Dine Out Vancouver - Cobre

I've been meaning to try Cobre for months now, and finally, during #DineOutVancouver, I finally did it! They were ONLY offering their Dine Out menu, and nothing from their regular menu. I found that a bit odd, but that's how they decided to do it.

The first course was Tacos and we got the Pulled Duck and Prawn ones. Each appy comes with four tacos, so yes, definitely a generous portion! On the left is the Pulled Duck, and although I prefer my duck done in the Chinese way, like at Grand Dynasty, this version was pretty good too. They serve theirs with some crackling, scallions and roasted garlic, and the creamy garlic and crunch crackling made for a nice texture. The duck was well seasoned and you get quite a bit in one taco. The Prawn one was nice, but there was too much sauce from the roma tomatoes for my liking, but the horseradish gave this a nice kick. After four tacos, I was already getting full. 

For our mains, we both ordered the Grilled BC bison strip loin. Three generous pieces of sliced striploin each topped with some mushrooms and an empanada. The sauce was a lovely mole-based sauce and very fitting with the strip loin.

The empanada was stuffed with a bit of blue cheese and it reminded of a cheese filled dumpling. I really like the play of meat and cheese, so this was really delightful. I found the meat a little tough, but it was well seasoned and cooked to a nice medium rare. Perhaps it's the nature of bison? 

Our first dessert was a Tres Leche cake with a bit of lemon ice cream on the side. This cake was quite light despite being soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. The lemon ice cream was a nice accompaniment, as it served to further "lighten up" the cake

Our second dessert was a Phyllo Pastry with Coconut and Banana cream. This was very delicate in flavour, which was a good thing, since I'm neither a coconut or a banana fan. I much prefer the the Q4 version of Phyllo Dessert, with mascarpone cheese and cherries!
Although I don't agree with the "forced" Dine Out menu, what I tried was good and I'll likely return to try some of their regular menu items.