Glowbal
Many years ago, I attended a session at Coast Restaurant where Glowbal Restaurant Group founder, Emad Yacoub, spoke about how he came to become one of the most successful restauranteur; from figuring out better way to squeeze an orange to owning and operating some of the most popular dining spots in Vancouver Lower Mainland such as Black and Blue, Coast, and Trattoria, Italian Kitchen, and Glowbal. Now I can say I have been to all of them. These brands have served some special memories in my life: one of the major friend’s fine dining outing at Black and Blue, Very first mother’s day celebration for my wife at Coast..etc. Having heard Emad going on about managing customer expectations when I asked him about one of the biggest learns in his life so many years ago, I had expected high standard of dining experience from all of Glowbal’s brands. They have so far been more of less consistent - although I have definitely heard mixed reviews - especially about this newest signature spot at The Telus Garden - Glowbal. A side note: I had just found out not too long ago that Nosh in the lobby of Telus Garden is also part of the Glowbal brand - now I am even more disappointed by their watered down Americano.
Having gone into Glowbal not sure what to expect, the overall experience was actually quite pleasant. With exception of Black and Blue, which gives me a feeling of a higher standard, the rest of the brands have been more on the casual side; Glowbal included. It was Saturday brunch time so I quite enjoyed the relaxed feeling. Service was very good, they gave us a lot of small cinnamon doughnuts and a little shot of raspberry yogurt drinks for us - we had to control our daughters a bit so they do not load up on sugar.
I resisted my urge to order one of their signature dishes, Truffled Spaghetti and Meatball, which is available across their multiple brands. I have had it multiple times so I wanted to try something else. In the interest of reviewing the restaurant, burger is still one of my favourite ways to evaluate the restaurant from the perspective of food quality. I ordered $19 for their breakfast burger plus $11 for a Perseus Merlot (Ther server couldn’t tell me which vintage it was). My wife ordered their daily special: candied smoked salmon and salad for $14.
Overall food quality was great, the patty in my burger was made in-house with a LOT of veggies plus a sunny-side-up egg to make it a breakfast burger. Maybe because it was meant for breakfast, I felt the patty was under seasoned, but still delicious. The bun to ingredient ratio was a bit low so instead of holding the burger in my hand, I decided to eat it like a steak with fork and knife. Portion was quite big and definitely satisfying. Downside was the wine, for a $11 glass, I had hoped the Merlot wasn’t as light and grassy. It tasted like a light Pinot Noir, just with a deeper colour - it was vegetal, fruit was faint, and not a lot of structure at all. It also did not improve after swirling for a bit. At $17.99 retail for a 750ml bottle, there are definitely many other much better choices. Similarly like my experience at Jinya, the wine served more like a palate cleanser than something to elevate the dish. My wife’s dish was very nicely done with perfectly candied smoked salmon and well prepared veggies having nice balanced between acidity, sweetness, and savoury flavours. She quite enjoyed her food.
So far I have not yet been to a restaurant where the server would offer wine pairing recommendations based on the food I order - not even at Yew. Had the server suggested me a different drink than the Piscotarian, it may have been an even better dining experience. I feel like it should not be a service that you would only get from $300 meals. We will keep looking.