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Seafood

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Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Mosaic Bar & Grille is located in the Hyatt Vancouver on Burrard and Georgia Street. They specialize in locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and choice ingredients with careful and creative preparation.

Their menu’s change often to really adapt to the seasonal ingredients. You are guaranteed that you will find something yummy on their new Summer menu.


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mosaic bar and grille

As usual, the meal starts off with complimentary biscuits that arrive as you wait for your meal. It’s fluffy and comes with butter.

mosaic bar and grille

Mosaic Martini is a mix of absolut raspberri vodka,  absolut mandarin vodka,  grey goose la poire vodka and cranberry juice.

mosaic bar and grille

The first little dish was to show us their gorgeous skuna bay king salmon that arrived that morning. Chef Heinrich was very excited about it and amazed by the quality, so he shared a little sampler with us.

The skuna bay king salmon lays on top of a brine, and squid ink then garnished with lemon lime caviar and an ice plant from San Diego. I did enjoy the fresh taste of the salmon with the different textures and tastes.

mosaic bar and grille

The second dish is the GBE Heirloom Tomato Salad. The tomatoes are quickly blanched quickly in a sou vide and infused with onion and garlic flavours. It is served with a 12 year old balsamic reduction, basil fluid gel, local greens, and buffalo mozzarella. It was like a caprese salad, simple yet very complex.

Mosaic

Crab Cannelloni is on top of an avocado mousse. Below the mousse is a crouton crust. It was good! The crab meat was nice and sweet to go with the creamy mousse and crunchy crouton crust. Great textures that worked really well together.

mosaic bar and grille

Seared Scallops with a fire roasted green pepper coulis, and a succotash made of sweet corn and roasted  tomato. The scallops were great but I didn’t really think the succotash complimented the dish very well.

mosaic bar and grille

Pan Seared Ling Cod served with baby bell pepper and a tomato nage. The dish was ok, it needed some more flavour to enhance the flavour of the cod.

mosaic bar and grille

Slow Cooked Lamb Tenderloin was beautifully cooked. It is served on a pomme puree, mustard greens and a peppercorn sauce. This was my favorite dish of the night! Really good!

mosaic bar and grille

The Cassoulet is a french bean stew with organic heirloom runner beans, duck confit, oyama sausage, tomatoes, onions, garlic and duck jus. The dish was hearty and rich. I didn’t particularly like this dish, but perhaps because I was pretty full. This item is meant to be shared among the table.

mosaic bar and grille

Ricotta Cheesecake was garnished with strawberries and a mango puree. It was deliciously creamy!

mosaic bar and grille

Creme Brulee was served with some berries and 2 macarons.

mosaic bar and grille

Mosaic Chocolate Cake is always a must! The slice is huge and tastes really good.

Overall, the menu does have its hits and misses but it’s generally delicious.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Follow @CheftHeinrich on twitter, You can be up to date on new menus that he launches at Mosaic
  • Steps away from Burrard Skytrain
  • Free Mosaic Chocolate Cake on your birthday
  • Beef Carpaccio is a must!
  • Great service

We Rate Mosaic

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

Mosaic Bar & Grille on Urbanspoon

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Mosaic Bar & Grille is located in the Hyatt Vancouver on Burrard and Georgia Street. They specialize in locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and choice ingredients with careful and creative preparation.


Related Links:


Mosaic

Chef Thomas Heinrich, their Executive Head Chef created a 5 course Chef Tasting Menu from June 14th to June 28th. He incorporates the freshest ingredients of the season into this menu.

The 5 dishes in the menu are:

  • Roasted Sweet Corn Bouillon
  • G B E Heirloom Tomato Salad
  • Skuna Bay Salmon Sockeye Salmon
  • Taleggio D O P Italy
  • Watermelon

It’s costs $45 for the 5 course meal. If you want the additional wine pairings it costs $65. It’s a pretty good deal and he creates these types of menus every few weeks. So, the menu is always changing.

Mosaic

The meal starts off with complimentary biscuits that arrive as you wait for your meal. It’s fluffy and comes with butter.

Mosaic

If you had a long day at work, its good to grab a drink as you peer off into the streets of Burrard street. I find enjoyment staring at people walking up and down the street. It’s weird, but it’s fun.

Mosaic

Roasted Sweet Corn Bouillon has some tomatoes, chanterelle mushrooms and topped with a feta foam. It has my 2 favorite ingredients – mushrooms and corn. It’s a nice start to the meal as the broth was light that complimented the ingredients.

Mosaic

G.B.E. Heirloom Tomato Salad has basil gel, pickled okra, some seasonal greens and topped with aged parmesan. The ingredients were just beautiful and the presentation was just wow. I really like their salads here.

Mosaic

Skuna Bay Sockeye Salmon is seared on the sides and the plate also has sweet garlic gnocchi and sorrel leaves. The salmon was cooked nicely so it just melt in your mouth.

Mosaic

Taleggio DOP Italy is an example of a savory sweet dish. It was a hot bowl of cheese, nuts and dried fruit. There is grilled bread and fig jam on the side.

Mosaic

Watermelon This has the gravity defying panna cotta, topped with a watermelon and pepper mixture and then lemon sorbet and chocolate bits. I wasn’t a fan of this dessert, even though it had a lot of watermelon elements to this dish, it didn’t capture of fresh crisp taste of watermelon. The presentation was definitely cool though.

