Eating up the Hill: One Tuesday, two receptions, lots of seafood

Someone told me there were 13 receptions around Parliament Hill on Tuesday night. That may well be true, I don’t keep an exhaustive list. But I did delay my nightly collapse onto my couch to venture to two that had caught my eye: Restaurants Canada at Riviera and Pacific Salmon Foundation and Sport Fishing Institute of BC at the Marriott.

I started off at Riviera, a few blocks down Sparks from my office, at Elgin, a fancy spot where I had lunch once – a decent steak frites – but is rather bougie and generally out of my price range. It was dimly-lit and pretty packed. Two drink tickets were provided on entry, and it was a challenge to get to the bar. Like when you get your drink, move away from the bar people!

Anyway, I got a glass of a Niagara pinot (everything was specifically tied to a geography) and moved about the crowd. A tuna appy was offered, but I passed. I don’t care for tuna. Although I have been told that maybe I do, and to not judge tuna by the smelly canned stuff. Still, trying the good stuff will need to wait for another day.

There were a lot of pass-appies, and a tray of what looked like sliders was done and dusted well before it got near me. Being both hungry and on the clock, I made a strategic decision to move near to where the appies come from the prep station, to maximize my app chances.

Up first for me was a little bowl with shrimp, scallop and oyster from Newfoundland in a broth – so, a seafood chowder of sorts. Delicious, flavourful, could have ate four more.

Up next was beef tartar on a kettle chip from Alberta. Usually, I steer clear of uncooked meat – yes, even you sushi to the shame of my BC brethren – but as it was a small amount I took the plunge and wolfed it down. It was fine.

Finally, an arancini ball. Delicious, creamy, hearty, satisfying. Would eat again.

There was a table with various meets and cheeses, but it was warm in there and the siren song of wild British Columbian salmon as calling me, so I ventured outside onto Sparks Street, handed my leftover drink ticket to an entering staffer, and walked a few blocks down to the Marriott.

I arrived mid-speeches, so for 10 minutes I stared longingly across the room at the table of appies while the sponsors spoke about salmon spawning, habitat and species restoration efforts, and different politicians voiced their support. As a BCer I’m well-versed in these issues and very supportive of efforts to revive and protect the wild stock – its massive for tourism, the commercial industry and the Indigenous community with treaty rights and a long historical ties to BC’s best fish.

So during the politicians’ spiels I quietly snaked through the crowd to the table which was getting sparse – and ran out not much later so good call by me.

There were no labels so I cannot offer you specific informed descriptions. But there was smoked salmon, some sort of pate, and a very fishy fish. So assorted tasty seafood stuff. 

I could have done with a whole fillet but that would have been challenging. Maybe salmon sliders? But it was tasty, and confirms West Coast is the Best Coast for fish.

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Eating up the Hill: Lunching at the new West Block Parliamentary Dining Room

It will be a decade or more (definitey more) before the Parliamentary Dining Room reopens in Centre Block with its cosy alcoves and river views...and its delicious buffets. Until then, the Dining Room has moved to a cozier underground location in West Block. They were open last week to work out the kinks before the Parliamentarians return, so a friend and I went over for lunch to check it out.

As I said, it's cozy. Maybe a quarter of the size of the Centre Block location. So, no room for the popular with staff Friday buffets which regularly sold out. When I had my first tour of the building a few months back, the lighting was dim and I said it felt like a wine bar -- the big wine rack helped. With the light on that ambience was gone, and it was just a windowless, buffetless, brightly-lit cave. Fellow dinners complained the modicum of privacy in the old location was lost. I felt they should have dimmed the lights back down.

Complaints about the space aside, let's turn to the menu. As mentioned, I was a buffet fan so I wasn't super familiar with the old a la carte menu, but I did recognize a few holdovers -- the salmon is still on there -- as well as some new additions. The Brussels Sprouts appetizer sparked a conversation on pluralism with my dining companion -- brussel sprouts or brussels sprout? I hope its like Governors General. But either way, it's not on my plate.

I went with the dish that is rather unimaginitevly titled on the menu as "Seafood." Rather unimagenitvely named, even if it does fit my see food diet. Thankfully, there was a description: lobster, shrimp & scallops, forbidden rice, lobster velour.

For $23 it came with a house salad -- tried to move for a substition for ceasar, but consent was denied. I forgot to take a picture, but here's the empty dish. It was a house salad, what do you want? Lettuce, carrot, dressing, you've seen one before. It was fine. If they'd added shaved parmesean it would have been excellent.

On to the entree. I had pre-scouted and did some Googling on forbidden rice:

Black rice, also called forbidden rice or "emperor's rice," is gaining popularity for its high levels of antioxidants and superior nutritional value. Forbidden rice earned its name because it was once reserved for the Chinese emperor to ensure his health and longevity, and forbidden to anyone else. Forbidden rice is a medium-grain, non-glutinous heirloom rice with a deep purple hue and a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. 

Mmmm, forbidden donut, um, er, rice...

The "Seafood" dish was as described. A nice portion of lobster, several seared scallops, several large shrimp, and assorted veggies with black rice in a tasty sauce. Not a huge dish but well-prepared and quality seafood, even if it probably wasn't from the Pacific -- the best ocean. The rice was crunchier in texture than white rice and indeed, a little nutty. Didn't make me feel like a Chinese Emperor, but it was a tasty dish. Well executed. I think I saw most of the lunch patrons ordering it.

I was still hungry for a non-included dessert, though. I went for a $10 piece of carrot cake, which the menu described as being accompanied by: spiced pineapple compote & goat cheese ice cream, strawberry splash.

I like carrot cake. There's a carrot cake in the dessert rotation at the cafeteria that I often have when it comes up. This one was...different. Maybe it was the layers that thre me off, or some ingridient in the cake layers. But it didn't much taste like trditional carrot cake to me. The goat cheese ice cream, though small in portion, was creamy and enjoyable though the pineapple compote didn't taste fresh.

It was a meal that left me full and satisfied, but at these pricepoints I will not be a regular in the West Block dining room. It's not any pricier than it was befre, but the $20 all you can eat Friday buffets were the budget-friendly staff option. The a la carte lunch will be a very rare treat indeed.

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