely visit soon to make a comparison. For now, I think Chambar's waffles are not bad. 


Canard Confit ($16 4/5)
Duck confit, quinoa, red cabbage, apple, arugula, feta, 
candied pecans, pomegranate vinaigrette.

Didn't expect this dish to be in a salad form but it was pretty great, and the portion was huge compared to Mama and Sister Lu's dishes. The candied pecans were a nice addition to the mix, I especially enjoyed those nutty bites. But here comes the sad part... although the apple and arugula were a nice refreshment, the duck confit dressing still overruled most of the flavours so the dish was overall heavy and I couldn't finish it without some water. I also had a similar dish like this at The Hasting's Warehouse. Their quinoa salad tasted almost identical to Chambar's but they only cost half the price and they had more ingredients like avocado slices, sweet corn and cucumber. This confit was still a great dish, and I do love quinoa salad with any source of meat. However, now that I have had cheaper and better quiona salads, the value of Chambar's just dropped (would've gave it a 3/5 if compared to The Warehouse's salad, but I try not to compare the prices, only the quality of each dishes and how they taste.  Chambar's cheapest brunch dish is $9 so $16 is a typical price, it's called casual fine dining for a reason! We also pay for its nice service and vibes.)


Brochette de Porc ($17 3.5/5)
Barbequed bacon, mortadella, andouille, saucisson de Paris, fried eggs, tomatillo & pineapple salsa, spiced potatoes

I know I just said that I don't include the value of the prices to my ratings, but I do compare the portion with the prices. The presentation of this dish looked great, but I highly doubt that it can fill up my stomach. Since I was sick, I only had a piece of each components. Those spiced potato first surprised me with their nicely crisped skin, but after a few more bites I realized that only very little parts of the skin were crisp. The fried eggs were once again alright, but the yolk was still great though, it's hard to make a sunny side ups without breaking the yolk so props to the yolk! and the chef! Now on to the important part of this dish... The skewer! Decent meats, I liked how they put together different types of pork in one brochette. But I'd like to see more veggies! and I didn't sample the salsa but my sister said it was a nice side. 



Gaufre au Samon ($19 4/5)
Hot smoked Haida Gwaii Chinook salmon, savory waffle, 
yuzu dill hollandaise, poached eggs, pea tips. 

Since I didnt sample my mom's dish, I only asked for her rating. According to her, the salmon was tender, but the pea tips were an awkward add on?!(Since in Chinese restaurants stir fried garlic pea tips is a famous dish and we usually don't eat raw pea tips) Anyways... who doesn't like poached eggs aka eggs benny? I'd love to have them with beef or pork but sadly Chambar doesn't offer poached eggs with other types of meat, or else I would 100% order. (Time to hit up Catch 122 soon!)



Overall Experience:

Definitely in between my last two experiences. Better than my first brunch visit, but still not comparable to that dine out night. So far I have seen 5 of Chambar's brunch dishes and sampled 4 of them. Nothing special for me to spend an average of $18 a dish but I would still come back to try their famous paella and maybe their omelette before I say no to their brunch items! Chambar is still one of my famous restaurants, but maybe they are only good at mastering their dinner dishes! Oh, and maybe lunch too! Many more revisits to come!



Chambar Restaurant on Urbanspoon

0 comments:

Post a Comment