Mosaic

In addition to the items on the Chefs Tasting menu, we received two extra dishes. This on was seared scallops with seasonal greens above a cucumber jelly. The cucumber jelly didn’t really mesh with the dish too well, but we did like the scallops.

Mosaic

Lamb on lentils. The lamb was incredibly juicy! Easily our favorite dish of the night. Many thanks to Daniel and Michael for making the additional dishes.

Overall, still a pretty good set of dishes for the Chef’s tasting menu. The chef definitely does a lot of cool experiments with the dishes, so you will find something unique about it.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Follow @CheftHeinrich on twitter, You can be up to date on new menus that he launches at Mosaic
  • Steps away from Burrard Skytrain
  • Free Mosaic Chocolate Cake on your birthday
  • Beef Carpaccio is a must!
  • Great service

We Rate Mosaic

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

Mosaic Bar & Grille on Urbanspoon

Kingyo has always been a great place to go at night, but I’ve never been here for lunch. Plus, working so far from Denman street, it would be a bit of a trek to go there, eat, and return to work in under an hour. Luckily Dpang decided to drive Magz and I. I’ve been looking forward to coming here for lunch for a long time.

For lunch, there is only one item that foodies must order – their bento box!


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kingyo-lunch

Deluxe Bento Box ($16) is limited to 10 sets per day. It comes with 12 smaller portion items off their regular menu. If you’ve never been to Kingyo or just love everything on the menu, the deluxe bento box is like a sampler of their menu. The price for the bento box is a bit high compared to the other bento boxes in town, but it is a fantastic item to order.

The items in the set do change from time to time, but I’m sure you can’t be disappointed. When we were here for lunch, our bento box came with:

  • Rice
  • Miso Soup
  • Pickled Vegetables
  • Deep Fried asparagus
  • Salad
  • Chicken Karaage
  • Braised short rib
  • Tuna tataki
  • Truffle egg
  • Sesame noodles
  • deep fried fish
  • and one more dish I have forgotten what it is.

We were not disappointed by any of the items that are part of the bento box. You will definitely get full and walk out of the restaurant with a case of foodcoma. Good luck going back to work resisting the temptation to nap.

We Rate Kingyo: 

Address:
871 Denman St
Vancouver, BC V6G

Website:
http://www.kingyo-izakaya.ca

Kingyo Izakaya 金魚居酒屋 on Urbanspoon

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill serves a bunch of tapa dishes and specializes in skewers. They have a few locations in Vancouver and one in Toronto.

M really wanted a good dinner, so I suggested Zakkushi. After all these years, I have no idea why we’ve never gone together. When we got here, we thought the exterior was pretty cool. It’s all covered up in dark wood. Very nice.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Sakura Cocktail ($7) has lychee liqueur, grapefruit juice, calpico and soda.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Toro Sashimi ($9.50) has 5 pieces of the sockeye salmon belly. It’s not the same texture as the tuna toro, but was more chewy. The quality nonetheless was very fresh.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Karaage ($5.80) is deep-fried chicken with an oroshi sauce. It’s different from most places as it comes with a shredded daikon, ponzu, and green onion sauce. Anything fried is delicious.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Tsukune is a chicken meatball and on their menu, they have 5 different kinds, but we stuck with the cheese and norimayo flavours.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Cheese Tsukune ($1.90 each) has white cheese melted on top with some pepper. It was really good! The cheesiness of the cheese and the juicy chicken meatball tasted really good.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Norimayo Tsukune ($1.90) is topped with mayo and seaweed. It’s really good! You really need to try this.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Zakkushi Set ($8.80) has 5 skewers momo (Chicken thigh), umeshiso yaki (chicken thigh with shio leaf and sour plum), Me Maki (garlic shrubs wrapped with pork), p-toro (Crunchy juicy pork), and oropon beef (AAA grade beef with diakon and ponzu sauce). It was a nice set of skewers to order if you are indecisive. You get a little bit of variety from the skewer menu.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

Negi P-Toro Don ($7.50) has p-toro pork, green onion sauce, picked veggies,  half boiled egg, and seaweed  on top of rice. We mixed this all together and it was so good!

We also ordered Oden, but I was too excited about it that I ate it before taking a picture. The sake flight was good as well if you are into sake.

Overall, we had a great time here and will definitely be back. The food and atmosphere are awesome. It’s best to make a reservation ahead of time if you don’t want to wait for a seat. They also have a semi private party area for large groups.

We Rate Zakkushi

Address:
4075 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.zakkushi.com/

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill on Urbanspoon

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Smitty's Oyster House

Smitty’s Oyster House is located in Gibson’s Wharf. It’s tucked away and hidden, so you need to walk closer to the wharf to be able to see the restaurant. Smitty’s Oyster House was opened by the same owner as Rodney’s Oyster House. It’s named after Henry Smitty, one of Gibsons’ early pioneers who built the blue box which used to be a marine repair shop.

On our way back from the Sunshine Coast, we decided to make a stop here to try some seafood. It was a bright and sunny day, so this place was buzzing by the patio. They were also recently feature on You Gotta Eat Here on Food Network.

Smitty's Oyster House

Parts of the interior you can definitely tell have some resemblance to Rodney’s Oyster House. The staff don’t have the sexy sounding t-shirts, but they do have similar items on the menu.

Smitty's Oyster House

Manhattan Clam Chowder ($9) is a tomato-based baby clam chowder. The baby clams were tiny, so it was sad to have so few clams in the chowder.

