June on Cambie

If you haven't already heard, we have a new "hot"
restaurant on Cambie Street, where Biercraft used to be located and just steps away from Elio Volpe.  June, named after Head Chef Connor Sperling's wife, is Brasserie-inspired with French-influenced West Coast cuisine.  If Chef Sperling sounds familiar, he had been honing his craft at Published the last 5+ years.  The restaurant itself boasts a prominent bar that helps compliment late night bites until midnight.  Moreover, you can keep the experience alive by heading downstairs to the cocktail bar.

On the topic of cocktails, we started with 2 light and fruity concoctions.  These included the Blue Fizz and the Chamberyzette.  Super light and with a noticeable banana finish, the Blue Fizz was also fruity and went down far too easy.  On that note, the Chamberyzette was even more dangerous with the sour strawberry cordial affording fruity and sweet vibes that blended well with the sweetness of the vermouth.

Onto the food, we began with the Scallops, which were beautifully seared with intense caramelization accentuating the sweet brininess of the plump mollusk.  Beyond being properly seasoned with salt, the natural taste of the scallop was complimented by the citrus butter sauce.  It had a balanced amount of acidity to brighten things up while having the luscious creamy nuttiness of the butter.

Although the Crab dip was listed in the small dish section of the main menu, it was not small at all.  Underneath the chives and aioli, there was a wealth of lump crab meat that was beautifully-prepared.  Each piece of crab was fluffy and had a strong briny essence and flavour.  Those spiced madeleines were fluffy and sweet.  Personally, I would've liked something crunchier, but then again, there was nothing wrong with the madeleines.  I could've just eaten them by themselves!

Loved the plating of the Pepper Bluefin as it was super colourful with no negative space.  The tuna itself was just lightly kissed on one side with crusted black pepper while being rare throughout.  It was buttery as expected with an unmistakable sweetness.  At first, I thought the pepper would be overwhelming, but in reality, I barely knew it was there other than a bit of a bite at the end.  It sat in a piquillo escabèche which was sweet and tangy with only the slightest hint of heat.  Really nice compliment to the bluefin without being too powerful.

One of the more surprising dishes was the Frog Legs.  Now, I've had my share of frog legs before, so it wasn't surprising because of the ingredient.  It was the level of execution that exceeded my expectations.  The legs were gigantic and plump where the texture was juicy and fork tender.  On the outside, it was perfectly-glazed with espellette and B.C. honey offering up both spice and sweetness.  On the side we found a lime mignonette that provided that acidic kick to bring the flavours alive.  Best frog legs I've ever had!

We did have one featured off-menu item in the Spot Prawns in Fresno sauce with Meyer lemon and butter.  These split head-on prawns were cooked just enough so that the meat was still tender and delicate.  The prawns were naturally sweet and despite the impactful sauce, it didn't overshadow the main ingredient.  With that being said, it was nice to have a more robust flavour with spice, sweetness and tang.  We really needed something to soak up all the goodness.

 

That we did with the June Brioche with Beurre d'Isigny from Normandy.  I really should have used the bread as a blank canvas for the various sauces from the dishes at the table.  However, it would also be a waste that we didn't use up all the creamy butter either.  So I just slathered all that I could onto each piece of the fluffy bread.  So aromatic and nutty with a strong butter essence.  I also loved the crispiness of the bread's exterior.

Normally, I'm not super excited about having a salad, but the Salade Maison featured beautiful butter lettuce specifically grown for June.  It was dressed in a tangy dijon vinaigrette that also had balancing sweetness.  For my second cocktail, I decided on something stronger in the Noisette Manhattan.  I'm not connoisseur with this drink, but I did have one a few weeks ago at another restaurant and this was better.  The whiskey went down real easy while still being impactful with some dark wood notes with a touch of sweetness. 

One of our favourite dishes (amongst many favourites), the Mussels were large, plump and perfectly-prepared.  These came with a fino sherry cream sauce.  It was not a heavy as it looked while still being full-bodied and flavourful.  Mildly-seasoned, the sauce was earthy while lightly sweet with a touch of spice from the chilis.  There was an extra serving of sauce on the side so we could fill each shell or dip our bread into.

The real showstopper dish was Pasta for Rachel featuring a whole sheet of ravoili.  Rachel is Chef Sperling's wife (her English name) and yes, he made this pasta for her.  These were filled with potato and comté cheese where it was bordering on salty but just riding that fine line.  That meant these raviolis were flavourful on its own while the firmly al dente pasta was also properly seasoned.  In addition to the black pepper on top, the dish was finished off by a generous dollop of Beurre d'Isigny.

After the pasta, we didn't think there would be anything to equal its deliciousness.  However, the June Burger did just that.  First, we had a beautifully buttered brioche bun.  It softly hugged all of the components and provided the perfect encapsulation of the juicy meaty patty.  It was topped off by rich and nutty gruyère, sweet caramelized onions and what I think was braised beef.  The added jus made this even more meaty-tasting and super moist.  Oh, and the mustard provided just enough tang to break up the heaviness a touch.  One of the best burgers I've had period.

