Spotted - Zen Kitchen, Ottawa

Meet Dave and Caroline (pictured below). They are the friendly owners of Zen Kitchen, a gourmet vegan restaurant that pushes the envelope on vegan cooking. Before I share my meal from Zen Kitchen, I'd like you to get to know the masterminds behind the operation first. Caroline is also the Executive Chef of Zen Kitchen, and Dave is the manager & drink expert ;-) They are a warm couple who have a deep respect and affection for what they do. When...

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Omnivore's Ottawa Supper Club at Absinthe, Ottawa

Omnivore's Ottawa Supper Club hosted their final supper of the year this past Monday, and it was held at Absinthe, a French bistro & bar in Westboro. One thing I have come to love about OO's supper club is the great people you get to meet along the way. Because everyone has one thing in common: FOOD, the conversation is always engaging. I end up sitting with complete strangers everytime I attend one of these dinners, and never are there any...

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Lunch at Le Cordon Bleu Bistro, Ottawa

My friends and I recently had lunch at the re-vamped Le Cordon Bleu Bistro. Their quality 3-course lunch for $25, in my opinion, is a steal. It was a bit of a challenge trying to get a reservation (lots of phone tag), but we finally managed. A new lunch menu is offered each week, and you get a choice of one appetizer, one main, and one dessert. Luckily, we had enough people to try out their whole menu. Here is the menu from the week of Nov 10th...

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Jizo Japanese Cafe & Bar, Dunedin

After Moeraki, CK and decided to check out Dunedin. I wasn't sure what to expect because we had heard that Dunedin is a big college town. For me, all I wanted to see was scenery. Well, we were pleasantly surprised. We did the usual: Otago Peninsula, Lanarch Castle, Albatross Centre....But, our stay turned from nice to awesomely memorable when we accidentally stumbled upon Sandfly Bay. It is approximately 15km east of central Dunedin, and is a...

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Vangionis Trattoria & Bar, Akaroa

When it gets dark out, Vangionis is one of the few places still open in Akaroa. It is a cozy restaurant and bar serving Mediterranean style dishes. They use only fresh ingredients available in New Zealand, and they have an extensive menu ranging from tapas to large plates to pizza. CK and I stopped in one dark, rainy night and enjoyed a lovely dinner together. I ordered the rabbit in prunes and bacon. It was New Zealand rabbit slow cooked in...

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Akaroa Fish & Chips, Akaroa

This week will be a New Zealand week. I spent some time catching up on my New Zealand posts, and I'm so glad I did because it was nice looking back at the pictures from my awesome trip. I will start this wonderful week with a post about Akoroa. Akaroa is an unimaginably beautiful little town that is very French influenced. It's a town completely different from the rest of New Zealand. The street signs are in French, the architecture is French,...

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Baked Blue Cheese Crab Cakes

While I was laying in bed one night, I thought to myself "ya know what, crab cakes would go really well with blue cheese". Well, a few months later, I finally made it a reality. It took me a while but I finally did it. One warning to you though: please make sure you like blue cheese before you go and try this recipe. Blue cheese is an acquired taste, and it would be a shame to waste money and effort on these crab cakes to find out you don't really...

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