Smitty's Oyster House

We ordered a dozen raw oysters, but we never figured out what types they were since the server never informed us. The sauces that came to the table was also a mystery since nothing was explained. Nonetheless, the oysters were shucked beautifully and had a great taste. Definitely recommended.

Smitty's Oyster House

Halibut Fritters ($17) have crispy tempura beer battered halibut pieces topped with a malt vinegar reduction. It is also served with tartar sauce. He thought it was good, but it was quite expensive.

Smitty's Oyster House

DIY Fish Tacos ($19) has cumin-baked mahi mahi, hand-cut pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream and shredded iceberg lettuce and warm corn tortilla. It was fun to put together, but with the amount of cumin on the mahi mahi, it was hard to taste the original flavour of the fish.

Smitty's Oyster House

Oyster Po Boy ($15) has fried oysters on a steamed bun with spicy remoulade, lettuce & tomato.

Smitty's Oyster House

Mmmm look at that fried oyster. CoffeeAddict really liked it.

Overall, the food was good, but one thing you have to order is the raw oysters. The food is a pricey, but where else in Gibson are you going to get this type of food? One thing we were not impressed with was the service, the server was rude at times and the speed at which the food arrived was very strange. One person finished their dish before the rest of the dishes arrived. The item I originally ordered was sold out, so they didn’t inform us until later in the meal and told me my dish would arrive way later than everyone else. Luckily it arrived a few minutes after everyone else’s meal. Despite it all, I would still come back for the raw oysters.

We Rate Smitty’s Oyster House

Address:
643 School Rd
Gibsons, BC

Website:
http://www.smittysoysterhouse.com/

Smitty's Oyster House on Urbanspoon

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Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

It’s May and it’s BC Spot Prawn season! I go nuts since BC Spot Prawns are my favorite thing to eat. I usually got to T&T to grab a few pounds, it’s never occurred to me that I could go out and eat them, especially in a 5 course meal.

Mosaic is located on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt near Burrard station. The executive head chef of the Hyatt is the amazing Chef Thomas Heinrich, who crafts the delicious dishes coming out of the hotel. Mosaic currently has a spot prawn tasting menu till May 29th. I know it just ended, but they always have some special menu for whatever ingredient is fresh in season. I just get all my news from the Chef on Twitter. You can follow him at @CheftHeinrich 

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

This menu is the 5 course tasting menu focusing on spot prawns. It’s $45 or $65 with alcohol pairings.

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

The alcohol pairings is a nice touch as you get to try different wines. I had the wine pairings and my friend didn’t. You don’t need alcohol to have fun with this tasting, but if you have a good appreciation for wine, you should do it.

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Complementary biscuits come before the meal. It’s deliciously fluffy and comes with butter.

mosaic-terrine

Spot Prawn Terrine came with fiddled head ferns and topped with fried lotus roots and ikura. There are also dots of fermented black garlic gel and lemon fluid gel. I really liked this dish since the spot prawns were nicely presented and their natural flavours shined through.

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Spot Prawn and Arugula Salad comes with almonds and a citrus caviar. It was a nice dish, but I felt like there was a little too much dressing so it wilted the leaves a little bit.

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Spot Prawn Carbonara has freshly made linguini, peas, geldermen farms pork belly, truffle oil, parmesan, and a 64 degree egg yolk. It is a very rich creamy dish 

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Spot Prawn and Spring Creek Beef has fava beans and a pomme maxim which is a ring of fried potatoes. This dish is beautiful but by this part of them meal, I started to wonder why the spot prawns weren’t that star of each dish if it’s a spot prawn tasting.

I had the beef done at medium rare and it was beautifully cooked, but it was quite tough to cut through. Perhaps it was the aging of the beef that made it a tad tougher, but the flavour of the meat itself was very lovely.

Mosaic: Spot Prawn Tasting Menu

Tangerine Consomme was a lovely end to the meal. In the center is the cardamom ice cream.

Overall, the menu was great but since the menu is supposed to showcase spot prawns, I felt like there could have been more cooking techniques used to showcase the versatility of the spot prawn. Whether its serving the spot prawn raw or frying the shell…it just seemed the spot prawn was the secondary item in most of the dishes except the spot prawn terrine dish. $45 for 5 courses and $65 for 5 courses plus wine pairings is a fair price.

Below are a few other item off the tasting menu that we tried.

Mosaic

Asparagus Consomme with gruyere cheese balls was an interesting soup. Never would have thought about asparagus as a soup. As asparagus is fibrous, we did feel small strands of fibres in the soup. At first I thought I was getting my hair in my mouth but realized it was the asparagus.

Mosaic

Besides that, the gruyere cheese balls were so delicious when dunked in the soup. Mmm so good! My friend even said she would eat a whole bag full of these if she could.

Mosaic

Seared Scallops with a stinging nettle puree oh boy, this was really good! The scallops were seared perfectly and the stinging nettle puree was so delicious.  I would eat this over and over again.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Follow @CheftHeinrich on twitter, You can be up to date on new menus that he launches at Mosaic
  • Steps away from Burrard Skytrain
  • Free Mosaic Chocolate Cake on your birthday
  • Beef Carpaccio is a must!
  • Great service

We Rate Mosaic

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/
Mosaic Bar & Grille on Urbanspoon

Burdock & Co.

Burdock & Co has open up in the former location of Cafeteria. This restaurant is headed by Chef Andrea Carlson. Her menu reflects the locavore philosophy with using local organic produce throughout the menu. The interior is quite cozy with a communal table and a few separate tables on the side.

