It’s always a treat when I get to eat out. No matter what the occasion is or whether it’s a spur of the moment decision. I always get excited to try out a new location or if it’s a place I’ve been to before, I look forward to tasting reinvented dishes on the menu, especially with a restaurant like Blink.
Atmosphere: Open and modern interior contrasting the rustic brick wall running along the entire length of the restaurant due to its historical building location on Calgary’s Stephen Avenue.
Price Range: Mid $10s - $30+
Food and Wine: We arrived a bit ahead of our friends and decided on a bottle of Bordeaux wine for the evening, Chateau D’argadens 2007. It was a medium to full bodied Bordeaux with supple tannins. A blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes, it was a dense red while remaining soft, which worked well since some of the dishes we were thinking of ordering could have been overpowered by a heavy red wine.
Once everyone arrived it took us a bit to decide what we wanted to order since everything sounded delicious. We decided on the Albacore Tuna Tartare as the appetizer and it didn’t disappoint. The tartare was well seasoned with a light ginger soy sauce, which managed to enhance and not overwhelm the taste of the tuna. The addition of avocado gave the tuna an added creaminess, contrasting nicely with the crispy baguettes.
For our mains, I ordered the Tenderloin of Beef served with potato gratin, crispy aparagus spears and a red wine sauce. The Beef was seared rare as ordered and nicely seasoned. I enjoyed the crispy asparagus spears. It gave the dish a much needed texture contrast (who doesn’t enjoy anything deep fried). I had a couple bites of my husband’s Halibut dish as well. The fish had a nice crispy crust but remained nicely moist and tender on the inside. It sat on nice bed of sautéed vegetables and paired well with the mushroom sauce. I managed to sneak a couple of my friend’s triple fried fries which came with her short ribs entrée and they were amazing. They were extremely crispy without being oily or soggy, what a great side!
Since we were a bigger group that evening, we got to try several desserts. Their signature being the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake, which is a molten lava cake served with coconut sorbet. The cake was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside, I enjoyed the coconut pairing of the sorbet, which made the dessert rich yet light. The second was the Natural Yogurt Panna Cotta with rhubarb compote. The panna cotta was creamy and velvety with the rhubarb providing a bit of acid to the dish. The third and my favourite was the Iced Hazelnut Nougat with raspberry coulis and topped with fresh raspberries. Little chunks of nougat were dispersed throughout the iced sorbet. It was extremely refreshing and wasn’t overly sweet. A great end to a delectable meal.
My Picks: Tuna Tartare, Fries, Iced Hazelnut Nougat
Overall: Focused on local and seasonal ingredients. Blink’s menu often changes to reflect the season even if sometimes they’re small adjustments, you can always be sure that it reflects what fresh.
Blink Restaurant & Bar
111 8 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-5330
Website: http://www.blinkcalgary.com/
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