Anniversary dinner at Navarra
Sat, 26 Jul 2014 2 Comments 
Thursday was my 4th wedding anniversary so I suggested to the hubs that we try Navarra. There are a TON of restaurants on my to-try list (this city has an unbelievable amount of awesome restaurants) and I thought Navarra was perfect for this speical night. The chef/owner is Rene Rodriguez who won this past season of Top Chef Canada....so we assumed he knew what he was doing. And we were SO right. I had read several bad reviews on Urban Spoon and was worried but I frankly have no idea what the hell those people were talking about. We loved it, ate tons, drank lots, laughed with staff and other patrons and had a great time. (And it turns out the girl at the bar above is my sister's friend Crystal LOL).
Jeff ordered a Tequila Sour and I had a Mojito. Both awesome, especially Jeff's drink. For whatever reason that foam rocked.
The menu consists of tapas/starters and then mains. We opted to each have a starter and then a main. This was my starter. AMAZING. Parmesan Custard - BC crab, fried shallots, pickled kumato relish, black truffle salt. I should have asked for a spoon so I could scrape every bit out of the bowl.
Jeff's start was Chimichurri mushrooms - with fried organic mushrooms, onion sofrito, grana padano and nitro spicy popcorn. He went nuts over the chimichurri sauce. He gave me a piece of potato to try (I detest mushrooms) and I can see why.
I had a glass of yummy red sangria. I also ate all the fruit on and in it. :)
My main was Pan Roasted Rainbow Trout - potato chip crust, tarragon mayo, chantilly beets, rye and radishes. This was divine. Our server told me the crust was Miss Vickie's salt & vinegar chips. YEAH, and it was GOOD. I smashed this.
Jeff's main was Chef's Signature smoked, confit and roasted Quebec Pig Cheek - achiote reduction, brussel sprouts, burnt onion relish, pickled pineapple, cilantro. He smashed this too.
My dessert was Lemon Curd - almond granola, fresh berries, min. I am a big fan of fruity deserts and this was simple but fantastic.
Jeff only eats chocolate desserts so he of course ordered the Dark Chocolate Coulant - Self-saucing caramel center, nitro almond-rosemary granola, strawberry ice-cream, sea salt. Those little crusty rectangles are Captain Crunch cereal! The plate was placed on the table then a shot of Baileys poured over it and the cereal sprinkled on top. I believe Jeff's response to the server about this one was "HOLY SHITBALLS".
So an awesome anniversary dinner thanks to Rene and his crew. I would love to go back and try the Carbonara Pasta because the sweet old dude next to us nearly had a coronary over it. He told the server he wanted to lick the plate so the server brought him a piece of bread. To note: be prepared to spend a bit of $ if you eat and drink as much as we do, and they have a cute little patio too that looked very inviting if the weather is decent.
Reader Comments (2)
Glad you both enjoyed yourselves! Navarra is absolutely amazing!
For the record, I did not realize that was you when I took the photo - I might have gotten you to turn around and pose. (LOL) AS IF you used to work there!
I'm so glad we have another fab restaurant to add to our list of favs.