Elem (Tasting Menu)

It's been awhile since I've been back to Elem.  I think it has been 2 months!  All kidding aside, the reason for this recent visit was to celebrate ipanemagirl's birthday!  She's been having a great time during her birthday month by dining at Okeya Kyujiro and AnnaLena.  So up next was Vancouver's best new restaurant (according to Vanmag)!  For the first time ever, I didn't go for the à la carte and went for the tasting menu (aka "Let us cook for you").  There are 2 price points for this at $95.00 and $125.00.  We decided on the latter.

Things kicked off with a few bevvies including the Mango Rasmalai and the Roasted Corn Highball.  The Rasmalai has been on the cocktail menu from the very start (thanks to Winnie Sun).  With a combination of gin, mango, saffron milk and cardamomo, the drink was light, floral and somewhat sweet.  Saffron white chocolate paint provided even more sweetness if needed.  For the highball, it was made with roasted corn tequila, corn extract and aperol.  As expected, this was a bit stronger than the rasmalai, but not considerably.  I wasn't sure that the corn was the main flavour I got as the aperol was rather dominant, especially with the finish.  Loved the popcorn on the side!

It was fitting to start the meal with Sungold Tomatoes as they just came into season.  This was a tomato-forward dish with the natural sweetness and brightness coming through.  However, there was still restraint and balance so that the white peach gazpacho was able to stand out with its bright sweetness.  To balance out the acidity, we found marinated burrata balls.  Rounding out the dish, more fresh tomatoes and fresh strawberries.  Some basil oil provided a bit more layering to the flavours with obvious herbaceousness.

I don't think I've ever dined at Elem without ordering their parker rolls.  This time around, we were served Milk Brioche Buns which were beautifully toasted.  Nicely crispy and with a toasty-tasting exterior encasing a warm and fluffy interior.  On the side, we found a quenelle of berry butter with black pepper.  Naturally, this added a creamy sweetness to the bread with just the a slight pepper aftertaste.

When the Elk Tartare sitting atop a large piece of roasted bone marrow showed up, I was elated.  Yes, that is right, I was elated.  Why?  Well this particular dish is wickedly delicious!  For such a lean cut of meat, the elk was tender and buttery.  It wasn't gamy at all (in my opinion at least) and the buttery bone marrow added that luxurious fattiness that made each bite memorable.  Seasoning was balanced and offered up just enough saltiness and a touch of background acidity.  The side of fresh potato chips were light and crispy.

Another dish I was happy to see was the Lamb Skewers.  Believe it or not, for all the times I've been to Elem, I've only had this dish 3 times (including this time).  Problem being is that most people I eat with do not enjoy lamb (including Viv).  However, ipanemagirl was all game for this (sorry for the pun...).  Love this dish as the lamb belly is cured for 24 hours and cooked for 18 hours, then sits in its own fat for another day before being trimmed and cubed.  Finally it is grilled and glazed with medjool date.  This results in a buttery and melt-in-my-mouth lamb with smokiness, sweetness and meatiness atop a ginger labneh with crunchy buckwheat.

Another dish that celebrates tomatoes is the Rolled Pappardelle stuffed with charred corn and ricotta.  Firm with a lovely chew, the pasta had a nice elasticity.  Inside, the sweetness and smokiness of the corn came through, but make no mistake, the star of the dish was the fresh and natural-tasting tomato sauce.  They took 25 pounds of stony paradise tomatoes and cooked it down to four litres of sauce with just a bit of garlic and salt.  After straining, the sauce was smooth and silky.

For my second cocktail, I went back to the well and had the Mai Tai.  Their take on the classic drink consisted of 3 types of rum, pistachio orgeat, dry curacao and lime.  I've had this many times and when mixed with the passionfruit ice, the drink trends towards floral and sweet with a caramel woodsiness finish.  Ipanemagirl went for a mocktail this time with the Clarified Mango Lassi topped with half a mango mochi.  As expected, this was fruity and refreshing.

