The Happy Hour with Food Wench
After a couple quite enjoyable visits to Chewies’ Coal Harbour location, I gladly accept Food Wench (Drunken Noms)’s invitation to the happy hour at restaurant’s original location in Kitslano.
The patio is a lot smaller here, fitting only 5 to 6 small tables, and it felt a little too intimate with the people at the tables next to ours. However, being only steps away from the beach, I was enjoying the sun, the hip dark wooden deck, and the young and vibrant crowd. And I am ready to join Food Wench for one of her great Drunken Noms experiences.
The Awesome Wine Deal on Mondays
Although the happy hour food menu is slightly different, the Kitslano spot has the same half-priced deal on wine bottles on Mondays. And how can we not take advantage of that? The first bottle we picked from the list, Lock & Worth Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon ($35), costs only $17 on Mondays. The white wine tasted sweeter than I expected, giving that Sauvignon Blanc is on the dryer side and semillon is somewhat similar but with a fuller body. But I prefer a cleaner taste of white wine to go with oyster usually. So the 2nd bottle, (yes, we had to order a 2nd bottle since we were enjoying each other’s company so much), Lake Breeze Pinot Blanc, definitely provided the crisp and brighter taste to wake up my palate for the the delicious oysters. Unfortunately we ordered this bottle after we finished the oysters. So this oyster-wine pairing just has to wait.
The Oysters
The oysters were awesome. The Chefs Creek oyster, the buck-a-shuck feature of the day, were those creamy little jewels great for your bucks. Like the Coal Harbour location, they also offered the $2 premium oyster of the day, the Village Bay oyster from New Brunswick, beautifully shaped and succulent in texture. The East Coast oyster reminded me of Kusshi, one of my favourite from the West Coast, but its flavour seemed more subtle and I tasted some notes of cucumber. As it went well with the cucumber vinaigrette, I quite liked the habanero sauce for a little kick and enhancer as well.
The Happy Hour Food Menu
The happy hour food menu here is much smaller, and my favourite items from the Coal Harbour restaurant, such as the Crocs and Hush Puppies, the Fried Green Tomatoes and the Crab Cakes were missing on it. The dishes we ended up getting here were just okay. The Pork Belly Crackin’ ($8) could be a tab bit crispier on the skin. The Pan Seared Calamari was little dry, giving a chewy texture. And they seemed to hold back the spices and seasonings on the All Dressed Cajun Fries and the Chewies’ Wings as I was expecting much bigger southern flavours.
Overall
The happy hour experience here was quite enjoyable with the great Monday wine deal, the tasty oysters, the sunny patio and the great company, although less choices could be found on their happy hour food menu than the one from their Downtown location. And the cooking seemed slightly underwhelming as well – maybe because it was on a Monday? But I would definitely stick to the Coal Harbour location as it’s only one block from my office in Downtown and has more choices on food.
Website:
http://www.chewies.ca
Menu:
http://www.chewies.ca/kits-happy-hour-menu/
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Pfft. You made it sound like we stopped at just two bottles of wine… 😉
Oh man we did have 3 bottles, didn’t we? 😀
3 bottles AND an extra glass each! 😛