My coworkers and I came here after work one day just to chill over some delicious food. The plates are best shared with a group. The 3 of us shared 4 dishes and a dessert.

Burdock & Co.

Burdock & Beer ($11) is a mixture of saison, gingerbeer, burdock root & sour, ginger, plum & rootbeer bitters.

Burdock & Co.

Seasonal Garden-Slug ($11) contains vodka, lemon, apple & fenugreek, western elderberry bitters, and moondog bitters. I chose this cocktail for its name since ‘garden-slug’ sounded adventurous. There’s no garden slug in this, but it tasted good and went well with the intricate dishes.

Burdock & Co.

Urban Digs Egg ($9), wild cress, hazelnut & blue cheese granola, browned butter and potato vinaigrette. It’s a vegetarian dish. The quality of ingredients was great and the items did blend nicely together. Portions are on the smaller side.

Burdock & Co.

Fresh Oysters ($15) comes with finger lime caviar, french breakfast radish, chickweed,apple & verbena sorbet, and a kasu emulsion. Beautiful presentation of the ingredients and tasted good but as you can tell, it won’t fill you up if you just order this item.

Burdock & Co.

Pickled humpback shrimp ($14)  also has house made tofu, wild ginger, charred spring onion, and fiddleheads. It’s yet another beautiful dish, but it’s not enough to fill a person up.

Burdock & Co.

Harvest Oxtail Ramen ($13) also has swiss chard and kimchi. This item is best to order as it has more substance to it. If you have been to Harvest Community Foods and tried this ramen, you’ll be a fan of this. Before opening up Burdock & Co, the Chef Andrea Carlson was at Harvest Community Foods, so you can see how aspects are infused into her menu. It tasted good and I would recommend this dish.

Burdock & Co.

Salted Caramel Apple Pot Pie ($8) topped with Elderflower Ice Cream. When we saw the salted caramel words, we gravitated towards this dessert. The elderflower ice cream was very subtle in flavour that balanced the butteriness of the crust. The crust was crispy and under it laid the piping hot apple mixture.

Overall, Burdock and Co isn’t for everyone. It’s a bit pricey than other places in town, but if you consider the ingredients that goes into their items, you know it’s not processed or frozen. They care about the ingredients and have built strong relationships with local farmers. It’s best to share the dishes as they are a bit of a tapa style.

We Rate Burdock and Co:

Address:
2702 Main St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.burdockandco.com/

Burdock & Co. on Urbanspoon

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Joe Fortes has happy hour from 4pm till 6pm daily, where select items are 50% off. InsecureGirl and I decided to come here after work to indulge ourselves in some oysters and other items. They don’t take reservations for this and you can only have the happy hour items in their bar seating area. It’s first come first serve, so you will have to be lucky enough to find open spots if you come in a group. Since it was just the two of us, it was easy to find open seats.

They have been open for more than 25 years and known for their seafood.

Joe Fortes Happy Hour

Basket of complimentary bread arrives and it comes with a lobster oil and balsamic vinegar dip. A good nibble before your food arrives.

Joe Fortes Happy Hour

Truffle Parmesan Frites  (Reg $9.95 | Happy Hour $5) is seasoned with grana padano, herbs, and sea salt. It comes with a side of ketchup. It comes in a cute presentation on a skillet. The skillet is piled full of fries and is definitely enough for 2 people to share. There is a strong douce of truffle oil and it smelled amazing.

Joe Fortes Happy Hour

Jumbo Tempura Prawns (Reg $14.95 | Happy Hour $7.50) comes with 3 pieces  and accompanied with togarashi mayo and a wedge of lemon. These prawns were massive!

Joe Fortes Happy Hour

Buck a Shuck (Happy Hour $1) are the bomb. They shuck them very cleanly and the size of the oysters are massive. It comes with a few sauces and lemon wedges. Of all the happy hour places I’ve been to in Vancouver, they probably have the best.

I do love happy hour since all the prices are great! You can’t beat 50% off. Downside of this great deal is the limited seating by the bar. You must get the oysters.

We rate Joe Fortes: 

Address:
777 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.joefortes.ca/

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House on Urbanspoon

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Rodneys Gastown

Rodney’s Oyster House has opened a new location in Gastown. The have taken up the space of Cobre that used to be there. They have the same items like their Yaletown location. My coworkers and I came here for their happy hour from 4pm till 6pm. Oysters are $1.50 and their other items are on special too.

Rodneys Gastown

The interior is decorated similarly to their other location and has 2 floors too. They servers are really nice and know how to make their guests at home.

Rodneys Gastown

Complementary bread comes to the table with a lump of butter.

Rodneys Gastown

Zydeco Stew aka Caesar ($10.25) it contains the usual stuff with fresh grated horseradish and topped with a lemon and a huge shrimp. It was a really good caesar and the shrimp was fantastic.

Rodneys Gastown

Low Tide Oysters ($1.50) can vary in variety when ever you go. These were from Denman Island and are somewhat similar to a Fanny Bay Oyster. I found that this time around, they shucking wasn’t done as cleanly, so there were bits of shell when I ate some of them.

Rodneys Gastown

When the oysters arrived, it came with a whole platter of sauces – Worchester sauce, 2 types of Tabasco sauce, vodka pepper sauce, and 4 of their house sauces. If you want to burn in pain, try using the ‘back from hell’ sauce.

