10 Places For A Romantic Valentine’s Day Meal In Vancouver

Photo: The Farmhouse

After the Dine Out Vancouver Festival closes February 5, diners can look forward to sumptuous multi-course menus, as well as special drinks and menu items in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Many restaurants are also serving Valentine’s Day offerings during the lead up to the big event for those who wish to go out on another evening. There is certainly no shortage of creativity in this year’s Valentine’s menus, so expect an unforgettable experience centred on foods that invoke romance and love.

Here are 10 establishments that have dreamed up special Valentine’s creations.

Bacaro

Photo: Bacaro

Bacaro in the Fairmont Pacific Rim offers an intimately romantic experience this Valentine’s Day. Expect modern Venetian-inspired cuisine with warm hospitality. On February 14, the restaurant will be featuring a five-course menu ($125 per person) that will start with cicchetti (small snacks) of chips with buffalo mozzarella and caviar. From there, you’ll enjoy refreshing antipasti, either squash sformato with preserved quince, radicchio, warm hazelnut, and bean vinaigrette or scallop crudo with beets, blood orange, pistachio, and saffron. The pasta course will be sbocciare with castelmagno fonduta and caramelized onions before you move to either farro risotto with wild mushrooms, leeks, and pecorino (vegetarian option); olive oil poached sablefish with radish salad, trout roe, and burro bianco; or espresso spiced venison with chestnut polenta and celeriac. The final sweet course will be crostata al cioccolato with amarena cherry gelato.

Coast

Photo: Coast

With Coast’s recent revamp of its interiors and exteriors, it’s a great time to celebrate romance at this Vancouver favourite. From February 10 to 14, the restaurant has a very appealing Valentine’s feature menu, which contains two special appetizers: pan seared scallops with cauliflower purée, savoy cabbage, and bacon; and classic steak tartare with cured egg yolk, onions, and cornichons. Mains spotlight the best of surf and turf with Chilean sea bass with potato gnocchi, mushrooms, peas, and prawns and a beef tenderloin Oscar with truffled mash potatoes and seasonal vegetables. If you’re in a sharing mood (it’s Valentine’s after all), go for either the paella for two with lobster, clams, mussels, and tiger prawns or the surf and turf platter, which comes with 14 oz beef striploin, 1 lb lobster, jumbo tiger prawns, king crab, truffled mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and red wine jus. Make sure to save room for chocolate lava cake with raspberry sorbet.

The Farmhouse

Photo: The Farmhouse

The charming Farmhouse in Mount Pleasant has come up with a four-course ($95 per person, $59 per person for wine pairings with bubbles) ode to love for February 14; the menu can also be ordered à-la-carte. The meal begins with aphrodisiacal oysters alla livornese with toasted herb sourdough crumb and lemon and olive emulsion and then is followed by semolina gnocchi with poached lobster, Calabrian chili, and tomato. Make sure to save room for grass-fed roasted beef tenderloin with gorgonzola dolce, black kale, and roasted shallot. Finally, there’s a very romantic chocolate and rose semifreddo with raspberries and walnut meringue to cap off the lovely night.

Notch8

Photo: Notch8

From February 11 to February 14, Notch8 at the Hotel Vancouver is featuring a three-course Valentine’s dinner ($95 per person), which is sure to have you and your date swooning. The starter consists of either a baked oyster with spinach, parmesan crumb, XO sauce, and potato foam or beet “tartare” with chilled cucumber soup, plum butter, hazelnut, and goat cheese. The meal then shifts to three options for your main: grilled arctic char with turnips, radish, charred green onion, Dungeness crab, salmon roe, and beurre blanc; goat cheese and potato galette with peas, smoked oyster mushrooms, candied apple, and roasted vegetable jus; or Brome Lake roasted duck breast with glazed button mushrooms, gruyère bread pudding, truffle, and Madeira jus. And last but certainly not least, the dinner concludes with a bitter chocolate and griotte cherries bar with crème fraîche gelato and aerated milk chocolate.

Showcase Restaurant & Bar

Photo: Showcase

Showcase Restaurant & Bar is offering a delectable three-course Valentine’s menu ($85 per person), available February 10-14. The meal begins with an amuse bouche of West Coast oysters with jalapeño syrup, pomegranate pearls, and Meyer lemon. The first course is a choice between seared duck breast with pearl barley and farro risotto, squash purée, roasted acorn squash, and petite fennel and cucumber salad; seared scallops with celeriac purée, pickled onion, and Calabrian maple syrup; and sweet potato bread pudding with sautéed foraged mushrooms and herb buttermilk sauce. After a palate cleanser of sparkling rose and raspberry sorbet, you’ll move on to either beef tenderloin with a savoury herb canelé, parsnip purée, sour cherries, grated black truffle, and cabernet jus; grilled ancho-spiced octopus with mole blanco, basil infused cucumber, and smoked and charred sourdough; or roasted beetroot cannelloni with fennel cream sauce, Golden Ears Neufchatel cheese, basil pesto, and toasted pine nuts. Dessert is a difficult decision between Falling in Love (angel’s envy chocolate mousse with strawberry hibiscus shortcake) and Kiss from a Rose (chocolate raspberry rose, bittersweet chocolate mousse, raspberry compote, and devil’s cake).

