DiVino Wine bar (Commercial Drive)

This is Anabelle’s first restaurant review for Hummingbird604.

On July 28^th I attended a meetup with the Social Butterflies—five of us had dinner and wine at DiVino Wine Bar on Commercial Drive. Thursdays are Wine by the Glass days: take any bottle, divide the price by four and buy two glasses and you can taste any wine on the list.

It was my first time in this part of the city and I was surprised with the amount and variety of cafés, bars and restaurants on my walk up from Commercial station. It might be an area I choose to move in eventually. I liked the energy and the Petite Italie feel I got from the street.

We were seated on the small but nice patio because it was such a gorgeous evening. The owner quickly brought the menu and wine list… what a wine list! The first page has wines by the glass, and the other 20 pages or so so are all bottles… some going up to 1800$.

We ordered what’s called “Flight of Wine”: 3 2-ounce glasses of wine chosen to fit with your meal. With the five of us, the table was filled with wine glasses!

I ordered the Bison Short rib Rigatoni Pasta, Cherry Tomatoes, Arugula and Grana Padano. The pasta was cooked to perfection, the bison short rib tender and juicy and there was just the perfect amount of tomatoes and aragula. I would have liked a bit more cheese, but that’s a personal taste—it didn’t bother me that much.

I’m not much of a foodie but I appreciated the fact that there was very little spice in the meal. I think any spice or herb would have detracted from the strong taste of the bison and arugula. Or I might just have been very hungry and willing to eat anything. Your pick. :p

The wines were perfectly matched to the meal, from lightest to fullest. The woody notes of the last two glasses accompanied game meat quite well. The portion size was good: not so much that you feel stuffed after finishing your plate but not so little that you are still hungry after eating. In my case, I still had space for dessert, so I ordered the Mascarpone Mousse. They took a while to bring the dessert to us so they gave us a complimentary glass of prosecco while we waited. Great service! The prosecco was dry and bubbly, perfect to accompany the mascarpone mousse with berry compote and gelato.

The mousse was light and just a little sweet. I have a slight lactose intolerance but this dessert didn’t affect me. The gelato was absolutely delicious—I think they sell it by the cone or by the tub, so if you pass by I strongly recommend you get yourself some. The berry compote still had big pieces of fruit in it and was also tasty.

I know this city is full of great restaurants—that’s one of the reasons I chose to move here. The DiVino wine bar is great for a date or a girl’s night out. It’s moderately priced (about 20$ for a main course) but for the quality of the wines and food, totally worth it.