Rodneys Gastown

Pan Fried Oysters ($16.95), which are freshly shucked oysters, breaded and fried. They also some with tartar sauce and lemons for taste. Delicious as always and the oysters are a good size. The oysters are different kinds than the low tide ones as you can tell these are super long in size. This dish was ordered after the happy hour, so it was quite expensive.

Overall, the quality of good is great, but it will be quite expensive when it’s not happy hour. The only problem we had were the bit of sediments or shell that was left in the shell when we ate it. They usually shuck really well, but I guess I came on an off day.

We Rate Rodney’s Oyster House Gastown

Address:
52 Powell St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.rohvan.com/

Rodney's Oyster House Gastown on Urbanspoon

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Mosaic

I was invited to Mosaic Bar and Grille by Chef Thomas Heinrich to explore their amazing cuisine. They specialize in locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and choice ingredients with careful and creative preparation. When you look at their dishes, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Mosaic is located inside the Hyatt Vancouver Hotel on the 2nd floor. It is easily missed if you come out from the Burrard Skytrain. It’s right above Grain Tasting Bar.

Mosaic

When you sit by the window, you get a great view of Georgia Street and Burrard.

Mosaic

Right now, they have teamed up with Vaneats.ca to create a 3 course dining pass for only $22. Seriously, it a really good deal!

Mosaic

We start off with complementary biscuits that arrive as you wait for your meal. Good bite-size pieces and you can always ask for more.

Mosaic

Spring Creek Beef Carpaccio has 15 thinly sliced pieces topped with fried capers, crispy chives, castillo de canena smoked olive oil, and  a 68-degree yolk.

Mosaic

It was really good! If you’ve ever had beef carpaccio, this will blow you away! The crispy capers and chives add an amazing texture to the savoury beef slices. Highly recommended!

Mosaic

Pork Jowl lays on top of pickled radish, and snow peas. The dish has a galbi marinate sauce drizzled around the dish. The dish is garnished with crisp lotus roots and edible flowers. The pork jowl was deliciously fatty and super tender.

Mosaic

Local Seasonal Spring Salad looks amazing. Probably one of the prettier salads I’ve seen in a while. The greens are very fresh and you can definitely tell they put a lot of care into sourcing the ingredients. The housemade sheep milk ricotto and the citus/mustard dressing liven the dish.

Mosaic

Warm a la Minute Smoked Skuna Bay Salmon arrives on your table with a dome-shaped cover. Insides the dome is smoke. When they remove the dome, the delightful smokey smell envelop your senses.

Mosaic

Once the cloud of smoke goes way, you will see the salmon, avocado terrine, maple matured sherry bourbon oak vinegar gel. The presentation is really amazing, so it was hard to take the first bite out of it. You can tell the restaurant puts so much love into their food. Each item is beautifully arranged. Highly recommended!

Mosaic

Grilled Skuna Bay Salmon lays on a bed of British peas and topped with a lemon foam. The salmon was beautifully cooked, so the center was very juicy and tender. I usually don’t liked cooked salmon, but they do a fantastic job!

mosaic-fish

Oceanwise Long Line BC Gray Cod has a bed of baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms surrounded by a dashi broth. The combination of all the items have it a bit of an Asian flare to the dish.

Mosaic

8 hour braised short rib with BC foraged ramps, sweet onions, and morel mushrooms. The meat is tender and the morel mushrooms was a treat to devour.

Mosaic

Lamb Medallions were cooked nicely with fresh greens on the side.

Mosaic

Mosaic Chocolate Cake is their signature triple layer cake. This cake has been with Mosaic for years and years and year. The recipe has never changed and will probably be there for more years to come. Anyone that comes here raves about how huge this cake it. I’ve had this twice and it’s quite hard to finish. But have no fear, there is always a takeout box for it.

Mosaic

Banana Split is huge! There is caramelized banana, vanilla ice cream, almond brittle, chocolate sauce and fresh fruit. What I love about Mosaic is that their desserts aren’t small.

Overall, I loved my experience at Mosaic. After this experience, I came back with a bunch of my friends with 11 Vaneats dining passes. They all loved it too. 3 courses for $22 is totally worth it because a regular entree is a about $20. I would go back again for special occasions and pay regular price. I am usually not impressed by fine dining, but I’ve enjoyed my 2 visits to Mosaic and was not disappointed.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Steps away from Burrard Skytrain
  • Free Mosaic Chocolate Cake on your birthday
  • Beef Carpaccio is a must!
  • Great service

We Rate Mosaic

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

Mosaic Bar & Grille on Urbanspoon

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Akari Japanese Restaurant

Akari Japanese Restaurant is located in Delta at Strawberry Hill. I would have never thought to have Japanese food in this area. Plus, I never frequent this area anyways. The restaurant has been around for 15 years and is operated by Koreans, so you will see some of that influence come out in their cuisine.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

This place was packed on a weekend and was quite busy.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

When we sat down, we received some tea.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

M and Scarface as usual always orders a coke wherever they go.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Complementary edamame beans arrived soon after.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Secret Castle Salad ($11.95) contains crab meat, salmon, tuna, avocado, tobiko, and sprouts with 3 kinds of dressing. This item was pretty impressive and looked amazing.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

You can see the layers of all the ingredients. You need to dig in to discover all the ingredients in this.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Spicy Delight ($6.95) contains salmon, tuna, tobiko with a spicy sauce served in orange cup.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Akari Island ($8.95) has spicy sashimi wrapped by seared salmon,  and tobiko on top spicy house sauce. The salmon that wrapped around the roll could have been a bit more smooth or seared more lightly.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

 Crazy Roll ($10.95) is a deep-fried California roll with Tobiko. You can substitute it with black rice, so its more healthy.

