Vij’s, mmmmm, sooooo good. And love that Vikram hasn’t changed a bit in the many years the restaurant has been in business. New location but still the same fantastic food.
For things to do, PM me Jay and I’ll copy a PM I sent to Brian McBreaty recently 
Mike
did you book l’abattoir?!
Just visited and thought I’d bump this for any that follow. I went to a lot of places over 10 days, but the highlights were:
St. Lawrence (amazing Quebec-type food like tortiere, trout and of course foie, with an epic Paris-style rice pudding for dessert);
Hawksworth for it’s $28 lunch (with wine pairings for $44) but not for dinner (which was a surprising disappointment);
BOTANIST: the winner for dinner - amazing new restaurant design, the foie torchon was right up there with the one I had at Eleven Madison Park, and the somm there (Stephanie) was an amazing resource for the rest of my trip.
Heading to Vancouver in September for an early anniversary weekend. Any updates on the dining scene? As of now we are looking at Hawksworth, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, L’*Abattoir, Kissa Tanto. On the waiting list for Published on Main. Any other ideas?
St. Lawrence is off the table as I won’t consider non-refundable pre-paid reservations given all the disruptions I have had in travel due to Covid.
St Lawrence Is “fine” at best. It’s a good bistro. No where near worth the trouble of prepaid reso wow.
Published is really good. It’s not “#1 in Canada good” but def worth going.
Hawksworth always great for special event as the service and food both are very good
Kissa Tanto and L’Abbatoir were our favorites. Kissa Tanto is in Chinatown in an ok area but there is a lot of homeless between the downtown and Chinatown, we took a car from the Fairmont Pacific Rim.
Burdock & Co was also very good but it’s a set menu that changes weekly. It changed for the better when we visited, my wife has a number of shellfish allergies and dislikes.
We ended up eating at Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, L’Abbatoir and Hawksworth. I put them in that order in terms of our enjoyment. Possible fatigue by night 3 but I found nothing particularly special about the food at Hawksworth. They change the menu frequently and I readily accept on a different night we may have had a different experience. We stayed at the Rosewood so at least you could not beat the ease of getting to the restaurant by elevator.
Boulevard really reminded me of Waterbar in SF in terms of concept and quality.
I was surprised L’Abbatoir was as informal as it was.
Vancouver is a beautiful City. Anyone who is concerned about homelessness or drugs in Vancouver should spend a day in San Francisco to get a look at a real problem.
The homeless problem was mostly in Chinatown. It was supposed to be cleared out in MiD-August. We saw blocks and blocks of homeless in Chinatown on the way to Kissa Tanto and St. Lawrence.
Happy birthday planning!
Welcome Justin, the Birthday celebration was 8 years ago. Not noticing the date of a post happens all the time, you’re in good company.
Chinatown can be bustling for sure. If you’re looking for a change of scenery, have you considered exploring great Italian coffee in central London? It could be a cozy spot to enjoy some delicious coffee and plan out your special day. Hope you find the perfect restaurant for your celebration!
Mods, can we have this thread moved to the Twilight Zone?
But there should be another celebration this year, no?
Let’s hop so.