Italian Kitchen by Glowbal Group Fall Menu

There's no little old Italian lady in the back of this restaurant!

It's not that grandma's recipes aren't delicious and comforting, but they have a time and place and a trendy dinner on Alberni Street is neither of those things.  The stylish setting starts right from when you walk in the double glass doors and the hostess offers to take your coat.

The dim lighting is modern and a creates a romantic balance amongst the greys and metallics found in the remaining decor.  It's the perfect setting for an intimate date or birthday dinner with a group of friends.

Travel upstairs and you're transported to a slightly brighter setting with red walls and a central bar.  Great for business meetings or dinner with the folks.

Our meal started early on a Wednesday night to accommodate my newly adopted older lifestyle.  We sat near the floor to ceiling windows on the second floor where we could view neighbouring restaurants and the now famous Alberni Street and it's must see clientele.

First things first, you don't go for Italian food and get out of there without having a bomb ass red wine, which is exactly where we started.  We shared more than a few glasses of the Campofiorin (the 50 year celebration bottle) as recommended by our lovely waitress.   I've been a red wino for a while now and it's always nice to find a good bottle, with a fresh palette, and a fair price tag to boot!

Our first course was a delicious arancini with a spicy sauce.  The amuse bouche was amousing.  If you aren't interested in puns I'll do my best to keep them to a minimum but can't make any promises.

 

Amuse Bouche - Deep Fried Risotto Ball

Masi Campofiorin

Round 2 of 4 was carpaccio.   The complexity of flavours created a depth you don't anticipate from/thinly shaved beef.  In my view the unique aspect of this dish was escalated with the crispy polenta,  pickled onions, and Dijon sauce that accompanied some more standard elements of a good carpaccio.  The true star of this dish was its ingenuity, too often carpaccio is served with day old crostini's which leaves a desire for creativity at the beginning of your evening.  Polenta with carpaccio!  It doesn't matter how fleet your resident Italian grandmother is, the only way she's serving your carpaccio with crispy fried Polenta is if the polenta's taking up space in her fridge.

 

Beef Carpaccio

Round 3.  We shared two mains the Wild Salmon and a Truffled Spaghetti & Signature Meatballs.  Did I mention the truffles?  Not just truffle oil, but real, fresh shaved truffles!!!  Topped of course with fresh shaved parmesan.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had your waitress ask you to "say when" while referring to fresh Parmesan?  On this occasion we definitely pushed the limit!  Cheese like snow on top of our perfectly cooked pasta.  Typically meatballs aren't my go to but these had such flavour and played perfectly with the marinara that I would definitely order it again.

I don't want to leave the salmon as second place because it deserves better than that.  Served with crispy skin and accompanied by golden beats, grilled onions, and olives with a agrodolce (Italian sweet and sour) sauce. The salmon skin was perfectly executed and not oily, the onions were sweet and tasteful but not overbearing.   You wouldn't think by glancing at the menu that this would be a full entree but it holds true.  The portion of fish was sizeable and at the end of the shared two entrees we were full (even took some to go).

 

Truffle Spaghetti & Signature Meatballs | truffle cream, herbed ricotta

Wild Salmon | grilled onions, olives, golden beet, agrodolce, salmon caviar

Dessert!  Even on a bad day dessert has an opportunity to steal the show.  Perhaps it's just the kid in us knowing that we shouldn't indulge but that no one can stop us.  I'm happy no one stopped us this night and even happier that we didn't pick the dessert ourselves.  Selected for us by Freddie the restaurant manager was the Zeppole - homemade chocolate ganache filled "mini" doughnuts.  The not so miniature doughnuts were a delight to all of our senses.  They looked and smelt so good the table next to us ordered theirs before we even tasted ours.  The taste and fun of cutting open a powdered doughnut filled with rich chocolate ganache was far better than any cheesecake in town...I'm willing to run the comparison.

 

Zeppole al Cioccolato | italian style doughnuts, chocolate gianduja, vanilla crème anglaise

Whether you're looking for a dinner, business lunch, or a fun night our with friends Italian Kitchen has got you covered.  It's upscale dining in a price range that means you can celebrate life's little moments and still afford to pay rent.  I recommend a reservation and if you're going with a big group inquire about the platters.  If you decide to follow my recommendations and order the Zeppole for dessert make sure you get an extra seat because I may just show up to share it!
 

