Vancouver’s 10 best restaurants for date night
Credit to Author: Joseph Ruttle| Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 23:00:02 +0000
Special to Postmedia Network
Whether it’s your first date, the night you plan to pop the question or just a private moment of togetherness in your busy lives, a special occasion demands a special restaurant. Here are some of our favourite places for romance in Vancouver.
Champagne and Peruvian cuisine for two on the patio overlooking False Creek at Ancora Waterfront Dining and Patio in Vancouver.
2 – 1600 Howe St. | 1351 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver
Whether the False Creek location or the one in Ambleside, Ancora has some of the prettiest waterfront views in the city. Inside, it’s all crystals, cool colours and graceful service, a perfect backdrop for executive chef Ricardo Valverde’s bright Peruvian-influenced food. Order the glacier, a vast platter of chilled seafood including oysters, ceviche and sashimi, and a bottle of bubbly from the exceptional wine list, and you’ve set the perfect table for love.
568 Beatty St.
The room is buzzy and beautiful, its historic wood and exposed brick details playing nicely against the contemporary art and light fixtures. Your table will be an intimate bubble within this lively space, where you can enjoy elegant cocktails from the bar and executive chef Nico Schuermans’ flavourful Belgian-by-way-of-North Africa cuisine. Share a pot of spicy mussels and fries, and you’ll be well on your way to sharing your lives.
The romantic dining room at CinCin Ristorante + Bar in Vancouver.
1154 Robson St.
Climb the narrow stairs behind the iron gate on Robson Street and step back in time to a world where, if you squint just so, you could imagine Juliet and her Romeo sharing a plate of truffled ricotta gnocchi. CinCin has barely changed since it opened in 1990 – warm ochre walls, comfortable leather chairs, terracotta floors, the occasional chunk of statuary – and we couldn’t be more grateful. The wine list is vast, executive chef Andrew Richardson’s cuisine exemplary and the service attentive but never intrusive, ideal if you care to whisper sweet nothings over the antipasti.
263 East Pender St.
Are you in Japan or Italy or Vancouver’s Chinatown? At Kissa Tanto, you might just be in all three worlds at once – or indeed, someplace even better. What a dreamy room this is, an old mahjong parlour with the spirit of a 1940s Tokyo jazz club, all decked out in lipstick pink, jade green and gleaming brass. Chef and co-owner Joël Watanabe’s cuisine is a bright fusion of Japanese and Italian flavours and textures – dive right into a Singapore Sling, nibble on the whole fried fish and fall deliriously in love with the joy of it all.
801 West Georgia St.
Since it opened in 2011, David Hawksworth’s restaurant has perched comfortably atop Vancouver’s list of best places for fine dining. So if you’re seeking to impress a special someone, you can’t go wrong in bringing them here. The room is sexy in contemporary black and cream, the service exquisite and the wine list deep and intriguing. Plus with one of the city’s most polished brigades in the kitchen, the food will be almost as memorable as your love.
The plush and intimate upstairs dining room at Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar in Vancouver.
637 Hornby St.
Dark and intimate, opulent in red velvet, with that mysterious tunnel leading to a fiery grill . . . is it, ahem, getting warm in here? You may think of Hy’s as a clubby hangout for business types, but it’s also one of Vancouver’s best places for a romantic dinner. It’s not just the steaks and bold red wines, or even the charmingly old-school service. It’s all those funny little nooks and corners that are perfectly designed for canoodling with your sweetheart.
100 – 909 Burrard St.
Is there a more gracious host in this city than chef-owner Michel Jacob? All these decades after he first opened Le Crocodile in 1983, this is still the city’s finest French restaurant. Step inside and enter a world where the pace slows just enough for you to truly savour every moment, along with the exceptional food, wine and service. Order the côte de boeuf, sip a deep Bordeaux red, finish with a chocolate gâteau and you will understand just how it is that the French mastered the art of l’amour.
The cosily romantic dining room at St. Lawrence Restaurant in Vancouver.
269 Powell St.
Chef J-C Poirier’s delicious little homage to his Quebecois heritage doesn’t just serve up some the best food in town, it also offers one of its most charmingly romantic rooms. Dark blue walls, old-fashioned wooden chairs and tables, homey antiques, the soft gleam of brass all add up to a perfectly lovely setting. But it’s the food that will have you smitten: venison tourtière, creamy mushrooms in puff pastry, rice pudding to share. Truth is, it’s all about love here: love for home and family, for good food, better friends and, most of all, each other.
Surrounded by Queen Elizabeth Park and with views overlooking the city, the patio at Seasons in the Park is one of Vancouver’s most romantic dining destinations.
Queen Elizabeth Park, West 33rd Avenue at Cambie Street
We had joy, we had fun, we had Seasons in the middle of Queen Elizabeth Park, one of Vancouver’s most glorious green spaces. Should you be able to take your eyes off each other, the restaurant offers magnificent views of city, mountains and water. It also has rooms small enough for a private dinner or big enough for a party like, say, a wedding or anniversary bash. And after dining on the fine West Coast cuisine, you can always slip out into the enchanting gardens to make some magic of your own.
The dining room and open kitchen at Wildebeest, a restaurant in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood.
120 West Hastings St.
The lighting is low, the tables intimate, the ambience one that encourages meaningful conversation. This nose-to-tail restaurant is housed in a refurbished 19th century space that has clung to its heritage character while embracing the future. Executive chef Ian McHale carefully nurtures ethical, sustainable, largely local ingredients into housemade charcuterie, tender pastas, and hearty roasts and braises. Meanwhile, talented wine director Christina Hartigan and rock star bartenders keep the mood mellow and fine. This is a destination for food lovers, and all lovers.
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Joanne Sasvari is a Vancouver-based food and drink writer and the author of the Vancouver Eats cookbook.