404 Coffee Lab

If you have been following any form of social media, you might remember the long lines at 404 Coffee when they initially opened.  Located in a small enclave within the recently shuttered Ramen One, 404 Coffee specializes in Asian-inspired coffee and desserts.  They have a walk-up take out window facing busy Broadway just across the street from the Canada Line station.  Now they are expanding into the space vacated by Ramen One and offering a small dine-in menu.  Jackie and I dropped by to check it out.

Of course the first order of business was to sample their Matcha Lovers Menu with the Dirty Matcha Cream Latte, Mango Matcha Latte, Strawberry Matcha Cream Latte and Yuzu Matcha Cream Latte.  I found all of them creamy and smooth with the slight bitterness of matcha.  With the addition of fruit, it lightened things up and added sweetness.  My favourite was the mango as it was tropical-tasting while balanced by the matcha.  However, the best of the bunch was the Dirty Matcha as it added rich coffee to the mix.  Hence it was full-bodied, aromatic, nutty and creamy.   On the end, this was the Einspanner Latte, which was also rich and creamy.  Lots of coffee impact, but not bitter.  Rather, it went down smooth with balancing sweetness.

On their food menu, they have a $6.00 Breakfast Special where you can choose from 6 different "snacks" and from 7 drinks.  For the one pictured, it was a Mentaiko Onigiri with an Iced Americano.   The onigiri had nicely textured rice and plenty of mentaiko mayo for flavour and moisture.  We also tried the Karaage Sando (for $2.00 more) and it was quite good.  There was more than enough juicy seasoned chicken within the soft hot dog bun while dressed with terimayo and nori.  For $1.00 more, you could have a latte or cappuccino rather than the basic coffee.

Sure, they have specialty coffees and some snacks, but interestingly, they also have bigger dishes as well.  These included Rustic Smoked Duck and Street-Style Takoyaki with tomato pasta.  These dishes were served in large portions and I especially enjoyed the duck.  There was an abundance of moist slices of smoked duck atop perfectly al dente pasta.  The tomato sauce was unique as it had some umaminess to go with the slight tang and sweetness.  However, there was something really savoury about it.  As for the Street-Style Takoyaki, it was the same pasta but with some fried squid dressed in unagi sauce and kewpie mayo.

Also available on the menu, we found a selection of Japanese curry.  We ended up choosing the Tempura Curry featuring 3 large ebi tempura.  All mains came with a side salad.  This was rather surprising as I wouldn't have expected such a solid curry at this spot.  It had a nice viscosity and was full of earthiness, sweetness and umaminess.  The rice was dry enough to accept the curry beautifully.  The 3 ebi tempura were crispy with a buttery piece of shrimp inside.

Of course we had some dessert too with Coffee Parfait, Once in a Blue Moon and Caramel Mocha Affogato.  At the core of each dessert was the creamy and rich soft-serve.  It was on the sweeter side, but the natural milk flavour did come through.  I particularly enjoyed the simplicity of the blueberry sundae where there was a ridiculous amount of soft-serve with crunchy blueberries and blueberry sauce.  The affogato was also awesome where their aromatic and strong coffee blended well with the milky soft-serve.  Loved that there was much more soft-serve than coffee, as it remained very much an ice cream with just coffee flavour, rather than turning into a melted mess.  The coffee parfait was on the sweeter side due to the layers of coffee jelly, espresso cake, chocolate sauce and cereal.  Definitely lots of rich coffee flavour while having the same creaminess of the soft-serve.  These desserts are something that I would definitely come back for, but the drinks are even better as they are rich and flavourful.  I wouldn't sleep on the food either as the plates were large and also appealing.  Nice use of the old Ramen One spot!

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Drinks are seriously good

- Soft-serve is creamy and milky

- Food is decent too

The Bad:

- Due to the setup of Ramen One, the seating is a bit awkward for more than 2 people

Mr. Japanese Curry

With all the different versions of curry around the world, it is pretty hard to choose a favourite.  I personally love them all in their own way as they are all unique.  One of the most approachable forms of curry is the Japanese one.  It is usually not spicy and has an appealing sweetness to it.  Definitely won't blow your mind like authentic Indian or Thai curries.  Yet, it is much more flavourful than the yellow stuff they call curry in Chinese cuisine.  So it was with much interest that I visited Mr. Japanese Curry on 8th at Cambie.

We tried a bunch of curries including the Beef Curry with Chicken.  Yes, it was only the curry that was beef flavoured while it was paired with chicken.  Interesting contrast between meaty umaminess and buttery soft chicken.  There was lots of depth as I could taste the earthiness of the curry as well as a background sweetness (that was quite muted).  Love the side of pickles as it helped add a sweet crunch to compliment the rich flavours.

Shockingly, I really enjoyed the next curry even though it was vegan!  Yes, the Pumpkin Croquette Curry itself was vegan, but was still silky and rich.   It was more sweet with less spices coming through.  I was surprised at the creaminess, but it was definitely welcomed.  As for the croquettes, they were awesome!  Beyond the uniformly crispy breading, the pumpkin was delicate and soft.  The natural sweetness really came through.

 

Now my favourite item we had was the Omu-Cheese Curry.  Oh where do I begin?  First off, the curry was smooth and had an appealing viscosity.  It was mildly sweet and I could taste the spices.  But the real draw here was the silky soft cooked eggs.  They were fluffy and had a great mouth feel.  Just the right amount of melted cheese graced the dish so it wasn't overwhelming.  Combined with the chewy rice, each bite was a delight.

To get a sense of the other proteins that can be had with the curries, we had the Fried Ebi as well as the Chicken Karaage.  The ebi was crunchy while buttery inside and the karaage was crispy with juicy meat.  Those would've gone well with the curries as well.  All-in-all, I was rather impressed with the food at Mr. Japanese Curry.  It doesn't seem like complex food, but they were able to make distinctive curries that worked well with their accompanying proteins.  I would definitely eat it again.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Delicious curries, well-balanced
- Well-prepared proteins
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Seating is real tight