Dine Out 2015 preview: Clough Club, Bambudda, and Secret Supper Soirée
The 13th annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival kicks off Friday (January 16) and runs until February 1. During this time, a record 277 restaurants across Metro Vancouver will offer a Dine Out promotion: three-course prix fixe menus priced at $18, $28, or $38. More than 30 food and beverage-related events are also scheduled, including a food-truck gathering, cognac masterclass, international chef exchange, craft-beer tour, and numerous dinner and live-entertainment pairings.
To give you an idea of what’s being offered this year, I attended a media preview for Dine Out on January 13. The theme for my group was “spirits and nightlife”. With this in mind, I had the chance to check out two cocktail-driven restaurants and sample their Dine Out menus, and preview Secret Supper Soirée, one of the festival’s most popular returning events.
Our first stop of the evening was at Clough Club (212 Abbott Street), the Donnelly Group-owned cocktail bar in Gastown. I actually highlighted Clough Club’s $18 menu in my Dine Out guide last week. Appetizers here include a choice of crispy ham croquette or patatas bravas (a Spanish potato dish), followed by the Kebab-Madame (an open-faced sandwich consisting of kebab meat, pepper sauce, and fried egg) or kimchi bratwurst served with togarashi mayo and seaweed. As with all Dine Out menus, dessert is included, and here, diners will be offered a housemade ice-cream sandwich.
Clough Club’s Dine Out menu was created by Alvin Pillay, the Donnelly Group’s development chef. During the preview, we sampled the two appetizer options. I enjoyed the crispy ham croquette, which comes with a mustard-pickle sauce, and a green bean salad. The patatas bravas was also tasty. Consisting of lightly fried potatoes topped with smoked paprika, crispy fried onions, and a roasted garlic sauce, this dish is also a good option for vegetarians or gluten-free diners.
As part of Clough Club’s Dine Out menu, customers can opt for BC VQA wine pairings with each course. 6-ounce glasses are priced between $8 and $12, while 2-ounce samplers run $3 to $5. If you’re not in the mood for wine, the restaurant offers a selection of local and imported beers as well as cocktails by bartender Buck Friend.
The next stop on our tour was Bambudda (99 Powell Street), the modern Chinese restaurant on the edge of Gastown. Chef Curtis Luk joined Bambudda in late 2014, and the $38 Dine Out menu riffs on Luk’s childhood favourites.
To start, diners will have a choice of four appetizers: hot and sour soup with a pork and mushroom dumpling, wine-poached chicken with sesame and a pickled-chili vinaigrette, crispy daikon radish cake served with enoki mushroom floss and Singaporean curry spices, or Albacore tuna tataki topped with a salted plum purée.
Of these appetizers, our group sampled the radish cake and tuna tataki. The radish cake was savoury and dense while the enoki mushroom “floss” provided nice contrasting texture. I enjoyed the tuna tataki with its tart plum purée. This lighter dish would pair well with one of Bambudda’s dozen cocktails.
During Dine Out, diners can also choose from four main-course dishes: braised pork belly with burdock and Shanghai cabbage, mussels and scallops cooked in a black-bean sauce, beef and brassica in a black-pepper sauce, or soy and chili-braised tofu with mushrooms and Chinese eggplant. All of these options are served with either housemade ramen noodles or a bowl of curry-leaf rice.
Desserts run on the lighter side: steamed cheesecake with papaya and walnuts or a tropical fruit and coconut lime pudding. A third dessert comes in the form of a cocktail—spiced rum, crème de cacao, egg, and orange bitters to end the meal.
The final stop on our Dine Out tour took us to one of the locations for Secret Supper Soirée. This event presented by Swallow Tail Supper Club takes place on five evenings and is ideal for diners who enjoy a little adventure with their meal.
Each year, Secret Supper Soirée starts outside the Pacific Central Station at Main and Terminal, where a bright pink double-decker bus awaits to transport attendees to various venues. The theme is always 1930s speakeasy and guests are encouraged to dress up as much or as little as they want.
Two hidden locations are part of the itinerary. At the first stop, cocktails and canapés are offered, and at the second location, a three-course dinner and entertainment awaits. Our media preview had a taste of the meal created by local chefs Jamie Huynh and Brooke Lodge. Wine pairings with each course are also provided by Penticton’s Moraine Winery. I won’t divulge further details to ruin the surprise aspects of the evening, but having attended Secret Supper Soirée in previous years, I can attest to its fun. Tickets to Secret Supper Soirée are $125 and include transportation as well as all food and beverage.
For further details on Dine Out restaurants and events, or to make reservations and purchase tickets, visit the Dine Out Vancouver Festival website.
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