Anna Lena – Why its still the Queen after 6 Years

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to Anna Lena for their GOAT 6 Year Anniversary tasting menu. The menu featured all the hits they have been known for over the past 6 years. This dinner reinforced for me why this restaurant is probably my number one pick if someone asked me for 1 place in Vancouver they had to try in this category of food.

Here was the menu:

The amuse. The oyster is one of my favorites but the fried chicken was just spectacular. This dish summarizes everything which makes this restaurant great: creativity but not trying too hard, refined yet modern, consistent, fantastic presentation, flawless execution and flavor!

Next, crispy squid with gem lettuce and dill. This is something I had never tried before.

Then, what is one of my favorite dishes – sweet juicy mussels in an extremely savory blue cheese broth, with the BEST bread on the planet – the torn bread.

This bread is so good we got a serving of it on its own. The texture on the outside is perfectly crisp, the inside is pillow soft almost like cotton candy, and its perfectly buttered. Massimo Bottura has a book called “Bread is Gold”, he must of been talking about this:

The final savory course was a perfectly cooked rib eye duo AND a blow your mind umami parmesan agnolotti.

The cheese course was perfect because we were stuffed at this point.

Dessert was a tart and a very delicious maple ice cream. This was the only flaw of the meal. The berries were too sour. The ice cream though, was incredible. This place could make a business just selling the torn bread and ice cream. Thats how incredible everything is – always.

Finally, their famous crispy chicken skin, dipped in chocolate.

Service was great. The servers are extremely polite and attentive. All Hail the Queen!