Background on Vancouver Restaurants

As part of my trip to Vancouver (partially to watch its international fireworks competition), I did much research via chowhound, Vancouver Magazine's restaurant awards, Fodor's discussion boards, and other web sites on good restaurants within the city.

Context for this Particular Restaurant

Chambar, a Belgian restaurant with an extensive beer list, received many positive reviews. Since that sounded interesting, I went.

http://www.chambar.com/

It felt a little weird entering a bar during daylight hours, but that happens even at late dinner times in high latitudes during the summer. I'm glad I arrived during the daytime, as the neighborhood was slightly sketchy (mostly from being run down and having less people around). I'm happy I didn't have to wander around at night looking for the restaurant.

Chambar Review

Chambar served me good food and good beer, though I don't know what makes the restaurant Belgian besides the beer.

I enjoyed reading the detailed description of beers on the beer menu and started my meal by ordering a pint of Hoegaarden. It was a smooth, yellow, and lemony wheat beer with a floral aroma. I could easily guzzle it.

For my appetizer, I ordered "halibut & candied ginger beignet, crab & pea shoot salad, lemon remoulade."

In short, it was like a breaded fish accompanied by a dill cream sauce.

The breading -the beignet- was piping hot and good but, not surprisingly, that meant the halibut was sadly overcooked. The cream sauce gave it some flavor.

The crab & pea shoot salad was better; I'd declare it decent. A creamy dressing hid the lack of crab. The salad included bits of red onion and Asian pear; those went well.

My entree was "Maple glazed duck breast, ginger wild rice pilaf. Saute greens, apricot & pistachio marmalade."

This was definitely good, very juicy and with skin a bit crispy.

The bed of sauteed greens, under the duck breast and soaked in the marmalade, were quite good.

I also enjoyed the gingered rice pilaf tossed with green onions. It was topped with an orange mash that I generally ignored after I realized how overwhelmingly strong it was -- it tasted like the condensed essence of an orange.

Incidentally, the little green things in the picture are pistachios.

With my main course, I ordered a glass Chimay Red, a mildly spicy beer, with no smell and no aftertaste, that I've ordered before and enjoyed.

Chambar was decorated like a very hip bar, with clear emphasis on the food (i.e., many tables for eating). Here's a sample picture; I sat at the far end of the bar, near the funky metal fixture.

Dinner cost C$43 including tax and tip but not including drinks. Including the beers brings the total up to C$63.