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B.C.’s Best: 11 top Vancouver restaurants to try now

OpenTable August 20, 2019 Leave a Comment

With an oceanfront location that yields a rainbow of fresh catch and a population that’s almost half Asian, Vancouver’s culinary culture is deliciously diverse and rich in tradition and innovation all at once. Whether it’s succulent sushi, Chinese feasts, or palate-pleasing wines from British Columbia’s wide swath of fruitful vineyards to pair it all with, this gem of a city continues to delight locals and travellers alike for its dining scene alone. Check out these top Vancouver restaurants and start making your reservations.

Wildebeest
With an intimate dining room and a fun 14-seat bar set with flickering candles each evening (the better to enjoy happy hour), Wildebeest features an open-concept kitchen that is the stage whereby executive chef Ian McHale makes magic from beets to beast. Game animals like elk are plated as tartare, wood-grilled bison is served with parsley root puree and plum jus, and irresistible skillet cornbread is smothered in whipped butter with smoked bone marrow and onion ash.

Tojo’s
Hidekazu Tojo is considered Vancouver’s top Japanese chef and is renowned as the inventor of the B.C. roll, British Columbia’s signature sushi roll featuring grilled local salmon skin. You can order them at just about any sushi restaurant in the city, but why not try the original? Tojo also has a wide selection of creative cocktails including the popular Carmen’s Guava (lychee liqueur, sour raspberry, and Cointreau with guava juice and club soda); a Tojo-tini (Japanese-style martini with sake, shaken with two types of shochu vodka); and a yuzu-tini (mango vodka, crème de cacao, vanilla vodka, orange juice, and yuzu).

Vij’s
The flavors are as big as the personalities at Vij’s, a favourite of New York Times food writer Mark Bittman. Vikram Vij is known to make the rounds at tables checking in on guests who flock here for twists on traditional Indian staples. He often substitutes rabbit for chicken and shredded duck in koftas in lieu of lamb, and half-orders allow those who score a coveted reservation to try more dishes. The best deal may be the staff meal, which is $36 for a sample of four curries (along with naan and rice), but there’s also a $65 tasting menu with such recent stunners as chickpeas in star anise with date masala on grilled kale.

Mak N Ming
You never know what you’re going to get at Mak N Ming, where the fusion menu pays homage to executive chef Makoto Ono and executive pastry chef Amanda Cheng’s Japanese and French leanings. Expect attentive service for a smaller four-course demi menu and longer seven-course chef’s menu that changes almost nightly but have included such inventive dishes as kale “Pocky,” azuki red bean rice, and duck breast with bitter greens and pear. This one’s particularly charming in summer since its nestled in the Kitsilano neighborhood, home to Kits Beach.

Forage
Oenophiles need look no further than Forage, where the best of B.C. is available by the glass and by the bottle (or a nifty wine flight that’s buyer’s choice). Everything here is regional (along with brewers and distillers featured), which makes beverages perfect for pairing with the handiwork of local fishers, foragers, and farmers. Don’t pass up the pork duo with winter squash, apples, and a fermented chilli glaze; Vietnamese-style bison carpaccio, sweet soy, crispy shallots, and hazelnuts; or desserts like hazelnut olive oil squash cake (chef Welbert Choi helped open Forage as the dessert chef six years ago).

Hawksworth Restaurant
A city son and one of Vancouver’s most-lauded and most-recognised chefs, thanks to guest-judge spots on shows like Food Network Canada’s Top Chef, David Hawksworth celebrates the best of contemporary Canadian cuisine. Located in the heart of the city, scoring a business lunch reservation here will win you brownie points and a thumbs-up with clients, but for more romantic evenings, splurge on the British Colombia Journey Tasting Menu with seven courses showcasing the best the province has to offer. That currently includes red sea urchin with roast chicken drippings and native seaweed; wood-fired Fraser Valley quail; Okanagan green apple with sweet basil; and Saskatoon berries with white chocolate.

Blue Water Café
The Land of the Rising Sun rises on the West Coast at Blue Water, where the raw bar’s in the vein of the Japanese culinary aesthetic and big flavors often come in the form of chef Frank Pabst’s “unsung heroes”—overlooked-but-delicious fish varieties. The menu changes almost daily but diner favourites include cod with chorizo and smoked paprika and sturgeon with pumpernickel crust. The warm-wood-beam-and-brick converted warehouse features an open kitchen and there’s a heated patio (one of the many in charming Yaletown) for chillier Canadian nights.

