Folke — Restaurant in Vancouver

While visiting family in Vancouver, we enjoyed an evening at Folke on West Broadway for the first time. Let me start by saying, we aren’t vegan or vegetarian, but we enjoy eating a range of cultural food influences, spices, and we love trying something new! Have you ever had a meal where the creative, veggie side dish is truly the star of the show? Well, at Folke, the menu showcases many creative stars!

We were more than impressed with everything from the welcome we received upon entering, to the ongoing interaction with the chef/owners, their culinary team and staff throughout our meal, to our farewell. The ambiance of the restaurant immediately foreshadowed the amazing experience we were about to have. The casually elegant restaurant was nearly full of patrons having a great time eating, drinking and laughing. Clientele varied from a dressy family celebration to business dinners to casual couples enjoying a meal out. We selected a place on the patio on what was a very pleasant evening with many other guests. No one will feel out of place at Folke, you can come dressy or casual like us (polo shirts, shorts, capris and trainers).

We placed ourselves in the talented hands of the Folke team to share their creations with us over the next couple of hours. Pricilla, one of the chef/owners, recommended a bottle of a crisp Kelowna Rose (SeaStar) which had a very pleasant, and very distinct, savoury flavour. It complimented our meal beautifully. We enjoyed all our dishes “family style” so we could savour a taste of everything.

Our appetizers were a lovely assortment of tasting dishes that included, gourmet tater tots (yes, believe it or not … but they were a far cry from their namesake, grocery store variety), mini corn cobs with an East Indian spiced dressing and a hearty, in-house made rye bread with eggplant za’atar dip. All were flavourful and delicious.

Our main menu selections included a wide variety of tastes: First, we tried beets dressed with sweet pickled blueberries, crunchy toasted hazelnuts and hyssop served on salty, light crisps (amazing flavours and textures!). We all loved this dish, including my daughter who, as a child, was always one to hide the beets under her napkin when I cooked them! Next, a Mexican-influenced salad, with thin ribbons of watermelon and cucumber bites, sweet, pickled banana peppers, and (surprise!) cumin for a delightful, Indian fusion. The watermelon salad was a refreshing favourite. Next up… Zucchini… a beautifully plated, mix of crisp dried and tender bites served with a creamy golden mole and garnished with mint. Unbelievably, there was more… Chickpea Tofu and Pappardelle pasta. We enjoy tofu on occasion, but this dish opened a whole new world to us. The tofu is made in-house, it has a light, almost fluffy texture and is complemented by the sweetest bites of heirloom tomato and a sesame sauce. So special! Don’t miss this! Finally, the Pappardelle, the dish was presented by the young chef who prepared it, handmade wide noodles with heirloom tomato bites, fresh corn, flavourful sauce and in-house made vegan parmesan! Again, a dish to savour! The blend of textures, tastes and aromas complemented each other so well and gave our pallets a most pleasant workout.

Then our desserts followed and represented a great way to end our experience: “Corn” a vegan ice cream with fresh figs and whey caramel and Blueberry cake with Hojicha and Miso. Each was beautifully prepared, presented and, absolutely, lovely.

In addition to the fine food and extraordinary service, there's another thing diners should know: the wisdom and decency of the owners sees them paying their staff a living wage. As such, there is no tipping at this restaurant - their pricing includes their hospitality.

It is no mystery to us how this unassuming restaurant, with its talented team of young chefs, led by co-owner Colin, and staff could earn a place on the Michelin Guide. If you want a most memorable dining experience while visiting the beautiful city of Vancouver, put Folke...

