“I’ve heard about you! You get published for all your food photos!” These were VERY kind words (and incorrect ones!) from my colleagues wife when we first met a few months ago. I told her that statement was a fairly large embellishment – it was only one food photo for which I “won” something for *blush*. She responded, “Don’t correct people next time ;)”
It’s true that I do enjoy food photography and I’ve experimented with food styling – taking the time to set up various ingredients, adding props and bouncing light onto my food! But I am totally an amateur and simply take food photos for the memories and future inspiration. I felt pretty lucky though, for being selected as one of the photo contest winners on social media this past year. Tourism Vancouver gifted me a with a dinner out to a local restaurant that I had never tried before over in North Vancouver. Well, I always love free food and a good reason to get dressed up!
Fishworks description from their website:
The Lower Lonsdale restaurant scene is in need of a seafood restaurant that utilizes the bounty of fresh seafood from our unique and celebrated West Coast. Fishworks restaurant will feature timeless classics as well as contemporary , modern cuisine. Located at 91 Lonsdale and situated in a original heritage building Fishworks promises to be all that and more.The owner Shallaw Kadir , ( who at 23 years old opened his first restaurant ) is a successful Chef who has operated restaurants in North Vancouver which achieved numerous awards from the Georgia Straight ( 2nd best restaurant in North / West Vancouver ) and The North Shore News ( best new restaurant, best wine list ).
Picked up my gift certificate from Tourism Vancouver back in the Winter as part of their Annual Dine Out Vancouver Food Festival!
More on My Dine Out Vancouver Experiences at local Vancouver restaurants:
The Abbey, Chicha and Bistro Pastis
Cafe Pacifica, Mahony & Sons Public House, Minami
This is Eric and I our way to dinner!
Crossing the scenic Lion’s Gate Bridge to leave Downtown/Stanley Park and towards the North Shore.
View of Downtown Vancouver (through the trees) from Lower Lonsdale:
Outside the restaurant – a converted heritage site.
I like the wooden canoe that they have hanging from the ceiling there.
What we ate!
First, we started with the Fishworks Shared Platter
chilled Albacore tataki, prawns, mussels, and shucked oysters (minimum 2 orders)
THIS! is how you get your protein serving for the day!
The mussels were the largest mussels that I have ever eaten. The photo below illustrates their enormous size compared to my plate. I really liked the tangy and sweet vinaigrette they provided with the oysters. The prawns were pretty standard and the serving of tuna was fresh and flavourful.
What a giant mussel!
Knowing that we were headed to a restaurant that specialized in seafood, Eric wanted to order halibut, however, the only halibut he saw on the menu was a halibut poutine. This sounded very OK. Then to our delight, our server informed us of their daily special which featured halibut!
Special of the Day:
Oven-roasted Halibut
pistachio crust and cilantro beurre blanc, served with seasonal vegetables.
We call halibut the steak of the sea! This was incredible – it was a very satisfying combination of Asian fusion flavours.
Sockeye Salmon Wellington
cranberry-almond crust in crispy phyllo, pistachio pesto
How can you go wrong with wellington – anything?
Beef wellington, sausage wellington, lamb wellington – let me count the ways of food wrapped fantastically in pastry.
I love meats baked in pastry and this dish had a bit of everything – a little savoury, a little sweet, a bit of crunch and a smooth velvety sauce that I soaked up with vegetables and bread . Mmm look at that hidden layer of fruits and nuts – rich flavour and crispy texture.
Wait, even more surprises!
On the other side was a fragrant basil leaf.
The portion was so generous, I thought that maybe, I could even save half for the following day’s lunch.
But who was I kidding! We wanted to enjoy this entree fresh and hot!
We were feeling pretty satiated so we passed on dessert (I know, that’s a shocker for me! I love dessert!)
But it was a nice touch that our bill came with two chocolate, fish-shaped truffles.
This was similar to our dinner at Le Crocodile last year with the crocodile-shaped chocolates at the end of our 7 course meal. I’m loving this theme of complimentary high-quality chocolates – can more restaurants please do this 🙂
Thank you again Tourism Vancouver for selecting my photo as one of the winners!
We loved the halibut! A complimentary gift certificate always makes the food tastes better, however, the real test of the food quality is whether or not you would return. It was cool that a few of my foodie friends on instagram went to Fishworks right about the time of the Dine Out Festival and they were posting beautiful photos that really whet my appetite.
What’s Next for Food Photos:
So what’s next? Well, I’ve been submitting photos of my food creations and food I eat to the weekly Gastropost food “missions” and am waiting for the day they publish a large version of my photo with my caricature!
My co-worker brings me a copy of the weekend newspaper every time she sees my name appear. There’s my kit-kat photo below.
Their latest mission involved a giveaway to the upcoming Eat!Vancouver Food festival. Since Forage is one of the participating restaurants, and a local staple, I submitted one of my favourite photos of their locally sourced and sustainable produce:
Alright, it appears my photo features are starting to get bigger haha! Now adding “get large photo published with my face as a cartoon” as the next on my “list” 😉
*Update April 28, 2015*
I won the grand prize of a VIP package to the EAT! Vancouver festival for my photo above!!! Stay tuned 🙂 Thank you Gastropost and event partners for this incredible prize!!