Ernst & Young’s ELP Reunion Dinner at Cactus Club

Hi Stephanie here,

Sangria

This post is dedicated to my friend at EY “R”. This friend is one of three faithful followers I have. According to this friend, he checks my blog everyday and wishes there was something new. Thanks R! I apologize for the long long delay, but the reason I have been missing updating this blog is because of the CA Recruit. Thank goodness it’s over, and I managed to land an offer (guess who with?) so I will be working downtown and I can go even more places to eat!

I thought it might be appropriate to start my new updating with an appropriate EY post to celebrate the end of the recruiting! In a previous post, I mentioned that I went to Ernst & Young’s Emerging Leaders Program where it was an amazing experience and one of the highlights was cooking at Quince! See Cooking Class at Quince. After

Mini Burgers

the program ended, we had a reunion dinner at Cactus Club on Broadway.

For my drink – I ordered a Sangria. I’ve never had a sangria before, but ever since my parents went to Spain, I’ve always wanted to try one. I never usually order drinks at a restaurant, but I wasn’t paying so why not? (Gotta love these company dinners :D) This was very fruity and sweet and was very refreshing on a summer night. Much better than a gin & tonic.

To start off, our whole table ordered a bunch of appetizers (I think we ordered

Calamari

almost every appetizer off the menu!), which was great because I could take tons of pictures. We ordered Mini Burgers, Korean Style BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps, Rob’s Goat Cheese Flatbread, and Calamari. The sliders were very moist & flavourful and the bacon really made the burger. I quite liked the brioche bun as well. I didn’t try the lettuce wraps – as it’s a bit too close for home (meaning I could eat that at my Grandma’s house any day). I tried the flatbread and it was pretty good as well.

Lettuce Wraps

The flatbread was quite chewy and there was ample amount of toppings. I quite liked the balsamic reduction drizzled on the bread. I’ve had the calamari before, and it’s pretty tasty as well even though it’s not authentic Greek Style calamari.

Creole Steak & Prawns!

The breading was not too thick, the squid was fried up nicely and the chipotle (?)

aioli and tzatziki sauce went really well with it.

For my entree, I ordered one of the specials which was Creole Steak and Prawns. . Anyway, this was outstanding as well. The steak was cooked a perfect medium rare, and the Creole marinade was very flavourful and quite spicy. The prawns were very large, and cooked perfectly as well. When ever I eat food, I tend to mix up things on my plate, so I ended up mixing the steak juices, the creole butter and

White Chocolate Cheesecake

marinade sauce with my mashed potatoes. It was heavenly! The presentation was very nice too.

For dessert, I think we ordered every dessert off the menu as well! Though I was bursting full, I couldn’t wait to dig in every dish. Yes, that’s typical of Stephanie. For dessert, we ordered White Chocolate Cheesecake, Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar, Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Lava Cake and Apple Galette. Out of these, I think my favourite was the Key Lime Pie. However, I’m a bit biased because Key Lime Pie is one of

Apple Galette

my favourite all time desserts. This key lime pie wasn’t that much different from your regular key lime pie. It was just a good textbook version. lot of people really liked the Peanut Butter Crunch Bar. It was very soft and decadent (it was like eating a peanut butter truffle) and there was a crispy bottom that sort of tasted like rice krispies. It was pretty good, actually. The chocolate lave cakes was good as well. Like the key lime pie, it was a good textbook version. Nothing wrong with it. The apple galette was

Peanut Butter Crunch Bar

quite nice! It was warm and flaky and of course apples, cinnamon and ice cream go well together anyway. I didn’t try the cheesecake, because I thought I would burst from all the food if I did.

Overall, this experience was great! There was so so so so so much food, but I loved it! The service was great, as we had our own private area and I think there were at least 3 servers just attending to our party. They were very professional. I also took picture of other people’s food so I’ve just put them