Vancouver Good

I had dinner at L’abbattoir a few weeks ago and it was lovely – a beautiful room with playful and refined Westcoast/French food.

They restaurant did a great job with the room, turning it from its former life as a dark casual Irish pub to a light, airy, and natural setting. Really beautiful wood light fixtures and natural light streaming through the back room. A great setting for a get together or date.

My date for the evening was a girlfriend, and together we sampled:

- Dungeness crab and chickpea toast – A creative and fun dish. The toast is a rounded mold of toasted brioche that is so thin and crispy that it shatters into crispy pieces when your spoon hits it. Mixed with the crab and chickpeas, you have fresh, texture, and spice in every bite. A lovely dish.

- Warm steelhead and crunchy potato salad – So beautiful when presented, with the beautiful pink salmon, yellow potatoes, green herbs, and a white horseradish dressing. The taste was good, but not as good as it looked. I wanted to taste the salmon more, but got much more horseradish, herbs and pickled garlic…and not much potato either.

- Steamed halibut with Indian spices and chickpea fritters – perfectly cooked and delicious.

- Apple and olive cake for dessert – quite creative, but not my favourite. There was an awesome green apple granita with the cake, but it was soaked in this syrup that was way too sweet for my liking.

Overall, this restaurant has it going on. Nice menu, good service, and a nice bar area if you want a before/after dinner drink. It’s a nice change from going to Boneta and I will always expect an interesting menu when I go. Nice addition to this area of Gastown, which is mainly pubs and casual restaurants.

L’abbatoir
217 Carral Street,Vancouver
604 568 1701