food review

Brix Restaurant and Wine bar
1138 Homer Street
Vancouver, BC V6B2
Ph: (604) 915-9463 or Reserve Online

Conveniently located on my way home from dance classes on Granville Street or shows at the Queen Elizabeth or Playhouse Theatres, the courtyard patio at Brix is a favorite place for us to drop in for a light, late evening supper.

On this visit however,  three of us walked up Homer Street for an early supper. We opted to each pick two appetizers to share. First up came the Buffalo mozzarella salad with vine ripened tomatoes, red onions, and a sun dried tomato and olive tapenade. The sun dried tomato added a piquancy to the olive tapenade.

Hakkasan
8 Hanway Place, London
Ph: 44(0)20 7927 7000

When I checked online on Vancouver for restaurants in a 1 mile radius of where I was staying, one of the top restaurants that came up was Hakkasan on Hanway Place. I was not sure where that was in relation to where I was staying and planned to check the map online.

But as it happened, on the Saturday of my arrival in London, taking a different route back from the theatre district (well actually I kind of got lost looking for a shortcut to my hotel), I noticed the street name Hanway and on impulse wandered along till I found the restaurant. The hostess standing outside told me that they were absolutely fully booked and there was no chance of a last minute table, even for one person. I took the restaurant card she gave me and thought I might try later in the week.

The following day I got back to the hotel around 6 after my day of visiting the National Theatre and walking around the Southbank area, and on impulse I asked the hotel concierge to see if he could get me a table at Hakkasan. He let me know that if I could go almost immediately there would be a table available.

So a quick change of clothes and I was out the door and retracing my steps to Hanway Place. Or so I thought! but quickly I realized I had missed the turnoff and was lost in the mini- maze of side streets. I had visions of my table being handed away to some other more prompt, would-be diner.

Market by Jean-Georges
1128 West Georgia St.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Ph: (604) 689-1120 or Reserve Online

I have enjoyed two dinner meals at Market by Jean-Georges and on both occasions have been impressed by both the quality of the food, and the impeccable service.  I also had the opportunity to sample the black truffle fontina cheese  pizza and the rice cracker-crusted seared tuna on Michelle Ng's recent Downtown Foodie tour: (Guest Reviewer Amanda takes the Vancouver Foodie Tour).

This review focuses only on the second time I dined at Market, prior to seeing a play at the PAL Theatre on Cardero. As usual we were there for an early dinner, around 6 pm. We were seated immediately at a nice sized table. Iced water was brought promptly.

Society Dining Lounge
1257 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604) 629-8800 or Reserve Online

We have previously enjoyed several meals at Coast Restaurant, the previous Glowbal Group restaurant at this location on Hamilton Street but since Coast has been re-incarnated on Alberni Street, and the eatery at this location was reborn as Society, we have not had the opportunity to visit either the new Coast or Society.

  The mantra for the new Society is "comfort food. completely re-imagined." Sounded interesting so on a recent warm summer evening we strolled across to Society to enjoy some casual dining out on their patio.

 We decided to share three dishes. The crispy calamari  with smoked red pepper aioli  was hot and crisp with tender calamari. The smoky flavour really came through in the dipping sauce.

Oru in the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel
1038 Canada Place,
Vancouver, BC.
Ph: 604-695-5500 or  Reserve Online

Although located in the Fairmont Pacific Rim,  Oru is a "free-standing Pan-Asian Bistro", serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.

We visited Oru for lunch and were impressed by the open airy feel of the room. Oru is derived from the Japanese word "to fold' - think origami. As you can see in the picture below right, this motif is apparent in the ceiling decor.

A large gleaming open kitchen stretches along the the width of one wall, and the tables are spaced comfortably far apart. Oru features a community table that seats 12, and also has a private dining room that can reasonably entertain up to 14 guests at a time.

Zest Japanese Restaurant
2775 West 16 Avenue
Vancouver, BC, V6K3C3
Ph: (604) 731-9378 or Reserve Online 

 Enroute to see Twelfth Night at Jericho Arts Centre we stopped off for dinner at Zest Restaurant, tucked away near the corner of 16th and MacDonald.