Words: Amanda Scott
Photos: Jenn Chan

Trattoria Kitchen by Glowbal Group Fall Menu

Have you ever been to a restaurant that had a great general manager? Adam Jeal at Trattoria is a gentleman and clearly passionate about hospitality. Young, vibrant and an obvious floor leader as smiling staff whirred around him serving equally smiling patrons discreetly loosening their belts under the table. We were greeted and sat at an initiate table by a window near the heated patio which was still bustling at night in late September.

In Italy a Trattoria is an eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. In Kitsilano, the beautiful West 4th to be exact, Trattoria is Vancouverite for upscale Italian dining lounge. Dark and sultry with red shimmering candles centring each table and backlight wine displays lining the walls. Romantic for a Valentine's Day celebration, which we've done, or casual for a couple drinks after work.

We started our culinary experience with a couple drinks because, you know, palate cleansing and all that. I went with the Fig Fashion, a take on the Old Fashion featuring the ancient Egyptian delight; the fig. Maker's Mark Bourbon, fig syrup and angostura bitters. This drink is very tart and may surprise the average patron in its composition. This is not your grandpa's Old Fashioned! I definitely appreciated the extra dilution once the ice started to melt a bit, but a very imaginative cocktails that hits its mark! The Italian Mule varies from its Russian cousin by way of grapefruit bitters which gives it an Aperol-esque Italian tinge. Stoli vodka, lime, the aforementioned grapefruit bitters, simple syrup and ginger beer. Extremely refreshing!

Italian Mule

Adam "the Real Deal" Jeal recommended for us the Feature Platter for 2 which Trattoria basically donates to its customers at $60!

• Veal or Chicken or Eggplant entree
• Classic pasta
• 4 Jumbo tiger prawns
• Brussels sprouts and potatoes
• Bottle of House red or white from 49th Parallel

For our entrée we went with the Veal Parmigiana;

breaded and topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Let me preface those meal, as I'd be remiss if I didn't, by saying I am uncomfortable at the notion of killing baby anything: humans, dogs, dreams or cows. I'm sure I'm not the only one? I also hate the thought of full grown cows, shackled on conveyor belts, meeting their end by sledgehammer to the skull yet I devour the rarest of steaks viciously, primally, as though I landed the death blow myself. It's a tough tightrope to walk being a carnivore yet objecting to shark fin soup, for example, or the age at which age it's acceptable to harvest the subservient bovine's flesh. With that in mind I dove into the veal, perhaps only my second venture into the infant meat, though my mind balked at being asked to recall, and I enjoyed it. The Parmesan and tomato sauce bath it received gives it a distinctively Italian flavour, the meat was tender and tangy and it is quite delicious.

The Jumbo Tiger Prawns were plump and perfectly cooked. And we were still munching when our Short Rib Pappardella arrived looking all sexy. Braised short ribs, pine nuts, wild mushrooms in café au lait. Best. Pappardella. Of my semi-young life! Tender and beautifully seasoned short ribs swimming in a creamy, coffee sauce with fresh mushrooms and pine nuts. It would take a very cynical man, half a shell of one really, to find fault with this dish!

Because, in hindsight, he was trying to kill us by stuffing us until we ballooned into a giant blueberry, à la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Adam also suggested we also try the Risotto of the Day; Truffle Mushroom. Trust me when I tell you the platter is more than enough! The risotto was perfectly cooked, not too al dente and not too mushy; the perfect firmness! If you're a fan of the blog you know that I don't adore truffle now do I swoon for fungi, but this dish turned my head. Cheesy, creamy and rich and without the truffle overpowering it as it so often does. Well balanced, fresh and flavourful. If you read these words and decide to go and are disappointed I will eat my hat!

Truffle Mushroom Risotto

Feature Platter for 2 - $60

Short Rib Papparadelle

For dessert we had the Crème brûlée. I was once served crème brûlée, at a fairly upscale restaurant, that was little more than pudding, perhaps store bought, that had been blow torched on top to form a crust. The "crust" of this signature dish whose name literally translates to 'burnt creme', mooshed away as wedove our spoons in her. We were left with a dessert Bill Cosby might like, not because it was passed out, but because it was essentially a bowl of $2 Jello pudding. This ain't that! A hard crust that resisted my initial attempt to pierce its golden skin as though it was John Snow protecting the Wall. 'Thud' as my spoon feebly slid along the top like an ice fisherman failing to break all the way through to the water. When I finally penetrated its protective coating the light, smooth, lemony creme enveloped my mouth with a velvety brûlée decadence almost unrivalled outside of France. You need this dessert on your life, trust me! I'll often have a nice port or sweeter cocktail with my desert and we went with the Shaken Espresso which starts with Stoli vodka and Kahlua and adds in a beautiful espresso brown simple syrup. Don't let the martini glass or the name sway you this is an easy sipping cocktail that is both at home as an accompaniment to a dessert as it would be at a ski chalet!

