Vancouver Top 10 Best Restaurants
- Top ten best restaurants in Vancouver
- Rare
- Rare
- Gastropod
- Gastropod
- La Regalade Cote Mer
- La Regalade Cote Mer
- FigMint
- FigMint
- Salt Tasting Room
- Salt Tasting Room
- Ocean Club
- Ocean Club
- Kingyo
- Kingyo
THE BEST
1355 Hornby St., 604-669-1256
Rare is Vancouver’s newest fine dining restaurant and is the brainchild of Chef/Owner Brian Fowke and Restaurant Director/Owner Tim Keller.
Rare was selected by enRoute Magazine as one of the Top Five Best New Restaurants in Canada for 2006 and Best New Restaurant in Vancouver for 2006 by The Vancouver Sun. Come in and see why customers and critics are raving about Rare.
Rare is open for dinner service Sunday to Saturday 6:00 pm till late.
THE REST
1938 West 4th Avenue, 604-730-5579
Gastropod is a restaurant featuring modern European cuisine in a chic and inviting setting. The philosophy of the cooking emphasizes balance and innovation. The ingredients are prepared using the most contemporary techniques, while expressing an affiliation to traditional haute cuisine cooking. Each dish is a creation of Chef Angus An and reflects his desire to present flavours and textures in newly delectable ways.
5775 Marine Dr., West Vancouver
604-921-9701
Saturday Dinner Menu
Appetizers
Fish Bisque 7.95
Pan Seared Crab Cake on Avocado Salad 15.95
Cote Mer Seafood Salad 13.95
Steamed Mussels Marinieres 16.95
Main Course
Smoked BlackCod Filet, Zucchini & Garlic Sauce 26.95
Monkfish Filet, Dijon & Chive Sauce 25.95
Wild Coho Salmon, Creamed Leeks & Bacon 26.95
Lobster Tarragon Shepherd’s Pie 26.95
Halibut Filet, Anchovy Mashed Potatoes 32.95
500 West 12th Ave., 604-875-3312
The best product can be ruined by using inadequate methods of cooking. The only way of producing great food is to go through each step with patience and a commitment to the final product. I have a passion for making torchon; knowing that by taking the time to prepare, using the perfect marinade, rolling it tightly and poaching the torchon gently will result in a product that I want to eat and serve to my guests gives me a great sense of pride.
45 Blood Alley, 604-633-1912
We feature a rotating selection of cured meats from producers like Oyama Sausage Co., J,N, & Z Deli, and Salumi (in Seattle). We offer a diverse selection of local and imported cheeses, from cheesemongers like Neal’s Yard in London, and producers like Moonstruck Organic Cheeses on Salt Spring Island and Farmhouse Cheeses in Agassiz (among many others).
Suit 105, 100 Park Royal, South Mall
West Vancouver, 604-926-2326
With Frank Lloyd Wright architectural bones, Ocean Club simulates Yaletown cool in sleepy West Van. Off a mall, no less. Supposedly, it’s for the northerners who loathe crossing bridges for a downtown feel. I don’t know if the location quite captures Yaletown, but inside, Ocean Club looks gorgeous and the food is very good. The menu, featuring sophisticated comfort foods includes a honey-I-shrunk-the-food take on steak and eggs with steak, quail’s egg, a column of tuna tartare and neatly stacked fries. I loved the mac and cheese with braised beef short ribs. Makes you smack your lips.
Kingyo
871 Denman St., 604-608-1677
Noise and hustle bustle in a restaurant either gives it a good buzz or drives me crazy. Here, it works — the jazz, dishes clacking, diners yakking, cheerful servers, chefs straining vocal chords with “Irashai” as customers pour in. And to shore it all up, interesting izakaya style food and cool surroundings with hits of old Japan. All-important seafood is picked with tender care and I liked some of the whimsies like the “stone unagi bowl.” The server fills a dangerously hot stone bowl with rice, mixes in raw egg and cooked eel. The hot stone cooks the eggs and crisps the rice. Delish! The kitchen sources quality ingredients like specialty salts, Kobe beef and high-quality rices.
Crave
3941 Main St., 604-872-3663
The “best” can be hot without being haute. The menu doesn’t dazzle with knock-out looks or a particularly creative menu. What owner/chef Wayne Martin brings to Main Street are his considerable culinary skills — he used to be the exec chef at Four Season Vancouver before downsizing from a staff of 32 to a kitchen where he does breakfast, lunch and dinner service and scrubs the grill before he leaves. He’s hooked on great ingredients and treating them with utmost respect. A Texas flank steak (marinated in beer, lime juice and barbecue sauce) was delicious and the crabcakes, which stand tall and proud, are the same as he served at the Four Seasons, he says.
Sanafir
1026 Granville St., 604-678-1049
The hippest place to open this year, Sanafir sports a loungey bed upstairs and the food comes in triplets of flavour — Indian, Asian, Mediterranean — a flight of three dishes arranged on a wooden tray. At about $14 per trio, you’re getting a lot in labour and food. Sometimes, though, too many elements wrestle for attention on a plate. The room, slick and modern, makes you look good even at your worst. Sanafir is run by Glowbal Restaurant Group, already noted for Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar, Coast Restaurant and Afterglow Lounge.
Beyond
Century Plaza Hotel
1015 Burrard St., 604-684-3474
Like Figmint, this one’s a result of hotel surgery and the operation was successful. The old Roy’s Steak and Seafood house shed its tired old-world garb and became thoroughly modern with clean, sparse lines. They hired the Four Seasons Vancouver sous chef who created a sophisticated menu meant to please hotel guests and hip urbanites alike. While most dishes are quite enjoyable and the kitchen uses fresh, quality ingredients, there is some room for improvement, considering the high price point.