Sheepie had been talking about this place for some time. So to celebrate my birthday, we went to Oru in the Fairmont Pacific Rim. From the outside, you can see people dining in luxurious setting and atmosphere. There is valet parking in front where you see shiny new expensive cars.

The first floor is the bar and lounge where there is a nice cosy fireplace and a live band that plays throughout the evening. The restaurant is upstairs on the 2nd floor. We had a reservation for 7pm on a Friday evening. The hostess took my jacket and gave me a number in order to pick up my coat when I leave. She then took us to a table. It was too bad that we didn’t get a window table, but it was still very nice.

The restaurant was quite spacious with lots of space between the tables giving us more privacy. Definitely a romantic restaurant to take your sweethearts to – as we saw many couples dining.
The complimentary bread was different. It had two types; sourdough and olives. Both were sour, but it went well with the butter, and got a bit addicting…lol. The utensils and unique wine glass were all from Germany representing quality and aesthetics.

Qualicum Beach Scallop [gluten free] $18 For appetizers, I ordered the Qualicum Beach Scallop [gluten free] $18. I ordered it without the chestnut, but had the rest with sunchoke veloute, pickled sunchoke and preserved lemon. Sheepie ordered the Smoked Sablefish & Dungeness Crab Croquettes $16 with house made bacon & salt cod brandade, fresh avocado, espelette aoli.

My scallops was a small dish. But it was really good. A bit too salty, but well done. Sheepie had more to eat with his croquettes. It was nicely presented, crispy on the outside and hot inside.

Haida Gwaii Sablefish [gluten free] $34

For my main, I had the Haida Gwaii Sablefish [gluten free] $34 with salt cod brandade, roasted sunchoke, melted leeks, fennel, chorizo, tomato-mirin broth. It was excellent. Again, a bit too salty. Sheepie had Wild Line-caught Salmon and Uni [gluten free] $32 with shimeji and oyster mushrooms, sweet potato velouté, mushroom dashi, fresh uni – which was so small…

The service and food was great. However, I feel some of the dishes are a bit overpriced. Would return, but only for special occasions, or DineOut Fest.

Sorry, I had to take some pics of the lovely restroom…lol

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