It was a pleasure to dine at Pidgin for the first time. As it is located in a small corner in Gastown, I have to confess I enjoyed their food more than the location.
Introducing the systematic rating scale (SRS)
Here’s a rating system that I have adopted: with a scale of 1-5 (being the highest), I will give ratings on the ambiance (inner and outer environment and decor), service, food taste, flavor complexity and incorporation and drink list quality(with a deeper focus on the wine list if applicable). Please note that food complexity and incorporation is separated rated from food taste, for the reason being tasty food can also be simple food (eg. fried chicken)- it may lack depth and complexity. However, a complex dish may have lots of ingredients that are well incorporated, but it may not taste so good.
According to the review scales, here are my ratings:
Ambiance (3- Inner , 1- Outer): the community is not the best, but interior decor is comforting and cozy.
Service (3 -Satisfactory): attentive service, but it was busy when we visited and servers were not making too much effort in maintaining customer relationship.
Food taste (4- tasty): dishes are very delicious but can be a bit inconsistent. Particularly beef tendon and agetashi tofu were very subpar. However soft shell crab was outstanding.
Flavour complexity and incorporation (3-inconsistent): eg, wild rice salad is 1,soft shell crab is 3, and foie gras rice is 4
Drink list (2- lack of variety): sake was great and complex but very heavy and high alcohol. They also ran out of champagne which is the only one on the list.
Highlight of dishes I really enjoyed:
shishito peppers
softshell crab
bison
halibut
foie gras rice
Unfortunately, the octopus was not as soft as what I like. However, it’s a pleasant meal overall, and I will definitely go back.
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