Woodinville Herbfarm restaurant

After living in the Northwest for 28 years, we decided it was time to try this unique dining experience that is just around the corner. The current theme of The Herbfarm is The Chambers of the Sea:

Prior to dinner, we were allowed a tour of their wine cellar. There are 26,000 bottles that were tracked by Excel spreadsheet. On one of the walls was a framed shirt that was worn by Julia Child in one of her TV shows, together with her TIME magazine cover.

It was slightly raining, and in deference to the non-Northwesterners, Carrie the owner did not lead us on a tour of their herb garden - which would have been delightful. Instead she did a show-and-tell with cut herbs, allowing them to be passed around, sniffed, rubbed and savored.

We were seated at a European style communal table for eight. We were impressed that our name was displayed in a small silver frame. There was a guitarist providing dinner music for almost the whole four hours.

The kitchen was open - so we could see the chefs doing the plating. I did not see any steam or deep frying, or other heavy duty kitchen activities; that was probably done at the back out of sight.

The first course was Shorely (if you can read the menu). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture until afterwards - so here are the detritus - rectangular dish contained scallop, the round dish the grilled oyster, and the martini glass the clams.

The non-alcoholic drink menu was designed to match the food courses. I'll have to admit - it wasn't as good as the wine choices. The one I liked best was the Leaves of Grass.

The next course was the Tuna Caper - the tuna tartare was exceptional. The pickled unripe strawberries went well to cut the richness of the tuna.

At this point, we went outside to visit with Borage and Basil, the two truffle pigs-in-training. At least I hope they will become truffle hunters, and are not fated to be the prosciutto I saw hanging in the wine cellar. I believe they are pot bellied pigs. We were issued a small bucket with leftover greens, and (Purina?) pig chow. Basil was shy and Borage was, well, a pig, and ate all the food. He wagged his (non)-curly tail like a dog when he saw food coming!

Then we came back and they served us Twice Halibut. This was the least memorable dish. The halibut bones were cooked into a broth, served over beans, pea flowers and lovage, with a fried turnip. The halibut collar meat was mixed with potato and lovage and deep fried into a croquette. The broth was not at all fishy, but did not taste like halibut. Nor did the croquette. Maybe halibut is too mild a fish for this treatment.

Next was Spotted Prawn served with a side pot of prawn butter for the pumpernickel bread. It was really rich, even I could not handle too much of the butter!

The next course was Duet of Salmon - with both Copper River Sockeye and Copper River King, being Copper River salmon season. We asked them how they managed to get the King, as we could only get the Sockeye at the grocery stores. We were told they have an agreement with some fishermen who would bring them their special catch. Both salmon were excellent, with the mushrooms. The sauce was a touch too sweet for my taste - fortunately they were dribbled around the edge.

Next was Caviar Bar - Salmon roe, Paddlefish eggs and Uni on a miniscule waffle. Being used to the uni on the sushi, there was not enough, plus the soppressata that was under the uni overpowered it. Just a so-so dish.

The next dish was Quince and Ewe - all elements worked perfectly. The quince "caviar" was better than the previous real caviar dish, and the cattail jelly was unusual and though mild tasting, went well with the dish. I don't remember what he said the shell was made of - it might have been a very thin cheese deep fried while laid over a clam shell to give it the structure and shape - but it was very good.

Next was Rhubarb Poke - I have rarely had rhubarb so I couldn't assess what really good rhubarb should taste like. The ice cream was good, and the meringue had nori powder which was unusual but not unpleasant.

At this point we got to choose our tea or coffee to go with dessert. I selected the non-caffeine Herbfarm Smart Tea, consisting of lavender, rosemary and peppermint, infused in a coffee press. Hubby chose Sakuma Oolong. My tea choice came with a note - WARNING: COMES WITH AN IQ QUIZ!  See below.

I worked at it and the meal must have re-directed my blood flow away from my brain. I did not solve it; I should at least have gotten the one with the matches! When the wait staff brought my tea, she also brought the solution. Solution at the end...

The dessert was excellent!!! Particularly the Wild Ginger White Chocolate - one of the woman at my table was able to convince the waitress to bring her a doggie bag of extra white chocolate - she and her husband were staying at the Willows Lodge Herbfarm suite - I think that factored into her favoritism treatment (!)

All in all, a very enjoyable experience, and quite unlike any other restaurants we had been to. After all where else can you go feed the pigs in the middle of the meal?

In closing one of the other themes that I am interested in (and have to wait till the wallet recovers) is the Mycologist's Dream - slated for later this year. Will keep you all posted.

