There was a birthday to celebrate on January 15, and Chambar was definitely on the list of restos to visit early on in my Vancouver residency.
I’d been there once before about five years ago for a business meeting and I remember that it was a very nice experience.
You can tell by the featured image (from Tourism Vancouver) that they spared no expense in making the joint look good.
The Chef (Nico Schuermans – who I believe is Belgian – by reading his bio) appears to have quite the pedigree and is well travelled in his work CV.
Now, on to the show. And full transparency, I didn’t keep the bill – and some of the items on the menu on the website now appear to be different from what I remember us having.
The group started with a round of Maison Gardet Champagne, which was off the rails good; dry, crisp, and flavourful.
And the wine of the evening was the ‘Mt. Jefferson Cuvée’ from one of my favourite Pinot regions in the world, Willamette Valley in Oregon; it was so good that we ordered a second bottle.
To get things going, we started off with a green salad (of some sort), Les Coquilles St. Jacques (seared with tobiko butter, confit of purple potatoes, pickeled daikon, nori, and sesame seeds), mixed olives with pistachios, as well as grilled sourdough bread.
The scallops were definitely the star; tender, seared just right, and flavourful with the accompanying ingredients.
The birthday girl and I both ordered Moules Frites, she, the Congolaise, and the Vin Blanc for me. We both tried each others and agreed that we ordered the right one for ourselves. I found them to be simple, yet delicious. And the fries were also quite nice. The portion was probably a little larger than it needed to be, but it’s nice, especially if you’re out with friends and you want your dinner to last a long while – nibbling as the conversations linger. I love fries, and will never leave any leftovers, but I didn’t finish mine, as the amount of mussels made it difficult.
Our friends ordered the Truite Arc-En-Ciel (which is Steelhead trout) served with sorrel, romanesco broccoli, japanese sweet potato, yuzu, and dijon butter as well as the Ricotta gnocchi which was prepared with roasted celeraic puree, gremolata, rapini, romesco sauce, parmigiano, and walnuts. By their accounts, their dinners were very nice.
I believe we ordered everything on the dessert menu (which was three or four items) – the only items I remember are an Apple Crumble, as well as a chocolate dessert. But, I remember everything being good.
Overall – it was a superb evening in a lovely spot (we had a corner table), with lovely people. The only part of the evening we regret, was leaving behind a lovely bunch of birthday flowers that our friends brought for the birthday girl.
The service was perfect.
The decor is fantastic. See some more gallery photos below from their website.
Return: Without a doubt
Rating: 8/10
Vikas Sharma 
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