Omakase for a leisurely lunch?

Yes, please! Especially when it’s Masayoshi Baba presiding over the sushi bar at Vancouver’s fabulous Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. We’ve long been fans of the smiling chef and his superb east end restaurant (#48 in 2018). So, when he launched a downtown weekday residency at The Lobby Lounge and Raw Bar, where he is the new consulting head sushi chef, we cleared our schedule and raced in for a preview. The exquisite 11-course omakase experience ($95 with sake pairings) included all his signature touches — whimsy (rice-smoked salmon lollipops), beautiful presentation (oysters in dashi jelly flecked with gold leaf), and excellent pairings (fatty mackerel daubed with zesty ginger paste). The regularly changing menu is also available for dinner on weekdays ($125). But we highly suggest going when Baba-san is in the house: Monday to Thursday, noon to 2:30 p.m.

—ALEX GILL

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