First Night in Vancouver - First Nation Food

I completed the last post, which was quite long before getting to dinner on Monday night. This allows me to give plenty of space to the lovely meal we had this evening.

Travelling across Vancouver

Our Bus Route to and from the Restaurant

We left the hotel at 5:30pm and walked the 0.1 of a mile to the Bus stop at Marine Drive and Capilano Road. We caught the 246 bus to downtown, this was a very comfy bus, similar to those in New York with announcements before each stop, making life very easy for strangers like us.  The journey was only 8 stops, but was five miles, as it includes going over the Lions Gate Bridge and through Stanley Park before arriving in downtown Vancouver where we had to change at Georgia St and Granville St  and make a short walk to catch the 17 bus to Oak and Broadway. The ticket is $2.95 (£1.77) each and can be paid by cash, as we did, or by card (as I did on the return). The ticket covers travel across the network in a 90 minute slot, so we did not have to pay on the second bus.

The Lions Gate Bridge provides an impressive view of the City, but there was no way of taking photos from the Bus. 

The No17 gets us into Fairview, the area of the City we had booked to eat in at 6:25pm only an hour and five minutes before our booking. I'm afraid this is typical of me, I'd rather be an hour earlier than a few minutes late, and being in a strange City I thought there would be some challenges in the journey, but there were not.

We walked around Fairview, which is the other side of the City from where we are staying. It sits on the opposite bank of the False Creek from downtown Vancouver. We went down to Charleson Park and had a pleasant walk with others who were taking the air this evening. 

Vancouver from Fairview - the view is not so fair as the smoke is still sitting over the City

We got back to the restaurant at 7.15pm and were seated straight away. Drew had spotted the restaurant on Trip Advisor as it is one of the few First Nation restaurants in Vancouver. It was worth the effort of finding.

Dinner

The restaurant, called the Salmon n'Bannock after two of its specialisms, is decorated in native style and had a wonderful menu full of food I love to eat. It was hard to make the decision on what we chose.

First Nation Art

For starters I chose Wild Pulled Boar, this was served with house made barbecue sauce and bannock crackers. One might think this would be similar to pulled pork, but the rich gameyness of the boar gave it a whole other dimension. The barbeque sauce was not sweet and sticky as some are, rather it was mellow and spicy, perfect with the boar.

Pulled Boar

Drew ordered Mushrooms on Toasted Bannock with a bison demi-glace and brie. The bannock on this occasion was used as a base for the dish and the sauce was rich and delicious. The mushrooms were also full of flavour making the whole dish a superb way to start the meal. 

Mushroom and Toasted Bannock

To drink I ordered the Zevia 0 calorie cola, this was fascinating, as it tasted like cola, but looked like lemonade. Drew was so intrigued after tasting it that he took a photo of my glass, it was very tasty. Drew had the Berry soda which was full of the taste of freshly crushed blueberries with a hint of a sharper berry.

Why does my brain not believe my tastebuds

For main course I went with the night's special which was described as Sole Fish and Shrimp all freshly caught on the west coast (i.e. near here). The sole was what I would call Lemon Sole and the shrimps were tiny little creatures. They were cooked in a beurre blanc sauce, which is a bit to creamy for me. But the sole and shrimp were so well cooked I could ignore the sauce. 

Sole and Shrimp - with Bannock in the foreground

Drew opted for the local Deer Sausage, these were plumb, different in texture from the venison sausage I am familiar with in Wales, and just perfect for Drew. Both our mains were served with mashed potatoes, corn and asparagus. 

Drew's Deer Sausage

Drew completed the evening with a sage blueberry rice pudding, the flavour of which was so amazing that he didn't want to stop eating it.

Sage blueberry rice pudding

An absolutely wonderful place, with great service and amazing food. We even didn't mind getting the bill when it was served in such a nice box

The Bill Box

We had arrived at 7.15pm and departed at 8.55pm a pleasure to eat at a gentle and relaxed pace, something which is less common in North American than at home. 

The Journey Back

We left the restaurant at 8:55pm and repeated our journey in the opposite direction. We caught the 17 to Downtown at 9.08pm and the 240 from Downtown to North Vancouver at 9.39pm arriving back at the hotel at 9.55 and feeling content went straight to bed.