Japanese Bistro Hatzu

For some inexplicable reason, it took over 20 minutes for my order of Pho to arrive at Pho Central.  Now, if I wasn't in a rush, it wouldn't have really mattered.  However, I had a scheduled tasting at Japanese Bistro Hatzu a few doors down (organized by Jacqueline).  Worst of all, I would be holding everything up!  Imagine a group of hungry foodies anxiously waiting for their food!  Oh who am I kidding anyways, they were probably more worried about taking photos than actually digging in!

Being almost the last to arrive did have its benefits though.  I didn't have to wait long before the food arrived beginning with the Sashimi Nachos featuring salmon and tuna mixed with tomato salsa topped with avocado, jalapeno and tobiko.  Despite all the wet ingredients and the time it took for picture-taking, the house-fried nacho chip remained relatively crisp.  The whole bite was pretty good with buttery and sweet pieces of fish accented by acidity, spice and sweet balsamic.  Next, we had the Daikon Flower stuffed with cream cheese, avocado, cucumber and sashimi.  The whole thing was crunchy, but a bit too mild-tasting for my liking.  The tart and sweet sauce did add some flavour though.

Moving onto something more usual, we had the Creamy Salmon Carpaccio sporting thin slices of salmon with avocado, creamy basil pesto, balsamic reduction, capers and garlic chips.  I found the fish to be buttery and fresh if not a touch mild-tasting.  However, the rest of the ingredients helped provide the flavours needed with a creamy herbal finish.  I would've liked to see less sauce and more acidity though.  The next dish was the Truffle Dancing Shrimp.  It was neatly plated featuring grilled shrimp topped with tartar sauce, balsamic reduction, basil pesto, tobiko and truffle oil. I found the shrimp to exhibit a meaty snap while the tobiko offered up a little sweet pop. Like many items with truffle oil, I thought it was a bit overwhelming but the ample balsamic (which seemed to be a theme) did offer up enough acidity and sweetness for balance.

Heading off in another direction, we were presented with the Home-Style Creamy Croquettes made with onion, butter, cream cheese and real crab meat accompanied by tartar sauce.  Beyond the crunchy exterior, I found the filling to be rather heavy with the richness of cream cheese and mashed potato.  There was a decent amount of inherent flavour even without the tartar sauce (which was creamy and lightly tart).  Back to the raw stuff, we had the Volcano Tower with salmon, tuna, cucumber, shiitake, green onion, garlic chips, capers with chili mayo, unagi sauce, house spicy sauce and snapper flower on top.  I found the fish to be appealingly fresh-tasting and textured.  The gochujang-based sauce was a bit sweet and not too spicy.  Although the marinated shiitake underneath didn't really go with the rest of the ingredients, I liked them on their own.

Then a barrage of battera arrived starting with the Salmon Battera featuring negi sockeye salmon inside & salmon, jalapeno, chilli mayo on top.  Yes, this was yet another version of the famed salmon oshi from Miku/Minami.  This one fared decently with not overly firm rice that was still chewy and only a touch soft.  The salmon was buttery while sauced lightly and garnished with a thin slice of jalapeno on top.  We also got the Saba Battera sporting ginger inside & torched saba, okra, ponzu sauce on top.  This was relatively mild-tasting with a slight tang from the mackerel and some saltiness from the pozu.  Our last one was the Unagi Battera with avocado inside &unagi, okra, unagi sauce on top.  I found this one to be the most predictable-tasting due to the unagi sauce.  Hence, this was sweet while the unagi was buttery soft.

Onto some maki sushi, we were presented with the Belly to Belly Roll with negitoro and avocado inside & aburi salmon toro, tobiko and ponzu sauce on top.  I liked the rice-to-ingredient ratio of this roll as well as the buttery fish belly.  It didn't have a whole lot of flavour going on as everything was rather subtle.  This one needed some soy and wasabi.  Next, we had a much larger offering in the Dancing Ocean Roll.  It consisted of bouble prawn tempura, avocado, cucumber inside & sockeye salmon, tuna tataki, oroshi ponzu, green onion and sesame on top.  This was a mouthful as it was pretty stacked with different ingredients.This one only need a bit of soy as the condiments added a brightness without being overwhelming.

