The restaurant is located right next to the concierge desk. The first thing that struck me as we walked in was the incredibly high ceilling. The whole restaurant has a very natural feel due to the all the teak wood accents and the mural of tree leaves on the one side of the restaurant. Towards the back of the restaurant is their enclosed private dining room, which is directly below a skylit ceilling. Gorgeous!
While I had gone to the washroom to freshen up, hubby ordered two glasses of Prosecco for us to sip whilst perusing the menu. It was incredibly smooth with just the right amount of bubbles and was very crisp on the palate. As we waited for our appetizers to arrive, our waiter brought an amuse-bouche that went quite well with the Prosecco. They were little rolls filled with seared tuna, mango and veggies all wrapped up in rice noodle and topped with a sweet chili sauce. It had a slight bit of heat from both the chili sauce and some cilantro in the roll which was almost immediately calmed by the sweet of the mango. The veggies within gave a nice crunch to contrast the soft tuna. Lovely little bite!
Our appetizers followed a few minutes later; hubby had ordered their clam chowder with scallops, crab, potatoes, celery, clams and saffron and I had ordered the crab raviolini which came with the oddest little garnish I've ever seen: popcorn! We asked our waiter about the popcorn, and he explained to us that it is freshly grated parmesan cheese sprinkled over the popcorn, followed by a drizzle of white truffle oil. He then told us that he does that now to his popcorn at home! The popcorn did not disappoint: the cheese and truffle oil gave a nice savoury flavor to the popcorn that butter & salt could never match. The raviolini was quite lovely; lots of crab with a light cheese sauce on the raviolini itself. Hubby offered me a taste of his clam chowder, and it was an explosion of saffron. The soup itself was very thin, which is a bit unusual for chowder, but it worked well with the soup overall.
We were then offered our mains. Hubby ordered the surf n' turf, which included butter poached lobster, beef, sweet peas and cauliflower. Hubby gave me a bite of his lobster, which pretty much melted in my mouth, and his peas (which were coated in a delicious sauce). I ordered the venison, which included quinoa mixed with cranberries, brocolini, porcini mushrooms and topped with a brown butter sauce. The venison was very tender with a nice peppered crust, and tasted fantastic with the brown butter. I've only recently become acquainted with quinoa, and the little serving did not disappoint: the cranberries gave a sweet counterpart to the saltiness of the brown butter.
For dessert, it is tapas style, where one can choose any three of the desserts from the menu to share. We chose the chocolate ganache, the white chocolate truffle lolipops and the mango ravioli shot. Our waiter had explained all the desserts to us, and told us that the mango ravioli is really only for one, but we decided to get it anyways. He ended up giving us a second mango ravioli shot on the house! We started with the shot, which has a mango ravioli floating in the liquid that you're supposed to pop once you drink it. It was incredibly refreshing on the palate, and was full of mango flavor. We then moved on to the lolipops, which were just fun; I'm LOVING the lolipop trend that's making its way into different restaurants. It was a white chocolate shell coated with gently browned meringue and on the inside was strawberry cream with roasted almonds. Delicious! Just wish we had more! We ended with the chocolate ganache, which was pure dark chocolate and silky smooth. Having one of powdered hazelnuts that topped the ganache was almost like having a Purdy's chocolate hedgehog. We had also both ordered dessert drinks; hubby had port and I had the Pick YEW up, a vodka infused espresso drink.
As we were enjoying our drinks, our waiter came by with a surprise dessert on the house! Hubby had mentioned to our waiter when he ordered the Prosecco that we were celebrating our anniversary and the chef who prepared the plate had written "Happy Anniversary" in chocolate. The plate had strawberry halves, two different kinds of gelees (passionfruit and blackberry) and cocoa & powdered sugar dusted roasted almonds. The gelees were quite delicious, though the blackberry did have more of a tart finish to it, and the almonds were quite good as well.
Overall, we had a fantastic time at YEW! Definitely a place to visit again. Enjoy the week and happy cooking all!