Sciué

Sciué
800 W Pender Street (Location visited)
126 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

Once again, it was during those hectic Winter Olympic days… Actually, they weren’t THAT bad because, thanks to arrangements from my workplace, I was able to finish work earlier which let me wander around the different houses and pavilions (and I blogged about them here). That arrangement also allowed me to go to Downtown core itself for lunch and, for today’s post, one of those places that seems to be close yet a bit too far: Sciué

Truth is, I am not sure what would be the best way to describe Sciué… Coffee shop? Sandwich shop? Restaurant? Sure, the entrance tells you it is also a bakery but, one thing is what they say it is, another is what they actually sell. One thing that you won’t miss is the fact they are Italian based as, well, they sell a lot of Italian goods, including what I ended up ordering for lunch…

Yup, that is pizza alright. But, wait… Why it looks like rectangles? Well, it just happens they don’t sell it by slice, as almost any other places nearby. Instead, think of ~17.5 cm/~7″ wide flat bread. You then tell them how much you want and they will cut a piece for you. That piece is then weighed (for cost) and reheated before it is served to you. Of course, you can’t tell them “I want 100g”; instead, you estimate how much before it is cut. While I am OK with this approach of guessing it yourself the same way you would when ordering cold cuts in a deli, I didn’t quite like the fact I could (easily) find the price per gram in the menu, nor have an idea of how many grams are the slice I am asking for, nor the fact they were quite “fast” at the weight scale (they just put it and removed it right away: I couldn’t really see how much it was that slice). Had I known in advance, I might have hesitated on ordering this for lunch…

As for the dough/base, it is of course, quite different from the one found in Ah-Beetz. The end result is more doughy and chewy, yet the more charred portions had a crunch bite to it. In a funny way, that worked well, as despite the “small” portion, it ended up quite filling due to all the chewing you had to go through. As for taste, I could swear it was somewhat similar to the taste of sourdough…

The toonie is for reference purposes

I will admit I am a fan of almost all form of edible fungi, even if it is the plain/simple button mushroom. In this case, it imparted a meatiness to the slice, which made meat unnecessary. I will admit I wasn’t paying too much attention to the cheese (chances are, it was mozzarella); however, what I will admit is that it wasn’t that milky substances found in other places – it actually tasted like cheese. From that perspective, I will give them some credit…

Slice #2 was one of the “salad” type pizzas. In this case, after the flat bread has been prepared, some garden salad and, in this case, salmon was added to the top. I will admit I got this one out of a whim because, well, it has salmon! The base had a creamy dressing which help the green salad – both complemented the smokiness of the salmon.

Now, this last one is dedicated to Jessica (of Yum-o-Rama). See, some long time ago, Jessica embarked on a quest for cannoli and, in a way, I took over that torch. Unfortunately, I dropped it because, I wasn’t really looking too hard. However, after noticing they have cannoli, I had to order one.

Now, they didn’t fill up upon ordering so, purists, don’t bring your pitchforks, you were warned! As for taste… Well, it was good yet it was OK. The filling was creamy and not too sweet. The cocoa powder didn’t really add much, unfortunately. The part that went sideways was the pastry: think of it more on the lines of a soft (not chewy) cookie. While it kept its shape, after the first bite, everything started to crumble down. In a way, it wasn’t a pretty sight. However, I am sure others won’t mind this and will be happy with this otherwise messy cannoli.

For the most part, the food was above average but one thing wasn’t: price. I am all in for quality food but when I pay almost $10 for the flat bread/pizza plus $3.25 for the cannolo, well, it is a hard hit to the wallet. At the same price, I can think of better lunch options. OK, I will give them some break considering they are in Downtown core and their customer base might not care as much. On the same token, that is the reason I am not that interested in coming back…

Tagged under: Downtown • Italian • Lunch • Pastry • Pizza • Vancouver