Dine Around Victoria started this week and I must admit I was pretty excited. Until Wil picked up a pretty horrible stomach bug that appears to have worked its way into my system, although not with such force thankfully. Still it's not the best state to be in for a festival that is all about food. But still, with mouths watering over the menus on offer and good recommendations from friends, we thought we'd give it a shot. Jonny and Melody had had a great night at the Flying Otter and it had long been on our list of places to try (though that was for a beer in the summer) so we decided to head on down. Now maybe it was because it was busy, maybe they'd got over the initial excitement of the festival, but I think it was a different Otter that we visited tonight, when compared with Jonny's experience Thursday.
The Flying Otter is in a great spot, right on the water. It doesn't have much in terms of signage or street front but it does sit in the float plane terminal so collects all the tourists that arrive in Victoria by float plane, and is picking up momentum with locals as a nice spot for a drink. There are some good specials there too. Tonight it was packed and we were lucky to get a spot, but then given Dine Around and given it was a Saturday night that is not all that surprising. We squeezed in by the fire which seemed a good bet as it was a bit nippy out, but with Wil not feeling the best, and a migraine starting out at the back of my head, perhaps fireside wasn't the best place to be, what with the draft from the outdoor patio seating curling in around our other sides. The Otter offers both a $20 and $30 option for Dine Around and there are quite a few similarities between the two, but the $30 menu just nudges ahead in terms of appeal. All the choices sounded pretty darn good and we had high hopes of a great meal.
Wil started with the Duck Confit Spring Rolls which were good, but then as he said it is hard to screw up spring rolls. In my experience it is hard to make fried spring rolls really great and it is usually the sauce that kicks them off. These were served sans sauce, but with some macerated figs which I enjoyed but were lost on Wil. I chose the seafood dual which had a quite nice crabcake and some delicious prawns, wrapped in bacon and topped with a nice dollop of chipotle aioli. They were served with a bright, fresh, slightly sweet mango salsa which I was a great fan of. It was similar to a pineapple salsa I made back towards the end of summer, but with mango which was Wil's suggestion at the time. I have love/hate thing going on with mango but tonight's fruit was just right.
For mains Wil chose the prime rib, which was rather disappointing. It was far from hot and had a very odd gamey flavour that really wasn't to my liking. Wil quickly passed off his asparagus and bok choy to my plate - the asparagus was a little undercooked and the edges of the bok choy charred and ash like. Things weren't looking good. Wil had been so looking forward to the mashed potatoes on his plate that he saved them for last - this may have been a mistake as they were unseasoned and completely bland. I could almost hear Gordon Ramsay yelling in my mind!
I chose the butter poached halibut which was delicious and served with more of the mango salsa from my appetizer. This was an altogether pretty good dish, although the vegetables and potatoes suffered the same fate as those on Wil's plate which was disappointing.
Moving onto dessert there was never any doubt that Wil would choose the deep fried cheesecake. It was crispy and crunchy on the outside and tasted like those mini donuts you get from carts at funfairs and such. The inside was super creamy and oh so rich. It was a great dish but way too huge. It was pitched as served with vanilla bean icecream and Jonny had described seeing the little flecks of vanilla through his serving so we were more than disappointed with a perfectly white ball of icecream on the side of the plate. It certainly helped with the richness of the cheesecake, but it lacked that true vanilla flavour.
My strawberry panna cotta was almost a bigger let down than the steak, or maybe I was just too eager for it. The panna cotta itself was lifeless and lacking in any discernible flavour and whilst the strawberries were perfectly ripe and reminiscent of summer, with the wan flavour beneath them the dessert just didn't do it. The pistachio chili brittle was great, although it stuck in the teeth a little too much so maybe not the best choice for a first date. Luckily that wasn't us tonight!
Some of the regular meals that passed by us on their way from kitchen to table looked and smelled pretty good so I wouldn't be against returning to the Flying Otter but I don't think it'll be for awhile, at least not until high summer, as Wil's stomach discomfort and the disappointments in our meal have left a bitter taste in his mouth. Hopefully we'll both be fighting fit again soon and then we'll be out to try more of the Dine Around Participants, but in the meantime has anyone out there been to any so far this weekend? How was your experience?
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