The Bellagio Buffet (Las Vegas) - Caviar and King Crab?!

Soo.... I went back to the Bellagio Buffet. Again. It was way too good the first time for me not to come back again. If you missed my first experience, click here. Otherwise read on... because this one is epic. 

So as you know, Bellagio Buffet is known as one of the classic, a bit boring, typical buffets in Vegas. Their decor is nothing special and it might even look pretty old and outdated at first glance. However, their food makes up for it in my opinion.

The day I treated my parents to this buffet, they had a 'special event' going on so the price got jacked up to about $50 CAD. Crazy, I know. My wallet was feeling a world of hurt so I was determined to stuff my face until I explode. Good thing that had Alaskan King Crab or else I would've been really sad. They replenish the stash quite often so you'll always be able to grab some good ones.

Their desserts were alright. Nothing to rave about.

 Strawberry and cheese tarts. Interesting.

 

I quite enjoyed their kale/butternut squash/lentil concoction, gnocchi (back), and pesto mash potatoes (right).

As I was walking around, I saw the coolest station ever. It was a caviar/tartare/poke station! On the very left is a beef tartare on toast which was quite good and didn't get me sick. For caviar, they had red tobiko (the fish eggs they use in sushi), salmon roe (also called Ikura in Japanese), and traditional English caviar (most likely sturgeon).

The caviar gets served on a pancake or waffle disc with some cream cheese. The pancake was merely a tool to get the caviar in your mouth so it was essentially tasteless. All in all it was okay and made me feel slightly better about paying $50/person because I've never gotten the opportunity to try sturgeon caviar before.

 Watermelon and feta salad.

I have never been to Hawaii before so it was my first time trying 'poke'. For those of you who are not familiar with poke, click here.

 It was absolutely delicious! I already love the individual flavours of soy, sesame, chili, garlic, and seaweed so when this was combined, WITH raw fish, it was heaven.

Some other items include Southern crawfish boil, meat and cheese platter, individual cups of mac and cheese, and creamed spinach.

 The Alaskan King Crab.

Mushroom gnoochi, homemade ravioli, prime rib, and shrimp cocktail.

The chocolate raspberry mouse in waffle cup (right) was to-die for. It's a must get item!!

The creme brulee was solid but nothing compared to the one at Wynn.

Even though this buffet is not a fancy one and is pricey considering how old it is, it's always reliable and the flavours blow me away each time. Also, if you really want all-you-can-eat Alaskan King Crab, you can be sure you'll get it here.

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$$$+

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


    Anyone else have to roll out of the buffet like me?

Click here to check out my other Vegas post:
 - The Buffet at TI (Treasure Island)
- BurGR (by Chef Ramsey)
- The Cheesecake Factory (Caesar's Palace)

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New Menu at Rogers Arena (Canucks Games)

I don't know about you, but previously when I watch the Canucks game, I would always eat dinner first with Meta Knight before heading there because nothing in Rogers Arena looked appetizing (or worth it).

Yes they have beer, coolers, White Spot, and generic hot dogs and popcorn... but who wants to pay $20-30 to eat that when you can pay the same price for an amazing dish at a restaurant downtown?

This season, not only did we get a new president (Yay Trevor!), but Rogers Arena completely revamped their food and beverage line up to cater to the food-centric Vancouver population that is looking for more than just hot dogs and warm pretzels.

Example of their new 'gourmet' items include: Hot Smoked West Coast Salmon Roll, Prime Rib Sandwich, Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese, and Lobster roll.

Melt is located inside Rogers Arena and sells gourmet grilled cheese.

The line-up to the cashier was huge and one in every 10 people I saw was eating this so people clearly love their grilled cheese.

As you can see, the prices are actually really affordable. I was so impressed by this because they absolutely could have made these 11-14 bucks just because they can. The regular grilled cheese starts at $7.50 and goes up to about $9.

Look at dem grilled cheese. *drool*...

They now also serve AAA Prime Rib Sandwiches and they even amped up the 'gourmet' experience by creating a hot carving station and having chefs carve you that delicious prime rib.

They now also serve Steamers gourmet hot dogs and they honestly all caught my attention. It was hard choosing just one! From the Bartley's Signature (bacon wrapped hot dog.. what?!) to the Croque Dog with Gruyere and strawberry jam, all of their menu items clearly play to the foodie's senses.

Chef cooking mini perogies, bacon wrapped hot dogs, and regular dogs. I kind of want his job.

Since Meta Knight and I ate a good amount of appies at The Keg before coming, all we had was a Glendon Dog ($7.50) during the game. It was topped with sauerkraut, onions, potato and cheese mini perogies, sour cream, and chives. It was a little messy to eat but boy was it good. Definitely much better than a generic hot dog with ketchup and mustard.

Overall, I'm really impressed by these changes and I will actually look forward to eating at Rogers Arena from now on!

Happy Eating!

