{"id":5764,"date":"2015-09-29T22:40:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T06:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/?p=5764"},"modified":"2016-05-30T15:18:04","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T23:18:04","slug":"annalena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/annalena\/","title":{"rendered":"AnnaLena – Lovely Birthday Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

On my birthday, I took my mom to AnnaLena for a wonderful dinner. AnnaLena is one of the most anticipated farm-to-table restaurants in Vancouver, and I truly appreciate what Chef Michael Robins has come up with, an elevation from his previous establishment at Oakwood Canadian Bistro<\/a>, another popular eatery with similar style of cuisine, which happens to be in the same neighbourhood. Not too long ago I was comparing Oakwood to Farmer’s Apprentice<\/a>, citing how I found the dishes at Oakwood more down-to-earth, and more comforting and satisfying. Although I have to admit, Farmer’s Apprentice did impress and inspire me intellectually with some awesome concepts.<\/p>\n

Can awesomeness and great taste co-exist? I think AnnaLena’s refined approach to the popular farm-to-table cuisine is definitely successful in bringing those 2 winner elements together, making the restaurant a fierce contender in the race of this genre in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

I started the evening with a gin cocktail Captain’s Keep. I just love gin and this drink was hitting all the right spots. Citadelle, not commonly found in city, is a French gin, making the drink even more precious. I would describe it as a great original with classic gin cocktail elements dressed up with notes of citrus and aromatics, finished with a tiny hint of sweetness – it is perfectly balanced.<\/p>\n

\"Captain's<\/a>
Captain’s Keep – citadelle gin, cocchi rose, dry vermouth, orange, celery bitters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oyster and foie gras? It sounds like celebrating the new year in France. The fluffy snow flakes of shaved foie on the oyster was merely a touch of savory richness, along with a touch of acidity from compressed apple and a hint of heat from jalapeno mignonette, together they help showcasing the oyster as the big star, front and centre. Eating only one is definitely not enough!<\/p>\n

\"oyster\"<\/a>
oyster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have heard the rumors of how much the Chicken dish rocks here. I was very impressed with how the chicken was done, as well as the use of maple mustard and dill powder in the dish. Each bite was indeed very satisfying – the crispy skin, the moist and tender meat, and the great flavours. But I almost wish there was something extremely bold and risky about this dish other than receiving a perfection. Did I just call a perfection boring?<\/p>\n

\"chicken\"<\/a>
chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only word I could think of to use to describe the Mussels dish is ‘lightness’. There were not a lot of texture contrasts in this dish. Without the shells, the mussels seemed delicate, soaked in a beautiful broth drizzled with thyme oil, along with finely shaved fennel, and home made torn bread – I think it is a great success to turn such a rustic dish in most restaurants into such an elegant and refined one.<\/p>\n

\"mussels\"<\/a>
mussels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Scallops dish was rich yet still fairly delicate. The scallops were cooked perfectly. Again there were not a lot of strong contrasts on texture or flavours, but everything just worked in a very cohesive way – mushy and sweet squash, tender sweet bread, and soft house-made pappardelle. And the plating was beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"scallops\"<\/a>
scallops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally we shared the Grapefruit dessert dish: semifreddo, blueberry jelly, pecan grapefruit crumb, and buttermilk ice cream. Everything tasted fabulous, and as a whole it was both comforting and refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"pumpkin<\/a>
pumpkin – autumn pannacotta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I still find it hard to pick a clear winner from AnnaLena and the post-Michael Robbins Oakwood. As Robbins’s dishes at AnnaLena appeared to be more balanced, more refined, and more focused on the main ingredients, Oakwood offers satisfying portion and bolder flavours. And I preferred AnnaLena over Farmer’s Apprentice as I definitely preferred taste over quirkiness.<\/p>\n

\"AnnaLena\"<\/a>
AnnaLena<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Website:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.annalena.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Map and other reviews:<\/p>\n

\"AnnaLena<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On my birthday, I took my mom to AnnaLena for a wonderful dinner. AnnaLena is one of the most anticipated farm-to-table restaurants in Vancouver, and I truly appreciate what Chef Michael Robins has come up with, an elevation from his previous establishment at Oakwood Canadian Bistro, another popular eatery with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[193,211,46,209,97],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/image2.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5764"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7912,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5764\/revisions\/7912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickydiners.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}