How important are fresh ingredients for you?
In a past post I said that
Twisted Fork was one of my favourite dining experiences. Here's another one
Kitsilano Daily Kitchen. If you read food blogs or even search review sites like Urbanspoon you have surely heard about Kits Daily. They use fresh ingredients according to the day and season and post their menus online daily. I like restaurants that put an effort into their website! Menus, prices, and reservations being available on their website makes it easier to decide if I want to eat there. When you call in for reservations sometimes they're busy, put you on hold and nobody likes the dial tone or elevator music, it's just much easier and more efficient online.
In terms of food I found Kits Daily and Twisted Fork to both be delicious but I'd have to say Kits is slightly better because their seating is much more spacious. Their booth seats were so comfortable!
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| Spacious, relaxing ambiance at Kits Daily |
Appetizers
To our surprise, we received a complimentary appetizer from the chef. It was veal that tasted tender and juicy. I've read a few Urbanspoon reviews that have also received complimentary food from the chef which is always a nice, memorable touch.
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| Veal |
The salad was large in portion size; it had bacon, onion, smokehouse cheddar, tomatoes, beefsteak and greens.
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| Winter Beefsteak, campari & grape tomato salad |
I love seafood so I thoroughly enjoyed this scallop. It was pan fried to be crisp on the outside and just barely raw on the inside. I found it a little bit awkward to eat bok choy with a fork though because the base of it is pretty big so I had to use a knife which was unusual for me :) I like baby bok choys which are much smaller and easier to eat.
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| Sweet Soy Glazed Baja Scallop |
The cream of cauliflower soup was smooth and warm with a strong aroma of butter and cream. There was a king crab leg and some trout caviar on top. Since it was poached, the crab leg was overcooked. Also, it was a little bit difficult to eat because the shell was soft from the poaching making it difficult to crack it off to get the meat inside. It can get a bit messy, so even though this is yummy you might not want to order this if you don't like using your hands because a fork and knife won't get the job done.
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| Cream of Cauliflower soup |
Mains
The angus short rib was tender and the meat fell off the bone effortlessly. The lobster tasted good but it wasn't as good in size or taste as the one I had on the
cruise. This lobster had to use some effort to pry the meat off the shell but the lobster from the cruise came off the shell easily with a stroke of the fork.
The mashed potato with onion jam was delicious though, such fulfilling comfort food :)
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| Smoked Angus Short Rib with Lobster |
When this dish came we were all surprised by the size! It's a Seafood Cioppino with lots of ingredients like shrimp, Italian sausage, clams, mussels, halibut, and tomatoes. The soup itself was like a mix between vegetable minestrone and tomato soup with a little bit of spice. This may be a soup but all the ingredients inside make a big meal. However, I have to say that the ingredients were diced or chopped too big. You can clearly see how big that piece of sausage is in the photo. For things like shrimp and clams you can't change the size but the other ingredients could have been diced finer for easy eating since it is a soup so one spoon should be able to hold the ingredient. As well, it would've been nice to have the shrimp shells peeled because that's another step where it's difficult to not use your hands at least a bit.
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| Seafood Cioppino |
Dessert
Dessert time! This is my favourite part of meals and it can really change your opinion about a restaurant since it is the last impression. Our server came to explain to us about Meyer lemons which is a mix between a regular lemon and an orange. Meyer lemons have a sweeter taste but retains the tanginess of regular lemons.
The Meyer lemon tart had a sweet, tangy lemon custard (just like he described the lemon as) with a graham cracker-like crust and blackberries, pomegranate on the side. The only complaint I have about this is that it is too thin! It is probably 2 cm in height, I wanted more cause it was delicious.
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| Meyer lemon tart |
On the other hand, the chocolate tart lost the spotlight. It had a firm chocolate filling with buttery tart crust.
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| Chocolate tart |
Overall, the small details about the food aside the general dining experience at Kits Daily was great. Our server was friendly and attentive and the food came out in a timely manner. The ambiance was comfortable allowing you to really enjoy each other's company along with the food. At the end of our meal, the chef came out to talk to the tables to make sure they were happy with the food.
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