Time flies when you’re having fun! I can’t believe that it’s been five years since Richard Wolak first began delighting taste buds with Tasting Plates. These food-crawl style events celebrate neighbourhoods around the Lower Mainland by showcasing local restaurants and cuisines.

We started the celebrations with a couple of wine tastings from Marquis Wine Cellars – a bold Cabernet Sauvignon and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, both from Chile. Marquis Wine Cellars has over 26 years of retail wine experience and it’s one of Davie Village’s most popular retailers.

And speaking of Davie Village, we found ourselves at the brand new location of Tartine Bread & Pies for not just apple pie, but apple pie done three ways! We had generous slices of Dutch Apple Pie, Salted Caramel Apple Pie and Blackberry Apple Pie. Served with a dollop of sweet cream, this way a heavenly treat. This bakery definitely left me wanting more, and I look forward to coming back, this time for their savoury pie selection!

So we started our dinner with dessert first, but what’s the point of being a grown up if you can’t break the rules once in a while?

For our third stop on our Tasting Plates adventure, we stopped at Ten Ten Tapas for some West Coast inspired small plates.

Our three-item plate included Mushrooms on Toast, Salmon Mi Cuit (this was my favourite dish, the texture of this salmon was exquisite) and Octopus Conserva.

What I liked the best about this Tasting Plates outing was the variety of dishes we got to experience. Our third stop was celebrated eatery Saj & Co. Known best for its home style Lebanese dishes and fresh ingredients, this popular restaurant easily combines healthy and tasty.

Our tasting plates offerings included hummus made with beets and sweet potato in bread bowls and gluten free brownies. Veridict: beet hummus rocks!

Getting full now, but who can say no to Mexican food? Our fifth stop on our culinary tour was Patron Tacos and Cantina on Robson St. These were delicious bocadillos! Sopes (tortillas topped with shredded cheese, beans and cheese, garnished with green tomatillo sauce), Flautas (deep fried corn tortillas, barbacoa beef, sour cream and feta cheese) and enchilada (corn tortilla, shredded beef with sour cream and feta cheese and topped with red sauce).

And finally, we rolled our way back to Granville St. to Meinhardt Fine Foods.

Meinhardt Fine Foods’ offering included a Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpea Salad, a  red onion Mushroom Leek Soup and a  Prosciutto & Brie Sandwich- fig crostini. It was a feast.

This was one of my favourite events and a great way to celebrate Vanfoodster’s Tasting Plates 5th year anniversary. For more of Richard’s delicious food events check out his website.