Hawksworth is a fresh addition to the Vancouver dining scene, featuring a gorgeous room, beautiful food, plus an even more stunning clientele. This is the restaurant where you put on that killer dress you’ve been saving up and work it.

First, the good:
- I love the room. It’s contemporary with a huge glam factor and overlooks the Vancouver Art Gallery, one of the city’s most beautiful buildings.
- The beautiful restaurant and bar are just asking for you to dress up. The people watching here is excellent.
- A great cocktail list – Plan for a before dinner drink at the bar and watch the bartenders craft some beautiful drinks. I am not drinking alcohol at the moment, and they had several “zero proof” cocktails for me too.
- Playful plates. For every dish we ordered, the plates came out colourful, composed, and playful. I truly enjoyed the plating for all dishes. You eat with your eyes first, after all.
- From the bar menu:  thick cut, triple fried  frites, soft and tender inside with a crispy exterior.
- The Foie Gras Parfait – a delicious, must-have appetizer. Great texture, flavour, and the best part – it comes with foie gras cotton candy!
- Yellowfin tuna carpaccio – fresh, generous slices of yellowfin with a perfectly balanced sauce and crispy puffed rice
-Seared scallops with a housemade xo sauce – perfectly cooked with sweet, salty, spicy flavours
- Tender, tender pork loin cooked sous vide with spatzle
- Flaky and moist olive oil poached salmon with mild Indian flavours and an eggplant caviar tinted black with squid ink
- And I didn’t order this, but I sure wish I did – a 22oz rib eye to share. Every order that came out of the kitchen looked so good and tender.
- The restaurant also offers a great bar menu and brunch/lunch menus, so there’s something for all occasions.

However.

My first Hawksworth experience was not perfect, so I need to detail my issues. But, I am giving them some benefit of the doubt as they are newly opened and I was there at 8pm on a Saturday night – the place was packed.

The drawbacks:
- I was really disappointed with the service. Our waiter was nice, but clearly too busy and there was no personalized service at all. For a restaurant of this caliber, that is unacceptable. It took 20 minutes for our drinks to be served after we were seated, and another 20 minutes before they returned to take our order. Coffees arrived after our desserts were served. A friend ordered a cocktail that she did not like and it sat at our table throughout the entire dinner, full. When the mains were cleared the waiter picked it up, asked if she was done with it and walked off. What?!! My friend said not to say anything, or I would have.

- Dessert was a miss. Most people at our table had the milk chocolate mousse with passion fruit. Sounds delicious, but the milk chocolate was way too subtle for the tart passion fruit, which overwhelmed it. Pretty plate, but unbalanced flavour. I’ll order a different dessert next time.

- And my nit-pick issue. There is carpet in the centre of the dining room, where we were seated. It’s a nice carpet, but there’s one problem. The chairs don’t slide gracefully on the carpet. Getting in/out of the chair turned into a slightly awkward occasion.

So, let’s return to the good as my overall experience at Hawksworth was wonderful. Great food, glam room, and fun people watching. I can’t think of another restaurant in Vancouver with a combination quite like this. Go, dress-up, and enjoy.

Hawksworth Restaurant
801 West Georgia Street inside the Rosewood Hotel Georgia (@ Howe)
604.673.7000

Blogger’s note: I title this blog “Vancouver Good” because I like to only write about the good things in Vancouver. Overall, I really liked Hawksworth and look forward to many future visits. I had to highlight some drawbacks this time or I would have felt uneasy making the recommendation when I did experience some negatives.

The menu at Bishop’s changes regularly to reflect what’s in season, but the menu is always a selection of mouthwatering local food. My last visit was a couple weeks ago with a girlfriend – my first “real” dinner out without my little baby boy. Bishop’s was celebrating their 25th anniversary and we gave their special menu a try. At $49 for 4 course, it was an excellent deal.

The four-course anniversary menu:

- A salad of winter greens and walnuts with soft, crispy, and warm goat’s cheese. The arrangement of the winter greens was artistic – a beautiful looking and tasting plate.

- A soft dungeness crab cake topped with crispy threads of potato and fennel and a fennel cream. The perfect balance of textures and fresh crab.

- Two preparations of meltingly tender fraser valley lamb with precisely cut root vegetables and a red wine jus

- For dessert, “Death by chocolate” – a dense, ganache-like slice of chocolate surrounded with a delicious raspberry coulis.

In addition to the anniversary menu, the amuse for the evening was a smooth chicken liver pate on a crisp potato chip. The evening ended with a sweet and crisp coronation pear cut by John Bishop himself. He knows how to make a simple pear look gorgeous.

Entrees off the a la carte menu usually range from the high $20s to mid $40 dollar range. Not cheap, but worthy for a special night out.

