Reflect Social Dining + Lounge is part of the Hilton Hotel at Crystal Mall in Burnaby. K and I took our parents here for Dine Out Vancouver. The menu sounded good on paper, but we a little skeptical of the place. We were actually pleasantly surprised!


Complimentary bread basket! Yay!

Brome Lake Duck Confit Baby Frisee, Pickled Radish, Fingerling Potato Salad Pommery Mustard Vinaigrette

I picked the duck confit frisee salad for my appetizer. It came with a crispy piece of duck skin on top. Delicious! The amount of vinaigrette as just right.

Squash Bisque Coconut Kaffir Lime Crème

My dad said the soup was just ok. Very ordinary. He compared it to tomato soup so I don't know how reliable he is. Haha.

Trio of Seafood Paupiette: Tiger Prawn, Ling Cod, Salmon Root Vegetables, Chimichurri Butter

Everyone but me chose the seafood paupiette. They all loved it and sang praises about how the fish was perfectly cook!

Red Deer Elk Osso Bucco with Andouille Sausage Atomic Baby Glazed Carrots, Wilted Kale Cranberry Confiture

I was feeling more adventurous and chose the elk and sausage. I spent the rest of the course trying to explain what an elk was to my parents. Like a deer but bigger! I loved it and it was so filling.

White Chocolate Mango Mousse Cake Medley of Seasonal Pearls

The desserts looked amazing and were delicious too!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Nutella, Raspberry Coulis

APPETIZER

ENTREE

DESSERT

My second Dine Out dinner was with friends at Frankie's Italian Kitchen. Like Cork & Fin, they also offered a two appetizer and entrée menu.


We were given warm bread with dipping olive oil and basalmic vinegar to start. Yay!

Arancini sicilian risotto balls

For the first appetizer, I chose the risotto balls. They were so yummy; crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside. I wished there were more than just two!

Tomato Caprese Salad

The tomato caprese salad looked really good.

Veal Ravioli

I chose the Veal Ravioli for the second appetizer. They were ok.

Saltspring Mussels

Jumbo Shrimp Scampi

Bistecca Pomodoro

I had the beef but some pieces were cut thin so were more like beef jerky. Haha. The taste was there though! Looking back, I should have planned this dinner better and chosen the mussels instead of the veal because it was like double pasta and I was so full, I couldn't finish the spaghetti!

Marsala Chicken

Marsala chicken, not Chicken Masala. hahaha some of us at the table got confused with this. It's an honest mistake! Though it does make sense because chicken masala is Indian, and Frankie's is an Italian restaurant! Marsala is a wine. XD

For $5 more, we could add Frankie's Signature Tiramisu. I skipped this because I was full.

But there is ALWAYS room for dessert. I had the affogato on the regular menu because it's smallish and I was feeling sleepy from the large meal. Yum.

I was pretty satisfied with this round of Dine Out! Had a nice evening with friends and had all sort of weird discussions. hahah. fun!

My first Dine Out this year was at Cork & Fin in Gastown. This was a place that I had meant to visit in past years but never worked out. This year, I finally went with some coworker friends.

I love the rustic brick interior! We got seated upstairs in the corner where there was the least amount of light so the pictures aren't really good plus I was using my phone camera hahah.

Cork & Fin doesn't have the normal three course menu that other restaurants offer - it is a three savory course dinner; instead of dessert, we get two appetizers!

I started with the Lobster Bisque. It was pretty good - a bit on the salty side but had good flavour.

Photo by Bruce

The boys went with the oysters. They opted for the full dozen so that we could share. I'd get 6, and they each get 9. Worked out as our other friend Michelle, doesn't like them. I stole (with permission) Bruce's pretty photo of the oysters to post here heheh.

For the second appetizer, the majority of us chose the octopus & chorizo. I liked it, especially the octopus.

Bryan chose the smoked ricotta croquetter but was not impressed - it was pretty bland tasting.


For the main course, I was the odd man out this time - I had the wild mushroom cavatelli while everyone had the arctic char. I was told the char was good. Looking back I probably should have ordered that too. The cavatelli looked pretty but didn't have nearly enough wild mushroom in it - there were maybe only two tiny pieces of mushroom...so disappointing.

Overall, the dinner was underwhelming. The dishes were a mixture of hit and misses.  =/