L'Abattoir — Restaurant in Vancouver

We went to L'Abattoir for dinner last Friday night (08.27.21) to celebrate our first two months of marriage (because why not) and because my husband had still not yet been to this Gastown gem despite all of our foodie adventures.

If you're looking to mark a special occasion, note that you'll definitely want to make a reservation at least 2 weeks in advance - even during the pandemic! My hubby made the reservation and was shocked that finding a table would be so difficult, but I assured him it was worth it.

It's the perfect venue for an intimate, cozy, and fun dinner whether it's date night, a night out with friends or coworkers, or showing visitors the best of the Vancouver restaurant scene.

We were seated in the back space which is a glass enclosure facing the inner courtyard of Gaoler's Mews, complete with twinkle lights and exposed brick walls.

Andrew was our server for the evening and provided impeccable service from start to finish - extremely knowledgable, attentive, and welcoming without being intrusive. We were extra lucky as he's also (one of?) the sommeliers, so he was able to give us suggestions on wine pairings based on other wines we liked and what we were planning to eat. He was a joy.

On to the food!

We started with a round of the Paper Seaplane cocktails (Woods amaro, Boulard calvados, Cocchi americano rosa, tart orange, avocado pit and oat orgeat, bitters), which we both loved. It was woods-y, and citrus-y goodness without being too sweet despite the calvados.

We then ordered the starter of pan-fried veal sweetbreads on toast (pickled shallots, sauce gribiche with veal tongue in it) - it was delicious and the presentation was beautiful (really). As the name indicates, it's one piece of toast fully loaded which made sharing a little difficult if you're hoping to preserve the presentation. Regardless, it was excellent. If you're a fan of sweetbreads (or have just been curious about 'em), I would recommend starting here. It smelled amazing and so we dove in immediately, and forgot to snap a photo before we were half-way through the toast (not so beautiful) but it's a popular dish so check out the other photos for reference.

Their famous bread basket was also delivered to the table and included 3 different types of carb-y goodness, including a cheese and bacon roll; a sardine twist pastry, and a homemade cracker loaded with seeds and spices. The twist and cracker were our faves.

For our next starter, we ordered the chilled marinated octopus (saffron emulsion, chili, crispy potato) and it was the food highlight of the evening for me. Again, the presentation was well executed and all of the flavours and textures worked perfectly together (see photo).

It was then time to move on to wine so in perusing the list and bouncing some ideas with Andrew, we opted for a French Malbec (can't resist teasing our Argentinian friends). We had the Château Les Croisille '19 Malbec which was pleasant - juicy fresh raspberry, pomegranate and blackberry fruit with a smooth and supple finish. Easy to drink, though not particularly interesting or memorable.

For our main, we shared the Thiessen Farm quail with smoked and grilled foie gras (stone fruit, Tokyo turnips, escarole). Once again, the presentation was gorgeous (see photo) and the flavours were bang on - the little parcels of foie gras were divine and melted in your mouth. This was my husband's food highlight of the evening. The quail was succulent and paired perfectly with the bright fruit flavours.

Ultimately, we were too full for dessert but Andrew surprised us with a celebratory glass of bubbly each to help mark the occasion. A perfect end to a perfect evening - thank you to Andrew and the entire L'Abattoir team for making the evening so special for us! We can't 'til...

Came here because I’ve heard many great things and thought dineout was the perfect opportunity to try them out. When you walk in, the place is quite intimate and perfect for a date night. The service was the first thing I noticed, our server was very attentive and right as we finished dishes, they were taken away. Food pacing was also nicely done where we weren't waiting too long for anything. I think this is one of my favourite things about L’Abbatoir.

As for the food, we started with the L’Abbatoir bread service. It’s a Fantail roll, which is bread that’s layered with butter - soft in the middle with a good bite on the outside, pulling apart by layers. It came with a side of sauvagine cheese that was garnished with tomato powder and few other things. This was honestly a must order for me, my boyfriend and I couldn’t get over how delicious it was. We were both impressed - it was such an indulgent, buttery treat but probably my favourite item out of all the food we had!