YEW Seafood + Bar
While the mini donuts are near-impossible to resist at brunch, it’s best to save room for the lavish fisherman’s box, which arrives with icy panache filled with your choice of sustainable seared ahi tuna, steamed Dungeness crab, sustainable tiger prawns, marinated octopus, oysters, mussels and clams escabeche, and, the pièce de résistance, local candied salmon. Parents can delight in an atmosphere that’s not only chic but also kid-friendly with lots going on in front of the open kitchen to keep little ones distracted.

Botanist
Cocktail lovers will want to put Botanist at the top of their to-do list, with a themed menu spotlighting flowers + trees, fruits + vegetables, orchard + field, and herb + spice. Each of the four areas of the lush restaurant — bar, terrace garden, dining room, and Champagne lounge — are inspired by flora and executive chef Hector Laguna’s menu by fauna. Think duck leg confit tortellini, lamb saddle with black pepper jam, and mustard-crusted chicken with red wine and black kale.

West Restaurant
East does meet west at West Restaurant, where executive chef Bobby Milheron (alongside co-executive chef Quang Dang) brings wisdom from the Culinary Institute of Canada in Prince Edward Island to the country’s opposite coast. Butter-poached Atlantic lobster with potato gnocchi is on the menu alongside grilled Pacific octopus with chickpea Panisse and chorizo sofrito. The extensive wine list (with many B.C.-sourced) is also affordable for pairing with multi-course tasting menus. Even sweeter than dessert may be the location in South Granville — which means there’s no downtown traffic to contend with and plenty of street parking.

The Victor
It’s girl power at The Victor, where the James Beard Award-nominated duo of restaurateur Elizabeth Blau and Canadian chef Kim Canteenwalla opened eight restaurants at JW Parq, one of the city’s newest and splashiest hotel complexes in False Creek. The setting — a sixth-floor rooftop with stunning panoramic views and a 30,000-square-foot roof deck urban park — is pretty drool-worthy in and of itself, never mind a menu focusing on Pacific Northwest seafood and speciality steaks. Or, try the mac and cheese waffle or salmon and hamachi nachos with taro chips, mango, and jalapeño as bites for pairing with craft cocktails.

Visit OpenTable to discover more great restaurants in Vancouver.

Carley Wade is a travel writer whose experiences eating street food in Japan, English peas in the UK, free-range steak in Argentina, and Brussels sprouts at Estragon tapas in her hometown of Boston have provided unforgettable culinary inspiration. Shout out at carleythornell@gmail.com.

10 terrific neighbourhood restaurants in east London

OpenTable August 9, 2019 Leave a Comment

Hackney, Dalston, Bethnal Green. Heck, even Snaresbrook – east London has a lot up its sleeve when looking for somewhere to eat out.

Pidgin
Once a supper club, now a fully-fledged restaurant (and anything but squab), Pidgin has had critics in a fluster since 2015. And, on a relatively quiet road off Hackney’s main drag, it’s endeared itself to the locals too. To get the best idea of the kind of thing they’re serving, make your way over to their Instagram.

Lardo
Though it’s named after cured pig fat, the folks at Lardo have become wary of meat farming in their old age, opting more and more for vegetables in their stead. They continue to work within the modern Italian blueprint they’re known for and charcuterie will always have its place on the menu.

Bistroteque
Now fifteen years young, Bistroteque, based in an old clothing factory, is the best thing to come out of Bethnal Green since Patsy Palmer. The name may give you a clue, but though it appears a bit prim on the surface, dig a little deeper you’ll see they like to shake their hips. Expect dishes like steak tartare and salmon in miso broth, plus brunch at the weekends.

Brawn
Actually more brain than otherwise, Brawn has been described as a ‘near perfect neighbourhood restaurant’. It’s where you’ll find rustic, comforting European cooking, and though it receives plenty of praise and attention, it’s happy quietly doing its own thing.