 Akari Japanese Restaurant

Black Cod Miso Yaki ($12.95) the cod is marinated with miso and sake and then grilled. It is served on a hot plate with vegetables.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Akari Roll ($10.95) has tuna, salmon, Aasparagus, tobiko, ebi, avocado, crabmeat with a soy wrap instead of seaweed.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Rock Cracker Roll ($10.95) contains double prawn, cucumber, avocado, crab meat on top with deep-fried scallop, spicy flakes, and tobiko.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Coffee Ice Cream came with 2 scoops and was very enjoyable. We were surprised this was even an option since most places only have green tea or mango ice cream. This was our favorite.

Akari Japanese Restaurant

Green Tea Ice Cream was the other ice cream we got. It was good and was a good way to end the meal.

Overall, Akari Japanese Restaurant is good if you live in this area. It isn’t the best but one of the better ones in the Delta area.

We Rate Akari Japanese Restaurant: 

Address:
7261 120th Street
Delta, BC

Website:
http://www.deltaakari.com/

Akari Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar is located in Kitsilano. The specialize in oysters and seafood inspired by New Orleans. I came here with FoodQueen and Gastrofork. Parking is always scarce in this area since you either have to have a parking permit or fight for the paid parking spots. This is what I usually dislike about this area, but since we came here for brunch on a weekend, we were lucky enough to find a few parking spots open. Boooyah!

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Who doesn’t love brunch with oysters? I love oysters any time of the day.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

We tried 3 types of oysters – Kumamoto, Kusshi, and Fanny Bay. They were all really good and fresh! The person who shucked this did a fantastic job too, there were not particles inside. Of all the oysters, the best one was the smallest oyster – Kusshi.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

The oysters come with 3 different types of homemade sauce. My favorite sauce to use was the habanero sauce. It’s really spicy, so watch out.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles ($12) comes with 2 buttermilk waffles topped with fried chicken and then drizzled with a cajun honey butter. Amy and Dee both ordered this. It’s one of the more popular items on the menu.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

Braised Short Rib and Hash ($15) consists of black eyed peas, smoked gouda, diced Kennebec potato fries and topped with 2 poached eggs. I thought this was ok.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar

French Quarter Beignets ($6) are Cafe Du Monde style classic beignets with a chicory coffee anglaise. We were all trying to be anonymous and acting like people who really like to take food pictures, but that didn’t work out well. One of their staff asked jokingly if we were bloggers and gave us this complementary dessert and didn’t charge for our oysters. This rarely happens, but it didn’t affect our reviews.

You can’t get this item during brunch, but it’s a pretty awesome item to order for dinner. It’s the size of an iPhone and is hollow inside. The coffee sauce went really well with the beignets. Really delicious.

We Rate Chewies Steam and Oyster Bar:

Address:
2201 W 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Websitehttp://www.chewies.ca/

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar on Urbanspoon

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One of my favorite restaurants in 2012 and probably 2013 is Sushi K Kamizato in Port Coquitlam. Sushi K Kamizato is run by Chef Keith and his wife Chika in Port Coquitlam.

Sushi K Kamizato

Salmon and Tuna Karaage comes complementary. It’s really addictive and a great start to the meal. My sister loves these, so every time we are here, she steals half of mine.

Sushi K Kamizato

Seared Toro Nigiri is my favorite item on their menu. The toro just melts in your mouth! You don’t need any sauce for it, eating it in 2 bites is just perfection. You must order this!!!

Sushi K Kamizato

Tuna Tataki Salad has spinach, peppers, carrots, and the chunks of tuna tataki on the centre. It’s really good too.

Sushi K Kamizato

Salmon Sashimi has about 8 pieces and it’s really good quality salmon!

Sushi K Kamizato

Grilled Aburi Saba comes with some sauteed cabbage and lemon on the side. The lemon definitely goes really well with it, so remember to squeeze it.

Sushi K Kamizato

Torched Dynamite Roll isn’t on the menu, but having it torched adds a nice taste and texture to the roll.

Sushi K Kamizato

OceanWiser Roll is a must try when you come here. It has raw ebi, salmon belly and cucumbers on the inside. It is topped with more salmon and avocado. It has its own sauce, so you don’t need to dip it in soy sauce.

Sushi K Kamizato

PoCo Gunner was shrimp tempura and cucumber in the middle and topped with seared inari. Another popular roll.

Sushi K Kamizato

Tuna Four-Ways isn’t on the menu, but it’s sometimes on their specials. It’s really good! He prepares tuna four different ways and extends the flavour and texture in each item. It must be eaten in order too. Definitely ask for this!

Sushi K Kamizato

Pretty in Pink Roll is a special roll created to support anti-bullying. It has seared Japanese scallop in a bed of fresh spinach, brown rice, homemade salsa and garlic sauce. All held together with a pink soybean wrap and raspberry puree drizzle.$1 from each roll sold went towards the Boy & Girls Club of Greater Vancouver.

This is definitely a very healthy roll and it didn’t taste very good at all.

Sushi K Kamizato

Chopped Scallop comes with 8 pieces and the scallops are large! You really get your moneys worth!

Sushi K Kamizato

Saba Battera comes in 8 pieces and has mackerel and rice pressed into a box shape. Really good roll as well.

