For our 7th (!!) anniversary, Brian and I had dinner at L’Abattoir, a highly respected restaurant here in Vancouver known for it’s thought out, flavourful dishes. The cuisine is West Coast with different fusions to the meal – particularly French cuisine. The restaurant itself is beautiful and stunning, very iconic Gastown with the bare brick walls but made modern with warm wooden elements and exquisite tiling and decor.
On a side note, I apologize for the portrait photos, I clearly know how to be a food blogger. 😛
For dinner, we started off with the Beef tartare and Baked Pacific oysters.
The Beef tartare ($20) is served with radish, harissa, labneh and beef fat crackers (we’ll get back to that point in a sec). Harissa is a hot chili pepper paste made with a variety of different spices and chilis that come from Africa. This taste is quite apparent in the dish – at first taste, it almost feels similar to the Chinese chili paste in terms of the subtle smokiness. It pairs well with the beef tartare, amping up the flavour but never overshadowing it. On the top are some radishes and labneh (strained greek yogurt) which gives the dish a nice cool, clean finish.
The crackers served with the beef tartare are created with beef fat, which contributes to the nice hearty flavour of the dish.
Our next dish was the Baked Pacific oysters ($23) which is topped with whipped garlic butter and summer truffle. OH. MY. GOD. This was incredible. I might have to crown this my favourite dish of 2017. The whipped garlic butter is airy and again, compliments the dish without weighing it down. The integration of truffle within each oyster (which by the way, was a generous amount) elevated the decadent dish to another level. I could’ve had ten of these dishes, they were just so delicious.
For our mains, we ordered the Char-grilled pork chop and the Lamb loin with crispy belly.
The Char-grilled pork chop ($40) is served with summer beans, shiro plums and sesame. It’s also served with deep fried wild mushrooms as well. The pork chop was so tender and every single ingredient played a part to make this dish memorable. The crunch from the beans and deep fried mushrooms were a fantastic contrast to the taste of the pork. The shiro plums complimented the pork so well! What a beautiful dish. Definitely one of my favourite dishes I’ve had this year.
Finally, the lamb loin with crispy belly ($46) is served with summer squash, apricot and vadouvan butter. The lamb loin is perfect, tender and juicy. The squash helped soak in the delicious flavour, while the apricots complimented the meat on the dish with their subtle sweetness.
Happy Anniversary Brian! I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since we got hitched!
If you’re a food lover (or dating/married to one), you’ll have to check out L’Abattoir if you haven’t yet. It’s a foodie heaven for your taste buds!
Food: 5
Service: 4
Value: 4
Ambiance: 5
OVERALL: 5
For more information on L’Abattoir including the menu, check out their website here: http://www.labattoir.ca/
