Soleil@K (downtown) revisit

Dennis and I have been to this restaurant a few times but realized that we have never done our own review of the place!  In our experience, the food has always been more than satisfactory and it brings back romantic memories (our engagement last year started at dinner here).

For starters, our server brought out the bread appetizer and provided a oil/vinegar mix.  I really liked the balsamic vinegar in this mix and happily dipped the soft bread.  We stopped ourselves at one bread apiece since we had more food on the way.

We decided to start out with an appetizer.  Our server suggested the chef's choice flatbread ($16), which would be topped with red onion, roasted tomatoes, bacon, parmesean cheese, and a balsamic vinegar dressing.  When it came out, it was almost a foot long and looked so tempting... but pictures come first!  We dug into triangle cut pieces and it was absolute joy with the plentiful toppings and complimentary flavors!  Dennis mentioned that there was a great sauce on the onions and I reminded him that it was likely the balsamic dressing!  For a light eater, this could be a meal in itself!

For my entree, I selected the Furikake Crusted Ahi ($26).  This was perfectly seared and crusted with seaweed, sesame seeds, and probably some sesame oil.  There was a soy buerre blanc which accompanied the dish but I used it sparingly on the fish and as a gravy for the wasabi mashed potatoes.  Personally I can't handle wasabi but it was so light that I didn't really notice any difference.  The consistancy of the potatoes was what I expected, not too runny and not too thick.  The tempura long beans were about the right crispiness but nothing special from other tempuras.

For Dennis's entree, he chose the Grilled Mahi Mahi ($26).  This mellow fish was overall decent although one side of the fish was a lot more tender than the other.  This was served with a sweet papaya cream which we thought was a bit too strong for the entree.  On the side was a sweet potato mash but the two orange components were too similar and sweet for Dennis's taste.  The food description mentions vanilla oil but I'm unsure where that ingredient comes to play since I'm unfamiliar with it.  The chinese broccoli had a decent firmness without being overcooked and the carrots had a light crunch which I would have preferred softer.

For other entree options, we would recommend the Free Range Jidori Chicken ($20).  It's one of our favorite items on the menu and at a good price!

We were too full to order dessert (that flatbread really filled us up) but the waitress brought out yellow cotton candy with the bill.  We had some fun trying to guess the flavor, which was familiar but we couldn't quite put our fingers on it.  The waitress helped out by letting us know it was banana!  The funny thing is that this is the FIRST time we've ever gotten cotton candy in our five or so visits, but someone's review back in 2006 had blue cotton candy!  It's okay though because we always end up being stuffed after eating here!