With Vancouver’s weather finally starting to play nice, everyone is clamouring to while away an afternoon or evening (or both) on a waterfront patio with a view.
Two of the best of them come courtesy of Ancora Waterfront Dining.
The first Ancora is on Vancouver’s stunning False Creek seawall overlooking False Creek and Granville Island. The patio of the newly launched second location in West Vancouver’s Ambleside neighbourhood looks out on Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park. Both views are complemented by a menu featuring Nikkei cuisine, the happening fusion fare that’s the culinary love-child of Japanese immigration to South America at the end of the 19th century. Ancora’s version is smartly heavy on West Coast bounty: think a causa made with spiced Yukon golds and Dungeness crab with a quail egg, toasted coconut, and huancaína sauce. Or sablefish with aji panca, miso squash quinotto, bok choy saltado and quinoa puff. With sushi and sashimi rounding out the menu, the cooking is light, refreshing, and packed with flavour – precisely what you want to eat in summer.
At the bar, Ancora offers three perfect-for-sharing sangrias with a twist. There’s a snappy white with torrontes, sake hakusturu, triple sec, yuzu, a red with Peruvian chicha morada and rosé with watermelon chilli.
The commendably deep wine list spans stellar sakes, modestly marked-up bubbles (from superb grower champagnes like Paul Gimonnet to regional royalty like Krug and Roederer Cristal), and exceptional Burgundies (Leroy, Leflaive, etc.), and both classics and obscurities from Old World and New. All vintages are arranged unpretentiously according to to easily grasped categories of drinkability–from “light, supple and seductive” to “medium, indigenous and interesting,” and “rich, fruit-forward and blended.
And should you need further enticement to play hookey, every Monday there’s “You Had Me at Rosé.” There’s an exclusive menu and a curated selection of wine and crafted cocktails to ease you into your week. The transporting Nikkari Rosé Sangria is made with Sandhill rosé with Peruvian pisco and infused with strawberries, mango, and watermelon. All you have to do is get yourself there – the setting, menu and cocktails will take you to that extra special place called summer.
