Published on Main: 2021 New years eve tasting menu
Published on Main is a contemporary/casual dining restaurant in Vancouver that opened in late 2019. I have been wanting to pay them a visit for awhile because their Instagram showcases beautiful dishes, similar to food art. When I saw they were offering a special new years eve tasting menu, I jumped on the chance to reserve.
Interior
The interior of Published on Main is very stylish. We came during a dinner service so overall, the restaurant looked a lot darker than the picture above. The lighting was mostly warm candle light and the dark walls and furniture highlighted the gold accents throughout the restaurant.
We were seated at a small 2 person table. Honestly, the chairs were not the most comfortable because they were bar stool height and also did not offer much back support. There seemed to be more comfortable booth/dining area seating deeper into the restaurant.
Since we dined during COVID-19, we were spaced out from other tables. There was no plexi-glass but all staff wore masks the entire service.
2020 New years eve tasting menu
The 2020 new years eve menu was $200 per person, including tax and gratuity. The tasting menu included 10 courses.
We start off with 2 glasses of sparkling white.
Snack course
The snack course consists of 5 different snacks. These are all very mini-versions of their usual al le carte size.
Liver toast
This is a one-biter but it is packed with flavour! A very savoury taste with the crunch of the rye toast makes it quite delicious.
Candied steelhead
The candied steelhead is very interesting because it reminds me of the Chinese beef jerky. The meat is harder and chewy with a glaze on top. It also tastes very smoky.
Clam motoyaki
I’ve had oyster motoyaki but never clam motoyaki before. Motoyaki typically has a mayo sauce over some sort of oyster shell and then baked. The clam motoyaki is a lot smaller so there is less mayo flavour as well. While interesting to try, I think I still prefer an oyster motoyaki.
Bison tartare
I’ve tried bison tartare several times and I am unable to tell the difference between bison or regular beef tartare. Again, this is a small one-biter so I can’t say much aside from it tasted good. I like the chip that they used.
Chips & dip
In terms of presentation, I was most surprised with this as it didn’t look like chips & dip at all. The chip was puffed up with a small dab of the dill dip underneath it.
A nice snack but not an appetizer I would have ordered if it wasn’t part of the tasting menu.
Main course 1: Healing broth
The healing broth is a dashi-based soup with burdock and wakame. Burdock is a vegetable root and wakame is a type of seaweed/algae. The soup is very Japanese/Asian inspired and tastes light, unlike creamy western soups.
The server accidentally gave us the sake pairing meant for another table, so we got to try this dish with the sake and it is a great choice for this main.
Main course 2: Dungeness crab
I don’t know how else to describe this dish to you aside from saying it is like a crab taco. Initially, I tried to cut this with a knife and eat it like a civilized person, but the black/dark flatbread underneath it is not easy to cut. In the end, I just grabbed it with my hands and found it tasted much better this way because none of the filling was falling out.
Aside from the fresh crab meat, they include sweet roots and bitter greens, but really all you will taste is the crab and the slightly spicy mayo sauce they put on top.
Lots of crabby flavour, which is what I like in a crab dish.
Main course 3: Foie gras & ham hock
The foie gras and ham hock is presented in a terrine. A terrine in traditional French cuisine, is a loaf of forcemeat or aspic, similar to a pâté. The fattiness of the foie gras and the saltiness of the ham hock is well balanced by all the pickled vegetables included in this dish.
A very pretty and sophisticated dish! I have only tried foie gras in a traditional seared duck breast dish or on a piece of toast as a pate, so this was interesting.
Main course 4: Smoked sablefish
This is my favourite dish out of all the mains! The sablefish meat is smooth and soft – falls apart with the touch of my fork. They also cook it with an interesting sweet glaze that also tastes kind of smoky.
I love the mushroom dashi the dish is soaked in. The dashi by itself can taste sour but with the fish, it creates a delicious harmony since the glaze is sweet.
Other elements on this dish include bok choy and fried rice cake. The bok choy is a good pairing for this dish. I found the rice cake to be a little odd although it tasted good. The dashi did not make it soggy at all.
Main course 5: Agnolotti
The agnolotti is stuffed with cheese and maybe something else I’m not sure about. Personally, I found the agnolotti to be a bit too salty and have too strong of a flavour with the butter sauce.
The duck confit is cooked well and tastes good with the butter sauce, but it too is quite savoury. The sunchoke is the only element that is not super savoury, so it was able to cut through the heaviness of this dish.
Also by this time I was starting to get very full.
Main course 6: Beef
This is your staple beef steak served with potatoes and truffle. Again, I was starting to feel VERY FULL by this time so I was somewhat relieved to see the size of the beef steak was not too large. I found the little truffles on top to be very adorable and it tasted great with the sauce.
Behind the potato chip, there is another potato cut into a circle mold with a flake of truffle on top. Behind it, is a potato stuffed with more beef and truffle. The stuffed potato was a bit too savoury for me by this point of my meal, but all the meat was very soft and tender.
Dessert 1: Hay
This dessert is called “hay” and it features green apple and chamomile. The texture is very fluffy and light, almost like a custard but even lighter than that. I swear it’s almost like eating a cloud.
The sourness of the green apple was really helping my stomach because I was starting to die from all the heavy main courses. This, like a fruit sorbet, is very refreshing and light.
Dessert 2: Chocolate
Sadly, I was unable to finish this course because I was too full, but I did manage to take several bites to taste it. The chocolate cake is moist and very chocolately so all chocolate lovers can rejoice.
Chocolate and cherry are a very traditional combination. The cherries are cooked and dripping in a delicious sauce.
What I liked the most was probably the ice-cream with a layer of crunchy nuts underneath it.
Dessert 3: Mignardises
The very last dessert course are some small treats and sweets but as you can see, we asked to pack them to go because I was so full I could not breathe lol.
We had these the next day and all 3 of them were delectable. The macaron had a truffle taste to it (!!! so unique) and the toffee was chewy and kind of spicy. Lastly, the fruit jello was soft and chewy with a splash of liquor.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We enjoyed our dining experience at Published on Main for the 2020 new years even menu. With tasting menus, you always wonder if you’ll be full and get your money’s worth. Well I was so full that I had to sit down for 2 hours and just not do anything while I digest lol.
The snack course is very small and limited but with distinct flavours for each one. The main courses were very rich with lots of fatty elements and interesting presentations. The portion sizes for these are also large for a tasting menu and I was already full after the first 3 mains. I tried my best to eat everything but near the end I was mostly forcing myself so I can write this review and also so I feel like I didn’t just throw $200 away lol.
Even though the menu price is expensive, I actually think it’s quite worth it. for a 10 course meal, even if you don’t include the snack course, would make each main and dessert roughly $20. Judging by some of the mains (foie gras, sablefish, beef with truffle, etc.), these are definitely much more than $20 per dish.
The tasting menu took 3 hours to complete, which was also a factor in how I became so full over time because we never really stopped eating. The wait time in between each course was also not a long wait. Near the end, I looked incredulously at how other tables finished the tasting menu happily and not severely bloated like I was. I feel like they could’ve even removed 1-2 items from the menu and I wouldn’t even be mad because I was so full lol.
Presentation for all the dishes were beautiful and we would love to return another time to order al le carte.
Sincerely, Loewe