Kat's 9 Lives

Lil Bel took R & I out for our B-day for an early celebration. She is always so sweet and cute! You can just put her in your pocket. A little ray of sunshine! ^_- She recommended Mozambique in Laguna Beach. I have never heard of this place and she said it was good so I said why not. It was pretty easy to make reservations at 6PM on Saturday. They are not open until 6PM and we had to wait outside or in the lounge. We decided to wait outside because there were beautiful parrots outside and a sitting area. At night the counter with fire rocks are lit up, but at 6PM it's still very bright but it still looked pretty.
I spent some time playing with the birds. One was out of its cage and throwing stuff off the counter. It was fun to see them. Not long after 6PM we were seated. It was pretty barren. The decor was very interesting. You can see the grill area as you walk in and the dining room had this authentic feel to it. Parts of it reminded me of Morocco but more green. I guess it's suppose to be an African feel? Still it was nice and we sat next to the fire place. We started the night off with some drinks. Lil Bel got the Virgin Daiquiri that was pretty tasty. The server recommended the "Soul" Punch. She said it was Guava, Passion Fruit, and Grenadine. The drink was good, but it tasted just like Pineapple juice and nothing else. We all had a really good laugh about it being "Soooooouuuuul" Punch. **snicker snicker**
They served us Cheese Bread and Rolls with Pecan Butter. I think the butter was interesting. You can't really taste the pecans but it was good. The cheese bread was not what I suspected but decent. They have a texture that's hard to describe. It's not your normal bread, but still good.
We ordered two appetizers to share. Lil Bel wanted to try the Prawns Gone Wild. I guess she was attracted to the name! ^_- We joked about how the shrimp must be showing some skin. **wink wink** It's 6 Shell-on Grilled Peri-Peri Prawns, served with Mango Salsa and Mozambique Spicy Company Peri-Peri Sauce. We didn't quite like the sauce, but the flavor of the shrimp by itself was fine. The shrimps were big and nicely butterflied, then grilled. I don't know why they say it comes with mango salsa because it was mainly cantaloupe and honey dew. It was still a very good fruit salad. I thought this dish was good overall.
The Jumbo Lump Crab Cake was very good. It comes with Shoyu Mustard Sauce with Asian Slaw, Baby Greens, and Black Pepper Crème Fraîche. The crab cake takes about 20 minutes to bake and it's one big crab cake. There were tons of crab meat inside and the taste was pretty good. I didn't feel any fishiness, which means the crab was still fresh. I think this was my favorite dish of the night.
I decided to order the 10 oz. Center Cut Filet Mignon. Grilled over a hardwood fire. Seasoned with Mozambique Spice Company Steak Rubs and Sauce. All their meats are Prime & Choice USDA Grade meats from Chicago. All served with House steak and béarnaise sauces. This dish came with two HUGE Asparagus, a lot of Arugula, and Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes. The sauces were dreadful and I avoided them. At least they grilled my meat well enough. I was not too impressed with the meat, I am sorry to say. Hopefully Lil Bel won't be mad when she reads this. I mean I had a WONDERFUL time with them, I love hanging out with them, and it's so sweet of her to take me out. The meat was not horrendous, it was just decent. I am so glad that I am going to Mastro's on my B-day because it will be so much better! ^_^ *hopefully* When they asked how I felt about it, I told them the sauces weren't good and they said that I should ask for A1 Steak Sauce. I did think about it but it really ruins the flavor of the filet mignon and it's kind of crass to do so in a nice restaurant. Luckily the meat was tender enough for me to eat without any sauces. I wished there was salt & pepper at the table to season it.
R ordered the Famous Mozambique BBQ Plate. It's BBQ Short Rib of Beef, South African Mozambique Farmer's Sausage (beef) with a 1/4 Rotisserie of Peri-Peri Chicken served with Country Slaw and Cottage Fried Potatoes. The portion was nice and the sausage was good. They have an interesting sauce, but I think I still prefer my Lucille's BBQ or other BBQ places. I guess I am not normally a big fan of BBQ but R enjoyed it!
What was really upsetting is that the server messed up Lil Bel's order. She ordered the Mozambique Caesar Salad. It's their signature Caesar-style Dressing with Sun-Dried Tomato Croutons and shaved Parmesan Cheese. You can add shrimp, chicken, or salmon to the dish. Lil Bel asked for Salmon and she totally messed it up. The flavor of the salad was good. I enjoyed the slices of shaved Parmesan. The croutons did not seem to be sun-dried tomato. It was a solid salad, nothing extraordinary though, but still good.
This is why I am upset. So it turned out that the server put in an order of Wild Salmon Brulée. I thought it was weird that the salmon didn't come out on top of the salmon. During the meal I mentioned something but I didn't want to interrupt their meal to flag down the server. The dish was Mozambique Salmon Rub, Corn & Leek Ragout, Sweet Polenta, and grilled Curried Eggplant. The salmon tasted fine, but I did not enjoy the sweet glaze that was under it. I didn't really notice any corn or leek ragout. This dish was fine but it definitely was not what she ordered. The ironic thing is she took off the salmon and put it in our her salad plate. She didn't want anything else there, yet because the server made a mistake she had to pay $23 more for that dish? I would have said something. It was the servers fault because I can swear that she never said the dishes name. You would notice if someone did.
Since we were celebrating our birthdays they brought us a nice dessert free of charge. We waited a while to get the dessert menu and they brought out the Macadamia, White Chocolate and Banana Bread Pudding. This was actually really good. I enjoyed the parts of the bread pudding and a dab of sauce. This was probably the best dessert dish on the menu. Lil Bel kept suggesting that I choose another dessert but nothing on the menu looked that good. We were also full and I brought a cake to her apt so we decided not to get another dessert.
All in all the food was good, but I think the appetizers were the best part. The service had its ups and downs. Of course the best part of the evening was being able to spend some quality time with Lil Bel and R. It's been a while since I have seen them! They are always so sweet and BUSY! lol I asked her when will be the next time I see you and she said probably in November. Yup, she is just that popular! ^_^ Thanks again Lil Bel for a great evening! You are always so sweet and cute!