ottawa foodies

$21.99 for this platter! A huge ripoff!

Let's look at the website menu.

Crab wonton - $8.99 (Yangtze dim-sum price for this is less than $3)

Pot Sticker - $7.99 (Again, Yangtze dim-sum price for this is less than $4)

Steamed Edamame - $5.99 (Many Japanese restaurants sell this for less than $4)

Sorry. I am not going to pay more for chain restaurant food.

We opted for the "Pagoda Platter" so we could sample as many appetizers as possible. At $21.99 we thought it might be too much food, but we were hungry and went with it. As you can see in the photo it was actually quite meager but was beautifully presented.

The Grilled Chicken Skewers had a kind of dry powdery texture and an overpowering taste of lemon. The "Vietnamese" Spring Rolls were thick, full of very non-Vietnamese cabbage, greasy, and without flavour. The Crispy Crab Wontons were kind of bland -- no taste of crab and a too-rich cream cheese filling. The Potstickers were really quite good. We fought tooth and nail over the third one. Wifey got it of course, so I angrily doused the third Crab Wonton in sauce and choked it down. ;-)

The three sauces were diverse but a little disappointing. The peanut sauce was a slightly thinned peanut butter -- not too bad, since I love peanut butter! The soy and ginger sauce was exactly that. The sweet chili sauce was very sweet.

This plate was nice to look at but overall a big ripoff!

Great selection of appetizers--Crab Wontons and Lettuce Wraps were very tasty. I was also told that everything is made in-house, no frozen spring rolls or dumplings etc.

The Fox and Feather Pub has a typical "pub" atmosphere and menu, a good selection of beer, a great summer 2nd storey patio and a selection of half price appetizers between 4pm-6pm and 9pm-12am. I tried the half-price ($4.99) wings last night and was very disappointed with both the wings and Server. I ordered medium wings - simple enough. The wings arrived. First impressions - the wings smallish, the sauce in a little plastic cup on the side...I've never seen this - but maybe I'll like having control over the sauce - turns out, I'm just as happy having them sauced before I get them. First bite - maybe this is why its a good idea to have the sauce on the side - its BBQ sauce, not medium. The Server returned and I explained the mix up and asked if I could have medium sauce, but it is only at this point that she informs me they don't have medium sauce, only Hot or BBQ - this is what you get for knowing what you want without consulting the menu (Checked menu later - they list Hot, Mild or Honey Garlic). She offered to bring me Hot sauce so that I could mix the two of them together - not what I wanted..but whatever, I'll take it. The Hot sauce is a Frank's base and masks most of the BBQ flavour. My friends ordered zucchini sticks and nachos - which looked great. They enjoyed everything except the salsa - I didn't sample so can't comment. Aside from not being clear about the wings, the Server was great and attentive to our drinks and clearing our table.

Wing size - 6/10
Flavour - 4/10
Recommended Beer - I enjoyed Grolsch, however given that you receive the wings bare and can moderate your own sauciness, you could easily go with a red or something heavier.

This is the tuna tartare ($12) that my friend ordered. Tuna mixed with spicy yuzu mayo. My friend is a picky diner and she told me that the tuna was good, but didn't blow her away though.

Note: Talking about yuzu, have you ever picked up a glass jar of Korean yuzu (called yuja in Korean) from any Chinese grocery stores (e.g., New 168, Kowloon Market, or T&T)? It looks like orange jam. In the winter time, I use about 1 or 2 tablespoon of yuzu syrup to stir in a cup of hot water (sometimes I add small amount of honey) to soothe my throat. I remember that few years ago, a popular Korean TV series (called Dae Jang Geum) was aired in Hong Kong and the drama series has fascinated many Asian TV audience as well. The story talks about the first female Royal Physician in Korean history. About every episode involves making delicious food presented to the king and the stress of herbal medicine.

We ordered few dishes from their Antipasti menu. I forgot what we ordered. Glad that I have this photo to refresh my mind.

We tried their Spinach and Artichoke Dip servied with Italian flag bread (I think it was $9 for this appetizer). It was pretty tasty.

I remember my friend once told me (via her colleague in the cooking club) that each restaurant makes money from their appetizer menu and not from the entree menu. I have to agree. For $9 (I think the price has increased to $10 in December), the profit margin is quite high.