Moving onto the proteins of the meal, we had the King Fish sitting atop a warm tartar sauce with BC chanterelles, cipollinis, peas and dill.  As evidenced in the picture above, the fish skin was totally seared where it was crispy and also well-seasoned.  Flaky and firm, the king fish was still succulent and slightly buttery.  With just a bit of acidity and being lightly creamy, the sauce helped compliment the fish without taking away from it.  Loved the bevy of chanterelles and sweet peas.  The dill provide its usual brightness.

Arriving as one of the largest pieces I've ever seen, the Quebec Margret Duck Breast was super plump and prepared expertly.  It was aged for 5 days and then seared until the skin was well-rendered.  The duck was prepared medium in this application and turned out to be super tender and juicy.  We found more chanterelles here along with lightly cooked apricots and a jus.  The most impactful ingredient, other than the duck, was the apricot as it added a light crunch and sweetness that helped lighten up the dish.

Served with the duck was a Southern Italian-style Polenta topped with mushroom hollandaise.  This was described as being a lot looser than the polenta we've been accustomed with.  Sure enough, the whole thing collapsed as we dug into it.  Yet, it was delightful as it wasn't as heavy as it appeared.  With that being said, this combined with the duck was trending towards a fall combo.  This whole dish was a bit creamy with pops of sweetness from the charred corn.  With the addition of mushroom powder, the hollandaise was totally woodsy and packed with umami.  

We were presented with one of their newest desserts on the menu - Strawberry.  Well, with the considerable topping of cream, it was obviously strawberries and cream.  Hidden in the middle was a scoop of basil ice cream.  Underneath, we found macerated strawberries along with more basil.  Unlike the usual iteration of this dessert, this one had herbaceousness thanks to the basil (in all applications).  The creaminess of the ice cream added more body to the fresh cream.

To be honest, it took me awhile to take a liking to the Popcorn.  Vish's ode to Chicago mix with caramel popcorn, cheese and caramel, he made a dessert that captured every component.  There was caramelized sweetness combined with the aroma of popcorn and then the cheddar cheese added that something something.  Great for people who like something savoury with their sweets.  One last treat was the 2 White Chocolates with a tinge of citrus.  Overall, this was a really solid tasting-like menu with a bit of the old and a bit of the new.  A great way to get an overview of the menu at 2 price points - $95.00pp for around 6 dishes and $125.00pp for around 10 dishes like we had.

The Good:

- Well-executed proteins

- Really captured the natural flavours of tomato

- That elk tartare!

The Bad:

- Maybe a la carte can be more expensive, so choosing the tasting might be better?

- On weekends, the parking situation in the neighbourhood can be challenging, weekdays are much easier, got a spot right in front 

Din Tai Fung (Portland)

Ever since we got our very own location of Din Tai Fung in Vancouver (B.C.), I've stopped going to the ones in Seattle.  Furthermore, since I'm from Vancouver, it isn't as if I couldn't find great Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) elsewhere.  But here we were in Portland and we needed some lunch.  Since we were staying in Downtown, we decided to make the short walk to Pioneer Place.  Yep, we visited Din Tai Fung...

As much as we wanted to get to the XLBs right away, we began with a simple dish in the Cucumber Salad.  This was pretty good with crunchy fresh cucumbers that were just salty enough while exhibiting the aromatic nuttiness of sesame oil and slight spice from the chili oil.  Naturally, there was the usual sharp garlickiness to complement the rest of the flavors.

We didn't only go for one steamer of Kurobuta Xiao Long Bao as we added the Crab & Kurobuta Xiao Long Bao too.  If you look closely, the crab XLBs had a small crab-shaped carrot underneath one of the dumplings.  As for the XLBs, they were textbook DTF.  Featuring a thin dumpling wrapper with exactly 18 folds at the top, the XLBs contained a considerable amount of soup along with tender pork.  It was fairly clean and not greasy with sweetness and aromatics.  Solid as usual.  For the crab XLBs, there was an unmistakable briny and salty sweetness.

We had a few more dumplings just to get a good representation of the menu.  The Shrimp & Kurobuta Potstickers featured a large crispy skirt.  Beyond that, the bottom of the dumpings were evenly seared which meant they looked great, but were also crispy and nutty.  The dumpling skin was medium-thick and not dense.  Inside, the filling was light and a bit bouncy with plenty of juice.

