Aroma Meze

As usual, i'm reporting on a meal the DCFD's had a few weeks ago. Eight eager souls attended Aroma Meze on Nepean St., almost directly across Ottawa's famous Bekta. I'm not sure of any affiliation, but their websites look very similar...

Anywho, i'll try to summarize how i felt about the meal in list form, as is the style these days.

1) Service - not very good. Our waitress was eager, but thoroughly overworked. We sat down shortly before our reservation, and waited at least 20 minutes to before we were asked about drinks. Not cool. When the food started coming it was swift, but the service was not very attentive throughout.
2) System - the small plate system while good and very interesting, caught most of us off guard. While we may claim to be ridiculously easy going drunks, sometimes amicable splits of meals are difficult. When we were told we should each order two things, then double the portions to feed the large group, this seemed excessive even to a lush philanthropist such as myself. We ended up each ordering 2 or 3 things, not doubling the portions, and this worked out pretty good. Most people got to try what they wanted, but certainly everyone didn't get to try everything.
3) Prices - as you can probably guess, this place was pretty pricey for what you get... i can't poopoo this, but its worth noting. The ribs dish was 16 bux and you get 4 ribs. The flakes of veal carpaccio was in the 20$ range too and my guess is there was only about 3oz of meat on the plate.
4) The food - well, everything was damn tasty, but not blowing me away tasty. The divinity came from the mix of items, and thats clearly where this place would/can shine. Getting to eat ostrich, crispy prosciutto and melon ice cream, alligator, ribs, fries, etc., all in the same meal is pretty sweet. The ostrich was likely my favorite flavour of the evening, with the lima bean and tomato stacks being very very tasty veggies.
5) Setting - we had eight to a table in the back portion of the restaurant, and i was stuffed like a sausage in a comfortable but 4 deep booth seat. Not sure how one less limber than me would've put up with this. I liked the fake pillars in the front and the tiling in the bathroom, although the real cloth towels in the bathroom seemed unsustainable but worth a shot (when i went in there was only 2 left!).
6) Aftertaste - great but expensive food, didn't really feel like my money was well spent, although i'm certainly happy about all the great food i did try... i think i was perhaps in a bit of a funk, and if i was better prepared for the experience i likely would've enjoyed it more.

Bottom line for me - great theme, go with people that all have money and love to try different things and it'll be a massive hit. I wouldn't ever go on a whim or with picky, funky, or cash strapped eaters.

DCFD Dominican Style

While the whole crew did not have the opportunity to join, i thought i'd still share my pictures and thoughts of the food at the Sirenis resort, punta cana, dominican republic.

What better place for a DCFD member to visit than a place the provides all the food and alcohol you want to drink. Of course, its not quite that simple, but if you're not too picky, thats exactly what you get.

I couldn't drink as much as i would've liked, mostly due to oversweet drinks and not the tastiest of beer or wine, but i had my share. Dining on haute cuisine has its price, and that price is a ridiculous over indulgence at all-inclusive resorts.

But as i said, the food was pretty good. Heres a typical breakfast (at the buffet):




Heres some typical lunches - these were served at the poolside restaurants, which at night served as the "mexican" and "steakhouse" a la cartes:




I didn't get any decent pics of the generic dinner buffet foods, but pretty decent stuff. One night they had lobster (carribean lobster of course), which was decent, and shrimps (head-on) another night was good too. Most nights they'd have a roast of some sort, and a pasta buffet, amidst a salad station (lettuce, tomatos, cukes, and misc prep'd salads), dessert station, and a bunch of hot meals. There was 2 main buffet restaurants in this place, and for dinner, one side was "international" and the other was "dominican". Of course, we fancied the dominican side to get a flavour of local stuff, however most nights the two sides featured nearly identical samplings. But it was fun to eat app's or even a whole meal at one side, then labourously lumber over to the other side to be greeted as if we were famished!!

Heres a sampling from the mexican restaurant. The first pic is an app, the 2nd my main, fish (you'd never guess). Was the first and only avacado i had during the trip, pretty good, i'll assume they must import them.



Steakhouse, definitely the worst meal, pork back ribs (mostly fat):


And "Jade", the Japanese restaurant, most fun, and likely the tastiest food. It started out with all sitting down, then directed at the buffet, where i got the following plate:


Then our chef went on to prepare everything else, and doused EVERYTHING with an overabundance of soy sauce, which i'm pretty sure doesn't happen even at Japanese village (please correct me if i'm wrong).



All in all, the food i got from this 4 star resort was pretty decent, no complaints, but you would definitely get sick of the *same* lettuce, the *same* sauces, and the *same* breakfasts/lunches after more than a week. They also had a "gourmet" restaurant that charded 35$ a head, the only add on food item, and we did not partake.