Sushi K Kamizato

Green Tea Ice Cream is the same as anywhere else that would have green tea ice cream.

Overall, good service and food every time I come here. When the place is busy, expect your food to take a while longer. The strongest items on their menu are definitely anything from the sushi bar that’s raw. The cooked food is slightly lacking the saba is really good.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Small restaurant
  • Decently priced, but some items can be a bit expensive
  • All sushi comes with 8 pieces
  • Fresh ingredients
  • Grilled Aburi Saba, Seared Toro Nigiri, OceanWiser Roll, Tuna Tataki Salad, Agedashi Tofu, Salmon Sashimi, Tuna 4 ways, and Spicy & Shout Rolls is recommended!

We Rate Sushi Kamizato

Address:
2850 Shaughnessy St, suite 2105

Website:
http://www.sushikkamizato.com/

Sushi K Kamizato on Urbanspoon

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2850+Shaughnessy+St,+suite+2105&hnear=2850+Shaughnessy+St+%232105,+Port+Coquitlam,+British+Columbia+V3C+6K5&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

EBO or otherwise known as ‘East of Boundary’ is located inside Grandvilla Casino in Burnaby. I’m not a gambler, but I come here for some good food. I decided to come here for Dine Out with M since I’ve heard their menu is amazing and only $28.

EBO

The interior is very beautiful and can seat lots of people. Our server Michael was very nice and helped us make some decisions.

EBO

Complementary Bread arrived at the table and there were 3 different varieties, which was great.

EBO

Wild Mushroom Soup has Mushroom Terrine, Truffled Brioche Coal, and Feta. I know the picture isn’t appetizing, but this soup is SO AMAZING. It was a good portion and if I could die in a pool full of this soup, I would be so happy. Definitely recommended!!!

EBO

Tuna is encrusted in a crisp rice crust, with Dungeness Crab, Avocado Puree, Compressed Watermelon on the plate. The portion was definitely way smaller than the soup. M thought this dish was ok, but preferred the wild mushroom soup instead.

EBO

Roasted Duck Confit is has curried butternut squash puree, white bean stew, and maple gel. It was very tender and had a crisp skin, but the duck was salty. If you want something less salty, maybe stick with the steelhead option.

EBO

Grilled Lamb Chops Barley (Additional $7)  has braised neck, Sunchokes, and Salsa Verde. We were so excited to see the lamb chops on the menu that we didn’t see the addition $7 charge for this dish. It makes sense since this dish is originally $33 on the menu. M got the lamb medium and was cooked perfectly.

EBO

Chocolate Pot de Crème, Momon, Crispy Chocolate Bits

Looking at the menu, you probably have no idea what will arrive at your table. M imagined a chocolate cake, but it was more like a small chocolate mousse, cake and bits. It still tasted good.

EBO

Poached Pineapple, Spiced Filo, Almond Cake

This dessert was pretty good and I enjoyed it. A good end to the meal.

EBO

At the end we even got white chocolates with a passionfruit filling.

Overall, the $28 menu at EBO was pretty good. You just need to choose which item appeals to your palate . I totally wish I chose the steelhead instead of the duck. Just looking at their regular menu, you are definitely saving when getting the Dine Out menu.

We Rate EBO Restaurant

Address:
4331 Dominion St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.eborestaurant.com/

EBO Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Sushimoto is a Japanese restaurant located at Holdom Station in Burnaby. It is just steps away and is a hit in the neighbourhood. They have the usual good stuff you can find at a Japanese restaurant – sushi, sashimi, and rice bowls.

The interior isn’t too large, so it’s hard to fit large groups if it’s a busy night. There are bar seats and booth seating.

Complementary tea comes in cute cups.

Complementary Spring Rolls are a nice treat before the meal.

Mad For Garlic Gyoza was very disappointing, it sounded more exciting than it tasted. It just reminded me of the ones you would find at grocery stores…also they fell apart very easily.

Baked Salmon Kama was OK, but there were bones, so not great for little kids.

Korroke comes with 2 pieces of different varieties. One is filed with plain potato and corn, the other was like curry.

Ika Geso Karrage comes with a side of sweet chili dipping sauce. The squid was lightly coated and good.

Sockeye Salmon Sashimi comes with 9 pieces and was very vibrant and red. Fresh and delicious.

Tuna Tataki is awesome as usual! The tuna is lightly seasoned and seared. It is topped with garnish and ponzu sauce.

Prawn Tempura was crunchy on the outside and delicious. Don’t leave it too long or else it will go limp.

Toro Aburi and the Unagi Aburi was very very delicious! The toro just melts in your mouth. Both items are torched and topped with teriyaki sauce.

Negitoro Roll comes in 6 pieces. Delicious too.

Kapa Roll and Mango Roll.

Amusement Roll has cream cheese, cucumber, salmon, egg, crab meat, ikura, Mayo and unagi sauce. The roll was pretty average and the addition of the cream cheese made this interesting. Other restaurants usually have it in the Philadelphia roll. The cream cheese worked well!

Words of Wisdom:

  • Street Parking
  • Large variety in menu
  • Sashimi, Aburi Sushi = good!
  • Make reservations to avoid waits.

We rate Sushimoto:

Address:

2221 Holdom Ave S
Burnaby, BC

Sushimoto on Urbanspoon

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Foodology Disclaimer: The manager invited myself and a guest to have a complementary meal to try their signature items.


