If you're heading to the bar on a Friday or Saturday, don't get stuck in line with the rest of the crowds ? reservations are accepted. Bijou Restaurant & Bar draws a crowd with performances from live DJs. Stay connected at no cost thanks to Bijou Restaurant & Bar's wifi. If dining outdoors is your idea of a good time, you'll love the gorgeous patio seating at Bijou Restaurant & Bar. Bijou Restaurant & Bar is a suitable restaurant for both large and small groups. The bar is stocked with TVs, so you can watch the next big game. Ones are best avoided.Located in Hayward, Bijou Restaurant & Bar's exquisite decor and tasty French cuisine will have you saying ooo la la. A three is a great restaurant and a two is fair to good. ![]() Restaurants are rated on a scale of one to four, with four representing utter perfection in food, ambience and service. We don’t let restaurants know that we are coming in to do a review, and we strive to remain anonymous. OPEN: August 2008, new chef December 2015 The raw dough inside the fried funnel cake dessert was a complete miss. MINUSES: The noise is distractingly loud at times. Save room for the decadent croissant pudding. PLUSES: Outstanding cocktails and a creative fusion of international flavors. KIDS: No children’s menu, but young diners may enjoy the tater tot poutine, fish and chips, flatbreads, Croque Madame sandwich and chicken fricassee. VEGETARIAN: A few choices, including salads and a tomato and mozzarella flatbreadīEVERAGES: Excellent cocktails, limited wine list and craft beer We sat across from each other in a booth, and perhaps should have snuggled up on one side to make conversing easier.īut don’t let this dissuade you from trying Bijou, or you’ll miss out on Ocampo’s eclectic cuisine.ĬONTACT: 51 HOURS: Dinner 5-9:15 p.m. ![]() Best to go with someone you don’t mind cozying up to. Weekday happy hour ends at 7 p.m., but the vibrant energy - and noise - from the bar never faded, and at times made conversation challenging. However, the deconstructed Funnel Cake ($7), slightly raw, unappetizing fried dough sticks stacked on strawberry coulis, disappointed. We’re dreaming about the deconstructed pudding with vanilla custard-soaked croissant batons, which we dipped in a decadent dulce de leche. Instead, a pleasantly tangy caper beurre blanc contributed a piquant flavor.įor dessert, we swooned over the Plantain Croissant Pudding ($7). There was no Moroccan spice flavor on the lightly fried Moroccan sand dab ($16). This tasty riff on a pizza Margherita included a soy-ginger glaze drizzled over a cracker-thin crust that was topped with tomato, basil and mozzarella. Our Maggie-Rita flatbread ($11) arrived on a bamboo board, with little piles of grated Parmesan and red chile flakes to sprinkle to taste. But when we asked for dish recommendations, they were spot on. Service throughout the evening was friendly, even if servers couldn’t always answer questions about ingredients. The fresh, herbal notes were so much more interesting than the usual olive oil and balsamic vinegar blend. The refreshing Old Cuban ($11) mixes rum, mint, chocolate bitters and sparkling wine.Ĭocktails in hand, we nibbled the bread and could not get enough of the thick basil-dill chimichurri dipping sauce served alongside. He shakes up an Earl Grey-infused bourbon, ginger cordial, mint and citrus concoction, pours it over a big square ice cube, then garnishes it with candied ginger. Mixologist Matthew Coulter’s sweet and smoky Lagniappe Tea ($11) is our favorite new libation. Order drinks first, then peruse the menu. ![]() Ocampo, a Filipino native, started as a prep cook when Bijou opened, and the California Culinary Academy graduate worked his way up in Bijou’s kitchen over the years. Ocampo is the latest to put his twist on the fusion menu here, where Spanish, Thai, Moroccan and Korean flavors infuse dishes, and most ingredients are sourced locally. Executive chef Aidan Ocampo is the third chef to helm the kitchen, taking over in December for Rodrigo Cedeño, who started this past April but left soon after due to family matters. The bar area is a complete contrast to the calmer, sleek dining room, separated by a glowing green mesh screen, transparent enough to see through to the bar action as it bathes diners in a jewel-toned light.īijou - jewel or gem in French - opened in 2008. There’s barely any room in the lounge, where a lively crowd noshes and sips libations on cozy sofas and squat velvet-covered mushroomlike stools. ![]() Soft citrine yellow and peridot green hues emanate from the floor-to-ceiling windows at Hayward’s Bijou.
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