Sneak peek of 1st course : Hassun, snack plate

A sneak peek of our first course: Hassun.

Folke restaurant and I (@tomokotahara/ @maest_food ) teamed up to create a modern take on this traditional snack tray from the Kaiseki tea ceremony menu. 

Our Hassun features four unique snacks:

• Candied horsetails with beach rose sugar. (T) / I wrote about candy made from foraged horsetails that I dehydrated and candied with soy caramel, coated with beach rose sugar.

• Wild green bouquets with rosehip tare, flavoured oil.(T) / I also foraged wild greens, including ground elder, cleavers, bitter cress, wild fennel, and blossoms, and served them as a bouquet with rosehip tare sauce and flavoured oil.

• Pumpkin seed tofu with Chef Colin’s special condiments (stay tuned)(F) / Chef Colin from Folke created pumpkin seed tofu without using Nigari or other coagulant agents. He will serve it with his special homemade condiments, and the reveal is coming soon!

• Slow cooked Beet sashimi with house made ponzu jelly.(F)/To make the slow-cooked beet sashimi, chef Colin used a multi-step process that included burning, slow cooking, and dehydrating the beets. The resulting dish is packed with delicious beet flavor.

Here is a great news. We're excited to offer a more budget-friendly version of our event ticket. Now priced at just $85, your ticket includes a 7-course tastings menu(complete with dessert) and gratuity. 

We've also streamlined the menu by reducing the number of featured items, so you can focus on savoring each bite. Choose your preferred seating time (6pm or 8pm) and get ready for a culinary adventure like no other!

*We understand that some of you may have already purchased tickets at the higher price, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. However, we will be issuing refunds for the price adjustment to ensure that everyone can enjoy this incredible dining experience at the new, lower price.

Ticket link https://www.folkerestaurant.com/tickets. Photo credit : Cafe yvr

It’s quince season

I love smell of quince. I’m looking forward to have it this time of the year. Conversely to the aroma, they are tuff, dry taste when you try it raw.

I cooked them as savoury with yuzu, Mexican mint, organic sugar, vegetable dashi broth and salt.

Additional, Mexican mint has great aroma, it smells like tarragon and mint, a hint of vanilla.

You will try this sauce with a rulade dish, at my vegan dinner pop up at Burdock & co. 18th October.

This is the last pop up 2022. Don’t miss it. Tickets link is here

Vegan farm to table dinner vol.11 at Burdock & co

Maest food presents - Vegan farm to table dinner vol.11 at Burdock & co.

October 18th. Full 3 course and a snack. The ticket price is including a glass of wine or soft drink. Tickets and details are here.

Introducing one of the course.

Zucchini roulade with lentil pate.

Roulade is a French dish, usually a rolled shape meal made with meat or pastry. This one is without meat, rolled with zucchini and pate.

The pate is made with lentil and with some umami improving Japanese ingredients.

Zucchini is marinated with sage oil. Will serve with sliced pine mushrooms.The photo is oyster mushrooms since I am asking forager to get pine mushrooms.It is still early for this year.

The sauces are exciting too.

Miso mole. Mole sauce made with white miso, cacao butter and other ingredients. Flavourful mildly spicy sauce.

Quince and yuzu sauce. Quince are cooked with Mexican mint, the details are here.

For the side, seasonal local vegetables and sourdough.

Beets carpaccio

Beets carpaccio. Sounds like ordinary? Ours is special.

10+ hours roasted charred beets that inspired by a dish that Christian Puglisi was doing at Relae.

He charred the beets with a jasper and roasted long hours, with a few process like carefully cut them like sashimi and with unique seasonings, he called it fish.

Our version is the roasted charred beets with a few processes, will serve them with almond crackers, sorrel aioli, salted plum, grapes, pickled chive flower buds.Using elder flower vinegar is also Puglisi’s idea but the vinegar is house made, also the flower is from wild that I harvested in the summer.

You can try the menu at our event, Maest food presents vegan contemporary dinner series Far East vol.9 “Fruits rules” at Burdock and co(2702 Main street).

14th September, 5:45pm seating / 8:00pm seating. Ticket holders only. (you will be required to show vaccine passport at the door, the gouverment order effective from 13th Sep)

The ticket price is including a 7 course tastings dinner, a glass of wine, cold brew coffee and a dessert. We will have a wine bar for your extra glasses of wine.

Ticket order is here. Limited numbers. We only have a few spots left for each seatings.