The Shrimp & Kurobuta Pork Spicy Wontons featured a fairly thin wrapper that was a bit delicate, yet still had some chew.  Inside, the filling was not dense while being plenty juicy and flavorful.  In terms of overall spice, there was very little as this was more nutty and smoky than hot.  There was also some saltiness to flavor the wontons too.

Despite having many better versions of Braised Beef Noodle Soup in my life, the one here was actually quite good.  Maybe the broth was a little weak in terms of overall beef flavor, but it was seasoned decently.  The noodles were al dente and the Shanghai bak choy was still crunchy.  The best part was the braised beef.  It was literally melt-in-my-mouth tender.  Really good and the soft tendon portions were a textural delight.

We actually got more of the Shanghai Bak Choy with scallion oil because we needed some greens in our diet.  These were definitely vibrant and crunchy while cooked-all-the-way through.  Seasoning was a little on the milder side and the wok hei was only moderate.  Overall, our visit to Din Tai Fung in Downtown Portland was a typical experience.  It wasn't much different than the ones I had in Seattle and also in Vancouver.  Hence, it was solid with the XLBs being the highlight.  Prices are a bit higher, but at least you know what you are getting.

The Good:

- Reliable XLBs

- Decent food all around

- Solid service as usual

The Bad:

- Decent food all around, but there is better to be found if you look for it (and cheaper too)  

Langbaan

Coming from Vancouver (B.C.), I've had the pleasure of dining at Baan Lao in Richmond.  Unlike most Thai restaurants, Baan Lao is upscale with white glove service.  If Tourism Richmond had partnered with Michelin, Baan Lao would no doubt have at least one Michelin Star.  Their cuisine and plating are top-notch and sets a different standard for Thai food in North America.  Since Portland has an thriving Thai food scene, we were definitely going to hit up some Thai restaurants.  The most exciting is Langbaan, which is a tasting menu only dinner spot located within Phuket Cafe.  They might not be as fancy as Baan Lao, but from all online accounts, the experience is still top notch.

The tasting menu began with some small bites including the Miang Som.  I've had many version of this before and for this one, it consisted of shrimp, Valencia orange, peanut and coconut on a betel leaf.  Pretty saucy, but ultimately a flavor bomb, there was intense sweetness from the palm sugar and brininess from the shrimp.  The umami that was present was further aided by the sweetness of the orange.  Add in the crunch and nuttiness from the peanuts and the aromatics of the coconut, it was certainly an everything bite.

If we thought that the Miang Som was a great start to waken our palates, the Kanom Krok not only brought balance, it was our favorite thing of the tasting menu.  It was a crispy cup with Hokkaido scallops sitting in a coconut cream.  That contrast in textures of the cup and the buttery soft scallops was just right.  Add in the aromatic sweetness of the coconut cream along with the Thai herbs and we had richness with brightness at the same time.  

Served in sriracha casing, the Hoy Tod was a nod to the Thai omelette.  We found some steamed mussels inside atop some egg with crispy sriracha seaweed.  The combination yielded seafoodiness from the tender mussels while the sriracha was only there enough to provide some impact without being too spicy.  It let the mussel be the star while the egg added some texture while representing the omelette.

Next, we had the Guay Tiew Rua with the broth served tableside.  This was in honor of Thai boat noodles with a rich broth that exhibited the usual tang and sweetness.  It was served steaming hot atop a small amount of rice noodles, beef meatball and flank steak.  We found the noodles having an appealing chewiness while the meatball was bouncy and sweet.  Wow, the 2 slices of rare flank steak were buttery soft and meaty tasting.  Some cilantro and green onion completed the dish.

To bring things down like a palate-cleanser, we had the Phla Pla featuring bigeye tuna wrapped in seaweed.  We found raspberry, pineapple, snap peas, shallots (2 ways) and Japanese pepper leaves on top.  Buttery and soft, the tuna had quite a bit of umami going.   Nice balance of sweetness, aromatics and crunch.  The fruitiness really helped the transition to the next dish.