Trattoria is a fantastic restaurant and the Glowbal Group is the best restaurant conglomerate in Vancouver. Period. They do casual seafood in the Fish Shack as well as they do mind blowing seafood at Coast. Glowbal Grill and its jaw dropping architecture, decor and ambience is the one of best restaurants in Vancouver and Black & Blue is right there with it. Give them a quick Google. There are happy hours and lunch specials and seasonal promotions to tempt even the most frugal diner and Adam's GM service is not the exception he is the rule. Franklin at the Glowbal Grill can make you feel like royalty, Mikey Moore at Black & Blue and Frenchy and crew at Coast delighting restaurant goers. Do yourself a favour and splurge! No one is promised tomorrow.

Words: Scott Allan
Photos: Jenn Chan

Dine Out Vancouver 2017: Trattoria Kitsilano

Trattoria Kitsilano

Trattoria Italian Kitchen is a  beautiful restaurant in a shotgun layout with warm tones and vibrant colours. What sets it apart from the other Italian restaurants along the bustling W. 4th strip is service; Glowbal Group does it right! Fiona, our gracious server, has been at Trattoria for a year and a bit which is an eternity for anyone in the service industry and indicative of the environment that GM Adam "Real Deal" Jeal has created. I'm predicting they're going to be very busy during Dine Out 2017!

Dine Out & Cocktail Menu

At Adam's suggestion we started our evening with a couple of cocktails: a Canadian 75, a take on the French 75 and made with an in-house vanilla infused vodka and an Italian Greyhound, gin and aperol orange Aranciata goodness. Just as the ice was mellowing the kick of our cocktails the Farro soup arrived. The broth is light, devoid of a heavy oily top layer as some can generate, and the mussels, oh the mussels; mouthgasm. I don't generally prefer mushrooms, kind wording, but I ate every different variety. 

Italian Greyhound + Canadian 75

The fresh burrata and crisp prosciutto dish is a bed of various brightly coloured baby tomatoes with fresh burrata. I don't eat tomatoes, love ketchup, but the smooshiness and general texture of tomatoes throws me. If you ate a tomato like an apple in front of me I would both vomit and possibly strike you to make it stop. No telling which would precede which. Enough burrata, the gooier, sweeter cousin to mozzarella, and anything starts to taste good. I tried a couple and it was pretty good, Jenn raved so I'll assume it, as with most things Glowbal Group, is top notch!

Farro Soup, Fresh Burrata * Crisp Prosciutto with wine pairings

Farro Soup - Wild Forest Mushrooms, Mussels, Porcini Brood

Fresh Burrata & Crisp Prosciutto - Roasted Baby Tomatoes & Basil Insalata

Seated beside us was a very nice couple out for dinner at Trattoria all the way from Abbotsford. The gentleman had suffered from congestive heart failure and celebrated receiving a clean bill of health a year later at UBC. They're going to be reaching out to us after they read this article, Adam, and I told them you'd do your best to get them their lucky table #7!

Fiona came rounding around the corner just as the last of the tomatoes vanished and she was holding what turned out to be an incredible culinary experience. All 3 of the main entrées on offer for Dine Out 2017. Veal scallopini, bresaola with fontina cheese. Peppery, spicy, sausage-y good. Paired with the Prospect Major Allan Merlot. Taking a bite of veal with the bresaola is heaven. Laid delicately beside it was the pan seared salmon. Oh how incredibly crisp and delicious the skin on the salmon was. The fish itself seated, perfectly, was fresh and flavourful. The gnocchi was the best I'd ever had. Why isn't this served with everything? Seriously! Who doesn't like it? Pappardelle is a fun word to say, but it's a funner pasta to eat. Layer in some braised beef cheek that has been braised for FOUR HOURS and you have yourself a sublime dish which was complimented nicely by some very tasty kale.