The room is simple and tastefully decorated. The restaurant is busy, but never too loud and the tables are spaced apart well. You can have a quiet meal and great conversation with your dinner companions without overhearing everything from the table next to you.

I’ve also been cooking out of John Bishop’s Fresh recently, with great success. My food from the cookbook always tastes good, but doesn’t look quite as polished. If you want Bishop’s food – the rustic version, make it at home. For the full polished experience, make a reservation at the restaurant and enjoy.

Bishop’s Restaurant
2183 W. 4th Ave (@ Yew)
604 738 2025

First, the food – an interesting menu, all dishes executed wonderfully:

• Salade de Baies, lightly dressed greens atop a silky sheep feta and fresh berries
• Les coquilles st. jacques – perfectly tender and seared scallops with smoked bacon and pickled vegetables
• Grilled ostrich with sweet onions and potato crisps. Some of the most tender ostrich I’ve ever had
• Moules Frites – some of the best in town. I love the Congolaise, mussels cooked with tomatoes, coconut cream, chilli, and cilantro. The frites are crisp and dusted with a smoked paprika. And also order some freshly baked bread for soaking up mussel broth.
• As good as all our food was, the dessert made the meal. We shared the “Le Cafe Belge,” a creamy espresso cheesecake topped with layers of chocolate mousse, cream, and crispy chocolate wafers. SO GOOD. Not too sweet and a perfect balance of chocolate & coffee, crisp and creamy textures. I’ll remember this dessert for a while.

One Vancouver restaurant trend I’m liking is the filtering and carbonating of their own water, rather than flying in “gourmet” bottles of sparkling water from New Zealand or other far off places. Our sparkling water was unlimited and just $2.00 – a big difference from the $6-10 charged for Pelligrino at many restaurants.  While it does not help their profit margin much, it’s a much better environmental choice. I know Boneta also does this.

Service at Chambar is always great. Professional, relaxed, and fun. It’s always lovely dining at Chambar – I’ll be back again sooner next time.

Chambar Restaurant
562 Beatty Street (@ Dunsmuir)
Vancouver
604 879 7119

I celebrated the New Year with good company and food at the Pear Tree Restaurant in Burnaby. Why all the way in Burnaby? Chef Scott Jaeger is a past Vancouver Magazine chef of the year and represented Canada at the Bocuse d’Or competition in 2007. Really the question is – what took me so long?

The restaurant itself is beautiful – small, intimate, “like a jewel box,” my friend aptly described.

We arrived for the late seating on New Years Eve, a 7 course set menu for $125/person. Some at our table added a wine pairing with each course for an extra $50, poured personally with witty descriptions by Stephanie Jaeger.

Now, the food! Our menu:

Pheasant Consomme with confit ravioli and vegetable brunoise

Rainbow trout fillet crusted in candied trout and braised fennel served with a potato and leek press

Roasted quail wrapped in smoked ham with chanterelle mushrooms and brussels sprouts

Beef tenderloin over braised short rib and hon shimigi stew with a celeriac tart
OR
Butter poached spot prawns with potato gnocchi, braised artichoke, and spot prawn foam

Cheese plate to share: saint morgan, tete de moine, and roche baron with candied walnuts and pear

Chocolate ganache with salted caramel sauce and orange chocolate sorbet

Petit fours: Chocolate filled with caramel and topped with fleur de sel, pear jellies, hazelnut chocolate

Impressions & highlights:

• Overall the entire menu was excellent – great flavours and beautiful presentation. The weakest of the evening was the pheasant consomme, which was delicate but a tad under-seasoned for us.
• Best dish of the night: a toss-up. Some of us loved the rainbow trout, which was SO good with the sweet candied trout and I loved the leek and potato press. The spot prawns were plump and covered with a luscious and rich spot prawn foam. The quail was a perfectly cooked breast and a confit leg. Beef tenderloin with the hon shimigi mushrooms had incredible flavour and the celeriac tart was smooth with a crispy crust.
• Dessert requires a special mention because it was incredible. A rich, not too sweet chocolate ganache atop a hazelnut crisp with a drizzle of salted caramel. The blood orange chocolate sorbet was strong, tangy, sweet, amazing. An impressive and beautiful dessert.
• Service was excellent and personal. The chef came by at the end of the evening to wish us a happy new year and talked San Francisco Bay area restaurants with my visiting friends.

We left at 1:30am happy and content. Lucky Burnaby for having the Pear Tree Restaurant.

The Pear Tree Restaurant
4120 East Hastings Street, Burnaby
604.299.2772

As a landmark fine dining restaurant in Vancouver, the Cannery has been packed with people returning for one last visit before their final day of service on March 27, 2010.

I went to the Cannery for my first visit a couple months ago, and it was a fun experience with good, but not memorable food.

