There we were, Miss Y and I, all ready to use our coupon for Yo Ramen. As we approached the door, someone flipped the sign from "open" to "closed". He looked at us, we looked at him, nope, we weren't eating there apparently. With money already in the meter, we had to go to plan B. Wait, there was no plan B... We ended up wandering up the street and decided on Bin 941. Hey, an impromptu revisit! Heck, I haven't been back to the place in 5 years.
They started us off with complimentary bowls of Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. It was smooth and creamy with a low salt content. The flavours came predominantly from the ample amount of ginger and sprinkle of coconut on top. Hence, it was fragrant and natural tasting. Next, we had the Brussel Sprouts with orange chile glaze and toasted hazelnuts. This was a veritable flavour explosion where the sticky glaze was really tart in an almost balsamic manner. However, there was a certain sweetness that brought it closer to being balance. The noticeable spiciness created harmony with the firm sprouts.
Next, we had the large mound of Pomme Frites with sea salt, telicherry black peppercorn balsamic drizzle. I've had this dish before and for some reason or another, it was not really all that crispy nor hot. Rather, it was only warm featuring limp frites. We did like the drizzle though as it had plenty of zip with both sweetness and pepperiness. The East West Crab Cakes with burnt orange chipotle sauce, cucumber salsa, sesame bak choy and tobiko was executed on point. The thick cakes were filled with fluffy crab that remained moist even after the cooking process. Crunchy all around, the exterior was a nice contrast to the soft crab. With familiar flavours to some of the previous dishes, the zip and spice from the sauce complimented the crab cakes nicely.
Another solid offering was the Beef Tenderloin Wellington with roasted garlic mash, grainy mustard and Marsala demi. Although a bit rare-looking, the beef was expertly prepared as it was melt-in-our mouths tender. We liked the phyllo packaging, but it easily slid off (to be eaten separately from the meat). The rich Marsala demi was another flavour explosion as it had a sweet wine essence. We finished off the meal with the baked-to-order Belgium Chocolate Torte with cognac sundried cherries, chocolate truffle centre and caramel cafe latte sauce. This "souffle-like" dessert was pure decadence. The dark chocolate had a lightly sweet rich bitterness which was bolstered by the sweet sauce. Little nuggets of boozy cherries added an extra layer of tartness. We really enjoyed our meal at Bin 941, yet due to our choices, many of the flavours were similar. I still don't really think the food can be seen as tapas (maybe for 2 people only), but it is solid nonetheless.
The Good:
- Well-prepared eats
- No weak flavours here
- Welcoming service
The Bad:
- Pricey
- Similiar flavours (at least with what we ordered)
- Ultra cozy (c/b good if you like that)
Bin 941 Tapas Parlour
Posted by
Sherman Chan
on Thursday, April 3, 2014
Labels:
Downtown Vancouver,
Late Night,
Tapas,
Westcoast
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