Mum's B-Day @ Aqua Riva...

Today is mum's birthday :) Happy Birthday Mum!!! Ask for her age and she'll tell you she's 29 and holding :P hehe.

I'm not sure why, but Mum and Dad decided that they wanted to go out for dinner last night instead of tonight but it happened that way, and the pick was Aqua Riva, down by Vancouver's Waterfront, right next to our World Trade Center.

Aqua Riva is located right on the waters edge and offers a beautiful view of North Vancouver as well as the 5 Sails of Canada Place. For all of us it was the first time here so we weren't sure what to expect... I hung back outside to take a picture of the entrance, so I didn't get to see what their hostess is like. I'm sure they're nice.

After seating, in typical Chinese fashion my Mum pulled out a newspaper clipping :) It was an add that was advertising the Aqua Riva Best of B.C. Menu (which was included with the regular menu given to us when we were seated). For some reason I was feeling particularly lazy that night so I just stuck with the $29 set dinner which included your choice of (1 from each section):

Appetizer:

Chilliwack Corn & Seafood Chowder
Vancouver Island Sidestripe Salt Prawns
Local Baby Field Greens

Main Course:

Roasted Wild Skeena River Coho Salmon
Roasted Fraser Valley Free Range Chicken Breast
Wood Grilled Salt Spring Island Lamb Sirloin

Dessert:

Pitt Meadow Blueberry Cheese Cake
Okanagan Apple and Cherry Bread Pudding

You can click on the picture below to see the dish details.

Below are the pages from the regular menu:


The prices are on par with most other 'up-scale' restaurants in Vancouver (~$10 for an appy and ~$25-$30 per entree.

I have to say that the service was impeccable. The waiters are all First Class, we didn't really get to test their knowledge as we all ordered from the set dinner (and no one ordered wine) but from what I've heard, they're also all very knowledgeable. The waitress also let me know that the Guinness that I ordered was coming in a can... I know, they're always supposed to tell you that, but I've come across places where they don't tell you...

Dad ordered:
Chilliwack Corn & Seafood Chowder
Wood Grilled Salt Spring Island Lamb Sirloin
Okanagan Apple and Cherry Bread Pudding


Lamb Sirloin & Bread Pudding
Mum & I ordered:
Local Baby Field Greens
Roasted Fraser valley Free Range Chicken Breast
Pitt Meadow Blueberry Cheese Cake


Grilled Free Range Chicken Breast

Baby Greens & Cheese Cake
Dad said he liked the chowder (which I didn't get a snap of) but it was filling him so he pushed it over to me :P. I haven't ordered chowder in a dog's age but this one wasn't too bad :) It wasn't too creamy and it wasn't too runny either, just right. For some strange reason I don't recall there being big chunks of seafood. Everything seemed kinda mashed together o.O Maybe dad ate all the good stuff before passing to me.. hehe.

The baby greens were nice, all the leaves were fresh & very tasty :) It came with preserved peaches too... and what looked like melba toast with some sort of Garlic butter... sorry :p I suck when it comes to picking out ingredients :$.

On to the Free Range Chicken. I am pleased to say that it was some of the best chicken that I have had. The Chicken was served on a bed of Mashed Potatoes and mixed vegetables topped in a gravy. Mmm.. I love mashed potatoes... AND I LOVE VEGGIES :D Can't go wrong :p. What made it even better is that the chicken was stuffed with Dungenous crab & sweet corn, resulting in a very subtle, unique flavor...

Mmmmm... Cheesecake! I was expecting the cheesecake to be REALLY rich, but instead it was nice and light. Not too much Blueberry, not too rich and cheesy... superb.

I didn't get a chance to try my dad's Bread Pudding but dad says that the texture was nice, it tasted sweet, and it was better than the Cheesecake :p

All-in-all, Aqua Riva was a very pleasant experience. I'm definitely going back, next time to try something off the regular menu!

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Some random shots outside of Aqua Riva:


Dad, Mum & 5 Sails of Canada Place

Vancouver's World Trade Center & another one of those bears, this one's a Canuck Bear :)

The Sears Tower and the Gate to Historic Gas Town

For the dorks: EA's downtown campus & the old trainstation

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