Veal Scallopini, Pan Seared Salmon, Braised Beef Cheek Pappardelle with Wine Pairings

Veal Scallopini - Bresaola, fontina cheese, white wine butter sauce, brussels sprouts, roasted potatoes

Pan Seared Salmon - fried potato gnocchi, grilled zucchini, roasted garlic aglio e olio

Braised Beef Cheek Pappardelle - braised kale, pear & apple mostarda

Tiramisu is coffee-flavoured Italian custard. It's usually made with ladyfingers dipped in coffee and layered with mascarpone cheese.

As full as I was it's my duty to try these foods so that I can write about it. So incredibly flaky and sweetened to the perfect point and the coffee wasn't overpowering, a near perfect 10! With our dessert we indulged in a limoncello and peach mojito and JC tried the red sangria. A perfect parallel to our experience at Trattoria: visually stunning, served with a smile and thoughtfully constructed.

Traditional Tiramisu + Prespect Admiral Shorts Tawny

Traditional Tiramisu - mascarpone mousse, espresso soaked lady fingers, mocha crème anglaise

Words: Scott Allan
Photos: Jenn Chan

Top Patios in Vancouver Series: Glowbal

This was the best meal of my young life! We at Jenn Chan Photography are extremely proud of our relationship with the Glowbal Group. It's hard to go wrong regardless of which restaurant in the Glowbal chain you try: Italian Kitchen, Coast, Black & Blue, Glowbal Grill, etc... Exceptional service is preached on the first day they train new staff, Jenn is a former Coast server so we have some insider knowledge, and reiterated throughout an employee's tenure. And it shows! 

Being that we were cordially invited to dine at the Glowbal Grill on this evening we weren't surprised to be whisked past the lineup upon sight, greeted warmly by the general manager, a delightfully gracious gentleman name Kyle Johnstone, and showed to one of their loveliest patio tables. What might surprise some, however, is that this is the default Glowbal setting. The GM made the rounds the entire night, chatted with customers, put out fires and just generally controlled the flow of the patio like an orchestra conductor.

Seemingly seconds after we were seated we were presented with an amazing amuse bouche courtesy of the chef. You don't need to have 20,000+ followers on Instagram or blog posts that are seen by more than 70,000 eyes, you only need to go to Glowbal Grill. Everyone is treated like a celebrity and let me tell you that the mushroom arancini with truffle oil we were gifted did nothing to dispel that celebrity feeling! I'm not a big mushroom fan, but I could have eaten 50 of these, but then we wouldn't have had room for the rest of our meal which, in case you've forgotten the first sentence of this article, was the best of my life!

If you're fans of our blog, and we're eternally grateful if you are and humbled by the number of you, you know we always, always test a restaurant's Caesar. Glowbal's aptly named Pacific Caesar is as high end as Caesars get and scored a near perfect 9/10 on the JCP Caesar Meter! JC ordered the red sangria and called it delicious and drank it like a race horse at the water trough after the Kentucky Derby so, even though I can't attest to it because I didn't get a chance to try any, I am going to go out on a limb and say it was exceptional!

Mushroom Arancini with Truffle Oil

Now here is where things got very interesting, very quickly. While scanning the menu we happened upon some Siberian Caviar and when we asked our server what she thought of it her knees got weak and she almost keeled over! Oh Nathalia! Some people are just plain good at everything they attempt and I have a sneaking suspicion our server on that night is one of those. An extraordinary waitress; kind, warm, helpful and genuine! The tin of delicious Sturgeon roe arrived accompanied by red onions, chives, egg white, egg yolks and bakery fresh Latkas. We paired it, at Kyle's recommendation, with the 2014 Domaine la Gemière Sancerre. Now I consider myself an eloquent writer, I have the best words to steal a line from Donald Trump, but it's tough to articulate the flavour of caviar melting in your mouth after a swallow of this delicious Sancerre. I lament my inadequacy, but at least it will give you further reason to visit the Glowbal Grill.

Siberian Caviar - with Red Onions, chives, Latka, Egg White, Egg Yolk, Sour Cream

Still reeling from the foodgasm that is caviar paired with a nice white wine our second courses arrived: a sashimi trio consisting of halibut, ahi tuna and wild salmon and an order of ahi tuna poké with mango/ coconut chips. I eat a lot of sashimi, like a lot. I'm currently on a bit of a health kick and protein is king. You can get a $10 sashimi dish at a quaint, smaller Japanese restaurant and be perfectly content, but when you get sashimi from a restaurant who prides themselves, defines themselves by quality it is a whole different animal! Literally. Wild salmon, ocean fresh halibut and the kind of ahi tuna someone had to get up very early to buy at the docks.

