Bel Cafe

Viv and I are bad parents.  No, we're not letting the kids drive nor have we offered them anything illegal.  Rather, we have failed to teach them any Cantonese despite the fact we are fluent.  Hence, we have resorted to sending them to Chinese school.  Paying someone else solves everything!  Er...  So, with over 2 hours of nothing to do as our kids learn how to order Dim Sum in Chinese (yay!), we decided to get something to eat at Bel Cafe in the Hotel Georgia.

As we weren't overly hungry, we decided to share some items including the Roasted Tomato Soup.  With an immediate and purposeful blast of acidity, the soup was appetizing, delicately thick and not devoid of impact.  Every spoonful yielded hints of basil and the natural sweetness of the roasted tomato. Cute little cheddar gougères accompanied the soup on the side.  Completing the soup & sandwich, we had the House Smoked Turkey with brussel sprout remoulade, cranberry and gruyere.  We liked how the bread was super crunchy and light.  Good thing too as the remoulade was extremely wet and dripped profusely with every bite.  Despite this, the brussel sprouts provided a wonderful crunch to the sandwich while offering up the necessary acidity.  Naturally, the cranberries added sweetness while the gruyere exhibited a creamy nuttiness.  Of note, even with all the ingredients, we could really taste the smoked turkey.

As for some pastries, we started with the Vanilla and Winter Berry Brioche.  This was a little dry, but not incredibly.  I found the fruit to be quite sparse, hence it was really just vanilla-flavoured brioche.  This was a pleasant, if not unremarkable, accompaniment for my green tea.  Next, we ended up sharing the Raspberry Pear Tart since the people beside us ordered the last lemon tart.  I think it worked out quite well because we could hear them complaining it was too sour.  As for our pear tart, we thought it was quite good.  The hard tart shell with chocolate and raspberry encased a slightly dry and semi-sweet frangipane filling.  It was topped with nicely textured slices of pear (not too soft) with a light gelatine glaze.  The flavours were subtle and worked well with each other

Upon leaving, I grabbed some Macarons including dark chocolate, key lime pie, carrot cake, passion fruit and strawberry & lemon.  These passed the test as my daughter loved them (she knows her macarons!).  The exterior were lightly crisp while the inside was soft, possibly needing a bit more chewiness.  I liked how the flavours were unmistakable and purposeful.  What I didn't like was the imperfections in half of the macarons.  2 of which had significant dents which were prior to baking.  Since these were for ourselves, it wasn't a huge deal.  However, if this was a gift for someone else, the imperfections would be unacceptable.

The Good:
- Carefully prepared eats
- Decent macarons

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Not the most comfortable seating