Back to dineout, we got the sunchoke gratin and ocean trout mi-cuit for appetizers. The sunchoke gratin was very average, I wouldn’t recommend it as it's nothing special, especially for the price-point. The trout on the other hand was cooked perfectly. It was very tender and I felt the side of potato escabeche was a unique but well-paired combo - acidity always helps with fishiness, especially when the fish is a bit raw . This is an appetizer I would recommend to the seafood lovers out there. For entree’s we got the pork and chicken pithivier and European sea bass. I’m more of a seafood person, so I liked the European sea bass a lot more. I honestly didn’t think the pork sausage and chicken went well together, it was in larger chunks and not very flavourful - thank god they had a sauce to go with it. The pie outside crust could’ve been more crisp, just seemed flat and chewy. The sea bass was simple, I think it was pan seared or shallow fried and simply seasoned with salt. The additions to the plate were well done - roasted red pepper sauce added a mild kick of spiciness, the potatoes were perfectly crunchy and the humbolt squid was very tender. Sometimes squid can be a bit chewy when overcooked. The only thing was the skin of one of the fish was too charred, but not a big deal. Lastly, for dessert we got the sticky toffee pudding and dark chocolate ganache. Both desserts were good, but the sticky toffee pudding was a banger. It tasted like banana bread with toffee syrup and you’d think it’d be way too sweet, but it wasn’t. The mascarpone helped balance the sweetness and added creaminess so it was sweet and indulgent, but just the right amount. I’d definitely order that again in a heartbeat. The dark chocolate ganache was a significantly lighter portion, but it looked really pretty. The raspberry sorbet went well with the dark chocolate, but I was quite impressed by the earl grey jelly (or something like that). They did a really good job of bringing out the floral taste within the earl grey and paired well with the dessert as a whole.

Overall, I’m a fan of this place. Not all the dishes hit home, but the ones that did were amazing (bread, trout and the sticky toffee pudding). It’s not a cheap place to dine and it’s reflected in the ambiance, service and quality of food. This is definitely a great place when they have promo’s like dineout, but I can also see myself returning for a date night or celebration. I had a great dining experience and if you’re willing to spend the money, I don’t think you’ll be...

Beyond happy that we chose to celebrate our anniversary this year with the chef’s menu and BC wine pairing at L’Abattoir. The food, service and atmosphere were all superb, and this was one of the top dining experiences of our life.

In addition to the bread service (sooo good), the chef’s menu consisted of 10 items - each one super delicious. It was truly challenging to pick our favourites. Definitely highly recommend the steak tartare, smoked steelhead trout, pacific oyster, lamb, and summer berry tart. I’ve never eaten oysters before and the cooked oysters with truffle and garlic butter were so amazing that we will come back just to have them. The lamb was from another world. The berry tart is one of the most memorable desserts.

One of the menu items was a gazpacho soup. At the beginning of the meal the server/host asked us if we had any allergies. I noted that I could not have tomatoes and that my partner would just eat my portion. I was not expecting any accommodations based on the information provided on the website in advance, and knowing that a lot of effort is placed in preparing each dish on the menu. The server informed us that the chef would be able to provide an alternative, a surprise dish for myself in place of gazpacho. The alternative turned out to be a refreshing and delicious hamachi. It was one of the highlights of the night. On top of this, the sommelier adjusted the wine pairing to ensure that I had a complimentary wine to accompany hamachi. Very heart warming.

While each wine was nicely paired with the dishes, the Quails’ Gate ‘14 Chardonnay (Stewart Family Reserve) in particular stood out.

The service was spot on throughout the entire evening - prompt, professional and personable. Every member of the team made us feel welcome and cared for.

The overall ambiance was wonderful. We sat on the upper level, which was spacious and comfortable. The lights got dimmer as the night went on. We also enjoyed the soundtrack.

While we have tasted chef menus at other high-end restaurants, this was the first instance where both my partner and I loved every single dish. The service and ambiance elevated the culinary experience. L’Abattoir exceeded our expectations in every regard. Thank you for a wonderful time that we will cherish for...