Broli Kitchen

At first glance, Broli Kitchen appears to be another restaurant in a strip mall in Richmond.  However, there is more than meets the eye here (and I'm not talking about Transformers either...).  The cuisine is a mix of traditional French, Italian and West Coast fused with Asian influences.  Now before you begin to prejudge this place, consider the head chef is a Red Seal certified.  Chef Zhuang Li has been the sous-chef at the Downtown Sheraton Wall Centre for 10 years and another 5 years of experience in French cuisine.  Pretty unexpected at a little non-decript bistro.  Jackie, Jacqueline, Andrew and myself were invited to try out some of their newest and most popular items from their menu.

We began with a pair of soups in the Lobster Bisque and the Wild Mushroom Soup.  These looked legit and were exactly what we expected.  The bisque was creamy and rich with a balanced amount of lobster aroma.  It was lightly sweet and properly seasoned.  Some herb oil on the top finished off the soup.  As for the wild mushroom, it was also creamy and full-flavoured with the woodsiness of the mushrooms.  With some truffle oil added to the mix, it was aromatic and even more earthy.

Next, we had the Pan-Seared Scallops with pea puree and crispy prosciutto.  This was a well-prepared dish where the scallops were beautifully seared while the middle was slightly rare.  Hence, the texture was on point being buttery soft.  The scallop itself was properly seasoned while exhibiting a natural sweetness.  On top, the crispy prosciutto added crunch and saltiness.  Silky smooth and sweet, the pea puree helped bring the saltiness down a notch.

Our last appie was the Truffle Mushroom Risotto Ball (aka Arancini) with a onion tomato sauce. This was a huge portion of 6 large risotto balls that were somewhat crispy.  This is because the onion tomato sauce was drizzled atop all of the risotto balls, resulting in them become soft and a bit crumbly.  The aborio rice seemed to be fairly al dente, but with all the sauce, it was hard to tell.  Loved the sauce as it was sweet and tangy.  Maybe they should either put it on the side or plate the balls atop the sauce on the plate.

Maybe the most interesting and delicious thing we had was the Durian Pizza.  Yah, this could be pretty polarizing due to the main ingredient.  Durian is extremely pungent and isn't for everyone.  However, in my opinion, they did a good job with incorporating it onto a pizza.  They used a cream cheese base and combined with the sweet durian and mozzarella, this became reminiscent of a Chinese custard bun, except on a pizza.  So this almost ate like a dessert and that was a good thing as the durian was definitely there, but not in a way that was overwhelming.  All of the components sat atop a pizza crust that was somewhat similar to Domino's (which is a good thing as well).

Onto the bigger dishes, we had the Confit Duck Leg with rice, veggies and duck sauce.  The duck leg meat fell apart easily and was rather tender.  It was on the saltier side, but did go well with the rice.  With the addition of some Asian spices, the duck had a different flavour than a regular duck confit.  Nice twist on this dish to make it unique.  There was a bevy of perfectly-cooked asparagus, broccolini, carrots and zucchini.  They were vibrant and still had texture.

Classic in its preparation, the Roasted Rack of Lamb was perfectly medium-rare.  It was crusted with dijon herb bread crumbs and served with Lyonnaise potatoes, veggies and lamb jus.  I was pretty impressed with the lamb as it was slow-roasted which resulted in succulent meat.  It was well-seasoned and the jus was meaty enough without being salty.  Veggies were great like the previous dish while the potatoes were tender with buttery onions.  I would've liked it to be a bit more buttery though.

One of the most surprising dishes was the Bolognese Strozzapreti.  It was super legit and could be served at an Italian restaurant.  The rich bolognese featured a mix of veal, beef and pork that was super tender.  There was a nice balance of tomato and creaminess that made this lightly sweet, aromatic and full of umaminess.   The choice of pasta was also key to making this a good dish as it captured bits of meat and sauce.  It was also al dente, yet not in an overly firm manner.

We had two of their fish dishes staring with the Ginger Miso Glazed Salmon.  Presented as a fairly large piece of salmon, this was a good portion of food.  Although the salmon was a bit over, it was still moist and not dry at all.  I found the salmon to be mildly-seasoned with some ginger flavour and miso saltiness.  Underneath, the miso cream sauce was really good with depth and a balanced flavour.  It was a nice compliment to the fish and also added extra moisture.

The other fish dish was the Pan-Seared Ling Cod with potato, seasonal veg and tomato pepper sauce.  This was another large portion that was also prepared properly.  The fish had a slightly crispy sear while the meat was flaky and moist.  Being ling cod, it had a slightly firmer texture but it was still tender.  I found it be well-seasoned and really didn't need the sauce.  Although the tomato pepper sauce was pleasant enough, a lobster bisque sauce or dashi would've been a better match for the whitefish. 

Onto dessert, we had the Lava Cake with vanilla ice cream.  We really appreciated that they prepared this from scratch and baked-to-order.  Many other places unfortunately use a microwave!  This was more like a chocolate souffle than a basic lava cake.  It was light and fluffy with a crispy exterior.  Inside, the molten centre was silky and purposefully sweet.  It was gave even more souffle vibes as it had the sauce built into it (rather than poured into it).

Lastly, we had the Caramel Macchiato Pot de Crème with pecan graham crumble and fresh whipped cream.  It was rich and creamy with smoky caramel notes intermittently interrupted by coffee.  The crumble on top added a nice crunch.  I quite enjoyed this dessert.  In fact, I enjoyed the meal as a whole.  Lots of highlights including the lamb, scallop, durian pizza and pasta.  Portions were large and proteins were mostly on point.  Flavours were textbook and although the prices are necessarily cheap, the value is there due to the generous size of the proteins and the general execution.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Textbook execution
- Generous portions
- Durian pizza!

The Bad:
- Definitely has hotel food vibes, but it was prepared well