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.