Brioche

Last time when Whipping Girl and I went for lunch at the Greedy Pig, we had actually considered picking up some items from Brioche as we walked by. In fact, we even went in with the intention of doing so. However, common sense prevailed and we decided to not eat anymore. What? Not eat more food? What is wrong with me? Well, we just had shared 3 sandwiches a soup at the Greedy Pig... I know, maybe I'm off my game or something. Stop eating, how crazy is that??? Well, we were determined to return someday, especially considering it is one of Whipping Girl's regular lunch time options. So on a rainy Vancouver day (wait, isn't that any day?), we headed over there for some grub.

Luckily we were early because the places gets packed quickly. Being a small restaurant, that would also mean a lack of seating too (there is a secret dining area in the back though). This is further complicated by the fact one orders from the counter first and then has to look for a table. As we ate our lunch, there were many who left not wanting to wait for a seat. For some odd reason, we both ended up with vegetarian items. What? First, we had stopped eating last time after the Greedy Pig and now we abstained from meat? What has the world come to??? What's next? The Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup? Wait, that's going a bit too far. So back to the food. Whipping Girl started with a Salad consisting of mesclun greens, cucumber, tomato and feta. Now for me, a salad is usually a salad unless there is some interesting ingredient. Well, the ingredients were fresh and typical, but the dressing was very tasty. It was like an Italian dressing but not. There was a good combination of spices and acidity which even made me like it.

For her main, she had the Spinach, Feta, Mushroom and Mozzarella Pizza. It's pretty obvious from the picture that there was a good amount of cheese on top which in turn made the pizza quite tasty (in addition to the other toppings and zesty tomato sauce). The crust was a bit different as it resembled soft focaccia bread. For myself, I decided to start with one of their featured soups being the Crab & Shrimp Bisque. This was not as rich and creamy as I would've liked. In fact, it was tart and in a way, like a creamy tomato soup. The shellfish aroma and essence was very slight, overwhelmed by the acidity. I did enjoy the fact it was not salty though (which some bisques can be).

As aforementioned, I had a vegetarian dish being the Eggplant Parmigiana. Although the portion size seemed rather small, it was rich and filling. The eggplant was nicely textured where it retained some integrity despite being soft. There was just enough tart tomato sauce where it didn't become a soggy mess, however, the whole thing was quite salty. By virtue of using Parmesan, that would be a given, but this was a bit too much. To counteract the sodium, we got 2 desserts to go (because there was a burgeoning lineup). The Tiramisu was not really sweet nor was there a tonne of distinguishing flavours. With that being said, I didn't mind it either. The mildness suited me just fine as with slightly stiffer texture. The second dessert was the Pear Torte which was laced with big slices of tender aromatic pear. Only semi-sweet and quite dense, this was a pretty heavy dessert. Strangely, even though there was nothing that appealing about it, I kept picking at it and eventually finished it.

While I though the food from Brioche was pretty decent, it left me somewhat confused. More than a few people have raved about the place, yet my experience was pretty average, if not slightly above average. Maybe I need a larger sample size to more adequately make up my mind about the place. I'm game for a revisit and maybe I'll try a few more items just for good measure. I'm sure Whipping Girl will be more than happy to join me.

The Good:
- Food is decent
- Service is friendly
- Nice vibe

The Bad:
- Lack of seating (although there is another dining area in the back)
- Not sure if I had high expectations, but I was expecting more?