Now when you think of Pad Thai, you would immediately think of rice noodles coated with a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce.  Well, this version featured ribbons of squid that resembled rice noodles while coated in tomato sauce.  It sat atop leeks, cabbage and sea grapes.  Very creative and ultimately, very tasty as well.  Nice aromatics and sweetness combined with tanginess from the ingredients.  It didn't really taste like a Pad Thai, but that didn't matter as it was great in its own right.  I especially loved the tender chew of the squid noodles.

We moved onto the shared entree portion of the tasting menu including the Gang Taepo or poached halibut atop red curry.  At first, I was a little dismayed that the halibut was just merely poached, but after I combined it with the curry, it made total sense.  No need to have competing flavors nor having too much salt as the curry was full-of-depth, spice and sweetness.  Beautifully prepared, the halibut was flaky and moist and accepted the curry as a textural canvas.

Also at the same time, we had the Pad Preaw or Octopus with a chutney of tomato, Chinese celery and peanuts.  I found this dish competent where the octopus was cooked perfectly where it was tender with just enough chew.  The chutney was flavourful with tang and sweetness, but the dish as a whole was not as impactful as the rest.  However, the condiment on the side did help things plenty.

The condiment was the Nam Prik Long Rua or pork & shrimp relish with salted egg and greens.  This was a lot of things including briny, meaty, salty and umami.   Combined with the crunchy veggies wrapped in lettuce, this made everything much more flavorful and also a bit spicy.  Texture was provided in the form of pork crackling mixed into the relish.  You could put this on anything and it would taste good!  

Dessert consisted of 2 items including the Mango Sticky Rice presented as a layered cake with a mango mochi cake base, mango mousse in the middle and butter lime cream on the top.  This was quite pleasant and mildly sweet with the flavors of mango sticky rice.  I liked how this was super light and gently brought us down from the flavor bomb of the relish from the previous course.

Our last item was the Khao Lahm which was a pandan canelé.  Texturally, since it was made with rice, the interior was more custardy and wet than a regular canelé.  The outside was slightly crispy but could've been more so.  However, it still ate quite well and we enjoyed it.  Overall, we loved our meal at Langbaan.  The tasting menu progressed beautifully and we felt the flavors popped.  Would absolutely do this again when we are in PDX next.

The Good:

- Impactful flavors

- Well-prepared proteins

- Excellent service

The Bad:

- Pandan canelé was a bit weird texturally

Jacqueline

I've been wanting to visit Jacqueline in Portland for quite some time.  I mean, I've been out in Portland 6 times in the last 6 years!  I've always envisioned dining their with Jacqueline (@pork_ninjas) just because they share a name (yes, I'm juvenile like that).  However, it just never worked out.  This time around, I got a reservation and boy did that come in handy.  To say the place is busy is an understatement, there was a huge line for happy hour when we arrived.   For those who are familiar, Jacqueline opened in 2016 and relocated to its current location in 2024.  The place is well known for their seasonal menu that focuses on fresh seafood.

Seeing how we arrived in time for Happy Hour, we went straight for the $1.00 oysters.  We ended up with a dozen of the Salazar Puget Sound Oysters, which were mid-sized.  Even thought they appeared to be small like Kushis, they were deeper and hence more plump.  We found them to be rather creamy and intensely briny.  We had several accompaniments including hot sauce, dill vinegar, classic mignonette, ponzu and Fresno chili vinegar.  My favorite was the hot sauce as it paired well with the salty oysters.

Even though they have a good value tasting menu at $90.00 each, we ended up doing a la carte.  The first plate to arrive was the Hamachi Crudo.  This was freakin' delicious with buttery slices of hamachi and charred & pickled pineapple.  To go with the natural sweetness of the fish and the pineapple, we found classic Thai flavors in the mam nem with lime leaf, mint and peanuts.  We had intense brininess from the fermented anchovies as well as balancing sweetness and tang.  Nice hits of herbaceousness from the lime leaves and mint.

