Dine Out Vancouver - Cin Cin Ristorante & Bar

The Wine Cost More Than The Dinner

Our Dine Out Vancouver adventure continues with dinner at Cin Cin Ristorante & Bar. Situated on world famous Robson Street, you enter Cin Cin through a winding stone staircase which leads up to the restaurant, with high arched windows that lead out to a beautiful heated terrace.

CinCin’s acclaimed wine collection, housed in the private wine room, is deep and global with rare vintages and boutique finds, acknowledged by Wine Spectator with a ‘Best of Award of Excellence’ for the past three years. That may help to explain why the Dine Out wine pairing cost more than the $35.00 Dine Out Vancouver menu.

Pronounced “chin – chin” meaning a toast to good health, old friends and the pleasures of fine food and wine, Cin Cin is owned by TopTable Restaurants, which also owns Araxi, Blue Water Cafe and Vancouver Magazine’s Restaurant of The Year, West.

Red + Gold Beet Salad

Sarah’s appetizer was a salad made with red and gold beet with aged ricotta, arugula and balsamic dressing. It was very refreshing, light, and made for a good opening dish. However, the portions were very small - just one red beet and one gold beet. Should have seen there was no ‘S’ next to beet in the menu.

Pork Terrine

My pork terrine appetizer was made country style with citrus mostarda and sherry, and paired with a glass of Mission Hill Reserve Sauvignon Blance 2005. The terrine and wine went well together but again, I felt the portion was very small. You could have finished the dish with four bites.

Wood Oven Roasted Arctic Char

Sarah’s main course was the arctic char with caponata, nugget potato and citrus vinaigrette. The fish was kinda dry and overcooked. It wasn’t nearly as good as the char we had at La Terrazza. The fish was much bigger at La Terrazza too.

Rotisserie Fired Pork Loin

My main course was two small pieces of pork loin with potato pave, spiced cabbage, clove and nutmeg jus. It was paired with a glass of Mission Hill “SLC” Chardonnay 2005. The dish was very dry and didn’t taste very good. The wine did not help it much either. It was at this point I decided to make a scene by posing with my food. I got a couple of strange looks, but that was about it.

Tiramisu

For the last course, Sarah had the tiramisu with mascarpone creme, lady finger and Kahlua. She liked the dessert because it wasn’t that sweet. However, she finished in four bites because it was very small.

Chocolate & Meringue Cake

My dessert was a chocolate cake the size of a Kit Kat, with a tablespoon of banana sorbet and lemon sauce. It was paired with a Sumac Ridge Pipe Port. I wish I could tell you what it tasted like but when something can be eaten with one bite, it’s kind of hard to remember.

After dinner, Sarah said she was still hungry. You know a restaurant didn’t do its job when the guests are still hungry after the Dine Out. Cin Cin is by the far the worst of the Dine Out restaurants we have gone to. The dishes were unbelievably small and the $41.00 wine pairing cost more than three course dinner.

Not all Dine Out Vancouver menus are an indication of the restaurant quality. Many restaurants make special menu just for Dine Out in order to meet the $35 menu price. What they make for Dine Out may not be in their regular menu. I hope this is the case with Cin Cin.

Dinner for four came to $215.00 with tips and one wine pairing. Overall, I give Cin Cin 2.5 out of five stars.