Diner
This is a belated Easter meal post. Belated because the people I was supposed to have Easter bunch with decided to have lunch with someone else instead, hmph! But that's okay. To make up for it, one of them promised to pay for my meal when we did celebrate, so it's all good. Then when we were about to go for Easter dinner the next day, the other person had a meeting and we didn't have enough time, so we ended up having an Easter Tuesday lunch. 
starbuck_86 was in the mood for someplace nice that served Western food, and when our first option turned out to only serve brunch on weekends, we ended up going to Diner. We'd read about it online and heard about its homestyle food and everything sounded delicious so we decided to give it a try.
The interior was modern, cozy, and homey at the same time. Their menu was written on a huge blackboard and the owner was personally overseeing the kitchen. Acoording to one article I read, she is a former pastry chef at Jean Georges in New York, so we had high expectations.
DINER interior
The entrees listed were typical diner fare and i ordered the most typical of them all -- the meatloaf. Or in Diner's version, Meatloaf with Green Beans and Mash. The meatloaf was pretty good. Juicy and hot. The mashed potatoes weren't that great, though. I found the texture too smooth and creamy, almost like a puree, and it tasted very bland. Which was a good reason for me not to eat them and help my diet. :)
Meatloaf with Green Beans and Mash
starbuck86 chose the Burger and Fries and it was huge! The entire dish was bigger than her head and I don't know how she finished it, haha. She went on and on about how yum it was and I could tell she really enjoyed the food. Diba,
starbuck86?
Burger and Fries
mistr_sparkle went with the Meatloaf Melt, which on hindsight, might not have been the best idea since I already ordered meatloaf and I shared it with the two of them. So what is a meatloaf melt? It's like a grilled cheese sandwich except instead of just cheese, there was also a slice of meatloaf wedged in between the buttered grilled slices of bread. As if a grilled cheese sandwich wasn't rich enough, heh-heh. You can't really see the cheese in the sandwich, but trust me, it's there. Oh, and
mistr_sparkle mentioned something about the texture of the bread -- how it seemed like even the bread was melting, if I remember correctly.
Meatloaf Melt
Overall, i felt the main dishes were just okay. Satisfying, but not extraordinary. Now let's get on to dessert. Remember I noted how the owner's a pedigreed pastry chef? We were eager to see what she would come up with. before we even ordered our main courses, we already informed our server that we wanted an order of their chocolate souffle because we'd read many many rave reviews for this item and wanted to make sure we would get it without the long wait also mentioned in the reviews. It seems these were made to order.
After our mains were finished, we asked for the souffle and also ordered a slice of Carrot-Ginger Cake. After a bit of a delay, our server came back and mentioned that the souffle would sbe a while and asked if we wanted the Carrot-Ginger Cake first. She could probably see the impatience on our faces. :) Well, mostly on my face, I admit. So she brought out the cake first to our accompanying oohs and aahs. The cake slice looked and tasted divine! We eagerly dug in, with
starbuck86 hogging the nuts and icing, haha! The cake was moister and lighter than the normal dense cake that seems to be the favoured kind here in Vancouver, so that was a big plus for me. The best part, though, was the addition of the ginger to the cake. It elevated the cake from being just a good carrot cake to one that had hidden depths and bursts of gingery flavour.
Carrot-Ginger Cake
We were all done with the cake and the souffle still hadn't arrived. Finally, we saw our server coming out with two servings of the Mexican Chocolate Souffle. As she approached, our first though was "Uh-oh, we only ordered one. Did she think we wanted two because there were three of us and we'd only had one other dessert?" When we started to mention that to her, she said that was her initial thought as well when she saw the two souffles, but it seems the owner felt so bad for making us wait so long that she sent over an extra one. All my bad feelings over the long wait instantly melted away. The souffles were gorgeous, and as we dug in, sighs of pure happiness could be heard from our table. Okay, lest I impunge on
mistr_sparkle's masculinity, the sighs only came from
starbuck86 and me. Mexican chocolate is chocolate that has been flavoured with cinnamon, almonds, and vanilla, and this greatly contributed to the richness and flavour of the souffle. The texture was great, with a crisp outer layer and warm moist chocolatey center, and even with the addition of yummy vanilla ice cream, it wasn't cloyingly sweet. It was a perfect dessert. Well worth the wait.
