Dining in Vancouver with Glowbal Group

Glowbal Group
We seem to have grown fonder of the Glowbal Collection of restaurants lately. On a few first visits we had some complaints about service at a few of the venues but the last three visits have been very good. We have previously written blogs about Italian Kitchen and Society but have only been to Glowbal once each (on separate occasions) and did not write about it. In the last month we have visited Glowbal twice – once for a snack in the Afterglow lounge after an event and once for lunch with our Aunt and Uncle.

The Satay

Glowbal is no different than the other restaurants in the group when it comes to atmosphere – it is busy and vibrant but a little quieter for chatting than Italian Kitchen and Coast. The lunch menu includes satay, soup and salad, sandwiches, steak and signature features. They also offer 45 minute lunch items during the week. The dinner menu is similar with the sandwiches removed and appetizers, platters and sides added. We loved the satay selection on our visit to Afterglow a few weeks earlier so for lunch decided to order some for appetizers. Satay menus usually include small portions of meat but this one also includes seafood and vegetarian options. On both visits we opted for kobe meatballs in tomato sauce, a tiger prawn in garlic butter and a short rib with truffle aioli to share. The satay plates are garnished with two sauces (ginger white soy & chinese mustard) and a thai slaw. Both times we were very happy with our choices. The pieces were each very flavourful and I really like the slaw.

Our Lunch

For lunch my Aunt and I could not decide between the mushroom risotto and the lobster grilled cheese. So we ordered one of each to share. We were pleasantly surprised when our order came and both dishes were split and plated separately for each of us. The mushroom risotto was terrific. It had a decent amount of large mushroom pieces and the rice was not mushy. The extra parmigiano reggiano made it a bit rich but also perfect. The three cheese, atlantic lobster grilled cheese was also rich and creamy. It was good but the lobster was slightly dry so my favorite was the risotto. The sandwich was served with a half side of crispy homemade fries and a half salad. My uncle ordered the full lobster grilled cheese for himself and Jeff went with the baked rigatoni. When we saw the large portion of pasta served with bread we both thought he would not finish it but he ended up doing a pretty good job so it must have been good. The rigatoni was covered in bolognese and a baked parmesan gratin.

We were suitably impressed by the food and the service to go back again and also to think about giving Coast another try.