Nuba (Waldorf Hotel)

I am going to start this post with an apology to the fine people of Silverton and New Denver. I am sure your part of BC is lovely and you are all very wonderful people. I just don't take my friends leaving Vancouver and you are going to bear the brunt of my anger because I don't know you.

Jay and Robin finally delivered on their threat to leave Vancouver and move to Stupid New Denver. Technically, New Denver is the big city to where they moved, Sucky Silverton- population 400. Now, 402. Since we live in the hood and Jay is a vegetarian who doesn't eat cheese, I thought it a perfect opportunity to go to the Nuba(Waldorf)!


Picture from the Waldorf website.

Warning. This dinner was epic.

Back in the days when I was a rockstar, Hurricane Kitty used to go to the Waldorf Pub when after practice when they didn't have karaoke on at the Astoria. Back then it was all green and black and 80s. No more. I love the makeover. I am a huge fan of the Tiki stylings and love the renovation. Look at the chairs! Another good thing, the bathroom was warm instead of ice cold like most ladies' rooms. Thanks!

I had been wondering how they laid out the room with 2 restaurants being in the same space. Nuba is in the front and the Leeteg Room is in the back and they give you the option of one or the other at the door. We chose Nuba.



Jay and Robin went with a sharing item: Le Feast $28 Two course vegetarian mezze sampler for two. The appetizer course was hummus, taboulleh, baba ganooj and home made pickle.



If you have eaten at one of the 4 Nuba locations, you will know how awesome the baba ganooj is! A nice sharing plate to start with.

Big M and I went for something I hadn't tried before, Pan Seared Halloumi Cheese $8.50- served with fresh tomatoes, dried nut sweet pomegranate vinaigrette and fresh mint chiffonade.



So amazing. I am not sure what chiffonade is, but it tasted fantastic. I was surprised by the texture of the cheese. From the description I was expecting a grilled cheese more like a saganaki, but this looked like pieces of fried egg. The cheese was tangy and you can't go wrong with a cheese and tomato combination. I am 100% ordering this again the next time I go.

Jay and Robin's second course was a really nice looking plate (Robin picked the cheese out of the olives so Jay could have some- love.).



They really enjoyed this. I only managed to try an olive so I can't comment on the taste. The cauliflower looked great and it smelled really good...

Big M and I were done with the sharing and he went for Lamb Chops $18.50- Mint and sumac crusted lam chops over organic hummus, tabloulleh and tzatziki. According to Big M- "that was tasty food".

I went for Beef Tenderloin $14.00 Fraser valley sirloin beef tenderloin with pomegranate reduction & crispy onions served with a potato, feta cheese and tahini terrine.



I enjoy steak, but I was really excited about the sound of the terrine. It was good, I enjoyed the potato and tahini mix. Not something I had tried before. The whole meal was perfectly sized for a dinner portion.

Normally, I enjoy a dessert after a meal on special occasions. As this was our last supper, and we were dining with Robin-a pastry chef we ordered 4 out of the desserts they had to offer. This brought around my favorite exchange with the service staff (who were all wonderful. I am sorry I forget our waitress' name because she was great). When they came to give us the dessert menu (from the Leeteg Room side), the man with the lovely accent said he could probably guess which dessert we were going to order. Game on. He guessed the chocolate fondant cake to which Robin replied, "what do you think we are, amateurs?" Awesome.

Jay's choice was a baklava plate (not on the menu, he asked and they had it.)



Sticky and flaky and sweet as they should be.

Robin chose the Rice Pudding Brulee $7.00 Caramelized Arborio milk rice pudding with orange peel and cinnamon.



Robin is going to be working at a Mexican restaurant in Stupid New Denver so she was interested in seeing how they did this dessert. I thought the brulee top to a rice pudding made it more interesting. I enjoyed the addition of the orange peel as well.

Big M and I chose the Idiazabal Cheese Napoleon with Parsley Syrup $8.00-Idiazabal cream layered with filo pastry, parsley syrup and fresh fruit.



I wasn't sure what we were going to get with this one. Parsley syrup? What is idiazabal? Still not sure what the cheese is but this was one fantastic dessert! They had me at filo pastry. The parsley syrup tasted so much better than you would expect. It gave a nice contrast to the sweetness. Loved.

We did end up ordering the cake. Mainly because he said that today it was served with a coconut ice cream. Organic Chocolate Fondant with Seasonal Ice Cream $8.00.



Both Robin and I are cake decorators so when you call something fondant, I expect rolled sugar icing. In this case, it is like a lava cake. The cake was good, but the ice cream was the star for us on this plate. A bit on the dramatic plating. This was the only thing served on a giant black plate the whole night.

A great dinner with good friends. I am happy that I live so close to a Nuba now and I am excited about the Leeteg Room.

If you are looking for something to do this summer, why not travel to the lovely town of Silverton and stay at the William Hunter Cabins? There is a nice Mexican restaurant in the fantastic township of New Denver that will serve amazing desserts. Tell them Dr. Jenny Fever sent you and they are jerks for leaving.