Normally, you'd find me bringing out the whole family when dining at a hotel restaurant. Think of it - safe food in a generally kid-friendly environment (assuming it's not a boutique hotel or something). However, this time around, it was going to be the boys meeting up for lunch at Mosaic in the Hyatt Regency. Snake thought it would be a good idea to meet up for the first time since Vegas just to hang out. Good thing too, it would probably be less expensive... Actually, I've been to Mosaic before, prior to blogging, and it was a pretty typical hotel restaurant experience - no surprises. Since then, they have reno'd and the dining space has a nice modern feel to it and lots of natural light from the big windows.
We started off with some biscuits and they certainly looked better than they ate. They were far too dense for our liking. But whatever, that was the complimentary bread, not really a big deal. As usual, I couldn't resist ordering only one thing, so I started with the Seafood Chowder. I found it thick, yet floury thick rather than creamy. It was mild with only a hint of the sea. The fish was flaky and moist while the veggies were not mushy despite being diced into little bits. For my main, I went for the Seared Haida Gwaii Albacore Tuna Sandwich. As evidenced in the picture, the tuna barely kissed the grill. That was perfect in my opinion as the natural texture and taste of the fish was not compromised. Combined with the crunch from the arugula, lemon aioli and the soft ciabatta, this was well executed.
Costanza actually shared half of his Club House for the other half of my sandwich. Not a bad trade (even though mine cost more!) since it was a well-made sandwich. The toast was done right, bacon was crispy and the turkey was real meat while the rest of the ingredients were fresh. The accompanying fries were decent being crispy and lacking that generic feel to them. Chill had the Thai Fry consisting of long beans, peanuts, garlic, chilis and ground pork atop coconut basmati rice. This was actually not bad for a non-Asian restaurant. The beans were still crisp and the meat was moist while there was noticeable heat to the dish.
Continuing on with the Asian theme, Snake had the Curry Bowl with chicken. He found the chicken to a bit dry while the flavours were mild and the sauce thin. Despite this, it wasn't as if the dish wasn't decent. Pretty typical curry from a non-Indian joint. And naturally, the naan wasn't really traditional naan (but we weren't expecting it to be). Lastly, Vandelay tried the Fish & Chips featuring ling cod in a Granville Island pale ale batter served with spicy remoulade. He found the batter to be thick while the fish was slightly dry. He thought a traditional tartar sauce would've been better than the remoulade. Well, there you have it, a meal with some typical lunch items mixed in with some surprises. Not bad, and in the end, Mosaic offered up a decent alternative to the chain restaurants nearby.
The Good:
- Classy and comfortable dining space
- Attentive service
- Okay pricing considering location and class of restaurant
The Bad:
- As with any meal, pick the right dish and it'll be good, pick the wrong one and it is not as good
Mosaic
Posted by
Sherman Chan
on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Labels:
Downtown Vancouver,
Fine Dining,
Westcoast
1 comments:
mmmm i really liked that Thai Fry, when i ordered it for lunch it was really good :Q...
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