The new De Dutch!

A few weeks ago, I was invited to the Grand Opening of De Dutch at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The evening promised to be lots of fun, with lots of appies, a fireboat demonstration and desserts too. 

 

As you can see from above, the evening was full of entertainment, celebrations and lots of food! There were a few speeches from local VIPs, but they kept them short, fun and festive. Once the speeches were done, we went back inside to check out the food samples being passed around.  This was the beverage that was served to us for the toast, but unfortunately, I never got the proper name of it. It was creamy, and reminded me of egg nog, but I'm sure it's something more complex than that. If you know what this might be, please leave me a comment below!    But before we got to sampling the food, the Fireboats put on a great show for us. The view from De Dutch is amazing and their patio is perfect for a great brunch. Mentally making a note to self to bring friends visiting Vancouver for the first time to this place.   Here we have the Windmill, which is essentially Shaved Smoked Wild BC Salmon, tucked into a Pannekeoken with Edam and Hollandaise Sauce. It's not how they normally serve this, but for a finger food,they nailed it. Creamy, salty, and delicate, this was a great introduction to a Pannekeoken!
I know what you are thinking, are these Mac and Cheese Balls? Risotto Balls? Well, you're wrong my friends, these are Beef Stew Balls. They take beef stew and bread it, and then deep fry these babies. They are piping hot so don't be a hero and try to eat this all in one bite. Take a bite, breath, savour the flavour and pop the rest into your mouth. I'm not sure if these are on their regular menu, oh, but they should be! Next we got to try some Chicken Fingers. And although I'm not one to order these in most restaurants, I was surprised by the crunch of the breading as well as the size of this baby. The meat was moist and the breading had really good flavours.  Here is their version of a Chicken Quesadilla. They really stuffed this baby, and I really liked the peppers for the crunch. The tender chicken meat was diced small enough so that every bite had a bit of it, along with the gooey cheese.  The last savoury item we tried was the Prawn Ceviche. I cold dish with fresh veggies, this was a pleasant accompaniment to the heavier dishes we already ate. The prawns were plump and sweet with a nice bite added to it with the slightly acidic salad.

 

Now, I was aiming for dessert. I peeked into a glass-enclosed meeting room and look at what I found. Their private room, which seats 20 people, a glass-enclosed room complete with video-conferencing. Oh, and there is free Wi-Fi!   The yummy dessert that I indulged in were the Leonidas Fresh Belgian Chocolates (@leonidaschocola) macaroons! Despite the raspberry flavour that they were featuring, I fell in love with their pistachio one. The mixture of soft cookie and creamy filling was just right!  And for some of the media guests, we got a little swag bag...some with coffe mugs, some with champagne glasses...It was a nice touch and a great reminder of the event. Be sure to give De Dutch a try when you're in the area for brunch and lunch. The view is great and the food is a perfect match to the scenery.