Red Ox Inn, Edmonton, Alberta

Heard so many good things about this place. Our table was not ready for us when we arrived, no problem, we can get a drink while we wait...oh..no we cant, what you see is what you get.  We had to awkwardly stand in the tiny doorway, all the customers at tables were looking at us, we felt like we were interrupting everyones dinner, ahha. So we decided to wait outside.
The waitress was kind enough to come out and get us when our table was ready. We were sat at this tiny table, which felt like we were on the edge of the kitchen and the other tables.  We really would have preferred a more private table.  Wow it was loud in there, Friday night i suppose thats why, we had to almost yell at each other to have a conversation...
Yikes, ok no problem, just get me some wine and all will be fine.....20 minutes later, i was asked if i would like a drink... sigh..the wine was sooo good once i finally got it :)
Appetizers, crab cake, good, however the cold beet soup added to the bottom of the plate was definetly unnecessary. We also had the grilled organic Australian prawns, crispy corn-shrimp dumplings, scallions, spicy chipotle mayo. My Prawns were still grey, undercooked, the dumplings were good though. Seasoning was off putting, almost like burnt pepper...i dont think that prawns from Australia are the most appetizing, i mean think of the journey, how fresh can they be?
Joe had the special which was venison wrapped in bacon, with a tasty blueberry sauce, he enjoyed it very much.
I had the lamb, with a barley, mascarpone risotto, and a few vegetables. Lamb was very tender and tasty, bit too salty for my palate. Overall it was good.  Prices are up there, a bit too much up there.....Small portions for what you pay for.  I dont mind small portions, just dont charge soo much.
We will try it again, the service was pretty good, next time we will maybe try a weekday and hope that we aren't sitting next to another table with 15 25 year old men...

Natasha:)

The Blue Pear, Edmonton, Alberta

Hmm, so i have been meaning to check this place out, i have heard nothing but great things.  We went all out and got the five course menu with five wines, each wine paired with each course, pretty cool.  This costs $144 per person...yikes, but it was fun, and a new experience for both of us. I started with mushroom salad, Asian salad of king and enoki mushrooms over cashew nut puree, with pickled sun chokes, Chinese sausage, radish, sliced pear and pea shoots. It was very cute and tasty. 
Joe had the quail, grilled semi boneless quail, potato ricotta dumpling, stinging nettle pesto & aged balsamic. I think that semi boneless is a bit difficult to eat, this isn't exactly a finger food kind of restaurant, so to cut out these tiny bones to get a morsel of meat is a bit tedious.

 Anywhoo, it was different and nicely presented.  They did give us an amuse of a cold carrot and ginger soup, it was quite bright and refreshing. Then we had a small espresso size lobster tomato bisque with milk foam and a yummy warm biscuit. Many thanks to "Bisque" being used in its proper manner :)  It was very flavorful, bit too salty. 

 For my main course i had Roast chicken breast, grilled prawn, garlic chive potato puree, mushroom ragout, chipolini onions and mushroom jus.  Tiny portions, but i guess thats how you can actually eat five courses, im not a big fan of the classic French style of tiny things for big dollars. It was alright, chicken was dry, the skin was well crisped, puree was definitely pureed almost to a liquid, and very green, and then the onions were onions and so on.

 Joe had Pork, grilled local Berkshire pork which i believe is British style raised in the fresh air and sunshine. It came with crispy braised pork, potato gratin, glazed rutabagas, wilted greens and pork sauce. The pork loin was very sad looking, it was flat and flimsy, a curious meal, thats for sure.  

I just remembered the the tasting plate before the main course, gravlax, with pickled beets, some mayo, and few bits and pieces all over the plate, half a cracker haha, some really sweet cheese........The salmon gravlax didn't taste very fresh.

So dessert, mine was a dark chocolate Boca Negra (Julia Child recipe)  cake, with coffee pudding, chocolate meringue, mousse, whipped caramel and chocolate pebbles, lots of whipped and air going on in this dessert, the presentation was kind of ploppy, hehe, it was different and good.

Joe had Medjool (the diamond of dates) date pudding with cotton candy, halva (middle eastern and asian sweet dense dessert) candied pistachios, sesame tuile, whipped date syrup, prickly pear sorbet, Pretty cool.

The wines were good, one did smell like formaldehyde, but hey new experiences are fun:D

We payed a hefty bill for what we got, but it was a new and interesting experience........ 

Natasha:)