We spent much of Friday on and around Granville Island, starting at Patisserie Lebeau on First Ave, which I just discovered last month, home of what I can only assume are the most unbelievably delicious waffles in Vancouver. We had ham & cheese-stuffed waffles, and got a blueberry-custard-stuffed one to share later.
After some island exploration and a little False Creek boat ride, we found ourselves sampling some sake at Artisan Sake Maker.
I tried three kinds. It was a toss-up between the more complex, higher-alcohol, fresh-off-the-press Junmai Nama Genshu, or the softer, fruitier Junmai Nama Nigori, with sediment mixed in; I decided to buy a half litre of the latter. According to the sake lady, the craft sakes are always served cold; it's only lower quality sakes or ones that are past their prime that are served warm to mask their imperfections.
Dinner was up the road on Fourth at Maenam. We shared this very tasty green papaya salad to start.
Then I had the green curry of coconut braised beef. It was fine.
Followed by a really really good cappuccino, and this chocolate pana cotta with grilled banana, which was also fine.
Other notes on Maenam:
• They are one of the rare Thai establishments where, if they say a dish is spicy, it really is spicy. Even when they say a dish is not spicy, it's still quite spicy.
• It was a lot cheaper than I expected. The salad was only $8, and main dishes were in the $13–$17 range. Check out the menu here.
One more late night dessert at the Fine Mist Music Waste show: Becky's graduation cake, courtesy of Nikki.
I love the artisan sake maker at Granville Island. I think the blue bottle is the one I like best but they all seem to offer something different, and would each shine in their own delicate food pairing.
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