Mosaic Grille & Bar - Beautiful and Delicious

For those of you who don't know, Mosaic (located inside the Hyatt Hotel on Burrard Street) occasionally offer seasonal menus to cater to the local produce and seasonal proteins. During spot prawn season, they have a spot prawn focused menu... during the fall, they have a hearty fall inspired menu... you get the drift. :) 

Curtis (Foodobyte) was kind enough to invite me along to this year's Mosaic's Spring Menu tasting. We got a taste of everything that is to come and trust me, some of them are amazeballs. 

Chef Jo didn't personally make the Robert Creek Dungeness Crab and Curtis and I could tell. It was missing one key element, salt, which was unfortunate because that was the only thing that was needed to meld all the flavours together. Nevertheless, it consisted of barnston island baby dandelion greens, avocado, okanagan apple, and fennel pollen which is a fantastic and refreshing combination for a starter.

Spot Prawn season isn't until summer but they already have a salad dedicated to it. It has foraged miners lettuce, wild watercress, mixed radish, and green garlic.

I am a lover of squid ink anything so I was ecstatic to try out their house made Squid Ink Bucatini Pasta. Their fresh squid ink pasta was done al dente and soaked up the spicy chorizo oil that it was tossed in. In addition to chorizo, it also had fiddlehead ferns, razor clams, peas, and charred octopus. Overall a stunning dish.

Prior to this dish, I never thought about putting preserved lemon and seared scallops together. Now that I've tried it, I'll be doing that every time I make it at home! The Haida Gwaii Weathervane Scallops were beautifully seared and was definitely a treat for someone like me who doesn't have the bountiful wallet to eat it all the time.

The Cache Creek Natural Beef Rib Eye... a rib eye that has been dry aged for 28 days, served with hen of the woods mushroom and new potatoes.

The Peace Country Lamb was truly somethin' else! From the stinging nettle gnocchi to the fava bean puree, it was to die for and I would gladly order it again.

For dessert, we enjoyed a Deconstructed Lemon Meringue Pie. In place of meringue, Chef Jo used torched homemade marshmallows. Mmm mmm mm. SO GOOD.  

The NY Cheesecake was very good but nothing to write home about. It was paired with strawberries and some gluten-free chocolate granola. Chef Jo is currently trying to make this dessert completely gluten-free to cater to those who have wheat allergies. As a person with a wheat allergy, I totally appreciate that!

Mosaic Grill and Bar is a fantastic spot to dine when you're wanting a menu that's a bit more elevated than the usual crowd. They use local products, quality ingredients, and I can tell you firsthand that the chefs really care about the dishes they produce for their customers.

They have a cool Vaneats package going on right now for $25 for those wanting to try out Mosaic without breaking the bank.

Service Rating: N/A
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


                     some of the dishes got me like..

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Chatime (Richmond) - Roasted Milk Tea is Da Bomb

Recently, my Instagram has been blowing up with people going to this new bubble tea spot called "Chatime". Apparently, they opened up two new locations (one in Richmond, one in Downtown Vancouver) three days ago and people have been going cray cray for their grand opening BOGO deal. 

From now until April 17th, they are offering a Buy-One-Get-One-Free deal where you choose the bubble tea of your choice, then get to decide whether you want a Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea or Pearl Milk Tea as the free drink. Between April 18th - 24th(?), you can upsize the bubble tea for free.

Since I live in Richmond, I went with Rae to the Chatime in Richmond. It's located on Garden City and Blundell near Shoppers Drug Mart.

They open till midnight (yay!) and when we went at 9:30pm, it was still quite busy. This wall showcases their most popular drinks.

I never knew this before but apparently they have thousands of locations worldwide. They're in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Britain, USA, and Australia...to name a few. So this is no little franchise.

I ordered the Matcha Mousse (Reg size/~$5) which is essentially a Matcha tea with a salty foam milk cap. You're suppose to drink the salty (yes, salty) foam that's on top first, followed by the drink on the bottom, in one sip. What you get is a really interesting contrast between the savoury and sweet notes. I liked the Matcha Mousse... but the Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea was even BETTER. Somehow, and I don't know how, you can actually taste that it is a 'roasted' milk tea, and not just a regular milk tea. I can't explain it... it's just better than regular milk tea.

Their drinks are really tasty but they are a bit expensive because the regular size is smaller than the normal bubble tea cup size. They are delicious nevertheless so I would recommend you trying this place out, at least once.

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!


    when I heard about the BOGO deal 

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Gyo-O (Revisit) - My No.1 Fav Japanese Restaurant in Richmond

Whenever I have a friend visiting Vancouver, or Richmond more like, I always take them to Gyo-O. It's the closest thing we have to Kintaro or Guu in Richmond and they have some might delicious seafood dons.

Lil B and I came after an intense workout session so we were STARVING and craving meat. We got a Chicken Kaarage to share. It was meaty and worked really well with the Shichimi salt.

With my recommendation (and the hilariously dirty name), Lil B just had to choose the Mentaiko Bukkake Udon with Egg.  

Once you pop the egg, it becomes and ooey gooey mess of a sauce. The fishy fragrant roe is also a perfect compliment to the dish and adds another level of flavour. If you like Carbonara or yolky sauces, this dish is for you!

I've been to Gyo-O a billion times (visit #1, visit #2 , visit #3) and sadly I feel like they've been skimping on their ingredients more and more each time. The Seafood Tonkotsu Ramen is where I see the most difference because I only got a couple of clams, squid rings, and one small shrimp this time.

