Review: Dining at Portland's H5O Bistro in Hotel Fifty
September 22, 2009 — PDXPIPELINEPosted by Kristen Imes
As a general rule, I have an aversion to restaurants that are attached to hotels, but on occasion, there are exceptions to this rule – one of these exceptions being H5O Bistro, attached to Hotel Fifty. One of the things
that I enjoyed most about this restaurant were its classical approaches to modern cuisine. The service was excellent, the food was delicious and flavorful, and the ambiance was both relaxed and refined.
On a recent outing, my friend and I went there to enjoy a few cocktails overlooking Waterfront Park and the river, and then ended up ordering a few appetizers from their tapas-inspired menu. We had two amazing cocktails – the Bliss, a lovely libation of Bombay, St. Germain, and white peach puree – as well as the Perfect, which was, as the name suggests, perfect. I mean, how could one go wrong with bourbon and bourbon soaked bing cherries?
The duck confit with house-made gnocchi, fennel pollen, tomato, and crispy parmesan was my personal favorite. The gnocchi and the duck were both super succulent 
and melted when they hit your tongue. The parmesan crisp and fennel provided the right amount of crunch to offset the tenderness of the dish.
We tried the seared super white tuna with seabeans, avocado, guava gelee, chili de arbole, which had an exquisite balance of flavors – crunchy, salty, sweet, and spicy – all at the same time. We also tried the spinach salad with fried fennel, and candied kumquat, which was tasty. But my friend decided that that bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms with julienned boy choy and scallions bathed in a miso glaze was his favorite appetizer of the night. The interplay of textures between the crisp saltiness of the bacon paired with the delicate chewiness of the enoki coupled with the crunchiness of the bok choy sealed the deal. Or maybe it was just the bacon… (speaking of which, baconfest is coming up soon…)
To end the evening, we split the Strawberry and Chocolate Mille-Fuille (layers of strawberries mousse sandwiched between thin sheets of chocolate atop a bit of tarragon creme) with pink peppercorn creme anglaise, and tarragon and strawberry gelees. I love classic pairing of chocolate and strawberries coupled with the more modern pairing of tarragon and strawberry. I feel that the tarragon's herbal aspects really enhanced the flavor of the strawberries.
