Uhg. I know. Another post on Sage Bistro? Ehgck. But hear me out, Sage Bistro changes up their menu pretty much monthly, so this visit includes a different variety of foods. Also, I wanted to use my meal card one last time to feel like I'm getting an expensive free meal. : )...
Again, it was a beautiful day, with a beautiful view, and terrible lighting, making it impossible to take a good picture of the restaurant.
Like I said earlier, they change up their menu's more or less monthly/seasonally. This menu definitely held undertones of Spring with fruit, lighter seafoods, and Spring veggies, whereas the previous menu I tried was heartier. I prefer lighter dishes, so this was an appreciated change.
Even the bread was better. Instead of the plain white, there were cranberries and walnuts baked into the slices.
Being here a couple of times, and never trying any of their drinks, i decided I what they created was actually any good or not. I had heard that their coffee had tasted like an oil slick... So opted for the latte instead. The latte was light, and the cream used didn't taste overwhelming. Light and warm and foamy. I'm not a coffee connoisseur by any means, but I believe this was pretty decent.
To start off, my mom and I (who was helping me pack. Thank God or it'd take all day), shared the soup of the day, Red Pepper and Tomato Soup ($6). This soup was quite thick, and when you took a sip, you could feel a bit of heat in the back of your throat, the way a tomato based soup usually does. It was quite strong in flavour.
And while it was alright by itself, it tasted amazing dipped with bread.
For my main, I decided to go for the pan-roasted dried fruit filled pork tenderloin ($17). While I wanted to try the lamb, I always have lamb, and this sounded like something a bit different and unique. Overall, I liked this dish. The veggies were done very well, and the flavours came together very nicely. However, the pork tenderloin (as almost all pork tenderloins come out), was really quite dry.
Luckily, the fruit stuffing and the oil based sauce balanced it out. I believe the dried fruit consisted of prunes and green and red raisins, and their sweetness paired very nicely to the pork.
Mom had picked the winning dish of the day though. Pan-seared Steel-head ($17). Wow. Like the veggies on my dish, done excellently, and the fish. The fish. While, probably due to the pan searing, the edges were dry (which I actually like...), the centre was moist and wonderful. For $17,definitely recommended.
What made this dish so much better than my own though was the cream based sauce. Usually I don't like creams because they are heavy and overwhelm other flavours. However, this cream was light (I'm using the word light too much), and paired with all the elements of the dish perfectly. Loved it with the fish. Loved it with the potatoes. Loved it with the asparagus. I stopped eating from my dish to dip the pork in the cream sauce ._.;
They also had dessert, but none of it really appealed to us. However, we did see other tables order them, and despite the underwhelming description, they do look pretty. I should have tried one.. Ah well.
So while Sage Bistro has been a tad of a disappointment in the past, they really impressed me this time. I guess it goes to show it really depends on the menu that they currently have. Their menu is online always, so I'd suggest checking the menu before you make the trek to UBC to find out if Sage is worth it or not.
Sage Bistro:
Food:
- Seasonal (or monthly?) menus, causing many hit and misses
- This trip was impressive
- Still can be considered a bit pricey, but hit a good dish, and its worth it.
Atmosphere:
Service:
- beautiful location/seating/environment (and yes. you are paying for that)
- A little difficult to find on campus
- Our waitress this time was dealing with two parties of at least 10, and a couple of tables of two. She upselled like crazy, but didn't make it pushy. ...God I wish I could waitress that well. Think of the tips.
: P
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