Cassa Fabesso - A Port Moody treasure

I had heard of Casa Fabesso last summer when a friend of mine told me about this very authentic Italian Restaurant down at Reed Port Marina just off the Barnet Highway. But I had not got around to going and my Father had been saying that he was interested in going, so last week in the last throws of Summer the two of decided to go try it out.

We were greeted by Anna and shown to our table, we had declared at the time of booking that we would have the seafood dinner and seafood we had.  There are no menus and each course arrives with a quick explanation by Anna, but I did not feel that I was being talked down to, like I sometimes do in these circumstances.  The first course was bruschetta topped with a home cleaned and preserved anchovy.

Bruschetta

This was just a couple of bites, but it was delicious and there were many more courses to come.  The next dish was perhaps my favourite tuna carpaccio.

Tuna carpaccio

We got a thin slice of tuna served with a wonderful fresh citrus dressing it was every bit as good as the tuna carpaccio I had in Sorrento last November.  Both of us loved this dish so simple but so fresh and good.



The next dish to arrive was a house cured salmon rose.

Not only was this beautiful it was also delicious again simple and fresh letting the salmon speak for itself.

Next to arrive was king crab meat blended with what tasted like egg that had been put through a fine grater served with grilled asparagus.  Another couple of bites of fresh food full of flavour. We had no idea how many dishes they were and we were enjoying the surprise arrival of each one.

Next was squid served with home grown celery.  The two flavours really complemented each other, the octopus was firm but not rubbery and the celery was crisp and far more flavour than most celery that I have had.  Another delicious dish.

The following dish was the pasta course, the pasta was like a very small fettuccine, Anna told me twice what is was called when I asked but sadly I can not remember.  It was tossed in what tasted like butter and olive oil and hazelnuts, then bottarga (salted dried fish roe) was grated over it.  This was also good, the bottarga has quite a strong salty fishy flavour not unlike anchovy, and could perhaps be a little much for some tastes.  But fortunately though I love anchovies and this was a great pasta dish and only a couple of fork fulls.  But then it was our sixth course !

Now the main course

What arrived was grilled cod, halibut and salmon stuffed with smoked salmon. There was creamy white wine sauce a parslied potato and grilled vegetables.  All the fish was cooked perfectly and the salmon was especially good, I think I would like to try making salmon stuffed with salmon.

I really was getting really full by this point but managed to make my way through this plate full of fish it was really too good to waste.

Dessert was a little uninspired, but I was really too full to care and I am really not a dessert person.  But my Father managed to eat his.

I can not tell you how much I enjoyed this meal and sharing with my Father, I was so glad we decided to try it out and I will definitely go back and I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who really likes good food, next time I will have to try the meat menu.