Cache Bistro - Brunch #2

1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

My sister organized a bridal shower for her good friend and the afternoon's activities were relaxing mani and pedi's at a spa in Yaletown. So, we decided to have brunch first at Cache since my previous brunch experience there was pretty good.

Perusing through the menu, I didn’t know whether to order a breakfast item or a brunch/lunch item. Decisions decisions! My sister was gracious and agreed to share our plates so I could sample 2 dishes.

House smoked wild Coho salmon and gruyere sandwich

Open faced with onion jam cream cheese, onion, fried caper, hand cut pomme frites, soup or organic green

I selected the open-faced sandwich as it sounded appealing. For my side, I opted for the lobster bisque. Visually, everything looked really fresh and tasty. In reality, it was just so-so, except for the bisque. The bisque was A++!! There was no lacking in flavour and richness in this soup and it was yummy to the last drop. The sandwich, on the hand, needed a bit of work. Essentially, it was the baguette that was the problem. It was cold, hard, and the crust was super chewy. Even the steak knife that I requested to cut it did not help at all. While I was trying to saw the open-faced sandwich into bite-sized pieces, all the toppings came tumbling down onto the plate. In the end, I took bites of each element individually rather than eating them all in one well-mannered bite. I think it would have helped if they toasted the baguette so the crust would be crisp and easier to cut through. Either that or they should have used fresh baguette. Bread was not good at all.

Double Cheese French Omlette

Swiss cheese, cream cheese, black forest ham, chives, choice of white, whole wheat or multigrain toasts

My sister decided on the omelet and I requested for the yam hash rather than regular potato hash. A few minutes after we put in our order, the waitress came back informing us that they ran out of yam hash!!!!! NO YAM HASH!?!?!?! I was so looking forward to their yam hash!!! I was greatly disappointed and I seriously had half a mind to just walk out and go somewhere else to eat. She advised that the chef could give us yam fries instead. Well, with no other choice (I was very adamant on having yam) we reluctantly went with yam fries. I have never paired yam fries with an omelet.

The omelet was not bad but not spectacular either. The cheese inside the omelet was not ooey-gooey but there were ample amounts of cheese and ham inside. The yam fries were good in that they were crisp on the outside and soft in the inside but it just wasn’t my yam hash. They also apparently forgot the toast that was supposed to arrive with the omelet. My sister did not realize this until the next day. I was too distraught about no yam hash that I did not realize this either. Another disappointment.

Dessert Sampler

(L-R) Blueberry tart, Chocolate pot de creme, Ginger creme brulee

Between 9 girls, we ordered 2 dessert samplers to share amongst us. Their desserts of the day sounded attractive when the waitress recited it for us. When I heard “ginger crème brulee” that did me in and I convinced the other girls to order the sampler.

What a big fat disappointment. As a crème brulee, it was quite good. It was creamy, thick, rich with vanilla and had a nice “not-too-thin, not too-thick” crunchy torched topping. As a GINGER crème brulee, it was absolutely blah. There was no ginger flavour at all. I’m not sure if they were trying to be considerate so as not to overwhelm people with ginger but seriously, if they called it ginger crème brulee, I expect at least a tinge of ginger aroma or flavour. There was nothing here.

The blueberry tart was your regular blueberry tart. Nothing special there with a seemingly store-bought frozen tart crust, fresh blueberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Totally something that I could re-create at home.

The chocolate pot de crème was the best out of the 3. The dark chocolate was dense, smooth, and just slightly sweet so the dark chocolate shined through. But still, only 1 out of the 3 desserts met my expectations. I felt so guilty too because I convinced the whole table to order the desserts but they fell short of expectations.

Side note: When we were ordering, some of the girls asked me for recommendations. I suggested the crab cake benedict as I quite liked it when I had it last time. The girls wanted their eggs poached to medium and it was noted by the waitress. However, when their food came, their poached eggs were fully cooked! The yolk was hard throughout! When I saw that, I immediately wanted to tell the waitress but the girls didn’t want to make a big deal out of it so they just ate it as is. I felt so guilty (again) because I recommended it to them but it did not come out as expected. I was so enraged too!! I know the chef is usually not like this so I am thinking that this is an extremely off day for him. But if the chef is a professional and has expectations of himself, I think the chef has a right to know…

I was majorly disappointed in my second brunch at Cache. After this visit, I talked to W about it and he said that one of the sous chefs had left the restaurant not so long ago so he’s guessing that the head chef was still trying to handle the kitchen without a helping hand. Hopefully, this was just a one-off situation and that he’s gotten a better hold now. Because the chef and the owner of the restaurant are friends with W, I really hope that Cache will succeed. I do think that this place is a gem in the Yaletown neighbourhood.

