P's B-Day at L'Abbatoir

Handmade gnocchi and lobster
Peas, lobster butter

We went for a really special treat for P's birthday. It has been ages since we had a fancy meal and so it felt like we were really spoiling ourselves. The food was very good. I am not a fan of the big noisy room, and as usual they have not dealt with sound issues and the tables are so close together you are forced to endure your neighbors' insipid dialogue. I loved the gnocchi--light, fresh, delicate and all about spring.

Part of the bread basket. We devoured the bacon brioche. I liked the flat bread with toasted cumin the best of the three.

Dungeness crab and chickpea toast
Toasted brioche, light crab custard, carrot pickles

Peter had three appies and he absolutely loved the sweet breads.

Warm steelhead and crunchy potato salad
Ramps, horseradish, dill

Pan fried veal sweetbreads on toast
Sauce gribiche with veal tongue

Scallops and oxtail dumplings
Beech mushroom, asian pear, spiced jus

This was my main dish. It was good, except it is weird that they called the spring rolls "dumplings" and the spring rolls were just not as well executed as the rest of the meal. I liked the five spice sauce--it had a pleasant savory depth of flavour.

Fizzy lemonade

Blood orange sorbet, tapioca pearls and earl grey granita

A candle for the birthday boy. This was chewy and fizzy--Willy Wonka land.

Rhubarb mousse
Strawberry rhubarb sorbet, graham cracker crumble

Oops, forgot to take a photo of my dessert. Too bad because it was so pretty with several layers of mousse and candied rhubarb garnish. it was really well done with the contrasting textures--the crunch of the crumbs, the snap of the candy and the smoothness of the mousse itself.

The cocktails were more interesting than the wine list, so next time I'm just going to stick with a couple of mixed drinks and skip the vino.