Poutine @ Belgian Fries

Belgian Fries
1803 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Earlier this year, I wrote a post on poutine, that quintessential, unique Canadian “dish”. It has been some months already and I think I have recovered enough from that experience (and the bypass!) to try it again on a different place. So, for this one, I chose to go to Belgian Fries in The Drive, where, according to their banner (and quote from the CBC Montreal), they have the best poutine in BC. Are they? Let’s see!

It seems they have grown a little bit, as I recall they used to occupy the space in the middle of the block and now they occupy the whole corner. But, the only thing I was “worried” about: since their expansion, has they been able to keep up with quality?

Do they *really* need two salt shakes plus a bottle of soy sauce?!

I arrived late afternoon/early evening and it was empty. Not sure if that was a good or bad sign. But, regardless, I looked at the menu and… Well, they have several versions of the poutine so, rather than ordering the basic version, I went for one of poutine variations. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this poutine variation, rather what it had… (But, I think this is the “deluxe” version).

So, let’s try again, this is poutine I got which, in addition to the basic (fries, cheese curds and gravy), it also has bacon, mushroom and red peppers. Now, one thing I must mention: this variation does NOT come in a small size! When I went to Fritz, I ordered the basic in a small size and I finished it. The one seen here is the medium version ($8). The question is, do I have the guts to finish it?

I must admit I completely underestimated their meaning of “medium” size serving. This serving is darn bloody big! If served as a main, it could easily serve two; as a side, easily four. I don’t want to imagine the size of their large serving! Anyway, I am not here to talk about that but my poutine experience…

First, the fries. It was actually quite good; however, I think it could have been better. In a way, it lacked that fluffy inside, semi-crunchy texture outside you get when you fry them twice. (Yes, really good fries need to be fried twice!). The cheese curds… Well, unfortunately I will have to say these were a bit absent in my dish. No, they were there, just that there weren’t that many curds. And the ones that were present, they didn’t really melt (depends on how you like them, this might be either good or bad) but when I tried a whole piece, it did had a slight “bite” to it. And the gravy… Ah, the gravy… It didn’t have an artificial taste to it. But, it did have a problem: it didn’t “sink” to the fries at the bottom. So, after eating the fries from the top… Well, the ones at the bottom ended up being just normal fries…

Unfortunately, I had to put this picture out of sequence: this is what I left un-eaten. Yes, such a waste… But, then again, when I first saw all the bowl of fries!

As for the bacon, mushroom and red peppers, unfortunately, they didn’t add too much to the eating experience. The bacon wasn’t crunchy enough – had you “shaved” some deli meat (ham? roast beef?), it would have ended up doing the same. And, similar to the cheese curds, there weren’t that many pieces of mushroom, so no comments on that. Finally, the red peppers gave a nice light sweet taste but wasn’t enough pieces to make that much of a difference.

Overall, I felt I ate french fries with gravy and some toppings in it. The lack of cheese curds ended up making the experience fall a bit short. However, from the few mouthfuls I had with cheese curds, I will have to say they were quite interesting. Are they the best? Given that I have been only to two places, I can’t make that judgment. And, now, I must take a long break before I dare to try poutine again! ^_^;;;

Tagged under: Commercial Drive • Random • Vancouver