Something as simple as bread can often be overlooked on a menu.  Luckily I asked about Emerson's Focaccia and ordered it.  Turns out it was an excellent choice as the fluffy bread was great on its own.  It had a crispy top that also was nicely salted.  However, what really made this dish was the side of toasted kombu oil with aged balsamic.  It was so punchy with umami and tangy sweetness.  Although we had a lot of dishes coming, we couldn't stop eating the bread!

This was followed up by a few smaller dishes including the Grilled Asparagus with marinated Ota tofu.  Normally, we would find some firm tofu in these types of dishes, but the Ota tofu was so delicate and soft.  Each cube almost broke upon contact, which made it so buttery in texture.  The toss in XO sauce ensured that the tofu was fully-seasoned with spice and brininess.  Asparagus was still had a bite despite being cooked through.  Some preserved meyer lemon added some salty brightness.

Another full-flavored dish was the Snap Peas with fish sauce lemongrass vin.  Beyond the crunchy sweet peas (that were split lengthwise), we found toasted rice powder, fava leaf, lime leaves and crispy tiny shrimp.  The mix of all these components ensured we got a bit of everything.  The fish sauce with lemongrass provided salty umaminess and bright hits.  Toasted rice powder not only add a bit of dry texture, we also had some aromatic nuttiness.  Fava leaves and lime leaves gave that background herbaceousness while the shrimp were a bit crunchy and totally briny.

Presented in 4 huge balls, the Smoked Black Cod & Potato Fritters were more like croquettes to me.  Once we got past the firmly crispy exterior, the soft and creamy potato filling was airy and light.  It was totally seasoned by the salty and smoky black cod where it was impactful from the first bite.  In the bowl, we found a green peanut sauce which was "green" tasting with some nuttiness.

We also tried both the Grilled Honey & Turmeric Chicken Skewer and the Grilled Lamb Merquez Sausage Skewer.  Nicely charred and juicy, the chicken skewer was smoky and earthy.  That sauce underneath was creamy and cooled things down.  As for the lamb sausage, it was also tender and moist with a decent amount of charring.  The addition of an anchovy provided another layer of brininess to go with the rich lamb meat.

Served on a house made bao that had been deep-fried, the Lobster Bun was packed full of tender shredded lobster.  There was enough mayo to keep things together and also acidity (from the zucchini pickles) to keep things from being too heavy.  The whole thing exhibited good textural contrast with the crispy bun and the fluffy lobster salad.  This wasn't very big, but super tasty.

The Seared Scallops were hard-seared on one side which created a crust.  They were aggressively seasoned and hence, were salty.  I could still taste the sweetness of the scallop and in fact, the salt only heightened the flavors.  Texturally, they were buttery and soft while cooked all-the-way through.  Underneath, the sauce was earthy and rich.

I thought the Halibut was just a bit over, yet at the same time, most of it was still flaky and moist.  Once again, things were salty for this dish including the hard sear.  The miso maitake mushrooms were far too salty, but the texture was great.  We also found some new potatoes that were robust, yet still tender.  The nettle sauce vert was green-tasting, peppery and bright.

Loved the Fig Leaf Pannacotta as it was creamy and light while topped with sweet strawberries, Marcona almonds and white chocolate.  This was quite refreshing and light with an on point texture.  It was properly set, yet not too firm.  By using fig leaf, the flavor of the pannacotta tasted like aromatic coconut and vanilla.  It would've fooled me if it wasn't in the description.  Strawberries naturally added tangy sweetness and texture while the almost added butteriness and crunch.

We had one scoop each of the Blood Orange Sorbet, Strawberry Rhubarb Gelato and Hochija Gelato.  Things were rather sweet, but naturally refreshing at the same time.  Blood orange was tangy, so it offset the sweetness.  Strawberry rhubarb had enough tang to balance the sugar as well.  For the hochija, that was the sweetest of the bunch, but I enjoyed the toasted and nutty flavor.  Overall, the meal at Jacqueline was mostly great with a few things that were a bit too salty.  Portions were generous and pricing was reasonable.  Service was genuine and friendly, if not a bit inattentive.

The Good:

- Generally tasty

- Generous portions and reasonable prices

- Nice people

The Bad:

- Some things were pretty salty

- Service was nice, but not particularly attentive (water not refilled and plates not changed)