I'm Only Here for the Food!

Cafe Medina
556 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC

In my Bon’s Off Broadway post, I mentioned what I usually have for breakfast. I am sure writing about cereals is not too exciting so, on an odd day last week, I took it off and, well, as you can guess, go to a breakfast place. Oh, wait, take that back: I had my regular breakfast that day, instead, I chose go to Cafe Medina for an early lunch but ordering from their breakfast menu. And, as some of you might now, Cafe Medina is an offspring of Chambar, a well known restaurant in Vancouver, so it ought to be good, right?

While I had the day off, it was a regular work day to the rest so that meant it would be regular traffic. While I know that traffic in Downtown Vancouver is a pain (though this is regardless of the day of the week), the fact Cafe Medina is just half a block from a Skytrain station was a blessing. I could just hop into one and wait for the appropriate station (Stadium Skytrain Station, in this case). And I arrived there around a quarter before noon. What? Already 3/4 full? Could it be people was trying to be there early to beat the lunch rush? Actually, that was really odd because by the time it was noon, business started to wind down. Anyway, one of the supposedly good things about going to restaurant by yourself is that you can be easily accommodated if they have a bar section. I mean, when you have a party, you have to wait for a table large enough for your party to open and, in a lot of places, you can’t be seated until everybody in your party is there. But, enough of that, to the food!

For most people, the drink of choice in the morning is coffee. While I drink coffee once in a while (preferably cafe con leche otherwise, latte – no sugar), my drink of choice would be tea. No, no green tea for me, instead, I went for Earl Grey. It was interesting though that, instead of giving you a bag, like a lot of places, Cafe Medina serves tea from loose leaves. And, rather than using a tea infuser, it was provided in a French press. Past that, I will admit the tea here was quite good. I will not even try to compare it to a bagged version, other than say it was quite smooth (no strong dry taste at the end) while the orange-y taste associated to this tea blend was strong yet not overpowering. And, as for the food…

Ever since Sherman wrote about Cafe Medina, I have wanted to have that bean stew/casserole called cassoulet. I mean, I have been saying I am a sucker for bean dishes! As a result, I saw absolutely no reason not to order it. And, as for the rest of what is in this cassoulet, I will just copy-n-paste from their menu: “2 fried eggs on baked beans, Saussison de Paris (sp), double smoked bacon, and andouille. Grilled foccacia“. Hey, that sounds really good, what could go wrong with this dish, right? Unfortunately, a lot went wrong…

Let’s start with the picture above. Do you see anything strange with the picture above? No? How about that bay leaf to the left? I know that a lot of people cook with bay leaf and leave it there. However, I think it is a bit sloppy for them to leave it under the dish (it was at the bottom but noticed it right away). See, technically there is nothing wrong with bay leaves, itself, it is not poisonous or anything like that (that honor will go to a similar relative of the bay leaf). However, it is the fact it is still really hard/stiff after cooking that pose a danger if swollen. I know that, given such a large piece, I won’t swallow it but it was the fact it was left there (not to mention what would have happened if that piece was broken into something smaller).

The second part that disappointed me (sort of) was the sausage. While I don’t remember ever having the Parisian sausage, I have had andouille and I like that coarseness and smokiness associated with this sausage type (plus, in some cases, a bit of spiciness). While I admit I might not identify it correctly in a blind test, if you tell me there is andouille, I would have certain expectations. The problem here is that I did not encounter any of those characteristics. Either they gave me two pieces of Parisian sausages or the andouille was quite different from what I was expecting.

The beans went a bit sideways. True, it was cooked soft but there was something on the sauce, something lacking. Actually, I found it a bit runny and acidic, which is odd for stews. I was expecting more of a hearty taste, almost a broth/stock but, instead, I felt the dish was cooked separately and the assembled when ordered rather than cooked as a stew. As for the remaining components, the eggs were cooked perfectly (yolk still runny inside), the foccacia could have been of the crusty type but being slightly “fluffy” was good to soak the yolk, and the bacon… Ah, the bacon. Notice this is not the American interpretation of bacon so it was meaty rather than fatty. But, ah, the bacon… That smoked taste… Ah, bacon… OK, I will stop there with the bacon!

At this point, most of you would assume the meal was below average. Yes, it was, which did not really help given my high hopes. However… There was one thing that might have affected this. All what I have written so far has been as unbiased as possible. I mention this because I had a big problem with service on that day. Based on the name of this blog, you should have a really good idea of what I try to focus: what ends up on the plate. But, at the same time, will give kudos to the staff when deserved and extremely critical when service is bad. In this case, I had a big problem with the initial service. As mentioned initially, after being seated in an area that would be technically considered a bar (though stretching that definition a little bit too much), I was given a menu. That was ~11:45 a.m. (add/take a couple of minutes if you wish). However, I was ignored for the next 20 minutes. OK, let me try that again: After I was given the menu, I open it, take a look at it, close it and put it down. In my experience, that is an almost universal sign meaning “I am ready to order” – the exception being Chinese places where they want you to order while you are still looking at the menu. In the meantime, the waiting staff was walking back and forth trying to accomodate a party where not everybody had arrived, sitting other people in the “bar” as well, taking orders from other tables (meaning more than one cover), taking payments and so on. I thought “OK, a couple of minutes is fine” so I started “browsing” some articles with my cell phone. However, at a certain point I started to wonder what happened to everybody. Again, they were still walking back and forth and, in something akin to some Chinese restaurants, as if they were trying to avoid me. While there was a glass “barrier” separating the “bar” area from the drink prep area, there was almost absolutely no way they won’t have noticed me. Finally, one of the waitresses noticed me at the 20th minute and, because it was past noon, had to ask if I could still order the cassoulet (as it is listed as a breakfast item). Afterwards, things were smoother, though the rush was mostly gone and there were several empty tables. Oh, one of the tables that was seated about the same time as me was already paying their bill…

Before I arrived that day, I also wanted to order one of their signature items, a waffle. However, after all the problem I went through, I desisted, despite I wasn’t completely full. I just wanted to pay and leave (in fact, I was tempted to just leave the cash so I did not even had to “bother” them with the bill). So, it might be almost redundant to say but will do it nevertheless: Given all the hype around Cafe Medina, it was completely thumbs down for me…