Sashimi Trio & Ahi Tuna Poke

Sashimi Trio - Halibut with yuzu kosho & ponzu, Ahi Tuna with sesame miso, Wild Salmon with jalapeño gochujang vinaigrette

Ahi Tuna Poke, with Mango & Coconut with Chips

Jenn has a horrible habit of ordering miso sablefish whenever and wherever she finds it. Maybe horrible is a stiff assertion, but compulsive behaviour, wherever it rears its head, should be avoided imho. The fish, however, was exquisite, the shiitake mushroom consommé and soba noodle salad extremely lovingly constructed and it quickly disappeared. I was lucky enough to grab a couple bites in between the blur that was Jenn's wizard-like mastery of knife and fork and can attest to the quality. In and of itself worth a visit.

Miso Marinated Sablefish - Shiitake Mushroom Consomme, Soba Noodle Salad

Now let's get serious for a second. Not as serious as cancer, but as serious as an avid carnivore meeting what he didn't even know was his favourite thing in the world. Enter my raw cut of Wagyu beef paraded to the table in all of its marbled goodness. I've had Wagyu before, many times, but I have never had such an incredibly tender, deliciously fat marbled cut as this. Hands down the best steak of my life! The best! Served a perfect medium rare, first box ticked, and so tender, so tender, that I could have cut it with a stern look. It sat on a bed of decadent, fluffy mashed potatoes and crisp, fresh broccoli. The steak was a perfect 10/10, the mashed potatoes were a handcrafted miracle of carbohydrates and, I'm told, the broccoli was excellent!

Japanese Wagyu

8 oz Japanese Wagyu New York Strip

Even hardly able to walk to excuse myself to the restroom I did not have the mental fortitude to deny an offer of freshly baked apple pie. I mean who does? Gandhi maybe, but that's it! Light, flaky puff pastry with caramelized apples served with delicious rum raisin ice cream. Hard to follow the best steak of my life, but an extremely valiant attempt and I would even go so far as to acquiesce to the fact that you could probably make a trip to Glowbal for the pie alone.

Apple Pie - puff pastry, caramelized apples, rum & rasin ice cream (baked fresh daily)

Have you been to downtown Vancouver? It's the largest city in North America without freeway access which means there are only a few ways in and out of the downtown core. One of them, that you will undoubtedly take before you die, leads you right past the Glowbal Grill at the bottom of the newly opened 1,000,000 square foot Telus Garden development that boasts the length of an entire city block. The unique birdcage booths on the patio will catch your eye, but not more so than the 220 foot long arched canopy that boasts an LED light show at night. It is truly an engineering marvel and hard to miss. If you do miss it look for me. I'll be there.

Glowbal

Words: Scott Allan
Photos: Jenn Chan

Spot Prawn Series: Coast by Glowbal Group

Alberni Street, between Burrard and Bute, used to be known as Lil Ginza owing to the upscale, and one time predominantly Japanese, shops and restaurants. Tourists from Europe and Asia still flock to Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton and Versace for low priced designer goods (relative to prices in Tokyo anyway).

Though no longer Japan-centric it is still a bastion for upscale shops, such as the handful I mentioned, and incredible, world class restaurants. Glowbal Group leads the charge in that department. They own and operate 3 restaurants on Alberni a stone's throw from each other: Coast, Black & Blue and the Italian Kitchen. We were fortunate enough to enjoy a wonderful dinner at Coast one sunny June eve. 

$4,800,000. That is what it cost to open Coast. $4.8 million dollars. Cash. Money. Where did all that money go? Take a visit, you'll know within 2 feet of the door; the space is modern, opulent and tasteful! We were seated on the patio, which coincidentally is about 100 feet from the front door to our condo, and greeted by Mr. Michael Moore, a part owner of the Glowbal Group and our official host for the evening. He was gracious enough to stop for a chat and give us the scoop on Coast. He could not have been more accommodating and pleasant and I have since plugged him into all my social media and consider him a friend. He stopped in on us several more times, in between brisk jogs between Coast and Black & Blue presumably to put out fires, metaphorically of course, and his warmth was genuine and his passion for his guests palpable. There's no better feeling as a customer than to feel respected and valued by a business' management. Or is there? 
 

