Tag Archives: hazelnut

Voya’s petits fours: pineapple pate de fruit

If you’ve just joined us, I’m dissecting the petits fours plate at Voya. It’s a delicious assortment of beautiful little things, and the plate I had featured lemon spritz cookies, sparkly coffee cookies, pineapple pate de fruit, cherry cordials, hazelnut praline chocolates, and coffee chocolates.

I love pate de fruit. Directly translated, it means “fruit paste” and that’s exactly what it is.  Just think about it: delicate little squares of fruit puree, concentrated and slightly sweetened, and rolled in sugar so it sparkles. Slightly sticky, tangy and tart, it’s like candy for grown-ups.

Voya’s petits fours plate came with pineapple pate de fruit, and it surprised me. I was expecting tart, brash pineapple that would make my tongue pucker a little bit. Instead, it was a kinder, gentler pineapple that started out a little bit shy, and then became bolder as it melted on my tongue. The flavour developed even further on the back of my tongue and throat.

Not what I expected at all, but lovely nonetheless.

Voya (in the Loden Hotel)
1177 Melville Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 639-8692

Voya’s petits fours: sparkly coffee cookies

If you’ve just joined us, I’m waxing poetic on the petits fours plate at Voya. It’s a changing plate of miniature deliciousness, and the plate I had featured lemon spritz cookies, sparkly coffee cookies, pineapple pate de fruit, cherry cordials, hazelnut praline chocolates, and coffee chocolates.

So, what’s this about sparkly coffee cookies?

That’s probably not their real name, and it really doesn’t do justice to just how pretty they are. They probably have some fabulously Italian name that means coffee-almond-bites-of-eternal-and-undying-love, but I’m just going to call them sparkly coffee cookies.

They’re perfectly round, loonie-sized cookies that are dusted in sugar and garnished with a coffee bean. Coffee bean aside, these cookies pop with coffee flavour, and then mellow to the slightly sweet and nutty almond base. It’s like a chewy version of a coffee amaretti. But prettier.

Voya (in the Loden Hotel)
1177 Melville Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 639-8692

Voya’s petits fours: lemon spritz cookies

The lounge menu at Voya looks quite tempting. I mean, it’s all cute tasty things that look beautiful. We had rare tuna with ponzu sauce, on a bed of pickled daikon. The pickled daikon was really nice. The tuna was…acceptable, but not amazing.

What is amazing is that they have a petits fours plate on the lounge menu. Otherwise known as mignardise, they’re typically served after dessert with coffee. Back in my restaurant days, it was my favourite part of the meal because you got to plate so many cute things – and it was fun thinking of new things to put on the plate.

Now, there’s no mention of pastry chef Maurizio Persichino anywhere on the Voya website. It’s a shame because the pastry chef should always get billing wherever the executive and sous chef are, but it’s even more of a shame because he does such beautiful things.

The petits fours selection changes with Chef’s whim, but on this night there were lemon spritz cookies, sparkly coffee cookies, pineapple pate de fruit, cherry cordials, hazelnut praline chocolates, and coffee chocolates.

The lemon spritz cookies are beautiful. They’re little rosettes of moist, lemony goodness. The cookie has an almond base, which adds enough body and richness to the cookie without being overpowering. The best part about this cookie is the texture: the outside is crisp and slightly caramelized, while the inside is moist and slightly chewy. The whole thing is dusted in sugar and garnished with confit orange. So simple, but done so perfectly.

Voya (in the Loden Hotel)
1177 Melville Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 639-8692

Dine Out Vancouver: db Bistro Moderne, take one.

I’ve never eaten at Lumiere, nor did I get a chance to go to Feenie’s before it closed up shop. With Dine Out Vancouver offering a glimpse of what db Bistro Moderne had to offer, I figured I’d give it a try.

Actually, I tried it twice.

My first experience was a bit disappointing. It was the last sitting on the first Saturday of Dine Out Vancouver, and the crazy week had clearly taken its toll on the staff. The service was perfunctory and satisfactory, but not as welcoming as I would have expected. The food was decent, but not as well-executed as I expected. The kitchen was definitely tired.

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