Another round of Dine out Vancouver is upon us! This time we went to The Wild Fig! The Wild Fig located near Lougheed mall in Burquitlam.
We made our reservations online but when we got there, they were not aware we made a reservation. We thought this was odd because they should have a more consistent method of tracking reservations.
After a 10 minute wait, we were seated at a booth close to the live band. Unfortunately the music was loud and made it difficult for us to have dinner conversation.
Once we sat down it took about 20 minutes for our server to come over to take down our orders. The Wild Fig was practically full but there were only 2 people working on a Saturday night. I’m not sure how this happened and it really affected the rest of the evening because the service was quite slow.
The Wild Fig Dineout 2020 menu
We decided to get one of each type of appetizer
Vegan rice paper rolls
This was an interesting take on the traditional Vietnamese salad roll. The soy baked tofu added a smokiness to it and the veggies added crunch. We thought it was interesting there was avocado inside since we’ve never seen that before. It also came with spicy peanut sauce on the bottom to dip it in.
Chicken wonton soup
An interesting take on wonton soup. The wontons wrappers were on the thicker side but the filling was quite juicy on the inside. We thought the spaghetti vegetables were a nice way to add more greenery to the dish.
Smoked salmon gravlax
This smoked salmon was definitely worth the long wait. It was smoked well and the saffron-white truffle vinaigrette added sweet notes without being overpowering. Mother deer liked the crispy salmon skin on top the best. I have no idea how it stayed so crispy despite being on top of a pool of sauce.
On to the mains!
Osso Bucco & glazed pork belly
This was an interesting one since Brother deer and Old Bean never had braised veal before. They said that it was very tender and the marrow was still in the bone if you wanted to eat it. The sakura pork belly was the star of the show though because it was super crispy and not very fatty. It was the perfect balanced bite. Mother deer was intrigued by the mashed celery root. It didn’t have the same texture as mashed potatoes but the flavour was quite similar.
Sous vide truffled chicken breast
I’ve had sous vide pork before but have yet to have it in chicken form! This chicken breast was stuffed with something along the lines of cheese and veg? It came with a light sauce we wish there was more of because there wasn’t enough for all the pieces of chicken. The grilled polenta cake was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It wasn’t my favourite thing since I thought it lacked flavour and was too dense, but it was nice to try it out.
Pesto cream pasta with chicken
After two amazing dishes, this one was a bit of a train wreck. The chicken was cooked well and the garlic toast came crispy but the pasta sauce was far too watery. Since the sauce wasn’t very thick, it didn’t coat the noodles very well which made the pasta taste almost flavourless.
The noodles were also oddly thick and not cooked through. They were all very straggly and tough to eat. They were almost like egg noodles but with a firmer texture. We’re not sure if the noodles were just strange or if it was not cooked thoroughly.
Organic pressed dark chocolate hazelnut praline
First thing we thought of was why there weren’t any Macarons on the plate. It said there would be some on the menu and that’s what we were expecting so we were shocked to not see any on the plate.
Mother deer said that the pastries were not too sweet which she enjoyed. The berries added tartness to the sweet and dense dessert. Within one of the layers of the pastry you can find the crispy praline which brought a much needed textural element.
Duo of crème brulee
Again, this was not what we expected when we ordered the dessert. It was more similar to pudding than creme brulee. I mean where’s the crispy top? It did come with chocolate cake which we appreciated since it added another element to the plate. I think they ran out of this dish part way through the night because we saw some tables waiting 45 mins for their desserts so perhaps the execution of this dish wasn’t what it was supposed to be.
If we didn’t know this was a creme brulee dish, we would have loved it because it was super tasty! I loved how the vanilla bean-ginger one actually had ginger flavour in the background! It was soo yummy! The green tea one could have had a bit more flavour to it since it was dull in comparison to the vanilla ginger. The berry compote was lightly sweetened but almost not necessary because the “puddings” were great on their own.
