Dine Out Vancouver - Restaurant 1 - Sanafir

After several year's absence, we decided to book some restaurants for the Dine Out Vancouver Event this Year.

I try to keep to the same format with comments in [] and at the end. Please share your reviews of your experiences.

Restaurant - Sanafir
Seating - Early - 5:30pm
Price $25 each
Ambiance - Chic; Sexy; Cozy with 20ft ceiling; Decadent
Service - Friendly; helpful; really want us to have a good experience
Food we had -

Appy:

• Traditional Toasted Bread Salad -Toasted Nann Bread (3-4 small pieces) Mixed with organic greens and vinagarette. [Typical Salad; nothing too fancy]
• Moroccan Lentil Soup [Very Tasty Soup with fantastic herbs like Cumin and Curry]
• Wine Pairing - Mission Hill Chardonnay [Great, Crisp and perfect with the spices from the soup]

Entree:

• Fish Trio - Salmon Tartar/Sear Big Eye Tuna/Tempura Prawn Sushi Roll
• [Salmon and Tuna, we have had it at other restaurant before, so its comparable. But the Tempura Prawn Sushi Roll was EXCELLENT; this is not your typical Tempura Roll; You have to try it]
• Meat Trio - Beef Oxtail Cappelletti with White Truffle Cream/Crispy Pork Pakora/Chicken Marabella
• [The Beef which is like a giant wonton with very flavorful cream sauce and actual truffle shavings was Exquisite, Chicken was next but its just chicken, the Pork is flavorful - if we were directed to eat the trio from lighter flavors to heavier; maybe we can appreciate the chicken more]
• Wine Pairing - Sandhill Merlot [not to our taste; doesn't go with either well]
  

Dessert:

• Poached Pear with Stewed Fig and Honey Sauce and Mascapone Black Pepper Mousse
• Wine Pairing - Tinhorn Creek Kerner Ice Wine [Excellent Compliment]
• [This was not too sweet at all; with each bite of the dessert follow by a sip of the ice wine, the flavor of the ice wine changes (i.e. the pepper from the Mascapone Mousse was very light but once you sip the ice wine, you can taste the bite from the spice along with the wine.)]

Additional Comments -
For an addition $15 per person; we had the wine pairing with the meal, it was 2 oz (1/2 glass of wine) and 1 oz of Ice Wine. This is perfect if you are not a big drinker and want to try out some wine.

We also ordered the Toasted Nann Bread with Hummus, Roasted Garlic and Olives. This was tasty also.

This is a Tapas type menu but for 3 out of 4 of us, we felt full. The other guy is a big guy so he wanted more to eat.

The richness of the various sauces in the dishes was well done. It reminds us of the Iron Chef menus where they serve several courses and each person try a few bites of each course.

The owner was very attentive and wanted to ensure that all our questions were answered and we had a good dining experience. The next day, we got a call from the restaurant to see if we enjoy the meal. Rarely do you hear from restaurant with a follow up call. Very refreshing.

Check out the upstairs, there are the beds that you can be served on a tray and filmy silk canopy provides privacy .

Downside?

• The utensils were regular size and the dishes are small size; if you have to cut items, very hard to do so. Best to bring a set of smaller knife and fork or your own chopsticks.
• As mentioned above, the server or owner while introducing the dishes we are eating, should suggest which to eat first so that the lighter flavor item doesn't get lost if we ate a heavier sauce item first.

Meet Expectation - Yes, very fun place. Great Food!