Edible Obsessions | Ritual Dine Out 2017

Warm Beet Salad - Ritual Dine Out 2017

Dine Out Vancouver is every foodie's favourite three weeks of the year where we get the perfect excuse to head out and eat delicious food. Ever since that day I had brunch at Ritual, I have been dying to head back and what better time than during Dine Out. Ritual's three course dinner menu was $40 per person, so it was on the pricier scale of Dine out restaurants. 

Nightshade - Ritual Dine Out 2017

For starters, I went with their Pemberton grown warm beat salad on a bed of wild greens and house ricotta. Their house ricotta was so creamy and fresh, that I could eat it everyday with some fresh berries! My friend decided on the peculiarly named appetizer, Nightshades. The dish consisted of butter seared potato pave, layered eggplant and a delicious tomato emulsion. I decided to do a quick google search because the name is bizarre, but apparently Nightshades are fruits and vegetables from the Solanaceae plants which include but not limited to potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers.     I snuck a few bites from her plate, the potatoes and sauce was delicious, but the eggplant was a little weird; however, I also tend to not like eggplant. 

Hand Formed Winter Squash Ravioli - Ritual Dine Out 2017

For the entree, I had a hard time deciding between the cumin roasted chicken served with tabbouleh, cilantro yogurt and einkorn risotto and the hand formed winter squash ravioli. I ended up choosing the latter, and really enjoyed the semolina pasta garnished with roasted spiced pears, shaved amaretto and pecorino. My senses were definitely a little confused at times as I have never had a savoury pasta topped with sweet cubes of pear and shaved amaretto. Also, how did the chefs at Ritual turn a liquid drink, amaretto, into a sweet solid powder?! 

Boneless Short Ribs - Ritual Dine Out 2017

My friend chose the third entree option, the boneless short ribs. According to her, the short ribs were amazing and were served with smoked mash potatoes (yes, I stole a bite!) foraged mushrooms and organic vegetables. The plating was stunning and at one point my friend had to tell me to stop taking pictures and let her eat already! My ravioli was no where near as stunning in plating design. Just flat one toned, so you cannot blame me. 

Mister Tally Man - Ritual Dine Out 2017

The most important part of any meal is the dessert and it was a tough decision because we could only have two of the three dessert options! What a travesty! Eventually we settled on the Mister Tally Man - caramelized banana, dark chocolate mousse, spiced rum cake and potato chips - and the Apple + Honeycomb - cardamom ice cream, and toffee sauce. The rum cake was moist with a deep rum flavour that complimented the caramelized banana. I was not too found of the dark chocolate mousse and potato chips, just a weird flavour combination to throw in with the banana rum. The second dessert, Apple + Honey, was my favourite of the two! The apples were very thinly sliced and only cooked just enough to be softened, but not mushy. Together with the creamy delicious toffee sauce, it was like eating apple pie! Also, it is very rare to be served actual honey comb, so I was really excited to have it in my dessert! 

Apple + Honey - Ritual Dine Out 2017

What an amazing start to Dine Out 2017! Both my friend and I were so stuffed, that we had to take a little walk along Robson street to digest our meals. 

BYES