A Richmond restaurant that combines the best of fine French cuisine and café fare inside an actual art gallery has concocted a drink it hopes will win votes in the third annual Coffee Drink Challenge.
Hosted by Vancouver Foodster, the competition sees several cafes create a special drink that customers can sample throughout the month of January before voting for their favourite online.
Origo Club is the only Richmond café, and the only one outside Vancouver, facing off against other coffee shops in the contest.
Rémi Ho, pastry chef by training and Origo’s coffee manager, told the Richmond News their challenge drink is a blueberry cappuccino they’ve named “Once in a Blue Moon.”
“It’s more on the sweet side but balanced with the acidity of the coffee,” he said. “We make a cappuccino and we add blueberry puree into the milk. It becomes purple. Because of the acidity, it makes it a lot thicker than a usual cappuccino.”
You can order the drink starting Jan. 10.
Owner Woody Wu opened the Richmond restaurant in June 2018. Ho explained Wu is a connoisseur of art, food, wine and coffee and hoped to bring those things together under one roof at the classy Richmond space. Right now, there’s Chinese modern art on display.
“On the food side he wanted to do something more sophisticated, because there’s not really fine dining or anything close to a French restaurant in Richmond. People have to go downtown,” Ho said. “He wanted to bring it to Richmond.”
The restaurant goes by the same name as a coffee roaster and private club in Beijing. Ho said they’re participating in the coffee challenge to try and promote the café side of the business.
