YEW restaurant + bar has been on my list of restaurants to try for some time. Earlier last year, I had won a prize at the BC Home and Garden Show that consisted of a five course dinner for six in their private dining room. I don't know why but somehow I never got around to making a reservation until December! So last Saturday, I invited my family and my aunt and uncle to dine with me, in what I knew would be a special dinner! Sadly, I chose a day where Executive Chef Ned Bell was out of town but Chef Sean Murray took good care of us.


The dining area is very spacious with high ceilings. Our "private" room was actually a glass room surrounded by wine in the back of the restaurant. You can see it to the left in the background in the photo above and on the right below.


A funky chandler hung above our table.



Some warm biscuits were brought out for us to start. The round one is made with rosemary while the square one is made with salmon! Both had some sea salt sprinkled on top. I liked the salmon one the best. I could have eaten a plateful of them but I refrained since there was so much more to come!

Our first dish consisted of three appetizers on a rectangular plate.  I was salivating already when I saw what was on the place. All my favourites - Dungeness crab taco, smoked Albacore tuna and two Kusshi oysters.

Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial Champagne

The appetizers were paired with a sparkling rosé champagne.

DUNGENESS $17      Crab Taco, Miso Honey, Radishes, Sprouts, Crushed Avocado

The crab taco is on the regular menu and it is wonton shell stuffed full of dungeness crab. My aunt didn't like the raw stuff so she passed them on to me and my sister. Her loss! Our server, Lance was very nice and brought her an extra crab taco just so she wouldn't feel left out. SO NICE.

House smoked Albacore tuna on foam tofu, Avocado, Honey, Spiced Seeds & Nuts

Kusshi Oysters on sea salt, served with lemon

How did they know Kusshi's are my favourite? The oysters were very fresh and so delicious.

Scallop & pork belly

A little bigger appetizer came out after consisting of a scallop and a cube of pork belly on some celery and some kind of slightly sweet sauce. The skin of the pork was crispy and the meat was so tender. It had a lot of fat but it tasted so good. The scallop was done perfectly! This dish was paired with a white wine - Napa Valley Darioush Signature Viognier.

The dishes got better and better. The next plate was LOBSTER! I heard my mom and aunt squeal in delight. (They are super super seafood fans) Lobster claw, potato gnocchi on creme fraiche and lobster bisque. Delicious.

Ok, I must confess, my family aren't big drinkers and have very little alcohol tolerance. lol After the second glass, we were already feeling a little tipsy. The lobster was going to be paired with the Louis Jadot but we decided to just take the rest of the alcohol home instead of drinking it.

My sis and I didn't really want to drink and opted for some non-alcoholic drinks instead. To the left is what my sis had a strawberry, basil lemonade drink and to the right is mine - a ginger, coconut and pineapple soda. K said that the basil was a bit strong but otherwise it was good drink. I liked mine. It tasted a little bit like a pina colada but with a kick from the ginger. Quite refreshing!

This was my favourite dish out of the mains. Seared duck breast, on duck confit and brussel sprouts, sprinkled with black truffle, shaved chilled foie gras, surrounded by a truffle sauce and red wine reduction. It was a work of art and tasted heavenly. The duck was so tender and flavourful, I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Our last main was beef tenderloin and king crab leg with crab sauce, mixed mushrooms, pesto and cherry tomatoes. This dish was only ok. Everyone liked the king crab (did I mention big seafood fans?) but the beef was good but the sauce was a slightly too salty for our taste. Loved the mixed mushrooms though.

Either the duck or the beef was suppose to be paired with Duckhorn Goldeneye Pinot Noir, which we also didn't try.

It's actually five courses PLUS DESSERT! Woohoo!

 Moving from left to right, we started off with cheesecake,

 raspberry sorbet with chocolate crunchies to cleanse the palette,

and finished off with a chocolate ganache. Mmmm.

Dessert needs dessert wine so out comes the Mission Hill SLC Icewine. I will drink icewine. I love how sweet it is. And it was amazing. Very very sweet.

To end off our dinner, our server brought out some chocolates and Ned Bell's breakfast cookies for us to take home! I ate it the next day and it was very filling, delicious and chock full of healthy stuff!

 Here's a pic of all the wines that were paired with our dishes.

As we were leaving, they were also kind enough to give each family a can of YEW's canned wild Pacific Albacore tuna!


Notice that LOVE is one of the ingredients! I'll let you know how it tastes when I get around to eating it.

The dinner was amazing and impressed me a lot. The food was so delicious and the service was impeccable. The servers and kitchen staff went above and beyond what was required of them for this dinner. The Four Seasons even comped the extra dishes that were added when my cousin joined us toward the end of our meal. Of course after tax and tip it still ended up being probably the most expensive meal I've ever had in my life but really when will I ever experience this again? This dinner left a very good impression on me and my family and I'd highly recommend YEW to everyone.

Thank you Four Seasons Hotel, 650am Radio and BC Home + Garden Show for the prize! And thank you to the staff of YEW Restaurant for such a memorable dinner! It was YEWlicious!