Fraiche Restaurant

RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED

<- THE VIEW FROM OUR TABLE
I am picky to an extent and I always mention when I am picky, however, I honestly did not need to be picky tonight. After the dinner at Poor Italian Ristorante last night, I really wanted a good dinner. Unfortunately, I must have bad luck or something because tonight's dinner was a big disappointment. I have read nothing but mostly positive reviews about Fraiche and if I remember correctly, the only negative comment was regarding undercooked lamb. Apparently Fraiche has a new chef and all the positive reviews were based on only the old chef.

COMPLIMENTARY BREAD AND DUCK LIVER PATE.
The slices of bread are served warm and the butter is served at room temperature, easy to spread. The duck liver pate tastes properly made and not salty.

LOBSTER BISQUE, PARMESAN CUSTARD, PINE NUT CRISP ($16.00).

 The way the lobster bisque is served could actually be perfect. Pieces of semi-cooked lobster (raw interior but cooked exterior) is provided and the bisque is poured at the table so the meat will be cooked perfectly, not overcooked. However, the soup was luke warm, hence the raw lobster pieces. It is a bit amateurish for the kitchen to know that the soup was not hot enough. Drinking luke warm soup with raw lobster pieces is not pleasant. Aside from the lobster meat issue, the bisque lacks that strong flavourful lobster taste. We were able to handle the semi raw lobster meat since we eat lobster sashimi, however, for those who do not, the bisque would have tasted very unpleasant. Also, the pine nut crust? It floated around rather than dissolved. I e-mailed the restaurant and the manager assured me the lobster was cooked, but by looking at the photo, the meat is semi raw. He also mentions that the knuckle part is served which is the fastest part to cook. But sorry, the claw is the longest part to cook.

This is a photo of the lobster bisque from only 2 1/2 weeks ago, served cooked with no chance of raw lobster meat. Also, served with small amounts of pine nut crust on the side, rather than a huge amount floating in the bowl.

FOIE GRAS AND TETE DE COCHON, BRIOCHE, APRICOT MOSTARDA ($20.00).

 Portion wise, it used to the size of the palm of a hand, and now it is the size of 2 1/2 toonies. The foie gras is raw and I am not sure what the reason is (so it tastes fattier?). Is this a mistake and the chef tried to make it semi-raw and failed (ugh but raw duck liver)? The exterior of the foie gras is nicely grilled (which should be expected at this level of restaurant) but the interior is very gooey. Usually semi solid bites go in the mouth, melts on the tongue and tastes delicious. If anything, the foie gras is toned down by the brioche toast and the slightly sweet apricot mostarda.

What the foie gras looked like seven to eight months ago.

CHARRED VANCOUVER ISLAND OCTOPUS, OLIVE OIL BRAISED BEANS, CHORIZO, PEPPER VINAIGRETTE ($17.00).

The octopus is served luke warm to room temperature. After one bite each, we thought to leave it and pack to reheat later. The octopus tastes chewy and has a soft beef jerky chewy texture. For the beans, they taste really hard and barely cooked. When our server asked if we were done with this, BF said yes, thinking like every other restaurant, our server would ask if we would like to pack it up or if something is wrong since 90% of the dish is left. But instead, he did not ask and tossed the used cutlery onto the plate which meant it was going straight to the trash. Even at the cheapest restaurant, they will always ask if you need anything packed, so this was a disappointment (come on, 90% of the dish?). Oh, it also comes with chorizo, yeah we did not get a chance to try it. In the response to my e-mail, the manager felt the need to tell me that the octopus is braised and tender (he read my blog). If it was tender, I would not say the octopus resembled a beef jerky-like texture. To be honest, no management should ever be defensive especially when the dish was thrown out.

PEACE RACK AND SHOULDER, PARSNIP PAVE, EGGPLANT, TOMATO RELISH ($46.00).  The rack of lamb is medium rare and tastes juicy as well as tender. The tomato relish compliments the lamb and does not resemble pasta sauce or ketchup. For the parsnip pave, it tastes a bit hard and could have tasted more soft.

GRILLED HERITAGE ANGUS BEEF RIB EYE  ($45.00). 

The steak tastes chewy and a bit dry, which is odd for a rib eye cut. The rib eye tastes like a $17.00 steak. The sauce tastes like a sweet gravy and it seems like the chef is trying too hard to make things "different", which ruins the steak.

PETIT FOURS, MINI MACARONS, CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE AND RHUBARB JELLY.

All the treats taste quite good and the macaron is properly made. These were the highlight of dinner and quite enjoyable. The hostess also explained every treat on the plate.

POSITIVES
- Rack of lamb tastes tender
- Nice view

NEGATIVES
- Below average tasting food
- Below average service
- 2 star restaurant with 5 star prices
- Octopus dish incident

LITTLE THINGS
- Server never asked how the dishes were (the manager did ask about the steak because it looked overcooked) or the dinner overall. He also lied about the menu mentioning that the boar dish was not available since Janurary. However, it was just available a few weeks ago in June. I have never been to a restaurant where the server would lie about anything
- Salmon House is a few minutes away from Fraiche and the restaurant is a lot better

Food: 2/5

Service: 1.5/5