Shortly after Mr. Moore left to perform some managerial duties he assured us we would be well taken care of by our waiter. He did not, however, mention that Executive Chef Mark Greenfield, a culinary ninja, would be at our table a few minutes later to let us know we needn't labour over our menus and that the feast he had planned for us wasn't on it anyway... A better feeling than an attentive management team? Yup!

Coast Decked Caesar

Our first courses, well after a couple of Coast Decked Caesars which are near perfect 9/10's on the Caesar meter, were a sublime Spot Prawn and Ahi Tuna Ceviche and equally tasty Grilled Spot Prawn and King Crab. Ahhh the Spot Prawn. If you follow our food blog here on JennChanPhotography.com you know we have been indulging in the odd Spot Prawn, but I was not prepared, no even close to prepared, for the combination of Spot Prawns and Ahi Tuna. 

Spots Prawns are incredible, Ahi Tuna is marvellous and cooking things with fruit is nothing short of magical. Can someone even give me an explanation about how cooking in the ceviche style works without mentioning magic? I humbly doubt it. This was hands down the best ceviche I had ever had. The ingredients were so fresh I thought I saw a leg move at one point. And it did. It moved in a blur towards the lovely Jenn Chan's mouth. There was no stopping it. Does anyone not like crab? Do you know anyone? I can't think of a single person in my life who doesn't and I just spent 4-5 minutes pondering in hopes of ridiculing them in this forum, but to no avail. And when you're the king of anything that probably means you're really good, right? Or at least that your family stole power somehow generations ago, but that's probably a column for a different publication. King Crab is aptly named. It was delicious and served with a delicious dish of melted butter. You can tell that he met his end mere minutes prior to being presented to us; fresh, fluffy and flavourful! The grilled Spot Prawns were equally as fresh and they compliment each other brilliantly. The ceviche was paired, at our server's recommendation, with a lovely Riesling from Quail's Gate Winery in the gorgeous Okanagan Valley of BC and the King Crab a lovely Chardonnay from the Kendal Jackson Winery in California. We could have left then and still given Coast a glowing review, but we were only getting warmed up!

Spot Prawn & Ahi Tuna Cerviché

Chef Mark popped out to see how we enjoyed our first course and was genuinely appreciative of the adulation we bestowed on him. He is a savvy chef, but also a humble and remarkably nice man. His new wife, herself a manager at Coast, couldn't help but overhear our praise and beamed with pride at her husband. It was a magical moment and speaks to the team Coast has built and its laid back, family-like working environment. 

Grilled Spot Prawns & King Crab

Our main course was a Spot Prawn sashimi platter with beautiful Ahi Tuna, Salmon and Sablefish. It isn't hard to see why Coast regularity wins "Beat Seafood in Vancouver" or some other such award from some publication or another EVERY year. Seriously. Google it. It was paired masterfully with a Sauvignon Blanc from Duckhorn Vineyards in the Napa Valley of California. This wine immediately shot to the top of my list of favourite  Sauvignon Blancs, it is a must-drink! After our sashimi had been consumed the waiter whisked away with the Spot Prawn heads and returned with them deep fried in a nice, light tempura batter. I generally disregard the head, but it was so incredibly crispy and delicious we devoured the whole thing!

Spot Prawn Sashimi Platter

Deep Fried Prawn Heads

We were given no inkling what our dessert was to be so we sipped a lovely Port from the Burrowing Owl Winery in eager anticipation. It arrived with a flair and soon dessert was also a show! A lovely platter with Coast's famous Melting Chocolate Sphere and the equally decadent Coconut Banana Butter Cake. As they pour the molten caramel over the chocolate sphere science happens and it begins to melt and the flavours mingle and cascade down onto the lush vanilla ice cream inside. Close your eyes and visualise that for a moment. All I ask is that you please finish reading this before you go because I know you're going. I know it. Not generally a fan of coconut, but knowing Chef Mark doesn't make bad food I dove into the butter cake. Simply amazing! 

Dessert Platter: Melting Chocolate Sphere & Coconut Banana Butter Cake

As our dishes were cleared we both agreed this was one of the best meals we had, had in 2016 and wracked our brains and could not come up with too many that rivalled it in our lives. Coast, while not the flagship Glowbal restaurant, is still a jewel, a bright, shiny jewel, in its crown. Go for the seafood, go for the service, go for the wine, but just go! You'll thank me!

Words: Scott Allan
Photos: Jenn Chan