Today was my girlfriend’s birthday, and that meant it was time for me to once again find a more elegant than usual restaurant for us to have a nice, romantic dinner. We had already been to top notch places like the Bacchus, Sandbar, Carderro’s, and Cloud 9, so I thought about maybe finding a new place. Thus, my Internet search for a better than average tasting (and wallet emptying) meal with a nice atmosphere began.

At the same time, I thought, what am I going to do about the cake? I was wondering if I should get her a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, or try something a little bit different this time. Then I remembered a cake that I had tried at a restaurant before at the Hyatt Hotel several years before, which I remembered as being one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I had ever had. It was at the Mosaic restaurant, which is on the 2nd floor of the hotel. I decided to head down on foot to gather some intel about the cake situation there.

When I arrived at the entrance, the hostess greeted me, and I didn’t waste any time in asking her about the cake. She told me the cake was $20, but if there was none made, I would have to wait a while. I looked around while she was talking, and noticed that the Mosaic is a fine looking restaurant itself. So I asked her if they had any special things that they do there whenever someone has a birthday. Her answer instantly gave me an idea for killing two birds with one stone this year. She told me that whenever someone has a birthday and eats at the restaurant, the cake is free. I asked her to please reserve a table for us for that evening, and she made a note to have a cake ready for us. Mission completed, I thought.

We arrived at 6pm, just 30 minutes after it opened, and the place was still empty except for a couple of individuals sitting by themselves. Either it was because it was a Monday night and we were early, or they heard I was coming, but I didn’t mind the peace and quiet one bit.

We were right in the corner, and pretty well had the place to ourselves.

Nice, gigantic windows for a view of Burrard Street and the church.

Upon sitting, I immediately placed an order for a Honey Brown beer. I regret not getting the full brand, but I’m assuming it was the Sleeman Honey Brown. I then began scanning the menu, which to my surprise, only had two pages. There was nothing wrong with that, though, because the selections, though limited, were pretty well all things that I liked. I decided to order the Seafood Chowder, and my girlfriend ordered the same.

When the chowders arrived, I couldn’t believe how big the bowls were. In fact, I had never seen such a fine looking bowl of seafood chowder. There was this gigantic piece of bread on the side and there were mussels and clams in the middle of the bowl. When I ordered it, I was thinking $10 was kind of steep for a bowl of soup, but after I got it, I felt way more impressed than ripped off.

Seafood Chowder - northwest style, halibut, salmon, mussels, clams, dill, and grilled flatbread - $10

My girlfriend wasn’t very hungry, since we had pigged out just a few hours earlier at Denny’s to take advantage of Denny’s free birthday meal, so she didn’t order a main course. I went ahead and order the Grilled Wild Salmon.

When that finally arrived, I was a bit less impressed. The presentation was good, of course, since that is one of the main things you’re paying for at a place like this, but I have seen so many salmon plates at these fancy restaurants now, I’m starting to get used to it, I guess. The $31 price tag, however, is something I’ll probably never get used to. It is just a couple of times a year that I do something like this, though, so I won’t complain. I certainly made sure I enjoyed every bite, though, since it was probably around $2 per bite.

Grilled Wild Salmon - grilled wild salmon paella style risotto, chorizo sausage, scallions, green peas, sun gold tomatoes - $31

Anyway, we were just stalling for time with all that other stuff. Finally, it was time for what we had all been waiting for — the arrival of the birthday cake. Our server came out with it on a large plate and one candle lit up in the middle, and what a monster of a cake it was.

Our FREE complimentary chocolate cake

After taking some pictures, and after my girlfriend made her wish and blew the candle out, we started to wonder how we should go about cutting up this gigantic slab of chocolate delight. We decided to cut out a 1/4 piece of the cake, and then cut that in half for our dessert. As soon as I put my plate down in front of me, I scooped out a big chunk from my piece of cake with my fork, and at last, I was able to enjoy the greatest moment of pleasure of the evening.

A 1/4 section of the cake. It's so big, it's almost intimidating.

Now, I’ve had a lot of chocolate cakes in my life, and I can honestly say that this was pretty well up there on top among the most delicious cakes I have ever tasted. It was so rich, soft, cool, and chocolaty, and did I mention yet that it was free? Unfortunately, it became a bit too much of a good thing, though, and I wasn’t able to finish my piece. As delicious as this cake is, it’s so rich, you will get stuffed really fast.  No worries, though. Our server just came and put our cake in a big box for us to take home with us, so nothing was wasted at all. Now we have enough cake to last us the whole week.

Anyway, now you know of a place you can go to on your birthday to get a really good free cake. Just make sure that you make a reservation beforehand and say it’s for a birthday. You should also inquire about the cake specifically to make sure they keep a cake for you for when you get there.

For more information about the Mosaic restaurant, just go to the Hyatt Hotel site, and scroll down to where it says Mosaic Bar and Grille.