Feast is a local neighbourhood restaurant that features fresh ingredients that are sourced locally. The vibe is unpretentious – a place you could go to relax and have a conversation with your server. While we were dining, I noticed a couple times that people would come in and they would know them on a first name basis. The space is warm and inviting, rustic and casual.
The three course meal will be $35, wine pairings for an additional $15 – while these items I had were on the preview menu, they might tweak a couple things during the season.
Getting our evening started right, we ordered a couple of cocktails. Our wonderful server recommended the Stormy Canuck and I had to order the Fizzy Feast after seeing the first ingredient as pisco!
The Stormy Canuck is a brew of Kraken rum, Maple syrup, lime juice, ginger beer and lime – a cheeky nod to the Dark and Stormy. The rest of the ginger beer comes separately to let you decided the intensity of the drink. I found the cocktail to be delicious and quite smooth – perhaps it was the addition of the maple syrup!
My drink was the Fizzy Feast made with pisco, St Germaine Elderflower liqueur (which happens to be my favourite at the moment), lemon juice and cava. This drink had a nice punch to it and I loved all the citrus notes and the subtleties of the elderflower. From these two drinks alone, I’d say Feast would be a great place to come just for cocktails in West Van.
We started off with the Maple Pork Rilette served on a house made fry bread. The rilette held together well and had a sweet and slightly smokey salty taste to it. I really enjoyed the balance of the crispy fried bread it sat on, along with the pine nuts atop to give it that crunch.
First course selections are a bisque and a salad.
The Sweet potato and herb bisque is served with a crab beignet was my favourite of the two – the bisque was warm, hearty and comforting for the rainy day we had ventured out for dinner. But what I really enjoyed with this dish is the crab beignet, it was tender, moist and packed with just crab. The dish is lovely.
The baby kale salad is made with yogurt dressing and sweet potato chips. The salad is a nice portion and provides a good crunch with the sweet potato chips, but I felt like something was missing in it – perhaps some citrus notes to brighten it up a bit.
Our main dishes we chose were the short rib and pasta.
The Herb Pappardelle pasta was tossed generously with kale and peperonatta. The pasta is made fresh every day by Feast’s new Head Chef Jason Sokulski. This pasta is a nice light meal in a sense that it’s not bogged down by too much heavy sauce. That being said, it’s not a “light” meal -the portion size is more than I expected (which is a great thing, because I was hungry!).
The Braised Angus short rib, croquette and sweet potato is a formidable size and the short rib itself is so tender, your fork goes through it easily. I loved the flavours on the sweet potato mash, it had a slight bit of truffle in them to elevate the flavour a tad bit.
Finally for a treat, we had dessert – because what meal is not complete without it?
My dessert was the Chocolate espresso pot de creme, peanut powder and feuilletine. The large chocolate pieces were marvelous with some crunch to them. I loved that the chocolate espresso creme was not too sweet and quite enjoyable. The dusting of peanut powder really complimented the dessert and the feuilletine gave the dish that added bit of crunch.
While I can’t say I’m a huge fan of lemon desserts, I actually enjoyed this one – just the right amount of tartness and when enjoyed with the strawberries on the side gave it the right balance of sweet and tart.
I enjoyed my meal at Feast and looking at the prices on the menu, think that Feast is a very reasonable place to have a meal in West Vancouver. There are a lot of up and coming chefs and artisans coming from that area and it’s great to see it break the stereotypical mould of ‘stuffy’ West Vancouver. Feast is now open on Sundays and Mondays and I look forward in visiting again – their truffle mac and cheese caught my eye and so did their chicken and waffles made with bacon and pecan!
Please note my meal was paid for by Feast but all opinions are my own.