To further the romance, Showcase will have special Valentine’s Day themed cocktails, such as Love Bird(s) with rose petal infused Aviation Gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, sparkling rosé, and baby’s breath garnish.

Acquafarina

Photo: Acquafarina

If you want to go big with a sumptuous Valentine’s meal to celebrate your love, Acquafarina is a wondrous option. The room is lofty and impressive, and its Italian cuisine is seductive. Later seatings are still available for their seven-course February 14 dinner ($195 per person, $95 for wine pairings). The evening starts with oysters and caviar before the next course of carrots and burrata with caramelized hazelnuts. The seafood course consists of scallop in the half shell with lobster dill salad before the pasta course of duck tortellini in consommé with parsley oil. Wild mushroom stuffed veal and creamy polenta with truffle will be the last savoury course before passion fruit chocolate ganache and almond sponge and petits fours.

Potluck Hawker Eatery

Photo: Potluck Hawker Eatery

Potluck Hawker Eatery is making Valentine’s dinner into a feast for two ($180 for two pre-paid), meant to be shared over lively conversation. The packed menu comes with three snacks: oysters with egg yolk, ikura, and curry leaf, a drunken chicken roulade with truffled soy, and prawns with milk toast, uni, and chili crab sauce. You’ll also get a white laksa with mussels, rah rum, and torn bread; and then twice fried halibut cheeks with black pepper and lime leaf; tuna with sesame, tamarind, pomelo, beets, and chickpea tofu; duck leg confit with kale la’ing; as well as lobster with your choice of paid Thai or Hokkien mee. Dessert will be coconut panna cotta with milo and passion fruit.  

Gastronomy

Photo: Gastronomy

For a slightly more casual yet equally as delicious Valentine’s meal, consider visiting the newly opened Gastronomy Gastown. From February 10 to February 14, the kitchen and the bar will be serving special romance-inspired creations, in addition to their regular à-la-carte options. Start with oysters with Royal caviar, crème fraîche, and dill oil. Or, go for a fun splurge with Northern Divine caviar (30 g tin), served with ruffle chips, crème fraiche, and chives. The other Valentine’s menu items are rotolo with roasted squash, sage, brown butter, and truffle pecorino; a black truffle and taleggio pizza with preserved lemon cream, mozzarella, and fresh chervil, and a tiramisu cream puff with mascarpone mousse, coffee croque, and espresso caramel. Cheeky cocktails for the night include the Goodnight Kiss with Woodford Reserve, Grand Marnier, tawny port reduction, angostura bitters, orange bitters, and atomized Laphroaig.

Fanny Bay Oyster Bar

Photo: Fanny Bay Oyster Bar

Fanny Bay Oyster Bar is pulling out all the seafood stops with their three course Valentine’s menu ($89 per person), available February 14-16. The first course will consist of salmon mosaic with kelp powder, ikura, and citrus orbs, followed by lobster and smoked scallop ravioli with poached lobster and caviar. Dessert is a crowd favourite of red velvet cake with cream cheese. If you want to up your romance, order their special Don’t Shuck My Heart cocktail.

Cask Whisky Vault

Photo: Cask

Versante Hotel in Richmond has special Valentine’s menus at all its various dining and drinking establishments: Bruno, Alaïa, and Cask Whisky Vault. The latter would be a particularly indulgent yet sophisticated choice for a Valentine’s Day date. On February, there will be live entertainment from 7pm to 11pm, as well a multi-course menu ($99 per person, $120 minimum spend per person), which reflects the establishment’s izakaya culinary influences. The first course will be a caviar sashimi ice bowl, which will include caviar uni oysters with shio koji cream, shiso oil, and ikura; various sashimi, such as dry aged kanpachi and Hokkaido scallops; lobster motoyaki with nori crisp; and maguro tuna tartare with kaiso, ponzu, scallions, sesame, wasabi tobiko, and taro chips.

Next, Cask will serve miso roasted sablefish udon, followed by truffle Tajima wagyu striploin with perigord truffle, kuri kinton mash, nishime vegetables, maitake mushrooms, namasa pickles, and kabayaki butter glaze. Dessert will be a raspberry milk chocolate heart with Lactée Supérieure chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie, lemon curd, and salted caramel. Whisky pairings ($49) include the Glenmorangie Nectar D’or.

By Tara Lee
Source Inside Vancouver