The Brasserie Bistro

Here I go experimenting with Groupons again.  This time, it was another deal that I couldn't pass up, especially with a 20% off coupon to go along with the discounted Groupon deal.  Not to be confused with La Brasserie, The Brasserie Bistro is located in the Coast Hotel on Denman in Downtown Vancouver.  Seemingly lost in a time capsule from the 80's, the décor and vibe of the place screamed out Christopher Cross and something about "Sailin" a la elevator music.  Whatever the case, we gave the place a chance.

I decided to try their Clam Chowder which arrived in a deceivingly deep bowl.  It was indeed creamy, but by appearances alone, it appeared that the milk ingredients had separated from the rest of the broth, hence giving it a cooked egg white look.  There was a decent amount of ingredients including bacon, onion and clams.  Those flavours would dominate the soup which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  Viv opted for the Quinoa Salad which was in need of some acidity as the flavour profile was pretty weak.  However, there was a significant amount of red onion which overwhelmed everything else including the toothsome quinoa.  Despite consisting of mainly fresh and vibrant ingredients, the radicchio was not that great.

For our mains, I went for the Lamb Shank which was covered in what looked like a regular brown gravy.  Whatever it was made of, it ate and tasted like plain ol' gravy.  Too bad really, as a proper silky demi-glace would've been perfect with the large shank.  And about that shank, it was surprisingly prepared on point.  It was succulent and moist while being devoid of any dry or chewy spots whatsoever.  Viv ended up with the Full Rack of Ribs with fries and coleslaw.  I asked if she would share her rack with me...  right in front of the kiddies!  Gasp... Anyways, for a parboiled version of baby back ribs, these were done right with very little meat shrinkage.  Furthermore, they were fall-off-the-bone tender with no dry portions.  We found the BBQ sauce to be lacking though as it didn't have much impact.  The generic fries were fried crispy while the coleslaw was strangely salty.

For the kiddies, my son had his ever interesting Chicken Strips and Fries which were more or less standard.  The chicken was fried crispy where the meat was still tender.  The fries were crispy much like Viv's dish.  As you can see in the picture, my daughters Mac n' Cheese looked more like a soup than anything.  Hence, the noodles were really soft while the sauce was a bit grainy and lacking in sharpness.  She didn't mind it though, so who was I to judge?  Overall, if I had to judge, the food was below average.  Nothing particularly bad, but somehow, it wasn't all that appealing to eat either. In reality, the Brasserie exists as a hotel restaurant (in the Coast) that serves up non-offensive eats which may not impress either.

The Good:
- Decent portions
- Super friendly and attentive service
- Kid-friendly

The Bad:
- Stuck in a time warp...  Modern it isn't
- Nothing inedible, but nothing overly appealing either