Of course we had to get the Fries to go with the burger right?  This large portion consisted of long strands of perfectly crispy potatoes.  They were pretty crunchy overall and well-salted, so there wasn't much creamy potato texture inside.  I didn't mind that as I dunked them into the dips (mustard extraordinaire, and house mayo).  We had one more drink to go with our desserts in the Coffee Cocktail with orange liqueur.   Not sure what the actual name of this drink was because we couldn't find it on the menu.  But it was rich with plenty of coffee bitterness to go with the aromatic sweetness of the liqueur.  This went well with the next item...

Yes, the coffee cocktail paired beautifully with the Chocolate mousse cake with crème Anglais. This was balanced in terms of sweetness while having plenty of chocolate impact.  The mousse was light and creamy while wrapped in hazelnut ganache and benefitted from the nuttiness of Frangelico.  The extra layer of crunch provided textural contrast.  Lastly, we sampled their Soft Serve du Jour which was rhubarb and creamsicle.  Nicely light and refreshing, the flavours were apparent with a balance between sweetness and tanginess.  The addition of fermented orange afforded some salty citrusy notes.  Complimentary texture came in the form of crispy spruce tip meringues.  All I have to say is "Wow".  This meal was so delicious where I was wanting to do it all again the next day.  Another great addition to the Vancouver restaurant scene and I'm thinking this will have the potential of a Michelin-Star and being on Canada's Top 100 Restaurants real soon.

 

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

 

The Good:

- Perfect execution with the proteins

- Not lacking flavour

- Great vibe

 

The Bad:

- Some items were bordering on salty.  I personally didn't mind it, but others might. 

 

Pearl House

I remember a long time ago (2013 in fact), I had visited Pearl House out on Sperling at Kingsway in Burnaby.  It was solid Taiwanese fare that was reasonably-priced.  Well, that location has closed permanently and now houses Singapore Hawker.  Now we find that Peal House has reopened on the West side of Vancouver where the Meet Up used to be located.  Jackie and I paid a visit to this new location and upon entry, it was pretty much the same setup as before (when it was Meet Up).  So it was fairly spacious and inviting.

Of course, the space is one thing, but the food needs to be good too right?  We began with a Taiwanese classic in the Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets.  These were pretty big pieces of thigh meat, which helped them keep juicy and tender.  They were also nice marinated so that the meat had a mild saltiness to it.  As for the batter, it was not too thick while being crunchy and not overly greasy.  There was also the usual slight pepperiness and fried basil to compliment.

Continuing on with the appetizers, we had the 3-item Marinated Combo with sliced pig ear, beef shank and eggs. I thought the items here were prepared quite well.  I was actually quite impressed with the marinated eggs as the egg yolk wasn't completely obliterated.  Notice that there was no ugly green ring around it.  The pig's ear was sliced thin and had plenty of flavour including a background hint of star anise.  Same with the beef shank, as it was also tender and moist.

Naturally, at any Taiwanese restaurant, one must order the beef noodle right?  We did that but opted for the Beef Shank & Noodle Soup.  I found the broth for this bowl to be a bit mild, yet not flavourless.  I could taste the meatiness, but at the same time, it was not as rich as the one found at Myst.  The noodles were plentiful and perfectly al dente.  The beef was fall apart tender and flavourful while the tendon were in large gelantinous tender pieces.

We went a bit off the board with our next dish with the Deep Fried Unagi Bento.  This was literally 2 fillets of eel that were breaded and deep-fried.  Honestly, I didn't enjoy this bowl as the best things about eel (being buttery and soft) was absent after the breading and deep-frying.  Furthermore, it really didn't go with the rice that well as it was dry without any sauce.  Hence, we just ate the eel.  This also came with some veggies and 2 slices of Taiwanese sausage.

Our last savoury item was the Deep Fried Chicken Thigh Curry featuring a large chicken thigh.  I'm sure they added the green onion for colour but that was far too much of it.  The pure taste of the curry was partially obscured by the green onion.  Too bad because the curry itself was excellent having a sweet earthiness where the viscosity was just right.  The rice was firm enough to receive the curry while the chicken was juicy and tender with only a thin layer of fried coating.

For dessert, we had the Snowy Mango Pomelo with a cheese mousse on top.  This was refreshing and fruity as expected.  I found the shaved ice to be nicely texture without big chunks.  It was completely flavoured with the mango syrup.  For our drinks, we selected the Roasted Oolong Milk Tea as well as the Passionfruit Slush.  I thought these were solid and not merely an afterthought.  The tea had a noticeable roasted nutty flavour while the slush was fruity and completely blended.  Overall, Pearl House is a solid place for Taiwanese eats, desserts and drinks.  Portions are generous while the pricing is reasonable (given how expensive things can be in this area).

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

The Good:
- Generous portions
- Solid eats
- Spacious dining room

The Bad:
- Some dishes could be tweaked