*Sorry for the long-winded post; I really wanted to air out my disappointments from this meal.

Adesso Bistro

1906 Haro Street
Vancouver, BC

It was late August and the summer heat of the sun started to wane. To send off the last of the summer days in August I decided to drag W along and dine alfresco. I’ve read many great reviews of Adesso’s food and they also had a lovely patio so we headed there on a late Friday afternoon to catch a good table outside.
 

 

Even though it was located on a side street near the hustle and bustle of Denman street, it was fairly quiet and serene. Save for some footsteps of the residents of the area and the “clop clops” of the RCMP horses trotting by, the high hedges fencing the patio provided a barrier to the outside world.

Warm Foccacia bread

With olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Despite their small menu, we took a long time deciding what to order because they all sounded delicious! After we made our order, they brought over a complimentary plate of focaccia bread with a side of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. The bread was warm and the top was lightly seasoned with rosemary and sea salt. Excellent! I could eat many plates of this!

Asparagi

Roasted asparagus salad, truffle vinaigrette, Gratta Mangia

To start, W and I shared a warm asparagus salad. Beneath the spears of tender roasted asparagus were arugula leaves drizzled with a pungent truffle vinaigrette and topped with grated Gratta Mangia, a type of cheese with a similar texture as parmesan. There was just the right amount of truffle oil and the natural sweetness of the asparagus helped offset the slight bitterness of the arugula. The whole plate was very green though (but green is good for our eyes!)

Pollo

Roasted hen breast and leg, porcini sauce, gnocchi and cavolo nero

I wanted to try both a pasta dish and a meat entrée. Lucky for me, W agreed. I chose the entrée while he selected the pasta. The roasted hen sounded hearty and satisfying so I opted for that. When the plate came, I was surprised by how much meat there was! Or maybe I didn’t know exactly how big a hen is supposed to be. Anyway, the skin was crispy, golden brown, and perfectly salted while the meat, even the breast part, was not too dry. The skin was the best part haha! The porcini sauce added some more moisture to the white meat which was good but I thought it wasn’t salty enough when eaten with the gnocchi. The little rounds of gnocchi were not very flavourful so it was heavily dependent on the sauce (which wasn't very savoury in the first place). I also found them too soft for my liking. To balance out the protein and carbs there were clumps of cavolo nero, which is a type of deep green leafy vegetable, similar to kale. It some parts of the world, it is also known as black cabbage. The cavolo nero was a little bitter and reminded me of the leafy portion of Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli/kale).

Linguine alle Vongole

Clams, garlic, white wine and herbs

For our pasta dish, W decided on the linguine with clams. Such a simple pasta but such intense flavour!! This was the best dish of the night. The pasta was completely infused with garlicky white wine and strong essence of clam. There was no shortage of clam meat either; large and baby clams dotted throughout the al dente linguine. Hands down, one of the best pasta I’ve had to date.

Limone

Lemon and pistachio semifreddo, raspberry pate, fresh berries

The sky was still light and I wanted to linger some more in their patio so I convinced W to stay a while longer for dessert. There were 6 choices (if you include the cheese plate as a dessert…) and we narrowed down to 2. Finally, we decided to try the semifreddo as W has never heard of it before! With the texture between a mousse and ice-cream, it was light and lemony with crushed pistachio on top. However, we thought that the pistachio wasn’t crunchy enough (either not roasted or the semifreddo softened them) and didn’t pair that well with the semifreddo. The deep burgundy rectangle was the raspberry pate. It tasted like raspberry gummy candy as it was soft, chewy and coated with sugar. The raspberry seeds were a chore to eat though…and there were plenty of seeds in the pate =_= 

The whole meal came to about $70-ish dollars but I thought it was worth every penny. From the ambiance to the service to the food, everything was high quality. Of course, some parts of the roasted hen could have been better for me but that is just a slight criticism. For a fancier, romantic atmosphere, the indoor dining room would be a good place. For a casual air but with fine dining-quality food, Adesso’s patio cannot be beat.

Hakkasan

110 - 2188 No. 5 Road

Richmond, BC

 

I saw a Groupon that advertised a 4-course pre-fixe menu for two at Hakkasan for $48 so I asked W to purchase it for our dinner. I made reservations and when we arrived at 6:30pm, the place was quiet but there were a few tables of customers enjoying their meals already.

