I recently learned about the Food Blogger’s Meetup Group in Vancouver, it seems like a good opportunity to meet and eat with other foodies in town. In my first meetup, we dined at Catch 122. One day as I was reading some tweets from my Twitter account, I saw this tweet about a free entree. So it turns out the restaurant is offering a free entree for the group and we would write an honest review of our dining experience. What’s better than eating free good food and getting to review it? Catch 122 is a new restaurant in Gastown. I have read other bloggers’ reviews on their lunch experience and they are all positive so I was excited to visit the restaurant for their new dinner menu.

The interior of the restaurant is quite comfortable, with a trendy and vintage feel. The owner, Brent came and introduced himself. He explained a bit about the background and the decor of the restaurant – very nice person. As I sat down and chatted with the group, our server asked us if we would like any drinks. I didn’t feel like alcohol so I opted for the Gastown Riot, it was very fruity with raspberries, strawberries, and mangoes – didn’t taste the “riot” part of it but it was yummy.

The bread was fresh, crusty, and fluffy in the middle.

I didn’t get appetizers as we were told the entree portions are quite large. For the entree, I had Catch of the Day which was a Seared Halibut served on top of a bed of roasted potatoes with a buttery cayenne sauce. I enjoyed the potatoes, there were garlic and earthy flavours which worked well with the fish. There was also a good crust on them and weren’t too oily. The fish, however, was a little over-cooked to my liking. I also liked the creamy and buttery sauce, I would have loved more though.

I actually didn’t have the Coq au Vin, a person from our table ordered this. According to him, the chicken was very tasty though there was a bit too much potatoes. He finished the whole dish and found it very filling as the portion was quite generous. We had room for some dessert so we shared two among four of us at the table.

I adored the presentation of this dessert. It was a croissant and apricot bread pudding with creme Anglaise, and blueberry sauce. We all enjoyed this as it was very creamy, and rich. The blueberry sauce had a very intense colour and flavour, which paired well with the buttery bread pudding.

The chocolate ganache was quite rich – the texture was almost like a truffle. It had a good dark chocolate flavour, definitely a winner for chocolate lovers.

Someone at our table ordered a decaf latte, it looked pretty and cute with the “Catch 122” written on it.

I had an enjoyable dining experience at Catch 122, the food was prepared with care and service was friendly. I especially enjoyed the bread pudding – I don’t know if I can re-make that at home but would like to try. I would love to try their lunch menu some time.

Con­clu­sion:

Ambi­ence: 3.5/5
Food: 3.5/5
Ser­vice: 4/5
Value: 3.5/5