Verdi’s
Verdi’s specialise in old-school rustic Italian food, via Stepney Green. As family-run restaurants often do, especially those operated by Italians, guests are treated like family. From rabbit pappardelle and beef carpaccio to wood-fired pizzas – the classics are all here.

Bright
During the first months of its opening, Bright was an essential stop for the food-curious, already famous for being the follow up to wine bar P. Franco. Since then, the heat’s died off a bit, but only to its benefit, mellowing out with locals and regulars keen on Bright’s short menu and good wine.

Bombetta
Snaresbrook has struck gold with this deli-restaurant serving Italian peasant food. Pig’s head bruschetta, pasta and risotto, and the bombetta itself: cuts of meat and cheese held together with cured meats. Try the original – pork with scamorza cheese and herbs, wrapped in pancetta.

Casa Fofo
Casa Fofo’s head chef (ex-Pidgin) brings a similar kind of modest progressive cooking as seen down the road. It’s tasting menu only, but this keeps the prices neighbour-friendly – £39 for seven courses, in this case.

Uchi
Sushi, sashimi, and other delights – tempura, robata grilled skewers, et al – is one way to sum up Uchi. There aren’t many neighbourhoods with their own restaurant knocking out first-class Japanese food such as this. Hackney’s one of the few.

Hill & Szrok
Hill & Szrok is your friendly neighbourhood butcher… that also happens to be a restaurant. As any good butcher should, Hill & Szrok has a nose for the best of these shores – Fosse Meadows chicken, 14-year-old White Park beef, Middlewhite pork. This, of course, means the kitchen and restaurant is getting some of the most flavoursome and sustainable meat out there.

Visit OpenTable to discover more top restaurants in east London.

This is a guest post from freelance food journalist Hugh Thomas. He’s contributed to Foodism, Time Out, Great British Chefs, and is part of British Street Food’s small team of vigilant writers. Find him on twitter @hughwrites.

10 restaurants to try near Barcelona’s La Boqueria Market

OpenTable August 6, 2019

Tapas, paella and white wine – perfect summer food made in Spain. This summer, why not take a trip to Barcelona, one of Europe’s most vibrant cities, and check out its famous La Boqueria Market? You can tuck into local delicacies right in the heart of the market at El Quim or Bar Pinotxo but it can be tricky to get seats, so here are some outstanding restaurants to try nearby.

Restaurant My Way
My Way offers Mediterranean cuisine and some of the best cocktails the city has to offer. We recommend you keep it simple and tuck into tapas dishes like Galician-style octopus, ham croquettes, and sausage in cider. They also serve delicious meat and fish dishes that will satisfy your hunger after a few hours browsing the nearby market.

Irati Taverna Basca
If you’re up for trying authentic Basque cuisine in Barcelona, this restaurant located right next to the Ramblas and just a few metres from La Boqueria is the place for you. Over the years the restaurant has become a cult favourite amongst locals and tourists alike looking for Basque delicacies. Try the simply grilled hake or Donostia-style txangurro (baked stuffed crab).

Can Culleretes
Fans of history, rejoice! Can Culleretes has been charming guests with its Catalan home cooking since 1786, making it the second oldest restaurant in Spain and the oldest in Barcelona. We recommend you give one of their signature dishes a try – the Catalan fish stew, perhaps, or their excellent paella.

Los Caracoles
This popular restaurant is named after one its most famous dishes – caracoles (snails), so if you’ve ever wondered what these little creatures taste like, here’s your chance to try them. Established in 1835, the restaurant has been visited by numerous celebs, politicians and artists. If it’s good enough for the world’s elite, it’s good enough for us!

Rao Restaurant
Looking for something cool and quirky? Then Raó, a restaurant and cocktail bar right next to La Boqueria, is the place for you. Perch at the bar or at one of the marble tables and enjoy tapas with a modern twist. Don’t miss the grilled octopus with paprika and kalamata olive emulsion.

Avinyó 10
A visit at Avinyó 10 is the perfect end to a day strolling through the market as you’ll only find the freshest local ingredients in the dishes served. Seasonal Spanish cuisine at its very best!

Bacaro
Bacaro – meaning wine bar in Venetian – serves Italian delicacies along with fantastic wines, as the name suggests. Situated right beside the market, it’s always brimming with locals enjoying a welcome change from tapas.