 

Kobe beef meat ball lollipops (left)

Slow cooked in tomato sauce

Jumbo tiger prawns (centre)

House cocktail sauce

Organic mixed salad (right)

Fresh greens with house dressing

For our starters, we chose the 2 items that interested us the most. The soft meatballs were bathed in a savoury tomato sauce and there were about 6 of them in the bowl. Though they were tasty, we found them a bit ordinary...nothing really special about meatballs in tomato sauce. And we thought that grinding the Kobe beef was sacrilege because the texture and flavour of the prized beef was lost (unless it wasn't Kobe beef at all).

We were a bit surprised (and not in a good way) with the tiger prawns. The flesh of the prawn was nicely cooked as it had a "bounce" to the bite but when we see the word cocktail sauce, we envisioned the red kind. Their house cocktail sauce was creamy and pale and it resembled a ranch dressing more than a tangy, zippy, refreshing dipping sauce.

The salad greens were just generic spring mix with the addition of some fresh strawberries and cherry tomatoes and drizzled with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. 

Fraser Valley Duck

Lathered with a sweet harvest plum glaze

Seasonal greens and Jasmine rice

We chose 2 mains to share between the two of us. First was the Fraser Valley duck. The meat was not bad; it wasn't mushy and there was not too much fat underneath the skin. I half expected the skin to be crispy, kind of like the Chinese style BBQ duck. This one was soft but it was still good. The plum sauce was sweet, as expected, and it went well with the white rice we had. Overall, the duck didn't wow me because it kept reminding me of the take-out BBQ duck and plum sauce that I often eat at home.

The seasonal veggies in the background tasted bland and plain. They seemed like they were either steamed or boiled since the texture of the broccoli and cauliflower was way too soft for my liking. I like my veggies to still have a slight crunch with the actual vegetable taste still intact. W, on the other hand, likes his veggies soft and mushy so they were fine for him.

Crispy Berkshire Pork Loin

Served with tonkatsu sauce

I liked the second main much much more. The pork cutlet was perfectly fried so the meat was still juicy and the exterior was crispy and dry. The tonkatsu sauce tasted like it was home-made. It wasn't as tangy as the ones that come from a bottle and it was on the sweeter side as well. I give them props if they did make their own tonkatsu sauce.

Chef's Daily Sweet

Mango pudding

We had no choice for our dessert. They offered mango pudding to us to end our meal. Of course, if you fork over an extra $5, they will upgrade the dessert for you (a chocolate lava cake, I believe). The pudding was simple with a few chunks of real mango on top. The texture was on the watery side (not stiff and creamy-like) so it was actually kind of refreshing and acted as a palate cleanser.

If we didn't have the Groupon, I don't think our meal would have been worth the original price. Even though the food was tasty and was well prepared (except for the soft and bland veggies), the selections in this menu seemed so ordinary. It's like comfort food but made with higher end ingredients.

Kitanoya Guu Otokomae ~ Photolog

375 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

 

After our happy hour at Cork and Fin, the second part of my post-birthday celebration dinner was at Kitanoya Guu Otokomae, located a few blocks away in Gastown. After this meal, I have finally visited all the Guu restaurants in Metro Vancouver! Yay!



 

Seaweed and Daikon Stick Salad (left)

Daikon sticks on seaweed salad dressed with seaweed mayo, topped with dried seaweed

Spinach and Sesame (right)

Blanched spinach dressed with black sesame sauce

 



The dressing for the salad seemed like watered down mayo and the whole salad was quite wet. Not one of my favourites. The gomae was not bad with the strong nuttiness from the black sesame.

 

Corn Croquette (?)

From the fresh sheet

Nikujaga Croquette

Deep-fried panko-breaded mashed potatoes with stewed beef, carrots, onions, served with tonkatsu sauce

This was creamy but thick and dense inside. It really needed the tonkatsu sauce to help make it less dry.

Salmon with 7 Friends

Diced wild sockeye salmon with otokomae's miso and garlic sauce, natto (fermented soy bean), pickled cucumber, pickled daikon, garlic chips, crispy wonton, green onions, diced cucumber, and fresh egg yolk; served with roasted seaweed

 

Just mix together and wrap in the provided seaweed like a soft taco!

Okonomiyaki

Deep-fried Japanese style cabbage and squid pan cake dressed with tonkatsu sauce, wasabi mayo, topped with dried bonito flakes and dried seaweed

Grilled Black Cod

Grilled cod with white wine saikyo miso sauce

The fish was soft and flaky but I would have loved to see some grill/char marks to give the fish a more savoury and smoky flavour...

