Edible on Granville island ‘s take-out window is currently featuring: “A Tribute to Canadian Bacon” – all the items on the menu incorporate bacon:
Now, I don’t eat pork. But in the spirit of paleo, I brought along a bacon-loving friend who does :)
First of all, Edible Canada has a very enviable location smack dab in the middle of all the action on Granville Island, across from the public market. There’s a great patio, restaurant and dining room inside, and a small retail store featuring local products (chocolate, preserves, sauces, salts, Vij’s curry meals, etc).
For this visit, the bacon take-out window was the main attraction. My friend ordered the Bacon & Duck Rilette Poutine, which took forever to be ready. The concept of a take-out counter is to grab food and go, but service was painfully slow, and there was no one even ahead of us. We’re talking a 15 minute wait for assembling some poutine… And unfortunately, I can’t even say they made up for it with friendliness. So, that part of the experience was a let down.
As for the food – it was good, but not amazing. My friend said it tasted rather bland – understated perhaps, which is strange for a poutine. Also, the star ingredient was, well, where was the bacon? For a bacon-centric dish, and for a $9 poutine, it wasn’t a very generous serving of bacon. Also MIA was the gravy, of which there was a very small amount. So the end product? Although still pretty good, it was rather underwhelming, especially when combined with the slow and unfriendly service. As an aside, I myself have (accidentally) tried the bacon gelato, and it was also just okay.
Having said all that, I still really like the concept – devoting an entire menu to one ingredient. And waiting around on beautiful Granville Island isn’t that much of a chore – plus, you could always browse their retail store in the meantime. So, if you love bacon, I’d still recommend checking it out.