Prospect Point Sign

Prospect Point in Stanley Park has the highest vantage point and attracts many tourists to the area to gaze their eyes upon the beautiful Lions Gate Bridge and the surrounding areas. You can even spot cruise ships passing by.

Prospect Point Cafe Exterior

Prospect Point Cafe is located just right outside the viewing area. They are best known for their OceanWise seafood and ice cream. This place attracts a lot of locals and tourists in the Summer months since the weather is undeniably amazing. In the winter months, the cafe is still open for lunch and you just walk inside and you will find it.

Before going in, you can glance at the menu to see if the menu suits your cravings. The restaurant is straight ahead and a gift shop is on your left hand side.

Prospect Point Cafe Picnic In the Park

If you don’t want to dine inside, you can go to the Picnic In The Park area to grab a quick bite.

Prospect Point Cafe Seating

There are lots of seats inside.

Prospect Point Cafe Patio

The best seats are near the windows where you get the view of the Lions Gate Bridge. Most of the people who were dining here sat in this area and stared out the window in awe of the beauty.

Prospect Point Cafe Wine

Calona Artist Series Pinot Grigio is a light wine that pairs nicely with the seafood.

Prospect Point Cafe Chowder

Serious Seafood Chowder ($9.99) is a traditional chowder filled with lots of seafood. I was surprised since it was pretty hearty and thick.

Wild Salmon Sampler ($24.99) has salmon spread, dill, grilled, smoked & candied salmon. All of the salmon is OceanWise certified and tasted amazing. It’s a great item to share with the table and try the different ways that salmon can be prepared.

Calamari Chop Salad ($17.99) has greens, chopped veggies, crumbled blue cheese, maple balsamic dressing, cranberries, walnuts and the calamari. This dish uses OceanWise squid! I found the calamari didn’t go too well as a salad, so it might be better to order the calamari appetizer instead.

Salmon Fish and Chips ($21.99) has 2 pieces of OceanWise Salmon, fries, house made tartar, signature slaw & fresh lemon. The salmon was golden brown on the outside and delicious and moist on the inside. They rocked the salmon, but the fries and slaw fell a bit short.

Pistachio Ice Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream were both delicious and packed full of ingredients.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream and Black Cherry Ice Cream were both yummy too!

The view from the inside of the restaurant is as close as you can get to the bridge from any restaurant in Vancouver.

If you want a better view of the bridge, you can go outside and take some pictures at Prospect Point.

The view is just beautiful and you can see West Vancouver and the Lions Gate Bridge.

Overall, the food on the menu can be a hit or a miss. I do admire the restaurant for using OceanWise seafood. The salmon is great here, but everything else is quite average. Be sure to grab some ice cream too.

We Rate Prospect Point Cafe:

Address:
5601 Stanley Park Dr
Vancouver, BC V6G

Website:
http://www.prospectpoint.ca./Prospect_Point/Restaurant.html

Prospect Point Cafe in Stanley Park on Urbanspoon

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We took a trip to Sai Kung district, which is Hong Kong’s 2nd largest district. We specifically went to Sai Kung town where it is mostly a fisherman town.It’s a popular place for seafood lovers! It’s very popular for tourists and locals. Even Anthony Bourdain came here for seafood.

You can find fresh seafood!

Even “peeing shrimp” that are in plastic bottles are sold. I’m not exactly why they are all in bottle, but there must be a good reason.

You can see local fishermen fish for seafood!

You can see people fishing…and even bring your own fishing rod too!

Since we were on the search for amazing seafood, my relatives took us to Tung Kee Seafood & Restaurant 通記海鮮野味酒家 to try a various selection of seafood. We actually had no idea what to order, so we asked the restaurant to make us enough for 9 people under a certain price per person.

Bottled Coke

Bottled Cream Soda

Chicken Feet

Fried and braised fish

Steamed Chicken

Calamari

Abalone

Lobster and crab with noodles

Deep Fried Oysters

Deep Fried Peeing Shrimp

Fried Rice

Scallops and vermicelli

Vegetables

Overall, we had a lot of great dishes. We were able to taste the fresh varieties of seafood from this area. The prices were fair and we all left super super full.

We Rate Tung Kee Seafood and Restaurant:

Address:
G/F, 96-102 Man Nin Street, Sai Kung

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Sometimes laziness hits and you just want to order food and have it delivered. My friends and I were chilling at TaiwaneseGirl’s place and we decided to order from Hanafubuki Sushi through Just-eat.ca. They have a few good places to order from.

We chose Hanafubuki Sushi that is located on Robson Street and out of all the sushi places they had available, it looked like it was the best one. The items looked good and the prices were fair.

Toro Tataki Salad ($ 7.50) has slices of avocado, toro and tomatoes over a bed a greens with a nice citrus sauce. It tasted good, but it was a bit small for the price.

Spicy Tuna Sashimi ($ 7.50) has chopped albacore tuna with cucumber, and spicy sauce. The spicy sauce is unlike the hot Korean paste that some restaurants use, this sauce is more spicy and sharp.

Platter B ($ 29.95) has 46 pieces in total. It comes with the Hanafubuki roll, tuna roll, salmon roll, California roll, BC roll, spicy tuna roll, and smoked salmon roll.

The rolls were really good and put together nicely. It has a good variety of rolls and we all were happy with what came.

Overall, Hanafubuki Sushi does have really awesome Japanese food and rolls.

We Rate Hanfubuki Sushi:

Address:
1610 Robson St Unit 102
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.hanafubukisushi.com/

Hanafubuki Sushi on Urbanspoon

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