On the Granville Street Foodie Tour, I learned that Zest and ShuRaku (on Granville Street) are sister restaurants. The ShuRaku taste samplings reminded me of how as I had enjoyed a meal at ShuRaku last year, and that I had eaten at Zest before as well.

This meal would be my second at  Zest, and I remembered being very impressed by the taste and the presentation of the food on my previous visit. 

We had a nice-sized secluded table near the window and the service was efficient and unobtrusive. We decided to choose four dishes to share. One was local tuna sashimi, which is always a favorite of mine. 

Every so often my mother makes me metaphorically sing for my supper.
This time she said, "I'll take you on this awesome food tour of Vancouver IF you write it up for Sipping and Supping".

A day of walking in downtown Vancouver, eating really good food at places I've never been to, and hanging with my mom? Sounds pretty win-win-win to me!
So here it goes:

Michelle Ng hosts FoodieTours in Downtown Vancouver and Richmond. We joined her for the tour on Saturday, June 12, 2010

We lucked out with the weather being one of the only truly warm and sunny days that have come along since I've been back on the we(s)t coast. Our twenty minute walk to Hastings and Homer put us at our first stop with plenty of time to spare -- if you know my mother personally, you will know that for her early is on time, on time is late, and late is just out of the question.

One of the best aspects of writing for ReviewFromTheHouse.com is the chance it affords me, from time to time, to interview people who are committed and passionate about their work. Some such as professor Errol Durbach, Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze or playwright Emil Sher, work in theatre. 

Others like Kelowna chef Rod Butters or Vancouver Foodie Tours operator, Michelle Ng, work in the food industry.

Yesterday I chatted with chef Curtis Webb and pastry chef Kelly Urbanoski at Joe Fortes Restaurant, to find out what they were planning for their 2010 Celebrity Chef Cooking Class next Wednesday.

This is the eight year that the  Arts Club has featured these Cooking Class fundraisers. Chefs volunteer their time and Arts Club supporters volunteer their kitchens and their homes. Folks who enjoy food and wine purchase tickets for an evening of hands-on food preparation and cooking instruction followed by dinner, paired with wines.

Sanafir Restaurant and Lounge
1026 Granville Street,
Vancouver, BC
Ph: 604- 678-1049 or Reserve Online

Sanafir has been on my "to visit" list for ages but somehow the right opportunity did not come up.  Finally, after a West Coast Swing class at UrbanBeat that ended at 8:30 pm, three of us walked a block over and across Granville Street, to Sanafir for a late supper.

I had read on their website that "sanafir" is the Arabic word for "meeting place". A quick perusal of their menu told us that to experience the "meeting" of flavours from North Africa, Asia and the Middle East, we should order from the Tapas Trios selections.  The menu created by Sean Riley (Director of Food Operations) and new Executive Chef Michael Robbins features tapas trios of Calamari, Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Halibut and Seafood.

 Goldfish Pacific Kitchen
1188 Mainland Street,
Vancouver, BC
Ph: 604-689-8318 or Reserve online

Last summer we dropped into Goldfish Pacific Kitchen for an early dinner in their courtyard patio. Our waiter introduced us to their experimental Chef's table dinner concept and we were intrigued enough at the time to try it out.

The idea was that rather than ordering from the regular menu, we would chat with the chef to inform him of any food allergies or violent antipathies to any foods, and then he would prepare a special surprise menu from whatever was freshly available. Chef  Ryan Mah was cooking that evening and he prepared a memorable 5 course tasting menu which looked as beautiful as it tasted and garnered Goldfish Pacific Kitchen a rave review from me.

This week, with foodie visitors from New York and Toronto in town, I checked to see if Goldfish was still offering the Chef's Table dinner. Although I did not see this supping experience listed on their website, when I called I was told that this was indeed available and we decided to try it again.

This time Maitre d' Albert Chee informed us that Executive Chef William Tse, would be doing the honours and we waited with great anticipation to see what he would come up with.