Photos: Dine Out Vancouver experience at AnnaLena

I continued my Dine Out journey last night, and the restaurant choice of the evening was AnnaLena (1809 West 1^st Avenue)—a modern eatery that serves contemporary Canadian cuisine.

Situated in the trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, I had set my sights to try out this place ever since it was named one of Canada’s Best New Restaurants of 2015 in Air Canada’s enRoute magazine.

Aside from the respected title, I’ve also read some excellent reviews. So I gathered four other companions to join me for dinner.

AnnaLena’s popularity is exemplified by the sole factor of making reservations. The earliest available slot I could get was at 9:30 p.m.—and I had made my booking on the first day the festival menus launched (January 6).

It might have been a late meal according to normal dining standards, but there were already a few other groups waiting at the front as we arrived (probably as eager as us to get a taste of the dishes). Fortunately, the restaurant followed their agenda and we were quickly seated.

Scroll through for photos of my eating binge.

There are two appetizer choices on AnnaLena’s Dine Out menu ($40). I decided to go for the first pick—fried chicken, chicken liver parfait, dill pickle, and sweet mustard seeds. I was worried that their dishes were going to come in small portions, but this was a surprisingly filling plate.

For the entrée, I picked the seafood choice: seared sablefish, radish, daikon noodle, spinach, and smoked miso butter sauce with a hint of paprika. The sablefish was perfectly cooked—crispy on the outside but moist and smooth on the inside.

The other entrée choice was duck, confit thigh and terrine, orange glaze, roasted cauliflower, and cauliflower coffee puree. I tried a bite of this, and it was definitely full of flavour.

Finally, it was time for dessert. Picture above: blonde brownie, white chocolate, sesame matcha, puffed rice, and spiced milk. This was an interesting arrangement… I was hoping my taste buds would be enlightened, but the spiced milk kind of drew the attention away from everything else for me.

Coming in with high expectations, AnnaLena gave me a good dining experience for the most part. The only thing I want to note is that I somewhat felt judged by our server for not pairing our meal with wine. I was perfectly satisfied with my lemon infused water, but perhaps I’ll train my palette to consume a glass of their pinot noir in the future.

AnnaLena’s three-course Dine Out menu is available until January 31.