Relish Gastropub

Ever since Rodneys Oysters Michael and I have been search for another place that serves raw oysters just as tasty - and cheap. Michael found Relish Gastropub and Bar, which serves a "Buck a Shuck" oysters from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Relish is located on 888 Nelson St., Michael read around reviews and they didn't sound that bad so he thought we would give it a try.

Pretty generous drinks deals served here daily

Relish seemed to be tucked in pretty well blended in with a bunch of office towers, so you'll really have to look for it. The lounge seemed pretty modern looking, and its modest size made the place look a little more cozy and intimate. One of the highlights is its $3 beer deals for different days of the week, since today was Friday, we each got a sleeve of Kokanee.

Tastefully presented, but a bit small

Michael and I thought the oyster were pretty tasty but were  much smaller then we had expected, which was a little bit disappointing. One thing that bothered Michael and I was that when we slurped the oysters, there was an unappealing crunch to it, I thought it was very sandy but Michael thinks its the shell being chipped from poor shucking. The oysters were served with four house made sauces from hot to mild, our favourite was the relish one, I think it's because it reminded me of Rodneys.

The best part of the meal, in my opinion

We also shared a poutine for $11, they sound like just regular cheese curds, gravy and fries, but the menu description forgot to mention there's quite a bit of heat to the poutine. From first glance, the poutine doesn't look too much, as a matter of fact it didn't look too appetizing. Well, looks can be deceiving, it ended up tasting really good with ooey gooey goodness from the cheese curds and gravy. The hotness of the pepper and chilli flakes did get a little overwhelming at one point though.

Homemade burgery goodness :)

Michael ordered the Mini Beef Sliders $11, which were braised short rib with white cheddar, BBQ sauce, and caramelized onions with aioli. Michael thought it was interesting that instead of using beef patties they used a slice of cut beef and everything including the bun was homemade. It also came with a mini marinara dip that tasted not bad and a mini salad on the side.

I am still undecided about whether I'd come back since I thought the food was pretty mediocre and that this place is definitely not for seafood. Lesson well learned. Michael said he would come back for the beer deals and bar food, but definitely not for their oysters.

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Mazazu Crepe and Ajijiman Hanabi

Mazazu Crepe

Today was our lazy Saturday and we decided to stay local. Since Richmond doesn’t have much of a “downtown” theres no street vendors around the city. So we ended up going to Aberdeen Centre located at 4151 Hazelbridge Way. Aberdeen Centre has one of the best mall food courts compared to the other malls in Richmond. The food court offers from Japanese desserts, teppanyaki, Korean barbeque, and various traditional Chinese and Hong Kong casual dining. 

I paid a visit to the Mazazu Crepe, which serves Japanese style crepes. They offer savoury crepes such as the classic ham and egg or tuna. But today my sweet tooth was tingling and for $3.57 I chose the cinnamon with fresh crème. The crème went really well with the cinnamon and complimented each other. The crème was not overwhelming or heavy. 

Ajijiman Hanabi

Michael also went on the Japanese route, he paid a visit to Ajijiman, which serves Japanese snacks and barbeque goodies.  He had the Grilled Chicken Don for $7.37. which served Chicken lying on a bed of rice complimented with teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise which kicked the rice up a notch. As for the chicken, Michael thought it was cooked to perfected, not bad for something you get at a food court.

The Takoyaki didn’t taste very fresh though. Michael didn’t want to finish it and he had expected it to be much better. The sauce tasted really good though, and the dish was presented very well with six pieces in total. At least it only cost $4.

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Copa Cafe

Happy Friday everyone. After a quick downtown Vancouver shopping day, Michael and myself went to a quaint little Hong Kong style diner for lunch. Celebrating Michael's roots, you could say.

Copa Cafe is located on 4030 Cambie Street in Vancouver, and Michael and I have always passed by this restaurant on our way to downtown without much thought until a classmate of mine told me about it as a highly regarded place to eat. Chinese diners typically feature Asian food mixed with a casual western flavour, and are one of the places that I love going with my parents, not to mention a lot of my high school memories were made sitting in Hong Kong diners with my friends.

Be prepared to have trouble deciding though, their menus are usually huge. We both ate from the Mini Set Menu, I chose the Baked Chicken Fillet with Garlic and Cheese on Linguine for $7.95. It didn't arrive with as much cheese as I'd hoped for but the chicken breast was nice and tender. The linguine, however, was a little bland for my liking.

Michael had something a little more complex. He chose the Stone Pot with Rice for $8.99, going for the deluxe version for an additional $2 for two different types of meat, roasted chicken steak and diced short ribs. For the sauce, he chose coconut satay. Michael thought the meat was nice and tender, easy to chew, but said there wasn't enough sauce to go with all the rice. He also thought it was pretty neat he got to choose more then one meat.

Our meals came with complimentary drinks, a trademark of most HK cafes. I ordered the traditional Hong Kong style lemon tea, whereas Michael took the fancy route, with additional $2.50 Michael got Taiwanese milk tea with grass jelly.

In total the bill came to an affordable $28 including tip. Copa Cafe also offers a variety of deals, a Copa Cafe Point Card, which promises a 5% per meal rebate for a fee of $10 a year. We also received two coupons for free bubble tea for our next visit. I really liked coming here with Michael. We don't come to places like this as often as we would like to.

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