Wild Tangerine

Opened for 6 years, Wild Tangerine is a family owned and operated restaurant. I visited the restaurant about four years ago and couldn't remember what I ate except for the shrimp lollipops. TC finally convinced me to go one night after I told him about those lollipops. We got there around 9 pm and it was a fairly quiet week night. As we flipped through the menu, I felt that, for the ambience and price point, they could put more effort into the aesthetic of their menu cover.

They got the bison short rib from Rimbey! That's a small town south of Edmonton near Red Deer where I went to high school! I just had to do a shout out since no one ever goes there or has heard of it (represent!).

TC was definitely adamant about getting the shrimp lollipops (essentially what we went there for). We anticipated the worst when the owner told us they ran out of several appetizers. But alas, we managed to get the last remaining 3 lollipops (*phew).

The shrimp lollipops ($9) were wrapped in vermicelli noodles, skewered, deep fried and served with wasabi yogurt, the part I think TC was most excited about. The batter was light and crispy and the remains of the fried noodles could be seen scattered all around my perimeter. I asked TC if they were as good as he expected them to be, and I think his response was the wasabi yogurt was the best part, but the shrimp lollipops were good too. I reassured him he could buy wasabi mayo at T&T or make it at home.

When I ordered the tofu pancakes with hoisin-palm sugar glaze ($6), I thought the glaze would be on the tofu but in fact it was a dipping sauce. The hoisin sauce didn't help adding any dimension to the flavour, but it was mainly the texture that I struggled with and thought it was rather bland and mushy. I even tried dipping it in wasabi yogurt and pretended they were crab cakes ( -__-''), but still couldn't manage to enjoy them. Meanwhile, TC only ate one because he was just looking for something to eat the wasabi mayo with.

As more dishes began to arrive, I had to ask the server to move us to a bigger table as I ended up using my lap to set down plates. The next dish to arrive was the special of the day, which was the sweet potato and lavender soup. Before ordering, I asked what kind of consistency it had and the response I got was,

"It's a puree...like baby food".

Meh, I went for it anyway. It was cold outside. My soup arrived and he was absolutely right; puree, baby food. Though I wish he didn't describe it that sense, it was also warming with a hint of ginger. The lavender seeds added fragrance to the aftertaste without overpowering. It was reminiscent of the lavender gelato I had at Bella Gelateria in Vancouver.

TC ordered the Most Memorable red curry mussels with linguini ($23). For someone who said he was starving, he couldn't even finish it, and that's when I come in. The mussels were not too small and it was a fairly big portion. The red curry was diluted down so it wasn't spicy, but still had the red curry essence. Though I wish it had more depth, the sauce was creamy, more coconuty and subtle, suitable for pasta sauce, and turned out to be a descent fusion dish (coming from a Thai person). Thinking about mussels and frites I've had in the past, the curried mussels would make an interesting take if served with a side of fries.

Throughout our dinner, we actually carried out several interesting conversations about restaurant business with who I assumed was the owner, Mr. Wilson Wu. From the beginning, he was attentive and very sociable. He finally convinced me on getting the limited time only creme caramel, which was made out of goat's milk. There was an underlying goat's milk pungency in which if you are bothered by goat cheese, you might not like this one. It didn't bother me or TC, though. The texture was soft and silky and much lighter than most creme caramel I've had.

In one of our conversations, Mr. Wu seemed quite dreary when he talked about the shortage of staff especially in the kitchen, an issue I'm sure facing many small scale restaurants everywhere. He also saw caught me taking photos of food and immediately asked if I was a food blogger (^__^'') To which, my response was "...Yes...No....". I asked him if he reads food blogs to which he responded,

"I read some, but I find too many just follow the trends. They are not fully aware of the palette when they write."

This may be true, and it also made me reflect about what and how I write; if it is objective. But since tasting is also very personal and varies from person to person, and in the end, they are merely opinions. Therefore, I think my aim in writing reviews is to share the dining experience of what is good and bad so others would know what to expect.

It was definitely a unique dining experience, both culinary and the social aspects. Compared to other restaurants in Edmonton, I found Wild Tangerine to be more distinctive for its Asian/Western fusion offerings. Customer service was very attentive and I definitely enjoyed the conversations. Price range wise, in my honest opinion, some dishes (like the fried tofu) are slightly high on the spectrum.