I've frequented Gyo-O for over 5 years now and it still remains one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Richmond. If you ever give it a try, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $-$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


   whenever someone wants to go to Gyo-O

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Taishoken Ramen - Dippin' Ramen

Rae, Fon, and I are Tacofino virgins and Lil Sis was determined to pop our taco cherries on Monday. Sadly, the universe was against us and we found out it was closed since it was 'Easter Monday'. :(

We walked around and urbanspooned all the surrounding restaurants and ended up at Taishoken Ramen. I've always wanted to come here and try their 'dippin' ramen' aka Tsukemen Ramen.

The place seats about 25 people which isn't a lot. We had to wait roughly 20 minutes before our table of five can get a table.

All of us ordered the Original Tsukemen Ramen ($11.75) which came with a plate of hot or cold noodles, soft boiled egg, and a side bowl of deep concentrated broth.

The broth is extremely rich and fat which is great for dipping your noodles in before slurping them up. The flavour clings on to the noodles to give you a delicious bite every time. Also, they put a hot stone in your broth to keep it piping hot during your meal.

All in all, I thought it was a fun and interesting meal! I like playing with my food so it's always fun to do some extra work while eating (am I right, hot pot lovers?) :). I will definitely return in the summer when I want something cool and tasty for lunch.

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!


       playing with my food like..

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Memphis Fire Barbeque - Glorious Fatty Southern Food

When I was in Toronto for work, my friends brought me all the way to Hamilton for some delicious Southern Food.

Memphis Fire Barbeque was featured on "You Gotta Eat Here!" and is located far away from really anything, so if you do happen to eat here, it's because you knew about it and purposely made the trek out here.

Their side dishes looked freakin amazing. If I could I would've chosen three to four sides with my meal.

For the meat, you can choose to have it in a sandwich or platter. The prices are reasonable, especially when the entrees come with a choice of two sides.

 My friends said their milkshakes were out of this world and is a must have when eating at Memphis. It was a hard choice between all their flavours but I had to go with their Black Forest Cake Shake.

It's made with chocolate ice-cream, sour cherries, hot fudge, and brownie crumbles. Boy was this delicious. So creamy and tastes like cherry chocolate ice-cream. Two thumbs up!

Rack of Ribs with a side of fries and mac n'cheese.

Being the gluttonous human beings that we are, we also got two side orders of meat. One was pulled pork and one was beef brisket. They were only about 3 bucks each!

Baby Back Ribs with a side of mac n' cheese and chili. The mac 'n cheese was so creamy and wonderful, while the chili packed a huge punch of flavour.

 Baby Back Ribs with baked beans (which had brisket bits in it) and collard greens. It was my first time trying collard greens and I must say, they were very good. I'm glad it wasn't cooked to a pulp where it just became a big mush. Instead, the leafy greens held its shape and was a nice 'clean' side against all the other carby and fatty sides.

Look at that meaty goodness.

 John Catucci was right. You DO have to eat here! If you're into Southern food at all and like big hearty portions for dinner, this is the place to be. It's well worth the drive, and the Southern hospitality will make you feel at home in no time.

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 4.5/5
Price: $$$

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Happy Eating!


                              Eating barbeque meat like

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Hashi Sushi (Richmond) - A Little Hidden Gem

My friend Penner told me about this little place near IKEA Richmond that he stumbled upon one night and deemed it to be his little hidden gem in Richmond.

When he told me the name, I had no idea which restaurant he was talking about because I've never once heard about this place in my life. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Especially because I saw their 92% Urbanspoon rating.

Hashi Sushi is located in an industrial business area behind IKEA and is most likely earning their business through employees who come on lunch breaks or after work. It's quite hard to find without a GPS so it's not a restaurant you can just 'stumble' upon.

If you know me, you know I like picture menus. :D I also LOVED the fact that they had half order sashimi specials, with two varieties of fish too. Sometimes, it just gets a little boring when you have to eat all nine pieces of salmon sashimi am I right?

 Hashi Sushi is also known for their specialty rolls, especially the "Dragon" series. They are all $9.50 and come with 8 pcs.

Even though this place is Chinese run (we could hear them speaking in Cantonese), I didn't feel like that took away from the authenticity of the dishes and rolls. The place was clean, the service was attentive, and their prices are very reasonable. That's all I ask for. :)

We ordered both the White Dragon Roll ($9.50) and the Black Dragon Roll ($9.50). Obviously the White Dragon Roll appealed to us because of the large chunks of chopped scallop on top. Yum yum!

The Black Dragon Roll consisted of shrimp tempura, unagi, black sesame, avocado, and crab meat. The roll itself was good enough to eat without any soy sauce because of the delicious mayo and sauce they put on it.

I thought the portions were great and one of these specialty rolls can easily feed one person for dinner if they just want a cheap $10 dinner.

In addition to the rolls, we ordered the Salmon & Hamachi ($6.25 for 4 pcs) as well as the Toro & Salmon ($4.50 for 4 pcs).

Is it just me or is $4.50 really cheap for two pieces of salmon and two pieces of toro?? What a steal! The quality of the toro was also fatty and quite good. Obviously not the best I've had, but it's average.

This one was delicious as well. I don't think I need to talk about how great Hamachi tastes. If you've never tried it, just try it once! It's not fishy at all (unlike Saba).

Hashi Sushi is a little hidden gem in Richmond and I'll certainly be bringing Meta Knight here for some casual sushi eats whenever we're around the area. If you've tried this place before, let me know what you think!

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!

     
the salmon and toro combo got me like

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