The Korean Style Sticky Ribs were tasty and quite generous in portion. I'd totally get these again. 12 bones for 10 tasty little bones.

The Poblano Soup had a nasty bitter taste and not much else. The Margarita was way overpriced for one made with bar lime. Stick to the Bellini and a handful of tasty appetizers...

Roasted red pepper and tomato bisque. It was topped with coupons with parmesan (I think, the bellini was starting to take effect). The soup had a great texture and flavour, I was quite impressed since it was the "soup of the day".

Thursday before last I had the opportunity to try the Milestones at Rideau and Sussex. I had the spinach dip and the soup of the day (roasted red pepper and tomato bisque with cheesy croutons). I love love love their spinach dip. It was cheesy, creamy goodness. Nice and savoury. I have a feeling I am going to crave this constantly.

The South East Asian Chicken Skewers with Trio of Dipping Sauces (Kobe mustard, cool mango vinaigrette, sweet citrus cilantro sauce ) were reasonably tasty. Not as good as those spicy thai drummettes though. I kept switching through the sauces, trying to find one I really liked. Too bad because southeast asian flavours can be so great.

We also had the Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip that Ashley shows in her review. Very nice indeed!

The Spicy Thai Chicken Drummettes are really very good. Tasty and satisfying, served in a pool of peanut sauce (hidden in this admittedly bad picture) with a bowl of sesame-cucumber mayo.

I think I said before that the appies are good here -- better than the mains. I still stand by that. A great place for a drink and a few small plates!

I also ordered the roasted corn & potato chowder. A very rich and creamy soup with red corn tortilla strips, ancho chile, cheddar, sour cream (see the photo).

We ordered two appetizers to start. This was their famous spinach & artichoke dip with red tortilla chips. Good finger food to go with our drink (POM juice, ice tea) before our meal. But nothing special.

P.S. All the ladies are monitoring our weight carefully as our New Year resolution.

This was their calamari with andouille sausage that we ordered to share. Taste was okay.

This time, chef's inspiration was tuna (if my memory serves me right).

My son's Smoked Salmon

For this meal, my friend's chef's inspiration was scallops and a muffin. Cute!

Chef's inspiration changes every time we are here. This was the shrimp skewer my husband and others ordered. On the side was Aroma's version of coleslaw with tasty salad dressing.

This is the Chef's inspiration (cold appetizer - advocado sauce over chicken over mashed sweet potato) . The server said the chef changes the appetizer every day. Taste was okay. I preferred the western style potsticker I tried last time.

Most of the ladies ordered Mushrooms in a puff pastry with garden herbs and the men ordered Crab flan with their garden herb sauce. The mushrooms I had was tasty (it would be perfect if the chef can reduce the salt amount a bit). My friend also said the same thing. For the crab flan, the men said the favour was not good enough, but still ok. However, the presentation was excellent.

This was my partners appetizer which was called Carciofini al Formaggio...artichokes baked with white wine, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Being a lover of artichokes as he is, he LOVED this one!

This is the ravioli. Nice to see the slice of the lotus root on the top.

This is my tuna + tempura prawn tartar with caramelized banana finger (part of the Set Menu). I called the western version of sweet spring roll. Not bad.

This is the Black butter sided scallops ($16).

I had the Lobster macchiato (i.e., Lobster soup). It was very delicious (Hmmm, I loved lobster!!). However, I found it a bit salty though. It could be perfect if the salt level can be reduced a bit.

This is my husband’s smoked duck prosciutto. I let him try some of my Lobster soup and he told me he preferred my soup over his duck.

Prosciutto / melon / balsamic reduction / mint bruschetta ($8)

The bread was toasted but fresh, which I much prefer to break your teeth crostinis! And the mint really added an extra punch. I really liked the clever design of the bruschetta with the melon and prosciutto shaved on the bread.

Now, I'm a fan of sweetness in my food and this Dominica Slaw salad really delivered! Made of red and white cabbage, mango slices, sweet peppers, with a brown sugar vinaigrette the flavours really popped. I'm also a big fan of cilantro and think there was enough acidity in the dressing to carry the sweetness. Going to add this to my salad recipe arsenal.