Generally, taking kids along to a fine-dining establishment is akin to going for a spin in the Crystal Mall parking lot. Both are equally painful and might involve a lot of crying. So with that in mind, it is challenge to bring the whole family out for a nice dinner. After all, if the grandparents are at the same meal, who takes care of the kids? So what we are ultimately left with are certain chain restaurants. However, those places charge essentially the same price as many of the so called "fine dining" spots. So what do we have if we eliminate the chain restaurants? Simple. Those restaurants found in
hotels. These "need-to-be-there" establishments are meant to merely offer safe, mediocre food for weary travelers who may or may not have children. Wait a second. That could be a thing of the past. It is increasingly clear that hotel restaurants are realizing that stigma is not very conducive in attracting the locals. Hence, we see hotel restaurants investing in talented chefs and allowing them to be creative. We can definitely see this at
The Apron and more recently at
H5O on my visit to Portland. Another place that certainly has potential is EBO at the Delta Burnaby Hotel. We had a good meal here over a year ago. The
food was surprising and the kids were not only welcomed, they ate for free!
Remembering that fact, we all decided to head out for a return visit with the whole family. Apparently, it was food blogger/writer night as
Vanfoodster and
Alfie Lau (Burnaby Now) were both in the house as well. Seeing how many of the available items were not conducive for sharing, we settled for the
Calamari as described on the menu - Crisp Lemon Fried Squid, Fresh Coriander and Chili Dip, Scallions. I'm not trying to diss fried
calamari; however, for me at least, it seems like a relatively common menu item. As such, it didn't necessarily elicit any "wows". Don't get me wrong, it was still a very solid dish. The squid was a pleasing texture that had a snap while being easy to chew. The crisp lemon & peppery exterior was also very appetizing. I found the chili dip a bit weak though. It was neither spicy nor that flavourful. Our second appie was a "retry" of the
Crab Cakes (Bonito Crusted Belle River Rock Crab, Chili Bean Aioli, Cabbage Slaw, Sweet Soya). We had them the last time we were here. They were good; but the one thing I remembered about them was a comment left by a rea
der indicating that they looked more like "balls" than cakes. Well, I'm happy to report they looked very much like cakes this time around. We liked how much crab there was in each cake. Not too much filler here. We definitely could taste the natural sweetness of the crab; yet it was slightly on the drier side (need more filler?). The Asian influences with the sauce and slaw really complimented the crab cakes and didn't overwhelm.
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of ordering chicken in a restauran
t. There are several reasons for this including the most important - the chicken in Canada is bland. Due to the regulations we have here, the chicken loses much of it's natural flavour from processing. Do you ever noticed that our chicken is paler than the ones you can get almost everywhere else? Anyways, our server talked me into trying the
Roast Chicken (Twice Cooked Free-Range Breast, Pancetta and Spinach Risotto, Fresh Lemon and Herbs). You know what? That wasn't a bad decision. Once again, it wasn't a wow dish per se; but it was very, very good. The chicken breast was juicy and moist with an appeali
ng crisp exterior. Unlike many chicken dishes out there, this was properly seasoned. Every bite had flavour (and not of the salty kind either). As for the risotto, it was creamy and bursting with flavour thanks to the pancetta. It was just a smidgen past al dente.
My mom ended up with the
Bacon-Wrapped Scallops served atop Risotto with Lobster Reduction. To some, this would sound like an item easily purchased from M & M; however, the way they prepared it here was anything but. Consisting of 4 giant scallops wrapped into a "steak", it was cooked together. That resulted in
the bacon having less affect on the scallops. Otherwise, the saltiness of the bacon could overwhelm the delicate scallops. As you can clearly see in the picture, there was a significant sear on the scallops and the bacon for all that matter. With such caramelization, there was a pronounced smokey flavour and resulting salty-sweet thing going on. This was perfect though since I can't stand chewy undercooked bacon. Moreover, the scallops were barely cooked on the inside which was the best of both worlds. As with the risotto in my dish, the one here was creamy and just a tad overdone. My dad had the
Sablefish with Linguine Nero, Smoked Sockeye Salmon, Green Peas, Cauliflower &
Horseradish Velouté. He raved about how well the fish was prepared. I took a sample and it was very good. The crispiness of the exterior was an excellent contrast to the buttery flesh. I really liked the squid ink linguine because it was both al dente and interesting to look at. Yes, I admit it, black pasta has a certain visual appeal to it. We found the horseradish veloute to be very mild, which did not interfere with the delicate protein. The smoked salmon provided the saltiness for the dish.
During the Foodie Feast, Viv didn't get a chance to try the signature
Tuna (Rare Rice-Crusted Albacore Tuna Steak, Avocado Purée, Asparagus with Serrano Ham, Chili Gastrique) from the EBO table. Thus, she had no choice but to order it this time around. Whimsically plated, the food on the plate is more substantial than it looks. I've had it before and it was more than enough food for me. What really makes the dish is the protein. The tuna could not be prepared more perfectly. Rare in the middle with only a narrow ring of cooked crispiness, it is a
textural delight. The avocado puree does not compete with the delicate tuna; rather, it is merely there to compliment. Add in saltiness of the Serrano ham and crunchy asparagus, you have a wonderful plate of food. Their best dish here by far.
