Looking for the best French cuisine in Metro Vancouver? Let food critic Mia Stainsby guide you.
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Oui, chef! You don’t have to hop a flight all the way France to taste fine dining.
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So we’ve compiled a selection of her reviews to help you decide where to go next time you’re in the mood for French cuisine.
This roundup includes several years of French-containing posts from our resident restaurant expert. Information such as hours and menu items may not be up to date, so please check with individual eateries for additional details.
We’ve also included the original publication date of each review, along with the original link, so you can read the full article.
Mèreon
Where: 1479 Clyde Ave., West Vancouver
“On the current menu, I fed my weakness for beef bourguignon ($32), even though it’s not a summery dish. The air-conditioned dining room helps keep it timeless. The meat is a 50-50 blend of hangar steak and trim from the steak au poivre tenderloin. The dish didn’t disappoint. A house-smoked sablefish ($38) was delicate and nicely cooked with a golden crust and served over celeriac purée.
“Foie gras terrine ($26) was 100 per cent foie, except for a wine marinade. It was served with muscat gelée, pickled enoki, and house-made brioche toast. The too-beige dish could use a splash of bright colour — some brandied cherries? A sprig of frisée?”
Collective Goods Bistro
Where: 3532 Commercial St., Vancouver
“Dinner menu starters are $15 to $21 and mains run from $28 to $46 and have the heart and soul of a classic French bistro with dishes such as Coquille St. Jacques, bouillabaisse and steak frites, but there’s some off-roading with items like Piri Piri Hen, an homage to the previous Portuguese restaurant, Casa Verde, which had a barbecued version.
“I relished everything I ordered, starting with a gorgeous chicken liver mousse with fermented camomile honey, preserved fruit and grilled sourdough. Chicken livers are cooked sous vide and blended with barely-there amounts of vanilla, orange, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper. It’s a super light, creamy, ethereal mousse.”
St. Lawrence Restaurant
Where: 269 Powell St., Vancouver
“I visited St. Lawrence in September and had an unpretentious but refined and ethereal Normandy dinner. The region is famous for apples, Calvados, cider, Camembert cheese, cream sauces and oysters. Normandy also happens to be where his family originated generations ago.
“From the add-ons I had a traditional dish — Normandy on an oyster shell. A large oyster sat on brunoise-cut apples and shallots, sautéed in butter and deglazed with Calvados. It was topped with a slice of Camembert. For my appetizer I had veal sweetbreads and side stripe shrimp in puff pastry with Normande sauce.”
Origo Club
Where: 6888 River Rd., Richmond
“Pan’s food is elegant and modern and sticks to French classics with spikes of Asian flavours. I found dishes weren’t consistent but one that I tried was absolutely sublime. That was the duck breast ($38), with five-spice seasoning, fish consommé, orange-glazed endive, carrot purée, and fried leeks. It was tender, juicy, filled with duck flavour — the best I’ve had in a long time.
“To start, a kale salad Lyonnaise ($16) was a towering, substantial and tasty dish with smoked oyster mushrooms, pickled fennel, comté and fresh cheeses. A little less dressing and it would have been a lighter, floatier delight.”
“Mussels and clams with andouille sausage, tomato, garlic and chili sauce ($23) had a delicious full-bodied sauce. The seafood was fresh but I wished for bigger mussels and for some French bread to sop up the sauce. But oysters ($4.50 each) with mignonette pearls and horseradish were plump and gorgeous.”
The French Table
Where: 3916 Main St., Vancouver
“On my first visit, I loved the appies but thought the entrées were more of a ‘like.’ Pan-fried sweetbreads with kohlrabi remoulade were excellent and the escargot with garlic butter had me purring at its garlic-infused approach to the table. Coq au vin and bouillabaisse, however, were merely fine. The chicken wasn’t flavour-filled or soused with red wine; the seafood wasn’t stellar.
“Next visit, I loved the frisée salad with soft-poached egg and lardons, and seared scallops with garlic apple emulsion were excellent. Duck confit cassoulet with Toulouse sausage and braised pork provoked my husband to keep visiting my plate with fork in hand. Meanwhile, I attacked his New York steak and absorbed most of his pomme frites.”
Mon Pitou
Where: 1387 West Seventh Ave., Vancouver
“The croque madame was made with great ingredients including Beyond Bread’s sourdough. My French toast was made with a lovely house-made brioche bread but I found it was overwhelmed by melting chantilly cream, maple syrup and whipped mascarpone banana cream between the two slices. Meats are from Two Rivers and eggs are from ethically raised chickens and except for the breads, everything’s house made.
“To finish, we shared a lovely apple galette with almond marzipan base and flaky pastry. Other choices from the bakery counter: Their signature triple chocolate brownies and carrot cake, once popular at farmers markets. The “super moist and nicely spiced” carrot cake is Hawes’ grandparents’ recipe. I also spied pavlova with lemon curd, scones, financiers, madeleines, croissants, chocolate cake, vegan croissants and a daily savoury galette. We bought the latter with an onion and mushroom filling to take home that was tasty but a little heavy on salt.
Le Crocodile by Rob Feenie
Where:909 Burrard St., Vancouver
“Le Crocodile by Rob Feenie isn’t Strasbourg’s Au Crocodile, nor is it Vancouver’s Le Crocodile, or his groundbreaking Lumiere — it embodies them all, tweaked, reshaped. It has the beautiful way with sauces he learned in Strasbourg, a lighter version of Michel Jacob’s French classics, and the artistry of Lumiere.
“Distilling decades of cooking, Feenie finds meaning, drive, and inspiration in memories and personal connections. And like that emotive guest, if you pressed Feenie, he’d probably cry, too, in recounting his food journey. ‘It’s really about memories for me. I think it’s just memories,’ Feenie says. ‘I’m humbled by what they taught me.’”