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Mosaic Bar and Grille - German Chef Tasting Menu

Mosaic is at it again with another tasting menu, this one focusing on German cuisine. It is available until Dec 19th for $45 without/ $65 with wine pairing, so make your reservations asap if you want to give it a try. 

For this menu, Chef Heinrich gave the execution rights to Chef Jo and she did a fantastic job with each and every dish. You can tell she is extremely passionate about food and has an eye for perfectionism.

Foodobyte and I were served 6 courses in total including the 'bread'.

Normally, we're served warm smoked salt biscuits for the complimentary starter bread, however, this time it was replaced by their housemade Warm Pretzels. It came with a seriously addicting mustard butter which I unintentionally slathered all over my pretzel.  These are one of the best warm pretzels I've had anywhere.

The second course is the Bismarckhering which is a combination of pickled herring (done in house!), liquid egg, salad, flax seed tuille, chives and fennel sugars. It was a great dish to open up the appetite, similar to the sour Sunomono of Japanese cuisine. 

The liquid egg coated the herring nicely so it didn't become too overwhelming.

Curtis was particularly excited about the Two River Meats Bratwurst which was served with three different types of mustard (grain, hot, apple) and watercress puree. If you know me, you know I love sausages (get your head out of the gutter!) so I was thoroughly impressed by the housemade sausage. It had the perfect amount of seasoning and it was fun combining the different types of mustards with it to get all new flavours.

I personally was eager to try the Spatzle which is essentially a German egg pasta that is usually eaten with cheese and onions. While this Spatzle was good, I thought it lacked flavour within the pasta and it was a little too soft. The ones I've had in the past had a crispier and drier texture which I liked better. I'm not an expert of German cuisine though so it is just my personal preference.

The Jagerschnitzel consisted of fraser valley veal schnitzel and it came with local foraged mushroom jus. The mushrooms were my favourite part and the jus? Divine. The veal itself felt a little tough but when dipped in the extra jus that we asked for, it was great.

I love black forest cake so I was so excited to see Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (which is black forest cake) on the menu. When I first heard they were made with maraschino cherries, I was a little afraid because I was envisioning a sugar soaked cake. However, it was surprisingly light, fluffy, and not overly sweet! It was PERFECT! If I wasn't so full I would've gobbled the whole thing up.

Mosaic did a great job preparing this tasting menu and after speaking with Chef Heinrich, I absolutely cannot wait for the next one which will be inspired by Taiwanese cuisine!

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Bestie - Delicious Sausages.

I don't think I've ever talked about this before on my blog, but I love sausages. If I had to choose between bacon, ham, or sausage, I go for sausage 99.9% of the time. I know...I know... its bad for you. But somehow ground up meat (and other stuff) stuffed inside a nasty casing just tastes so darn delicious and juicy!

A new (hipster) sausage parlor called Bestie opened up in Chinatown a few weeks ago and they serve traditional German street food like warm salted pretzels, currywurst, and sauerkraut. 

Apparently, they now open till 2:30am serving late night sausages through their little window. I'm sure clubbers will find that convenient.

They serve four types of wurst, the most popular being Pork Thuringer, followed by BBQ Turkey (+$1), Smokey Bison (+$1), and Veggie Wurst. The staff and co-owners Clinton and Dane were extremely welcoming, always refilling our water, and following up with us to make sure we liked our sausages. :D

I wanted something a bit more substantial than the currywurst so I opted for the Pork Thuringer Sausage + Sauerkraut ($9.50) as well as the Stinky Cheese Sauce (+$2.50 I think) on the side.

The sausage was plump, juicy, and just enough for one person to finish without feeling like they're in a food coma. The slightly acidic sauerkraut was a great accompaniment to the sausage and hot mustard. And when I say hot mustard, watch out, because it is HOT.

I actually didn't find the stinky cheese sauce that stinky but I think thats because I'm Asian. Nothing is stinky to me. Not stinky tofu, not durian, and certainly not cheeses. Nevertheless, this sauce made for a good coating for my sausages and fries.

One thing I noticed was that in addition to a shaker for pepper and salt, they also one for cumin! Cumin is a spice that adds much flavour and depth to meat so I added some onto my sausage...and fries... and sauerkraut.. and... ok let's be honest here, I sprinkled that thing on everything!

Along on this foodie adventure were Amy (foodqueen) and Curtis (foodobyte) and they both ordered the Pretzel & Mustard ($3.50). The pretzel is made daily with a traditional salted skin and served warm.

I only had a bite but the pretzel tasted like the ones I get from Cirque Du Soleil concession stands, not the soft pretzels from Little Monk Pretzels at Metrotown. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just have a higher preference for soft pretzels.

They also both got the Currywurst ($8) with Pork Thuringer which comes with a sausage, cut up, fries, and curried ketchup. They both enjoyed the curried ketchup a lot and thought it went nicely with the pork.

As far as sausage goes, these bratwursts are one of the better ones I've had. The price is a little hefty for what you get, especially if you are a big eater, but I wouldn't let it discourage you from trying this place out at least once.

Service Rating: 4.5/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!

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