The Dine Out Vancouver Festival is in full swing and this year I decided to check out a couple. One place in particular I’ve been meaning to try out is Chambar – especially with their new space. As you can imagine, reservations went fast and so Brian and I settled for an 8:15pm seating.

When we arrived, they were still packed and were running 15 minutes behind. Thankfully, we were seated on time.

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We had cocktails to start – I had the Oi Ling (Jasmine vodka, orancio, elderflower, passionfruit juice and lemon) and Brian had the Kingston Crown (mango nectar, all spice and ginger beer – not alcoholic, obviously). My cocktail was incredibly delicious, slightly floral and sweet. Just writing about it again makes me want to have another one very soon!

We started off with the Coquilles St. Jaques a la “bob” and the Salade d’Hiver.

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The Coquilles is the pan seared scallops, mint pea puree, tandoori papadum and pickled grapes. I really enjoyed how well the scallops were cooked (meaty and not dry). Although mint made the dish pop, it wasn’t really my taste.

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I ordered the salad which was made with macerated kale, Belgian endive, sunchokes, poached pear emulsion, shaved feta and tahini dressing. I really enjoyed this salad, it was bright and refreshing with citrus notes throughout the entire dish. I’m not a big eater of salads, but this one I would enjoy on a daily basis if I could!

For our main dishes, Brian ordered the moules frites ‘vin blanc’ and I ordered the Curry d’omble de l’arctique.

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Brian’s mussels were fairly large and also the broth was delicious!

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My roasted Arctic Char was served with parsnip, miso curry, kale, sorrel, fresh pomegranate and pinenuts. The Char was nice and meaty inside (deceiving from the look on the outside) – the miso curry really gave it depth with flavour. The pomegranate sweetened the dish slightly and the pine nuts gave it a good crunch. Interesting textures within this dish.

Finally, our desserts, we ordered one of each of the sweet desserts.

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I ordered La Barre de Chocolate (hazelnut praline chocolate mousse bar, sherry vinegar with burnt cinnamon milk foam). Cinnamon and chocolate as a pairing is one of my favourite things and this foam was nice and airy. The hazelnut praline chocolate mousse bar was nice and sweet.

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Brian ordered the Gateaux de Chevre – he didn’t realize it was goat milk but he actually really enjoyed it. It’s made with speculoos and topped with green apple sorbet and quince caramel. This dessert was also my favourite – I’m normally a big chocolate fan but this was the winner this evening. If you’re a bit anxious about having goat milk cheesecake, it definitely had no taste of goat milk (well, a slight hint but barely noticeable). What really sweetened the dish was the quince caramel. The green apple sorbet was nice to cleanse the palate afterwards.

I’d love to come back to Chambar and try their normal menu (and have a couple cocktails as well!).

Food: mini4andahalfforks

Service: mini4forks

Value: mini4forks

Ambiance: mini4andahalfforks

OVERALL: 4forks

Check out their website here and their Dine Out Menu here.

Chambar on Urbanspoon