It's garden party season in Ottawa. And while there's usually no garden, there are usually nibbles. As there was on Monday as Liberal Party donors gathered at the Canadian War Museum.
It was packed and the mood was ebullient, a start contrast to the mood at the Holiday party just six months ago across the river at the Canadian Museum of History. This meant Liberal fortunes have improved, and food lines would probably be longer.
Thankfully though, the lines were just at the bars and I was able to make the food rounds easily. There were pass appies and the usual charcuterie on offer, but I'll focus on the three food stations.
Up first was the bao station. At first, I was told it would be tofu bao and I was displeased. Then, that was corrected -- hey, there's also fried chicken -- and like Liberal poll numbers since February, my spirits were immediately lifted.
The bao was fresh, the veggies crisp, and the fried chicken crunchy and juicy. A bit messy with the sauce, but delicious nonetheless.
After finishing my first glass of wine (a light pour, to be fair) I went off to find the source of what I thought, based on a discarded empty bowl, would be a risotto station. But I would soon learn that on offer was actually Ahi Tuna Poke bowls.
I was faced with a dilemma because I have always turned my nose up at tuna. I like fish, but the smell of tuna always put me off. It was put to me recently though that that's canned tuna, and I should try the higher end and fresh variety. So I decided to take a shot.
This was raw tuna, but just little bits and mixed with other things. I tried it. No off putting smell. Not saying I'm going to suddenly start eating sushi. But with sticky rice, fancy mayo and veg, this worked.
Venturing outside to refresh my wine as the outside bar was far more accessible, I found that there was a chip truck offering poutine. In the interest of food review science, I had to give it a try.
I liked the green onions, the gravy was fine, and the fries were shoestring -- regular readers will know I don't care for potato-heavy fries. My one note would be the curds. While there was plenty, I think they could have been fresher. Curd aficionados will know the freshest curds are squeaky when chewed. That was missing here. But as far as poutine goes, it was fine.
So my rankings would be in the order I ate them actually: bao, then poke bowl, then poutine.
Wine refreshed, a speech from the leader who filled the room and brightened the vibes, and then it was home to rest up for the next garden party.
