Agent Will

Yesterday was my third wedding anniversary and what better way to celebrate than to take the wife to a patio in one of the trendier restaurants in Yaletown.  Goldfish Pacific Kitchen got the call and away we were.  First impressions:  This place is huge.  Space in Yaletown is not cheap and this restaurant/lounge takes up what would usually be occupied by three places.  First we were sat at a booth.  Comfortable, sure, but with some construction going on next door there was a weird low vibration that was driving me nuts so before our first drinks could be ordered we were moved to the back patio.  And what a move it was.  What must have been an old loading dock back in the day has become a peaceful oasis in the city.  Sitting on very comfortable and well pillowed patio sofas and surrounded by lots of greenery and flowers, we felt perfectly relaxed,  The sun was shining, the water fountain babbling, and the staff cheerful.  Sorry, no birds singing.

The food is a fusion of Pacific and Asian cuisine (very representative of Vancouver) and we sprung for the Prix Fixe menu which runs $25 per person for a three course meal and is available from 5pm-5:55pm.

She had the Corn Soup - a spicier concoction than what might be expected, Wild Salmon - in an Asian BBQ sauce served with a snow pea salad, and Ginger Creme Brule for desert.  I had the Mixed Greens to start with Arctic Char in Coconut and Lime sauce, and the Coconut and Chocolate Gelato.

To drink I had the Granville Island Pale Ale with dinner (I’m primarily a beer guy) and we both enjoyed the flat bottled water (from Italy… not sure why we drank bottled water from Italy.  Never really got that whole bottled water from the other side of the world thing when we have primo spring water available from the mountains of BC).  With dessert we both enjoyed some very nice lattes.

Let’s go a bit deeper into the atmosphere of the place.  It’s chilled out, relaxing, and very cool in a way that doesn’t offend.  The music was laid back down tempo beats and added to the “escapist” sense that I got from being on the patio.  You could go there, be in the centre of Vancouver, and just completely relax with much of the noise, hustle and bustle of the city left behind at the front door.  I’m not sure if I would have gotten the same sense inside which was dark and ambient but more “restauranty”.  Maybe I was just spoiled with the patio (patios on sunny days are always better).  It also looks like the patio (which is not huge in comparison to the inside capacity) was the first choice for everyone else, too.

Reviewing the food I’ll have to be more mixed.  The salad and soup were terrific.  The greens were very fresh and the apple slices complimented the dressing very well.  The soup was obviously made from scratch and initially had a sweet taste which was soon melding well with the spicy (not too spicy) kick which reminded me of Thailand (though not nearly spicy enough to take me back there).  The Arctic Char was, frankly, bland and a little overcooked.  It was the only let down of the meal.  The wife and I shared half of each fish and she definitely hit the jackpot with the Wild BC Salmon.  The sauce provided on the salmon didn’t overpower it but gave it a really pleasant boost.  I love salmon (raw or grilled) and would recommend going this route for anyone taking in a meal at Goldfish.  We also both really liked our Snow-pea salads.  Snow-peas often come in a salad but I’ve never seen them be the focus of one and this was delicious with the mix of pears tossed in.

The biggest surprise came with the desserts, however.  While the gelato was good, the ginger creme brule was outstanding.  Who’d have thought to put ginger in there?  Good call!  Only regret is that I didn’t order a whole one (they aren’t big) for myself.

If there’s to be one complaint it would be that the service was slow.  I don’t know who in the chain was holding things back (our meals always arrived hot) but it took much longer than expected to get each of our courses.  It wasn’t particularly busy at that early evening time so I wonder how it would be in the full swing of a Friday or Saturday dinner rush….

All in all, though, an outstanding meal in a city that can be quite competitive in their cuisine.  And to boot they did it all for what may be considered a reasonable price.  We left very happy, satisfied, and refreshed.  I’ve had clients ask me if such and such  a restaurant is any good, often in Yaletown, and my answer has always been that if they’ve been there for over a year then they must be good.  Rents are so very high down there and the number of choices are numerous so for a place to survive (and Goldfish has just past their one year anniversary) they must exceed expectations.  Did Goldfish do that for us?  Yes.

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen is located at 1118 Mainland (Mainland and Helmcken) in the heart of Yaletown and reservations can be made (recommended if you want a patio seat) by calling 604-689-8318.