No one could ever predict a global pandemic bringing the world to a complete halt, but even that couldn't stop the genius people behind Rosewood Foods from opening and surviving thriving in an almost barren downtown.
Rosewood opened a month into the pandemic and just celebrated their first birthday a couple months ago. Something about good, honest food seems to just resonate with people.
Rosewood Foods occupies a nook at the end of Rice Howard Way, just kitty corner to the Westin and directly across from our spaceship of a library.
The food is fast-casual, with a focus on breakfast, lunch and housemade baked goods. Breakfast is served all day while lunch items are available after 11am. On Saturday, all items merge into a brunch menu.
The room is blessed with tons of natural light pouring through the floor to ceiling windows. We visited at a time when only patio dining was allowed so all of the interior tables were pushed to the side.
Since we were grabbing take-out, we decided to order on their website which was nice and convenient. Pro-tip: pre-order their crullers early on to avoid disappointment! They tend to sell out on the daily.
As soon as she saw Vietnamese iced coffee ($5.50) on the menu, LT had to order it. Espresso and sweetened condensed milk mixed together with ice made for a great afternoon pick-me-up. It was strong, creamy, and perfectly refreshing. Take it from someone who always stole sips of her dad's ca phe sua da growing up. It tasted legit!
What's a breakfast joint without a breakfast sandwich? We went for the lox & egg sandwich ($12.00), but there are three other iterations including bacon, sausage, and a vegetarian-friendly scallion version.
The lox and egg sandwich comes with house-cured pastrami-spiced steelhead trout, dressed kale, scrambled egg, and caramelized onions on a house-made milk bun. The cured salmon just seemed to melt together with the eggs which were perfectly cooked. Super soft and fluffy. Although cooked down, the caramelized onions still had a bit of sharpness to them.
We also shared the chicken katsu sandwich ($18.00), which seems to be one of their most popular menu items. The chicken is breaded with panko and fried. Served on a house-made milk bun with house kewpie mayo, katsu sauce, and shredded red cabbage. The chicken was super crispy and held up even after the drive home. We noticed it had a nice gingery hit to it and appreciated the tangy cabbage which cut the grease from deep-frying. Even though the chicken was spilling out the sides, the bun was fantastic at containing everything within. It was soft but substantial and held up to the weight of the ingredients. 10/10, would happily eat again.
All lunch sandwiches are also served with a side of crispy potatoes. You can sub in for a kale gomadare salad or soup for an extra $2.00. But when the crispy potatoes are this good, you really shouldn't. The potatoes are chunky boys with crispy edges and tender insides. They were super addicting and good to the last bite.
No visit to Rosewood is complete without one of their famous
crullers! They carry such a wide variety of baked goods on the daily -- items
like brown sugar banana bread and old-fashioned carrot cake that reminds you of home. Although I was tempted by their other treats, willpower won (unfortunately) and I got two flavours of crullers: cinnamon sugar spice and citron honey ($3.95 each). The crullers are light and airy with a slight crisp. The citron honey strangely reminded me of Froot Loops. It was the sweeter one of the two, most likely because of the
glaze. The cinnamon sugar was very reminiscent of a churro which I loved. Possibly my favourite, but I do plan to work my way through their rotating flavours.
If only I was downtown more often, it'd be easy for me to be a regular here. Stop on by and grab a cruller people!
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