Beer’linale
As the name suggests, Beer’linale is famous for its extensive selection of beers – you’ll find 30 beers on tap and over 180 craft beers by the bottle to choose from. The restaurant’s very own beer sommelier will be happy to guide you through the menu and find the perfect drink for you. But fear not, next to a cold drink you can also tuck into excellent Spanish cuisine.

Bar Canete
Bar Canete is a family-owned Spanish institution and a firm favourite in the neighbourhood. We recommend you give their seafood dishes a try – their fish comes fresh from the Catalan fish markets. You won’t be disappointed.

Restaurant El Pintor
Named after an old art workshop owned by a famous painter, El Pintor serves authentic Catalan cuisine. Its intimate setting takes you away from the hustle and bustle of the market straight away. Tuck into local specialties and enjoy some tranquillity in the heart of the city.

Dining elsewhere? Visit OpenTable to discover more restaurants in Barcelona.

This is a guest post from freelance journalist Beatrice Clark. She has written for Vogue, Glamour and Vanity Fair, among others, and has spent the past 15 years living in France, England and Scotland. She is currently based in Berlin and is always on the hunt for the perfect Eggs Benedict.

The Hot List: 10 Birmingham restaurants you need to try

OpenTable August 1, 2019

Curry houses, new wave British haunts, and some very, very good sushi. It’s a great time to dine out in Birmingham.

Carters of Moseley
Moseley is home to one of the country’s most exiting talents – those of Brad Carter. The chef has earned high-tier recognition while keeping things creative but simple (dishes rarely stray from their three components) and fun. Birmingham should be proud.

Anderson’s Bar & Grill
Due to commercial demand, slow-growing British rare breed cattle are widely overlooked. Well aware of the flavour they yield, Anderson’s are one of the few bringing them back to fashion. It’s made the restaurant one of the best places in the country for a good piece of beef.

Gaijin Sushi
At just 10 covers, Gaijin is tiny. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in ambition, rapidly becoming known as the razor-sharp Japanese restaurant Birmingham lacked. Besides, the intimacy helps to add to the experience, bringing you closer to the theatre that is the sushi chef at work.

Folium
Using ingredients not necessarily British by origin but grown locally, and revolving around a menu dictated by what’s good that day, Folium is modern British in every sense of the term. Prepare to be dazzled by the way they deploy turbot, dashi, and hay butter.

Tattu
Some say it’s worth visiting the new-ish Barwick Street restaurant for the stunning purple blossomed tree taking up much of the basement. Turn your attention to the honed menu, however, and you’ll find the kind of modern Chinese food Britain has largely missed out on until relatively recently – baby squid, salmon sashizza, Szechuan hot pot and all.

The Viceroy
Some have labelled The Viceroy as another old school Indian. Indeed, you’ll find classics like vindaloo and rogan josh on their menu. But, regardless, don’t think this a bad thing. The Viceroy does everything right, from the lamb pasanda to the fragrant chicken biryani.

Adam’s
Ask a passing Brummie where’s good and Adam’s will invariably be somewhere on their list. Fully deserving its local favourite status, it’s definitely worth seeing for yourself. Anjou pigeon, Lavinton lamb, and white peach soufflé are just a few highlights.

Harborne Kitchen
Based out of what was once a butcher’s shop, the Harborne Kitchen team aren’t interested in fluttering their eyelids at critics or guide inspectors. Instead, they just want to do their own thing – in their own words, ‘playful contemporary cuisine’. Dishes are beautifully presented while the staff turn out in jeans and t-shirts, which should tell you everything you need to know.

Maribel
Maribel is a promising addition to Brindley Place. In fact, during the year it’s been open, it’s become one of the best places to eat in the area. Strap in for three hours, leisurely working through their 10-course tasting menu, and you’ll see what we mean.

Simpsons
Another ol’ time Birmingham favourite, Simpsons has been on the map for 25 or so years. It’s not showing its age however – the restaurant has adopted a neo-classical approach compared to its more formal former years. While some regulars lament the change in philosophy, Luke Tipping et al are making sure it’s at the top of its game no matter what.

Looking for something a little different? Find more top Birmingham restaurants on OpenTable.