Dinner at West Restaurant, Vancouver

For those of you who happened to be on Facebook or Twitter on New Year’s Eve, then you may have known that I was over at West Restaurant on Granville Street in Vancouver for dinner. You may also know that it was there that I proposed to my then-girlfriend, now-fiance.

The idea of going out for a nice dinner in Vancouver isn’t exactly new to me. I’ve had great dinners at places like Coast, the Cannery, and Gotham Steakhouse. That said, you can probably imagine that the dinner at West Restaurant was a little more special.

Even so, I tried my best to hide my anticipation and actually enjoy my meal at West. I can now see why it has consistently ranked among the top restaurants in the city.

Along with the rolls shown at the top of today’s post, dinner was also started with the complimentary amuse bouche shown here. I don’t remember exactly what was in it, but I faintly recall something about turnip, dashi soup, sea urchin foam, and pickled asparagus. Whatever the case, it was quite good.

To help calm the nerves before I went ahead and “popped” the question, I thought it would be apt to order a couple of cocktails. She had a mint julep and I had something called the “Vancouver.” It’s made with Plymouth gin, Punt e Mes Vermouth, Benadictine, angostura orange bitters and lemon zest.

As our appetizer, we had the albacore tuna. It is lightly seared on the outside, similar in style to what you would get with a tataki. It’s served with ponzu marinade, lightly pickled radish, julienne Bartlett pear, and a nori puree. You’ll also notice the chopped tuna rolls on either side.

For her main, Susanne selected the Hecate Strait smoked sablefish. It tasted almost like smoked salmon, and it was served with Saymill Bay clams, maple syrup glazed bacon (so smoky, so good), beech mushrooms, and North Arm Farm Jerusalem artichoke foam.

For my main dish, I opted for the Snake River Farm Kurobuta pork. I am not kidding when I say that this was easily the best pork chop I’ve ever had. It was remarkably smooth and tender without the typical “graininess” that you would get with a pork loin. It was served with red cabbage, parsnip, gherkins and caper jus.

We also ordered dessert: the spiced pumpkin and milk chocolate custard with walnut wafers. However, I neglected to take a photo, because I was in the middle of proposing and taking a picture of the dessert slipped my mind. Yes, I was caught up in the moment. What you do see above, though, are the complimentary petit fours to conclude our evening at West.

No, dinner was not as inexpensive as what we were able to enjoy at Les Faux Bourgeois, but I can understand why West is rated as one of the premiere restaurants in Vancouver. If you’re looking for a great meal with great service, you can’t really go wrong with West. You can find it on Granville Street near 13th Avenue in Vancouver.