This is a restaurant that I come back to repeatedly. I don’t know how often I’ve been back, but for a while last year my friends tried to come every three months. In seafood starved Calgary, this satisfies my craving. We’re not talking sushi. The warm oysters, were just that; warm on the outside, but raw in the middle. Delish. Their fish is always cooked perfectly. Dessert was rich and satisfying. Service was attentive but not obtrusive.
Looking for a quick, small lunch before going to the spa, I walked by Feastro. The menu was mostly seafood so that caught my attention. I settled on the dungeness crab and shrimp cake with smoked cocktail sauce and celeriac sweet bell pepper salad.
There was generous amounts of seafood in the deep fried croquettes. It was fresh and hot off the fryer. The celeriac salad was a nice twist on coleslaw. Nice, satisfying lunch.
I was looking for a good seafood restaurant for our only dinner in Vancouver. It was a choice between Rodney’s Oyster House or Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar.
The place is popular; I’m glad that I made a reservation. One side of the room had a sushi bar, and the other side, an open kitchen. It was loud; definitely not the place for a romantic date. This is a place where you might want to dress up.
On to the food. I like my seafood fresh, raw and minimally prepared. The menu is quite extensive. To start, we were presented with rolls served with a red pepper spread and blue cheese spread. The red pepper was quite good; I didn’t care for the other one. We shared the BC Tasting for Two, which was a tower of dungeness salad, crab scallop ceviche, albacore tuna tartare and smoked salmon terrine. I continued with the Seafood Plateau which consisted of: mussels, clams, prawns, oysters and scallop ceviche. It was served with cocktail sauce and a strongly flavoured mignonette. It normally comes with jellyfish salad, but I asked for a substitution because I have a food intolerance to jellyfish.
We had the warm dark Cuban chocolate cake for dessert. It had hot molten chocolate spilling out of the inside. Delicious. They provided some nice banana bread to close the meal with.
The service was attentive and friendly. I applaud our server for his memory as there was a substantial list of specials.
Pricey, but you pay for what you get. I definitely think it’s worth paying for.
I’ve known about this place for a while, but just got around to trying it. Billingsgate Fish Co. has both a seafood market and a diner. Their fresh sea food in the market is superb. I brought home oysters in the shell and pickeral. The cafe is a nice idea, you can pick anything from the market and they will cook it for you. This is mostly a fried fish kind of a place. My friend had the Boston clam chowder. I sampled it, it was good, but had a strong flavor of tarragon. I find tarragon to be pretty overpowering and should be used sparingly.
We shared the crab cakes which tasted house made. Very good. The oysters in the burger were plump and delicious, but they spent too much time in the deep fryer and were dark brown. Same with the fries. For a diner, I think its’ good value. I would come back if only for the freshness of the seafood.
Where in landlocked Calgary, can you find good seafood? Big Fish! This would be the second time I’ve visited, and it won’t be the last. If you like oysters on the half shell, Mondays are two for one. We made a raid on them. Their fish dishes were perfectly cooked, and full of flavor. We also had dessert. The Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie with Praline Vanilla Bean Mousse and Caramel was sooo good! Holiday Monday, we practically had the restaurant all to ourselves. We had a diverse group (including a gluten free diner) and our server was very patient with offering menu suggestions. Will return to sample more of the menu.
They source what they can locally and the fish… well it’s pretty fresh.
