Glowbal Grill

What have I been munching on lately? Advil and antibiotics. Last Friday, the night that I turned twenty, the consequences of my sweet tooth had finally caught up to me in the form of five jackhammers in my mouth. Unfortunately for me, most dental offices don't operate over the weekends. Even worse, mine had to open on a Tuesday... at 10:00AM. So as I sit here, nursing the aftermath of a root canal, I reminisce all that I have ate lately and I shed a tear - for my dear love, sugar and I, will be parting ways. For a while. At least. Hopefully we will rendezvous soon.

Oh well. At least my last meal was a pretty good one - albeit it bit over-the-top-salty. As most people in Vancouver might know, the Glowbal collection is a family of restaurants which includes: Coast, Trattoria, Italian Kitchen, Sanafir, Society, and of course, Glowbal Grill. Out of all these restaurants, I have only tried Society - for drinks - but have heard lots about Coast, Sanafir, and the Italian Kitchen. For my birthday, B surprised me with dinner at Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar in trendy Yaletown because I love a good steak and I can finally cross Glowbal off my check list. 

When we first got to the restaurant, it looked pretty packed. Not surprising since it was a Friday night. Originally, we were going to be seated on the heated patio in what looked like a cozy corner. My favourite. Too bad the rain got to our table before we did. Instead, we were seated in a waiting area with light-cubes as tables and started off with drinks -  a stirred Grey Goose martini with olives for B and for me, after a quick conversation with the bartender, a personalized  fruity concoction with some kind of Vodka and/or Gin. It was a nice place to wait for a table, a bit lounge-y and comfortable and before we knew it, we were seated. In my opinion, our table was a very awkward one. It was located at the top of a set of stairs and an area where the servers kept bottles of open wine or plates. It did, however, have a really nice view of the open kitchen and their meat showcase? Meat container? Meat display? Whatever it was, it was lit with red light and showed off their cuts of meat. Pretty neat and creepy at the same time. I liked it.

After a few questions about their menu and hearing the specials, we ordered the Chef's selection of satays which included: the king mushroom, panko crusted ahi tuna, garlic butter tiger prawn, tropical glazed coconut chicken, kobe meatball, short rib, wild salmon, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus to share. For the entree B chose the AAA 10oz Striploin, med-rare, with the wild mushroom risotto on the side. I also had the Striploin at medium rare but with a poutine on the side. While waiting for our food, we were happily nibbling on our hot bread with brown-salt butter, when a server popped in with a sample of creamy garlic soup in espresso shot cups, courtesy of the chef. I'm not a big fan of soup, but I have to say, this was a really good soup. Creamy and with just enough garlic flavour. It went really well with the crusty bread. 

Not too long after, we got our appetizers that was also served with a crispy thai slaw and two sauces: ginger white soya and hot Chinese mustard. I was pretty impressed with the presentation. It was plated on a wooden plank and each individual food item had a single skewer, the slaw was also chilled with dry ice! Impressive. Out of everything, the Panko crusted Ahi was my favourite - warm and crunchy on the outside and soft and cool on the inside. The chicken was surprisingly moist despite its appearance and had a slight tangy-coconut-y taste with a stronger kick of spice when dipped in the hot chinese mustard. Outside of those two items, not thing else really stood out because from what I remember, it was a bit salty.

After our appetizers were finished and plates were whisked away, we had to wait a bit for our entrees. We got a bit impatient, because it was a fairly long wait, but the atmosphere and view of the kitchen kept us entertained. When we finally did get our entrees, the first bite of my steak was delicious. It seemed to be seasoned well with out covering up the natural flavour of the beef but the more I ate, the saltier it got and it got really salty. Pity though, because aside from it tasting more and more like the Pacific Ocean, the steak was perfectly cooked true to medium rare and was plentiful juicy as was it tender. My poutine though, was an absolute disappointment. You would think that for $6.50, it would be a pretty good poutine right? Nah, KFC and New York fries does a better poutine than Glowbal Grill. There was a nice amount of mozzarella cheese curds and gravy covering the fries but while the gravy was hot, the cheese didn't melt. The fries itself were also kind of soggy and limp - like it was left out for a while. B's wild mushroom risotto wasn't any better. Now, both of us never tried risotto, but this one tasted chalky and a bit undercooked. It looked creamy, and smooth, but when you took a bite it tasted like what raw rice would taste like and broke apart into some kind of powdery substance.

Overall, our appetizers were probably the best part of the meal - despite it being oversalted, it was bearable. And if our steaks weren't marinated with ocean water, it could have rivaled Joe Fortes. After dinner, we skipped dessert. Shocking! But to be honest, I was scared even the desserts would be over-salted in some way and I was craving for a parfait anyways. Too bad by the time we left, Chiccos was closed. I would have risked a salty creme brulee if I knew that was going to be my last dessert for a while!