Our last roll was an interesting one in the Orange County Futomaki with freshly sliced orange, cucumber, crab mix, salmon, red pepper, masago inside & seaweed outside.  I'm not sure if I've ever seen orange in a roll before.  In this case, I found it different and refreshing.  Not sure if it had the impact of say, mango, but it wasn't offensive either.  For dessert, we had both the Ice Cream Tempura and Crispy Banana Tempura.  I wasn't a huge fan of the fried ice cream as the batter was too thick and gummy.  However, the banana was fine though being crispy and sweet.  This pretty much summed up my experience at this tasting.  Most items were pretty good except for a few.

*All food and gratuities were complimentary*

The Good:
- Carefully constructed sushi
- Some interesting items with different flavour combo

The Bad:
- Menu a bit too diverse IMO
- Some flavours were out there and are highly subjective

Pho Central

Let me set up the situation here - I was invited for a tasting at Japanese Bistro Hatzu (by Jacqueline) at 2:00pm on a Sunday but I normally eat lunch after Sunday hockey at around 1:00pm.  So what was I to do???  Choose one over the other?  Nope.  No can do.  I wanted it all!  So the plan was to eat at Pho Central (just a few stores down) with Milhouse prior to the tasting.  However, the food came out real slow and I ended up downing my pho in 5 minutes to make the tasting in time.  Yes, I really do have #firstworldproblems...

So about the slow food at Pho Central, we started off sharing the Special Banh Mi first.  Unlike the one we had at Pho Goodness several weeks back (which is located on the same block), the baguette was light, airy and toasted up nicely being crusty.  It was loaded with just enough ingredients to make the whole thing savoury and fulfilling.  There was a considerable amount of fish sauce used, so there was a some pungent saltiness.  Milhouse decided on the Banh Uot with Cha Lua.  This was pretty good as the noodles were soft with a certain elasticity.  There was enough meat to make the dish hearty as well.

For myself, I had the aforementioned Pho Dac Biet and wow, from the first sip, there was a whole lot of MSG going on.  Now with that being said, it meant the broth was pretty flavourful packing a sweet and salty punch.  It also had a noticeable meatiness as well as some background star anise finish.  I found the meats to be sliced super thin and tender while the noodles were al dente.  Lastly, I got the Lemongrass Chicken for good measure and I found the meat to be well-charred and tender.  It was also properly marinated. Overall, the items we tried at Pho Central were well-prepared.  Personally, I enjoyed this meal more than the one we had at Pho Goodness a few stores away.

The Good:
- Big spacious dining space (unlike their old location)
- On point eats
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Food took forever
- A little heavy on the MSG

17° C Dessert Cafe

After our extremely filling multi-course meal at Golden Eats, we waddled down a block and half to the hot new dessert spot, 17° C Dessert Cafe.  They've been so popular, people have been turned away due to long lineups as well as running out of ingredients to make their desserts.  Well, we didn't have that problem as the place was only half-full when we arrived.  We proceeded to do the ChineseBites thing and get everything off the menu.

We began with the fresh Cantaloupe balls atop shaved ice, evaporated milk and popping pearls.  This was a refreshing dessert where the fruit took centre stage.  It was ripe, sweet and rested on a bed of creamy shaved ice.  It wasn't overly sweet which was right up my alley.  I found the Watermelon to be rather bland (kind of expected) but the dollop of ice cream did help in the regard.  Again, it rested on a bed of shaved ice that was a bit icy in spots.  Again, the sweetness was really dialed down, especially with the use of watermelon over sweet cantaloupe.

We also got to try their new fresh Pineapple dessert with currant jellies.  This was my favourite of the 3 as the pineapple was sweet and ripe.  I was impressed with how they melon-balled it as pineapple can be rather fibrous.  The acidity of the pineapple helped balance off the sweetness of the ice cream.  The currant jellies were a bit of an odd addition to the pineapple, but they were good on their own.

Moving onto the Lightbulb Drinks, I tried the Kiwi which was refreshing and lightly carbonated, yet not super impactul with the low sugar content.  It didn't taste much like kiwi though despite the green colour.  On the other hand, the Red Pomegranate was definitely sweeter and more impactful.  With that being said, it was the most candy-like drink of the bunch.  Also flavourful, the Passionfruit was refreshing and lightly sweet.  I would've liked to see more tang though.  That wasn't a problem with the Lemon as it was tangy bordering on sour.  For me personally, I like sour, but I could see this being too much for some.  In general, the drinks were okay, but the real draw are the fresh fruit shaved ice creations.

*All desserts and drinks were complimentary*

The Good:
- Fresh fruit desserts
- Easy on the sugar

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Drinks are "okay"