Le Belisse Café bills itself as having been voted best croissant in Vancouver, and it’s easy to see why. All of the pastries here are truly beautiful to look at. But that’s a bold claim, especially when you’re across the street from Ladurée (admittedly, though, Ladurée in North America isn’t quite as good as in Paris or at Harrods in London).
I tried the two most basic offerings, the plain croissant and the pain au chocolat. The pastry for both was very nice—flaky with just the right mixture of moisture and crispness. The pain au chocolat was an unconventional shape, which I think adversely affects the chocolate to pastry ratio, but it was good.
I’d definitely go back and try some of the other beauties in their display case.
The name Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar really understates what a fine dining restaurant this is. Both the interior and service are what you would expect from a high end restaurant, not an oyster bar. It is true, however, that the upper level and bar are bright and loud like a kitchen, but the lower level is nice (and would be even nicer with a glass partition between it and the upper level.
There is an interesting cocktail list, and a well-chosen selection of wines. We started with the house-made sourdough and a seafood tower. It was the best seafood tower I’ve had because of the thoughtful side dishes. I particularly loved the mussels escabeche.
For mains we had sable fish, cod, seafood linguini, and a special mushroom pasta. All were good, especially the linguini.
The dessert sampler for four was interesting. There was a great variety and it was nice to try most everything on the menu, but I didn’t feel there were any real standouts.
This is a thirty year old restaurant that looks like the focus is on Greek food, so that’s what we had for lunch. It was just okay. The spanakopita was probably the best item we had.
The first time we went here we waited for ten minutes and no one ever showed up form the kitchen, but the second time the service was good.
They have quite a few wines by the glass at good prices, although I wish they had more Greek and Santorini wines beyond just retsina.. My Australia Pinot Grigio was good.
What a terrific find this was! And I do mean “find”! There is no apparent entrance or street level signage for this retro lounge located above the round Starbucks at the corner of Denman and Davie. You have to take the long ramp up from well down Davie Street, or climb the stairs on Denman labeled Lucky Sushi to find a way in.
Once there, you’ll find it was worth your search. It seems like back in the early 60’s everything needed to be round: apartment buildings, revolving restaurants, and spaceneedles. And so, Bayside lounge is round. It turns out to be the ideal shape. The circular bar at the center is orbited by a ring of barstools, which in turn are surrounded by cocktail table planets, the whole thing is encased in a halo of banquettes. It’s incredibly efficient, and you instantly feel transported back to 2001 A Space Odyssey.
But a lounge is nothing without great cocktails, and Bayside has pages of them, both traditional and innovative, plus changing features. Everything we tried was deftly prepared with fresh, lively ingredients.
The food is also perfect for a lounge—really beyond expectations for a lounge. We started with the four cheese dip, which was good to the last dollop, especially with the seasoned naan bread.
The ceviche was also way beyond expectations, with tender chunks of fish in a bright acidic sauce littered with crisp, freshly slivered onions and peppers.
The hamburger was also excellent, with all my favorite ingredients (which is to say everything from bacon to tomato to onion straws) and served on a bun that was up to the task. Accompanying crinkle fries were hot and crisp.
The payoff is that Happy Hour is basically all day on weekdays (noon to 6pm, and a bit later on weekends) making the food and house wines an absolute bargain.
Delightful setting for a delightful meal. Even on a cloudy day it’s great fun overlooking the beach from the second story (street level) of this stylish location.
We started with the crab and spinach dip, which was wonderfully creamy without being two rich. Then for entrees we have the ceviche–which was classically prepared with a nice hint of jalapeño to accompany the line–and the lettuce wraps. I particularly liked the couch of the peanuts and the kick of korean sauce in the wraps, and there was a half a head of iceberg lettuce to make wrapping easy.
There’s a nice cocktail list (excellent whiskey sour) and some interesting wines by the glass.
I was very impressed by this charming sushi restaurant at the quiet end of Robson Street.
The place bills itself as Ukrainian sushi, but it is in fact, well, sushi. There is a selection of Ukrainian souvenirs available to support the Ukrainian war effort, but beyond that, it’s a normal sushi restaurant with some pleasant twists.
Unlike many sushi restaurants, the selection of different types of fish is somewhat limited. Most of the dishes focus on tuna, salmon, or shrimp but they’re combined in interesting and tasty ways.
Note that the menu has been expanded from anything that I found online. It’s now much more polished and has more offerings, including not just sushi but also coffees and desserts.
The combo offerings for lunch are a particularly good deal. They include a very tasty miso soup with the interesting addition of sesame seeds and your choice of many different flavors of hot tea.
We tried both the orange and the mint teas, and they were both delicious. The two combos we tried both came with four pieces of nigiri consisting of tuna, shrimp, and salmon, and then an eight-piece roll selection. One included the BC roll which is similar to a California roll but incorporates cooked salmon.
The other was my favorite. It was a spicy salmon roll which had the interesting presentation of placing the spicy salmon mixture on top of each slice of a roll similar to a California roll. This provided a generous helping of the spicy salmon which was very nicely seasoned and just the right spice level.
The service was extremely friendly and helpful. Our leftovers were packed up in a very delightful looking to-go box, and we were even given cups to take the rest of our hot tea with us. All in all, one of the better sushi choices along Robson.
