Chambar – A Tale of Two Restaurants Part 2

For this story to make any sense while you’re reading it, you have to read Part 1 where we started the night out at nearby Wild Rice.  It’s not that we initially meant to go to two restaurants in one night… it’s just that Wild Rice was “the worst of times” as Dickens would have put it if he was writing about restaurants instead of French Revolution-era human nature, and we were anxious to move onto “the best of times”.

We’ve been to Chambar before during Dine Out Vancouver and remembered that the mussels were good.  Sure enough, almost every table in the restaurant had large black pots chock full of tasty bivalve mollusks.

We decided to share the Coquotte Mussels and Frites that comes in a white wine cream sauce with smoked bacon and spring onions and the Congolaise Mussels and Frites that comes in a tomato coconut cream sauce with smoked chili, lime, and cilantro.

The mussels were very tasty and very filling.  While there is plenty of broth, there are so many mussels in the pot that it’s hard to get to the broth and all the yummy fixin’s on the first few scoops.

The broth is very filling and is perfect for dipping with the frites.

We also tried the Les Tapas which includes a mix of calamari rings and escargot, mini croquettes filled with pork shoulder and trotter, and buffalo mozzarella served on a brioche french toast with tomato and olive tapenade.

We couldn’t leave without trying the Chef’s Selection Tasting Platter.  Time time around, it came with chocolate mousse, a sticky toffee pudding, a cherry-laden pastry puff and cinnamon ice cream along with some truffles for good measure.  Each dessert was pretty good alone but even better when you mix them up.

Chambar’s a great place to people watch – all of the servers are dressed immaculately and very attentive.  You might pay a little more for the service but it’s worth it.  All-in-all, we were very happy to stop here for supper after our earlier dinner problems at Wild Rice.

And so ends Part 2 of our Tale of Two Restaurants… bellies full and eyes sleepy from the wonderful food and warm atmosphere.   It was a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done;  it was a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

Food: 4.5 / 5
Service: 5 / 5

www.chambar.com

562 Beatty Street
Vancouver, BC

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