I was only sent the location 4 hours ahead of time.

Why the hush-hush? What den of iniquity did I step into? Should I be locked up as a danger to myself & others?

We’re talking underground dining here. Underground dining is like a gourmet dinner party at someone’s home. The food is cooked for you by strangers, you may also be dining with strangers, but it’s not a restaurant. The reason it’s not strictly legal is that it violates city by-laws regarding restaurant permits and health codes.

I went with a group of 6 friends. We were joined by a jazz singer and an artist, so the conversation was really interesting.

Here’s the menu:

Thai beef salad

Scallop with picked fennel & spicy aioli, scallop ceviche, scallop with miso dressing, leek & apple

Slow cooked fennel pork belly, endive with vinaigrette, mashed potatos

Pink grapefruit sorbet with sliced candied ginger & Campari

Sake sablefish with pickled vegetable & coconut yam cake

Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis

Bring your own wine

It was a really interesting experience. I think I freaked chef Steve out a bit by showing up 10 minutes early – I badly misjudged my taxi (on a positive note, Vancouver waiting time for cabs is down from 20 minutes to 5 minutes). So he put me to work lighting candles. The rest of the guests arrived, so did a sous-chef/helper, and the meal was on. The advantages to this arrangement are great food and a private space where you can actually hear the conversation around you. Plus no markup on the wine. The cons are that if you’re really enjoying yourself, the building’s noise rules mean no more partying after 11 PM, so sayonara everyone.

Overall, a positive experience.

[Update: 4 PM] Pictures, upon request.

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This post might also be called “Bounteous Fruiteous”. Wow, do we ever have a whole lot of apples.

This weekend we turned two thirds of them into jalapeno pepper jelly, and an apple plum blueberry crisp.

We’ll be continuing to can for the next few weekends, as we deal with the remaining unharvested apple tree, the plums, and the quinces.

For those interested in the recipe, we used one we found on Simple Recipes.

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