Beef tataki

Seared beef topped with shredded daikon and green onions with a tangy ponzu sauce

Tender (but a little chewy) beef, tangy sauce, and crunchy radish makes for a refreshing palate pleaser!

Spicy Ika Calamari

Deep-fried squid with spicy garlic-tomato sauce

I wasn't too fond of the calamari as the sauce tasted a little like a hot sauce akin to kimchi.

Overall, the lively and spacious atmosphere was nice and the food was mostly excellent as per Guu's usual standards. It's just the patio chairs we sat on were quite uncomfortable. That actually made me want to hurry up and eat and leave. I think the original Guu and Guu with Garlic are the best out of all the Guu restaurants in Metro Van.

Cork & Fin

221 Carrall Street

Vancouver, BC

 

To post-celebrate my birthday, my co-worker, K, and her girlfriend treated me to oysters!! She took me to Cork & Fin in Gastown for happy hour oysters.

 

It was a warm and sunny late afternoon so the small patio out front was already filled with patrons while the inside of the restaurant was empty. The front window was wide open though so it let in a nice cool breeze and brightened up the dining area.

I'm so sorry, I have completely forgotten which types of oysters I sampled here. I believe the larger, meatiers ones (half a dozen) were Royal Miyagi? They tasted creamier and heavier while the other half a dozen were a smaller sized oyster but it tasted crisper and had a clean ocean-y saltiness to it.

We also ordered the oyster motoyaki from the happy hour menu. Not my favourite way to eat oysters because I don't like the goop of mayo on top. The oyster underneath was baked to just the right doneness though.

I liked the smaller oysters from the first round, so we ordered this type exclusively for our second round of oysters. This time, the platter came with a dish of grated horseradish. I'm not educated in oysters and I don't have much intention on learning but eating freshly shucked oysters was still fun!

Joey Coquitlam

550 Lougheed Highway

Coquitlam, BC

 

For my birthday dinner, I didn't really know where to eat. I browsed the menus of some popular chain restaurants around home and finally settled on Joey. We had a reservation so we were seated promptly.

 

Since it was my birthday, I ordered my favourite alcoholic drink haha! Lucky me, Joey had an all day happy hour drinks menu and the Bellini was included! The bellini is a nice frozen cocktail for the warm summer. Joey's version had an iced peach slice for garnish.

 

 

Bellini

$2.99 - All day happy hour menu

Steak & Sushi

Soy marinated tataki style top sirloin and rainbow roll

We skipped the appetizers and ordered our entrees right away. I chose the steak and sushi because I thought it was an interesting combination and it satified both my cravings for sushi and grilled meat! I was a little disappointed in the rainbow roll because I was anticipating a variety of toppings on the roll. This one just had salmon and avocado slices on top. There are more than 2 colours in a rainbow you know. Well, I guess the sauces (a spicy mayo and a teriyaki type sauce) drizzled on it added 2 more colours. The roll, overall, wasn't too bad.

The steak was sliced after being grilled and placed in a skillet pan with a cup of sweet soy sauce for dipping. The beef was quite tender and grilled to a nice medium rare. It was good on its own but I liked dunking the meat in the accompanied sauce for more umami-ness (savoury-ness).

Steak aux Champignon

CAB top sirloin, mushroom demi-glace, a fully loaded crispy mashed potato and seasonal veggies

W had the "steak with mushrooms". He also requested the meat to be grilled to medium rare and it was nicely done as well. The mushroom demi-glace was savoury and rich. I bet it would go well with mashed potatoes! We all didn't know what the fully loaded crispy mashed potato would look like so when we saw it on the plate, we were quite surprised that it resembled a spring roll. With shredded cheese and, I believe, sour cream on top, the crispy mashed potato seemed laden with calories...

Blue Cheese Sirloin

CAB top sirloin, blue cheese butter, mashed potato and seasonal veggies

As my dad liked blue cheese, he ordered this version of the sirloin steak. The warm steak semi-melted the salty and "fragrant" blue cheese so it acted like a sauce for the meat. It was grilled to rare but my dad preferred Sammy J's sirloin more as this one was a little bit more chewy.  He opted for regular mashed potatoes as his side.

California Chicken Burger

Aged cheddar, smoky bacon, spicy mayo on a Portuguese bun, served with fries

The only one who didn't order steak was my mom as she does not eat beef. I did not try any of the burger but I did eat some of the bacon. It was crispy and delicious (how could bacon not be delicious anyway??).

We had to leave room in our tummies for my birthday cake so we did not have any dessert at Joey. Overall, the food was not bad and service was attentive. It's not a restaurant that I would be craving to go but for the times that I did go, I was satisfied.