Now why were we here in the first place? Oh yeah, the kids! My daughter had the
Penne Pasta with a side of fries. Well, it was slightly pass al dente pasta with tomato sauce. I'm sure they cooked it a bit more for the kiddies. She seemed to like it. For my son, once again he had the
Grilled Cheese. And yes, it's a grilled
cheese. I have nothing more to say about that. Then came dessert. Yes really, a lot of dessert actually. Originally, Viv was the only one having dessert (and the kids, their meals included dessert); but Chef Dan Craig was generous enough to offer up desserts for everyone. My son had the
Chocolate Brownie and if you notice, his dessert was plated like an adult serving. I love how they don't merely dump a dessert on the plate for the kids. They actually put effort into it. For my daughter, she just had strawberry yogurt (it looked nice though!). For the adults, we started with the
Pistachio & Chocolate 
Creme Brulee. This was really good. Pistachios and anything sweet just seem to go really well. The salty, nuttiness of the pistachios both accented and heighten the sweetness of the custard (which was silky and not overly sweet). Only thing I would've liked was a bit more torching with the sugar crust.
Next, we had the
Classic New York Cheesecake with Chocolate Garnish, Cassis Fruit Pate & Mango Ice Cream. This was a well-prepared baked cheesecake. Not too dense nor sweet, it was not a burden to eat. The texture
was silky smooth and we liked the side of mango ice cream which was a refreshing change of pace to the cheesecake. As described, the
Cherry Financier Cake sounded great; however, this was probably our least favourite. Nothing inherently terrible about it really, it just didn't fit our fancy. The cake itself was not too sweet and the burst of cherries inside was a nice treat. We weren't that fond of the texture which was on the denser side. Hey, that is probably the right texture too. Chalk it up to personal preference. For Viv, she didn't see the connection between the orange goat cheese yogurt with the rest of the
items. I wasn't sure myself; but I liked it though.
For our last dessert, we got the adult version of the
Warm Chocolate Brownie with Tower of Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Hot Chocolate Sauce,
Roasted Chocolate Marshmallow & Peanut Brittle. The star of this dessert was the ice cream. It was smooth, peanutty and surprisingly not incredibly sweet. Again, we thought the whimsical plating to be a plus. So there we have it. Another solid meal here at EBO. I really shouldn't say EBO is good for a hotel restaurant because it is actually good compared to many
other restaurants in general. The prices can be considered expensive for Burnaby; but as the ol' adage goes: you get what you pay for. And what you get here is quality food that is carefully prepared served up in a classy environment that is kid-friendly (where the kids eat free). I'm sure that is attractive to families that are aching for a good meal, which really costs the same as visiting Cactus Club (and yes, that means Cactus Club is not cheap either...).
The Good:- Well-executed dishes
- Lovely decor
- Kid-friendly
The Bad:- Not cheap; but it's fair pricing
Posts
Do you ever drive by a restaurant and it looks so decrepit that it actually beckons for visit? Hey, think of it. If the place looks like crap on the outside, the food must be good. Otherwise, how does it survive? Well, there is this one place that is right on the main drag in Port Moody that has piqued my interest for some time. Sitting on top of a hill much like the house in Psycho, it has this almost hypnotic quality to it. It's like calling out, "come eat here, it's not really that bad...". Or maybe I am just waiting for Anthony Perkins to come out and yell out "mother"! So for me to visit a dive is not really a new thing. Sometimes, I 
wonder myself why I visit some places. It's like I'm asking for it. However, it is a real stretch for Rich Guy to visit such an establishment. I had to sell him on it since his frequency for visiting dives is as much as a car parked correctly in a parking spot in Richmond.
dventure was the fact we were missing the Canucks game against the Hawks. Turns out it was a good decision since they got pummeled 5-0. Enough of that, onto the food... We started out with a large order of the Tom Yum Goong. This was quite flavourful while lacking depth all at the same time. There was no shortage of lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce and chilis complimenting the perfectly cooked prawns and mushrooms. However, the soup base itself was not flavourful. After the initial hit of flavours, it fell flat. Next, we had the Green Papaya Salad. This was very fresh and vibrant consisting of julienned carrots, green 
papaya, apples and green beans. Texturally, this was a winner with plenty of crunch. Flavour wise, we found it leaning towards the tart and fish saucy side and lacking a bit in sweetness. To be fair, it is nitpicking. The salad was solid nonetheless.
slick at the top and a rustic appearance, it was neither creamy nor watery. I've had many green curries where the coconut milk looks as if it has curdled and this was one of them. I think they might have cooked it at too high heat? Regardless of it's appearance, we found the curry to be not as flavourful as we would've liked. It could've stood to be both spicier and saltier (more fish sauce?).
ketchupy. We found the rice noodles to be cooked perfectly as well as the other ingredients. However, we noticed that the pressed tofu and preserved turnip were missing from this version. This detracted slightly from what was probably the best dish of the meal. Interesting. Turns out the place wasn't as good as we had envisioned. Maybe we were expecting too much? Don't get me wrong. The food was alright. Yet, for the price we paid for our meal (which was $60.00), we didn't feel it was necessarily worth it. Too bad really, it had the "crappy-looking place in an odd location" going for it (or not).