Mexican Chocolate Souffle
I might not go back to Diner for their main courses but I will definitely return for their desserts, especially the Mexican Chocolate Souffle! And I'm looking forward to trying any other dessert they may have on offer. Yum!
DINER
1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC 604.444.4855
starbuck_86 was in the mood for someplace nice that served Western food, and when our first option turned out to only serve brunch on weekends, we ended up going to Diner. We'd read about it online and heard about its homestyle food and everything sounded delicious so we decided to give it a try.
The interior was modern, cozy, and homey at the same time. Their menu was written on a huge blackboard and the owner was personally overseeing the kitchen. Acoording to one article I read, she is a former pastry chef at Jean Georges in New York, so we had high expectations.
DINER interior
The entrees listed were typical diner fare and i ordered the most typical of them all -- the meatloaf. Or in Diner's version, Meatloaf with Green Beans and Mash. The meatloaf was pretty good. Juicy and hot. The mashed potatoes weren't that great, though. I found the texture too smooth and creamy, almost like a puree, and it tasted very bland. Which was a good reason for me not to eat them and help my diet. :)
Meatloaf with Green Beans and Mash
starbuck86 chose the Burger and Fries and it was huge! The entire dish was bigger than her head and I don't know how she finished it, haha. She went on and on about how yum it was and I could tell she really enjoyed the food. Diba,
starbuck86?
Burger and Fries
mistr_sparkle went with the Meatloaf Melt, which on hindsight, might not have been the best idea since I already ordered meatloaf and I shared it with the two of them. So what is a meatloaf melt? It's like a grilled cheese sandwich except instead of just cheese, there was also a slice of meatloaf wedged in between the buttered grilled slices of bread. As if a grilled cheese sandwich wasn't rich enough, heh-heh. You can't really see the cheese in the sandwich, but trust me, it's there. Oh, and
mistr_sparkle mentioned something about the texture of the bread -- how it seemed like even the bread was melting, if I remember correctly.
Meatloaf Melt
Overall, i felt the main dishes were just okay. Satisfying, but not extraordinary. Now let's get on to dessert. Remember I noted how the owner's a pedigreed pastry chef? We were eager to see what she would come up with. before we even ordered our main courses, we already informed our server that we wanted an order of their chocolate souffle because we'd read many many rave reviews for this item and wanted to make sure we would get it without the long wait also mentioned in the reviews. It seems these were made to order.
After our mains were finished, we asked for the souffle and also ordered a slice of Carrot-Ginger Cake. After a bit of a delay, our server came back and mentioned that the souffle would sbe a while and asked if we wanted the Carrot-Ginger Cake first. She could probably see the impatience on our faces. :) Well, mostly on my face, I admit. So she brought out the cake first to our accompanying oohs and aahs. The cake slice looked and tasted divine! We eagerly dug in, with
starbuck86 hogging the nuts and icing, haha! The cake was moister and lighter than the normal dense cake that seems to be the favoured kind here in Vancouver, so that was a big plus for me. The best part, though, was the addition of the ginger to the cake. It elevated the cake from being just a good carrot cake to one that had hidden depths and bursts of gingery flavour.
Carrot-Ginger Cake
We were all done with the cake and the souffle still hadn't arrived. Finally, we saw our server coming out with two servings of the Mexican Chocolate Souffle. As she approached, our first though was "Uh-oh, we only ordered one. Did she think we wanted two because there were three of us and we'd only had one other dessert?" When we started to mention that to her, she said that was her initial thought as well when she saw the two souffles, but it seems the owner felt so bad for making us wait so long that she sent over an extra one. All my bad feelings over the long wait instantly melted away. The souffles were gorgeous, and as we dug in, sighs of pure happiness could be heard from our table. Okay, lest I impunge on
mistr_sparkle's masculinity, the sighs only came from
starbuck86 and me. Mexican chocolate is chocolate that has been flavoured with cinnamon, almonds, and vanilla, and this greatly contributed to the richness and flavour of the souffle. The texture was great, with a crisp outer layer and warm moist chocolatey center, and even with the addition of yummy vanilla ice cream, it wasn't cloyingly sweet. It was a perfect dessert. Well worth the wait.
Mexican Chocolate Souffle
I might not go back to Diner for their main courses but I will definitely return for their desserts, especially the Mexican Chocolate Souffle! And I'm looking forward to trying any other dessert they may have on offer. Yum!
DINER
1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC 604.444.4855