Smart tea solution:

Hue Specialties

Like most places, each city in Vietnam has its own specialty dish or variation of a national dish.  Our tour guide introduced us to a family-run restaurant (Hang-Me) away from the main thoroughfare in Hue.  There were only five items on the menu.  We ordered by the numbers and found some interesting tastes - some of which we liked and some of which we didn't like. But it was an interesting food experience, all revolving around shrimp - stands to reason as Hue is on the water.

Banh Beo - an appetizer of steamed rice pancake with shrimp bits and shredded pork skin on top - tasty!  The pork skin really gave it a crunch.

Banh Nam - a steamed flat rice dumpling made with shrimp, pork and rice flour cooked in oil and water then wrapped in banana leaves

Banh Loc,  a Hue specialty, clear dumpling made with tapioca flour filled with shrimp and pork 

Banh Ram It - sticky rice shrimp dumpling on top of deep fried pig skin - delicious!  I love the contrast between the sticky glutinous rice and the crunchy pig skin - never mind the cholesterol.

L to R - Banh Uot - rice roll with shrimp bits which we tried in Hanoi; Cha tom - a shrimp sausage/patty - Hue specialty

For more photos of the Hue food scene, please visit my travel blog Travels with rarecat.

Signature Hanoi Dish - Cha Ca La Vong

We were told that this uniquely Hanoi dish - Cha Ca La Vong - was a must try and that it had to be at this one restaurant of the same name in the old quarter.  The place was a bit of a dive with communal dining tables in an upstairs dining room.  We were seated in the front lobby.  There was only one dish on the menu although it was interesting that there were different prices depending on which page the waiter flipped to - it could be a variation of a hundred thousand Vietnamese duongs (approx. $5 USD) for the same dish.  We pointed at the right page pricewise.

Curious!  Menu above says 190,000 VND, below it's 280,000 VND

Very quickly, an electric stove and a pan of morning glory were placed on our table.  The waiter came and started cooking right in front of us, adding the already grilled fish, turmeric and dill.  

We were told to add the rice noodles, fish sauce, herbs and peanuts.  The combination of tastes and textures was indeed amazing.  The fish was firm, moist and tasty.  Looking back at the picture of the food in my bowl, I could re-imagine the contrasts between the crunch of the peanuts and herbs and the soft fish and noodles, the salty fish sauce on the bland noodles - that amazing yin and yang that seems to be the key elements that made Vietnamese food so attractive.  

Hanoi Street Food

I have never seen food as cheap as it was in Vietnam.  I can understand why it is such a destination for tourists, young and old.  For a few dollars, one could get a very good nutritious meal on the streets.  It could be for this reason that the Vietnamese ate out a lot.   Street stalls could be quite elaborate with multiple choices of meat and vegetables like the one you see below.  Customers sat on little red stools behind the stall.

Or it could be a moveable feast on a street corner with a more limited choice.  But it is still obvious that beef and sea food were on the menu.

This one was off the street and the food was behind glass.  Expect to pay a little more but still very inexpensive.

Chinese style barbeque

and Doner Kebab was right at home here!

Our guide took us on an early morning breakfast tour of street food.  This stall specialized in rice rolls (Banh cuon nong).  Here  the chef was pouring the batter onto the steamer.

The batter cooked almost right away as it was spread thin like a crepe.

A long chopstick was used to roll and lift the crepe off the pan

He placed the crepe on an inverted wicker basket and filled it.

And voila - our rice rolls, the thinnest crepe ever with a filling of mushroom, pork, onion and served with mint.  The Vietnamese used mint extensively.

This is Hang Chieu alley - food stalls heaven.  Our next stop was at this woman's stall.  We had Bun Ca To - vermicelli with fish in a soup that had 20 ingredients!

These wraps looked delicious, paper thin wrappers and finely chopped ingredients

This is a dessert stall!

Specially prepared chicken for wedding

This is where the locals eat breakfast too

Right in the middle of the street motor cycle parking - a cardboard box around a portable stove with an open flame used to warm up baguettes and fry eggs and pancakes!  Can it get more dangerous!?  But no one batted an eye!

Choice selection of seafood and meat

This is where we had our early lunch - Bun Cha - BBQ pork - 

grilled on wood fire

The BBQ pork was dipped in an intensely flavoured soup - sugar, fish sauce, vinegar - in sharp contrast to the plain rice noodles that was served with it.  It was so delicious!  I had requested this particular food because I remembered my dad used to make this when we were young.  He made the bbq pork in the oven and we had a sauce to dip the pork in - but nothing like this intense soup!

It was quite a morning of street food adventure!