L'Abattoir- Restaurant Vancouver

Nancy and I have seasons tickets to the Playhouse this means than during the winter about once a month we get to go out for dinner and see a play midweek.  This is often an excuse to try out a new restaurant or sometimes to revisit old favourites.

Last Thursday was the first Play of the of the Season "The Fantastics" The play was fun and had one of my all time favourite songs in it "Time to Remember" this song always makes me feel nostalgic, but I am not really sure what for.  They did a good job of the production the singing was good and the buffoons were very funny.  Not the best musical ever, but a fun night any way.

For dinner we decided to try  l'Abattoir 217 Carrall St both of us had heard good things so thought it was time to go see for ourselves. It is situated on the edge of gas town close to the Woodward's building and around the corner from Blood Alley obviously where the name comes from.  

It was a beautiful sunny fall late afternoon and therefore walking through the rather sketchy neighborhood on my own felt just fine.  They do not take reservations so we had a back up plan of a couple of other good restaurants nearby if necessary, but not a problem, we got a table in the atrium space at the back.  I loved the wooden structure above us that made the space feel less cavernous and covering duct work while keeping the open light airy feeling.

Our server was helpful and pleasant Nancy ordered cocktail which among other things had a lavender flavoured liquor and a maraschino cherry, very interesting kind of like an alcoholic thrills gum.  I very conservatively ordered a red from Nichol winery in Naramata (my favourite wine district)

We decided to share a starter and after much discussion as there were several options of interest we chose the chicken salad with pickled cauliflower with foisgras mayonnaise.  It was the last two items that sold me I love fois gras and pickled cauliflower.

Chicken salad

The pickled cauliflower did not disappoint the pickling was mild but very tasty, it was not drowned in vinegar.  The chicken was somewhere between a mousse and a chicken sausage and was very tasty and went beautifully with every thing else.  I did not quite get the fois gras but there was another green vinaigrette on the plate which had a wonderful flavour. It was all served on a large crisp cracker that looked like an Asian shrimp cracker but in fact had no real taste but added a lot of texture.

For the main course I ordered the duck and Nancy ordered the pork, this made me happy as that was my second choice and of course she would share!

Duck two ways

Both were plated on large white round plates and were beautifully presented.  My duck was wonderful, in the centre was a duck breast cooked to perfection medium rare but not too rare and the skin was crispy  it was served on a simple but Delicious au jus sauce.  Surrounding it were balls of shredded duck leg meat which appeared to be deep fried and were succulent. Also there was pears purple carrots and plums.  Under the duck was some beautifully cooked spinach.  

Pork two ways

Nancy's dish was also excellent and consisted of pork tenderloin which also was perfectly cooked slightly pink and very moist I think it was served on a bed of cabbage and I can not remember what was on top (I was obviously too engrossed in my own dish) On the side was pork rib meat that was formed in to a cake and fried, this was topped with matchsticks of apple and was wonderful.  There was also a potato rosti of shredded potato cooked crisp on the outside and soft in the center.  Nancy commented that this was perhaps a little greasy and large, but in small amounts it was very good.  And yes like the good friend she is she shared.

We bailed on dessert as we had to get to the theatre but we downed an espresso before heading out.  All in all we really enjoyed the food the ambiance was good, and the service was excellent.

Our meal cost about $75.00 each which included two glasses of wine and coffee, but no dessert.  I felt it was worth the price and would definitely go again.