My friend and I decided to go here a little last minute, but we were able to make a reservation on Sunday morning for 5:30 later that day. We had a fantastic time! Started off with a warm welcome from the staff into the restaurant. Decoration is on the simple side, but classy and welcoming. To start, our waitress offered to bring us samples of any of the drinks if we wanted to try something without committing. We were both really intrigued by the orange wine on the drink list since neither of us had tried orange wine before, so we asked for samples of that. They actually brought us each two samples: the wine from the menu, and another orange wine that they’d just brought in and wasn’t on the menu yet. The first tasted more conventional, the off-menu wine had a smoky taste yet went down easily. I was pretty into this one, but after two tastings I no longer felt the need for more alcohol, so I ended up ordering their Summer Soda instead, which was refreshing and only very mildly sweet. Our waitress advised us that for 2 people, they recommend 4-6 dishes, so we ordered the Beets, Tofu, Shishito, and Dumplings, plus the Plum dessert. The plates are all portioned for 2 people to share and the portions with this number of dishes worked out well for us - it was a very satisfying meal but I wasn't overstuffed. I think you could split the dinner plates with up to 4 people and everyone would still get a decent taste, but the dessert would be hard to split more than 2 ways, maybe 3. The plates were brought out one at a time, and someone from the kitchen explained each as they brought it. A few comments on each dish (they were all fantastic, this is just to give more detail than what you see on the menu) Beets: This was kind of like a tartare, and was served with crisps. I forget what they said the crisps were made of, but they were kind of different and very tasty, and also pretty light. I really liked the sweetness and floral notes in this one. Tofu: If I had to pick a favourite, this would be it! It was actually chickpea tofu, not soy tofu, which has its own texture and flavour. The tofu itself was very very nice, but the sauce ALMOST stole the show (and the radish, chile, and greens it was garnished with complimented the dish perfectly). I could've eaten that sauce by the spoonful. Shishito: This was relatively straightforward: shishito peppers, potatoes, and pickled onions in a simple soy-based sauce. What stood out was how everything was cooked to perfection and the quality ingredients. I'm not much of a potato person but I found myself enjoying the potatoes as much as the peppers here. Dumplings: Vietnamese-style mushroom filled dumplings in a light ponzu sauce. The flavours worked very well and the cooking was again top-notch. Plum: Fermented plum cake/tart with miso and citrus infusion, with cream and a crumble topping on the side! I loved that this included some unique flavours, yet even though the ingredients sound a little "out there", it wasn't one of those things where you eat it and it's overwhelming or strange at first, it was really very easy on the palate. Bonus Caramels: Not a proper dish we ordered off the menu, but they brought us each a caramel coated with nori flakes with our bills. I saved mine for the next day. The nori with the caramel was definitely a slightly funky combination, but I ultimately decided I was into it and it left me curious about other ways to incorporate nori in sweets, so this was a fun way to end the experience. Besides the great food, the staff was really amazing. Everyone was polite and passionate about the restaurant, and it was especially nice to be able to learn about the food directly from the chefs. This place could not have done...

Wow, a Michelin Guide restaurant that does not accept gratuity. That explains a whole lot – explains why the service is not up to the level we’ve come to expect at good restaurants in Vancouver, at least. Knowing this now helps me understand not to expect service since we don't have servers that attention to wipe tables of crumbs after each course, or placing appropriate fresh cutlery while reminding us what the kitchen will deliver next. You don't get that at Folke – which is in fact fine, it's simpler and more cost effective. In fact, the person who took our order thought we were done when we were still waiting for the last plate. Another person we asked if last dish was savoury or sweet didn’t get the hint that plates and cutlery were used with traces of savoury foods, and when we requested clean plates, we were asked to keep our knifes and forks which was weird. During our entire meal, no one asked us how we were enjoying the food, and the expeditor from the kitchen did not tell us what were on the plates presented. Now the food: I wasn’t successful ordering Baby Gem Salad because my partner thinks we eat enough lettuce at home. Okay then, our first course was Potato Rostii. I am glad the portions were delicate because of the glycemic index and we didn't precede this with some greens. These had probably been cooked and chilled before they can be cut to such perfection and deep fried. The crispy ‘skin’ was perfect, yummy (but unhealthy). Our second shared plate was Baked Strata, chickpea & tofu custard, sourdough, charred brassica, pumpkin seed parmesan. It was disappointing. My partner described it as “left over from my fridge that didn’t get warmed up properly”. Obviously, we shouldn’t have ordered two baked dishes back-to-back. Mushroom toast would have been a better second plate after the rostii. I was grateful for the few pieces of leaves on the strata. Our last plate was dutch baby because of our somewhat sweet tooth! But it was nothing like the Dutch Baby I used to make in my iron pan. It was deflated and made soggy by the creams and fruit on top, served in a round salad bowl. Definitely missing passion. We would have appreciated the pancake served straight out of a hot oven on the original hot iron pan, with the fruit and creams on the side. The granola was tough (hard) – my dentist—had he tasted it—would have shaken his head at me and said “no, no, don’t eat that and crack your teeth!” I was disappointed that we didn’t get to taste the mushroom toast as we were both full after the third shared plate. Will we come again? My partner thinks not – "I can drop you off if you want to eat here again next time." I will return though as I am grateful that Folke is there to provide an all-vegan menu. I wish Folke all the best and hope that they will be around for a long time to come. Apart from the deep fried mushrooms (chicken waffles), most everything is HEALTHIER than what’s served in the non Michelin vegan junk food places on Main Street. I love the fact that I can just order anything without having to worry that I might be ingesting egg or dairy. The Dietary Restrictions FAQ on their website says “We require 48 hours notice for dietary restrictions such as no onion and garlic.” At least they are willing to accommodate my health problems, yay! I will eat here again and try everything else. Dear folks at Folke...