The most fun part of the Cannery is getting there. Located on Port Metro Vancouver land, it’s a fine dining restaurant with an amazing waterfront view, industrial neighbors, and a security entrance. As you drive up to the security area, you are met with a security gate, an intercom, and….nobody. We look around for somebody to talk to and our search is interrupted by the crackly intercom coming to life asking…”where are you going?”

“The Cannery” we yell, asking the intercom more than telling it. One more intercom crackle and the gate opens, giving us access. We drive off without another word, all of us thinking that was too easy.

A short drive down the road and we find the Cannery, looking like a lit up oasis amongst the desolate surroundings. The place is packed, but welcoming and warm. We’re directed to the bar while our table is prepared, but I linger in the front hall and read through the thick guest book full of well wishes and signatures from guests.

After a few minutes we’re whisked to our table on the second floor of the restaurant overlooking the water. I have to say, i was surprised by the informal feeling of the restaurant. To set the scene, think of a large restaurant that’s rustic feeling with lots of wood beams and stone. Then picture the beautiful water view. Then add in huge tables of parties, balloons tied to tables, and waiters in white coats. I wasn’t feeling it.

In terms of food – it’s all about the lobster oil at The Cannery, which is luscious and so good with bread, salad…everything. Other items we tried:

• Oyster Motoyaki, baked with wasabi mayonaise and pickled ginger. Good flavour, but it was served a little over-cooked and lukewarm.
• Lobster Bisque – rich and flavourful
• BC Sablefish with a miso glaze
• Rack of lamb and fresh arctic char – each cooked perfectly but with unmemorable accompaniments
• Dessert was a highlight, particularly Jacques’ Favourites, featuring sampler sizes of blood orange crème brulee, caramel pecan ice cream, and a chocolate and hazelnut praline

Overall, the food was fresh, but not overly memorable and not worth the price for me. I’m still regretting not having the Salmon Wellington, the restaurant’s signature dish. However, the Cannery is  partly about the food and partly about the experience and overall it delivered a satisfying experience. Go for the experience while you can.

On the way home from the restaurant? No need to talk to an intercom – the gate opened on its own and were on our way.

The Cannery Seafood House
2205 Commissioner Street, Vancouver
(604) 254-9606 or Toll Free : 1-877-254-9606
Make sure you read the directions on how to get there.

[update March 13 2011 - Voya is now closed]

Saturday night, on our way to Campagnolo to meet our friends. We’re all excited and have been looking forward to trying Campagnolo for a while now.

But, things don’t always go as planned, right? We meet up at 8:30pm and there is a 45 minute wait at Campagnolo, which is bustling and smells fantastic when you walk in, btw.  The bar at the back was equally packed the prospect of waiting 45 minutes wasn’t ideal, so out came the blackberry to find a Plan B restaurant.

We called some of our usual haunts:

Chambar – all booked up
DB Bistro Moderne – 45 minute wait
Cru – 45 minute wait
Boneta – 45 minute wait

Jeez, who says the economy is bad? Finally I think of Voya, which I have been wanting to try for a while . I call them and they have a table! So we get ourselves from Main St to Melville St. and enter the  Loden Hotel in Vancouver’s financial district.

This was our first time visiting the hotel. My first impression descriptors: clean, modern, trendy, boutique. Great location, too. My friend commented that it was like we were in another city – we completely did not expect such a nice hotel and restaurant to be amongst all the business buildings.

Voya is right at the hotel’s entrance and we were seated immediately. The restaurant was quite busy when we arrived and features a lounge, dining room, and a small private room for parties. The kitchen is led by executive chef Marc André Choquette of Lumiere fame (he was with Rob Feenie in kitchen stadium when he won Iron Chef America).

Some highlights from the evening:

• Evidently my  husband’s dry martini was not very dry. I told him he should have sent it back. Oh well – they did give lots of extra olives.
• A small and focused menu, but it was still hard to decide what to order. Note, the menu we were given was much smaller than what’s on the website, so don’t expect an identical menu when you arrive.
• My appetizer was a big highlight: Beautiful and tender octopus carpaccio with a tomato, lentil salad. The combination somehow worked beautifully. I would return to Voya just for that dish.
• Mains: the lamb shank with butternut squash risotto was reviewed well, as was the beautifully cooked duck.
• Dessert: A light and lovely yogurt panna cotta washed down with an espresso

Price range was medium to high range. Mains were around $28-30. Appetizers $9-15.

Voya Restaurant gave me an unplanned but lovely dinner out. And we’ll do Campangnolo next month…on a weekday evening!

Voya Restaurant at the Loden Hotel
1177 Melville Street
T. 604.639.VOYA
Open Sun to Thurs until midnight
Open Fri & Sat until 2:00am