As the season changes from winter to spring, H Tasting Lounge has also transformed their patio space once again. Moving from their highly successful Winterlust, winter dome dining experience, the domes are now ready from spring. To accompany the new spring domes is a brand new spring menu. The Secret Garden will be open daily from March 16 to May 8, and it is a can’t miss experience. I’ll be giving one lucky person their own chance to experience H Tasting Lounge* – enter here. Check out what I thought of the dome dining experience at the Secret Garden at H Tasting Lounge below!
The Secret Garden at H Tasting Lounge – Dome Dining
Gone is the Alpine dream that was Winterlust. In its place is a lush spring dream. The entire patio space is now teeming with dark, lush greenery. And the domes are artfully appointed with multicolored blossoms and wild ivy. This is truly an Instagrammable experience. The five translucent domes just shimmer in the sunlight and you get gorgeous views of the city, harbour and North Shore Mountains.
The Secret Garden at H Tasting Lounge – Cocktails
H Tasting Lounge is constantly updating their cocktails for each season. For the spring they have introduced a multitude of floral cocktails. Including these two gorgeous beauties:
- Blip ($15.00) – O5 butterfly pea flower infused pisco, coconut, ube, lemon, coconut lavender foam
- Dos Gardenias ($19.00) – Ocho Blanco tequila, peach nectar, epazote, ginger, celery bitters
Look how gorgeous both these cocktails are! The butterfly on the Blip is just absolutely darling. H Tasting Lounge is always top tier when it comes to their cocktails. The Dos Gardenias could definitely be mistaken for a real flower pot if a straw wasn’t sticking out.
The Secret Garden at H Tasting Lounge – Spring Menu
For Spring, H Tasting Lounge has introduced several new dishes! The new menu includes dishes like Seared Jumbo Scallop Linguine, Cioppino, Beef Striploin, Burrata and Spring Peas and more. I managed to snag a reservation in The Secret Garden for lunch, so of course I had to try some of the new spring dishes.
From the spring menu we had:
- Seared Jumbo Scallop Linguini ($32.00)
- Ahi Tuna Tataki Salad ($23.00)
The Seared Jumbo Scallop Linguini features a pesto cream sauce, sweet peas, caramelized onion, roasted gem tomato, baby spinach, and grana padano.
The Ahi Tuna Tataki Salad features soba noodle, edamame, cabbage, carrot, scallion, micro cilantro, miso gomae dressing, and a sesame lime vinaigrette.
H Tasting Lounge – Menu Favourites (Appetizers)
In addition to trying some of the new dishes at H Tasting Lounge, I definitely had to order some of my favourites. To supplement our spring dishes we had:
- Olive Oil Candle & Sourdough Boule ($8.00)
- Scallop & Prawn Kinilaw ($22.00)
- Chicken Wings ($16.00)
- Truffe Fries ($12.00)
If you are at H Tasting Lounge, you need to get their famous Olive Oil Candle & Sourdough Boule. It is such an innovative dish that you cannot miss. The candle is lit tableside and the sourdough is made fresh daily. The crusty bread is the perfect vehicle for the smooth beeswax candle, olive oil and balsamic reduction. I am obsessed with this dish!
For appetizers we went with Chicken Wings and Scallop & Prawn Kinilaw. The Chicken Wings feature ginger rock candy caramel, fish sauce, crispy garlic, pickled chili, scallion, and grilled lime. They remind me of my favourite wings from Boulevard. These wings are incredible. They pack a ton of flavour and the caramel crust is so tasty!
The Scallop & Prawn Kinilaw is a Fliipino ceviche with coconut milk & calamansi, pickled chili, mango, micro cilantro, chive oil and taro chips. I first had this last winter, and I am in love with this dish! The milky texture of this dish goes so well with the smooth scallop. The taro chips add a great textural crunch contrast. This dish is a must order!
I would be remiss not to have an order of Truffle Fries. These fries are some of the best in town. Hot and crispy with generous amounts of grana padano, truffle oil, and truffle on top.
H Tasting Lounge – Menu Favourites (Entrees)
For our mains (in addition to the spring menu items), we went with:
- HTL Smash Burger ($18.00)
- Miso Glazed Sablefish ($42.00)
The HTL Smash Burger features a double smash patty, cheddar cheese, pickle, shredded lettuce, HTL burger sauce and a potato bun. This is a solid burger, and everything just works so well together. Think Big Mac, but a thousand times better. The potato bun is so soft and fluffy and it really holds everything together.
The Miso Glazed Sablefish features oyster mushroom, yaki-onigiri, baby bok choy, bacon-ginger dashi. The sablefish is so buttery and moist and the bacon-ginger dashi packs such a huge flavour punch. The yaki-onigiri is an interesting component of this dish. I appreciate the toasty rice notes with the classic flavours of the miso sablefish.
H Tasting Lounge – Menu Favourites (Desserts)
H Tasting Lounge has a very large dessert menu and it’s always so hard to choose what to order! From cheesecake to ice cream to cotton candy – they’ve got something to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.
For our dessert we went with:
- GF Brownie ($13.00)
- Crème Brûlée ($12.00)
The GF Brownie features salted caramel, vanilla gelato and cereal crisps. This is quite possibly the richest and most decadent brownie I have ever had. It was so good! I thought it would be too rich, however the vanilla gelato really helps break up the overall richness of this dish.
The Crème Brûlée features a lovely sooth Earl Grey custard with a lavender sable on the side. The crème brûlée had a lovely Earl Grey flavour and the torched sugar had a nice satisfying crack.
If you have a huge sweet tooth you definitely should try their Dessert Platter ($40.00) which features blueberry cheesecake, cassis cream puffs, gf brownie, assorted macarons, and cotton candy. Unfortunately we were way to full to thoroughly appreciate this work of art, but I’ll definitely try it next time!
Worth a Try?
Absolutely! I always have an excellent time at H Tasting Lounge, whether it’s for lunch, happy hour or dinner. Their domes just really elevate the entire experience. Reservations are live for the Secret Garden and it is mostly booked, however there is a wait list available so try and get a dome if you can!
The Secret Garden at H Tasting Lounge
Address: The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, 1601 Bayshore Drive
Hours: March 16 – May 8 (Open daily from 11:30am – 11:30pm)
*Booking the lounge is at the winner’s own discretion. Please note there are minimum spends depending on when you book.
