Since opening in late 2019, this bright, greenery-filled space has flourished both as a neighbourhood restaurant and a destination for list-reading diners from around the world. Yes, the two-and-a-half-hour, 11-course tasting menu is the main attraction, but the à la carte card allows you to walk in without a reservation and claim a seat at the bar, which delivers just as much fun and similar gastronomic revelation. Either experience allows you to revel in chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson’s singular combination of Nordic sensibility (through abundant use of fermentation, and foraged ingredients like elderflowers, nettles and sea asparagus), his own Manitoban German heritage and ingredients that exemplify the West Coast. Barely cooked sidestripe shrimp are joined by cucumber and apple, whose trims are juiced and made into a dressing with horseradish oil. In spring, foraged lily-bulb spears — similar to asparagus — are lightly cooked à la plancha or over charcoal and enhanced with wild-rice miso. Dessert might be wintergreen ice cream with savoury brown butter and chanterelle crémeux, accented with wild blueberry. Always engaging wine director Jayton Paul’s globe-trotting wine list spans the gamut, from crowd-pleasing rieslings to funky skin-contact grüner veltliners.
The steelhead trout, a dish you WISH could last forever. Jason Noel
Sunchoke and chevre rotolo, wild mushrooms.
Burrata, berries, focaccia.
Chef Stieffenhofer-Brandson and team.
Wintergreen ice cream, brown butter and chanterelle cremeux, wild blueberry.
Sunchoke and chevre rotolo, wild mushrooms.
Burrata, berries, focaccia.
Chef Stieffenhofer-Brandson and team.
Wintergreen ice cream, brown butter and chanterelle cremeux, wild blueberry.
