Yesterday, my husband and I checked out the Spot Prawn Festival for the first time.  I was browsing online a few weeks ago and I learned that the Spot Prawn Festival offers a brunch with 6 great Vancouver chefs each preparing spot prawns in a different way.  To a foodie like me, that sounded amazing, so I jumped at the chance.

Our tickets noted that the brunch was at 11:00 a.m., so we headed over there a bit before the start time.  The festival was pretty empty this early.  We went over to the marked brunch section and we were told that the brunch actually began at 11:30.  They checked us in and gave us our wristbands and our “passports” told us to come back.  This gave us a bit of time to stroll around and check out the rest of the festival.  They had cooking demos and vendors had set up stands throughout the area with some vendors offering samples or contests to enter.  There was also a line-up to purchase fresh spot prawns from boats that were pulling in and a different area where you could buy spot prawn chowder for $10.00.

We went back to the brunch area at 11:30.  A line-up had formed to get through, but it moved very quickly with no wait time.  The area was set up with empty tables in the middle and cooking areas/stands for each chef around the perimeter.  It reminded me of  the challenge set ups I’d seen on Top Chef.  There was also wine and beer stations toward the back and a coffee station at the entrance.  Toward the end of the event, they also set up a station for ice cream.  The way that it worked was that you would go to the stand of your choice to pick up the dish from that chef station and get a checkmark on your passport for that station, then take your food back to the middle tables and eat.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

I’ll start with the wine.  They offered several types of wine samples from Evolve Cellars.  I’ll admit that I have not heard of this award winning wine.  I tasted each kind that they offered and it was so delicious.  I will be looking to pick some of this particular brand up next time I want to purchase some wine.

Beer samples from Moody Ales were offered.  They offered the Vienna Amber Lager and the Sublime Pineapple Hefeweizen.  Although they were both great, the pineapple beer was a clear stand out.  So yum!

Coffee from Mogiana Coffee was offered, but I didn’t end up trying it.

The food offerings were as follows:

Chef Tret Jordan of Homer Street Cafe and Bar prepared a salt baked spot prawn with red chimichurri;

Chef Robert Belcham of Campagnolo Restaurant prepared a spot prawn chowder;

Chef Vikram Vij of Vij’s prepared a coconut curried prawn;

Chef Tim Bedford of Drift Cafe Bistro prepared spot prawn chawanmushi, pickles, herb salad, fried shallot;

Chef Caitlin Mark of H2 Rotisserie prepared seared spot prawn with chili pepper and honey glaze, cucumber basil garnish;

Chef Karl Gregg of Colony Bar prepared a sauteed spot prawn, soft boiled egg, roasted new potato, lemon aioli.

We had so much fun at this event.  These Chefs obviously know what they’re doing, so of course the food was amazing! There was nothing that I didn’t like.  Everything was sooo good!  Because there were only so many tables, for every plate we picked up we ended up sharing a table with a different group of people attending the event.  Everyone was so friendly and talkative.  People were just really x x xenjoying themselves – eating great food and drinks, enjoying the sunshine and beautiful views and meeting new people.  It was great to chat with the chefs as well.

Before we left, we finished our brunch off with a sampler of La Glace’s bananas foster ice cream.  It tasted like banana bread.  It was smooth, creamy perfection.

This was a fantastic event that I would definitely recommend!