Published on Main — Restaurant in Vancouver

I'll start off by saying that this is my first visit to Published, I've heard great things leading up to their michelin status. Several friends recommended me to go, and as a self-proclaimed foodie, I wanted nothing more than to get excited over delicious food. My partner was sweet enough to make reservations months in advance for their tasting menu. (FYI, you have to pay in full with 20% tip at the time of booking your table online)

He was lucky enough to get a spot right on my birthday yesterday. Celebrating 3 years together and my 31st birthday, we were looking forward to dinner all day.

Food We are thankful that they were able to accommodate my pescatarian diet. (My partner was not able to have the regular menu as they asked both of us to have the pescatarian substitute) Our server presented us with a drink pairing, wine pairing and caviar to go along with the tasting menu. I splurged and was sold on the caviar. ($125 for a 30 gram tin)

Snacks An array of finger foods were placed on the table along with the caviar served with crème fraîche and mini madeleines. I particularly liked the one on the crisp that tastes like a fancy tuna salad. For the most part, this was great! The textures, the colours, the presentation, and flavours balanced left you wanting more. 8.5/10

Borscht A cold soup. Too sour. Too cold with the AC blasting. One dimensional. Maybe trying to serve as a palate cleanser? As the acidic beet taste burned the top layer of my tastes off. I couldn't stomach to finish it. 3/10

Side stripe shrimp Shrimp was plump, fresh, rich in flavor, and not overcooked. Could have done a better job at cleaning out the poop sack. Cucumber and horseradish liquid concoction reminded me of green juice smoothies. Overpowered the natural sweetness of the shrimp. 7/10

Hiramasa A whimsical take of sashimi. The addition of the colourful tapioca was a nice visual, bringing texted to a blank canvas of the fish. Heavy taste of dill. 7.5/10

Halibut First warm dish, dashi also tasted slightly of dill. Fish was flaky and not over cooked. Great presentation, wished that there were more veggies to bring out the savory elements of the dashi. 7.8/10

Agnolotti Homemade stuffed pasta, a tad on the oily side (also dill), the fresh hot tomatoes brought a refreshing aspect to a denser carb dish. 6.8/10

Slow Baked Salmon Sitting on top of a bed of green sauce that ALSO tasted like dill. It was also cooked well, not dry. The smokiness brought a different flavour compared to the previous dishes. 7/10

Brunost Tart No edible for me. My partner was ok with it. Cheese on top of green apple discs and fermented black apple butter. Too much going on and flavours did not marry well. 3.5/10

Meadow sweet Chewy beets, not so fitting with the subtle flavour of the creamy dollop. Couldn't distinguish what I was eating and didn't give me the satisfaction I would expect from a dessert. 5.5/10

Douglas Fir Malt crumb. Will taste like the hand towel that they give you to wipe your hands with after the snacks course. The texture was also off-putting. 4.8/10

I respect and understand the need for creativity and artistic expression from the chef and the team. They wouldn't have stood out to get the fame and recognition they have today without it. However, in my opinion, when that same creativity infringes upon the core reason why one would be excited to eat at a michelin star restaurant, it creates disappointment in one bite. While the dishes were pretty to look at and take pictures of, it was not yummy, not satisfying, not delicious. Small things, like the AC being slightly too strong, printing out the menu for us to take home but the menu was on low grade paper, not cut straight and not folded evenly. I didn't understand the purpose of printing it at that point. I am still so happy and proud of them for contributing to Vancouver's gastronomy scene. Perhaps it was not the best rotation of their menu. Perhaps I set my expectations for this restaurant a little too high due to its preceding reputation. Perhaps other things.

Left much...

How this restaurant has a Michelin star and was once ranked the #1 restaurant in all of Canada is beyond belief to me. But to be fair, I didn’t get much of a chance to try the menu.

I made an online reservation for one at the bar. I should preface this by saying that the OpenTable reservation system they use doesn’t allow solo diners to book the tasting menu.

I assumed I could simply request the tasting menu upon arrival, as this has never been an issue at other upscale Michelin-starred restaurants I’ve visited—both in Vancouver and elsewhere. Typically, guests are able to upgrade to the tasting menu or switch from à la carte on-site. However, when I arrived, I was told it had to be pre-booked online. I explained that the system wouldn’t allow solo diners to make such a reservation and even demonstrated this issue on my phone. It was only after some initial pushback on my part that the staff agreed to check whether an exception could be made—but unfortunately, the final verdict was still no.

Generally, I would’ve been okay with the situation—until one of the staff members told me it was my responsibility to follow up with an email after making the reservation. I explained that this defeats the entire purpose of using an online reservation system, which is supposed to be easy and convenient. On top of that, it didn’t even occur to me, as most upscale restaurants don’t have a phone or respond to emails. She then claimed it was stated on their website, but when I asked her to show me where—since I couldn’t find anything—she didn’t respond.

So my experience began with a so-called Michelin-starred restaurant gaslighting me into thinking it was somehow my fault for not pre-booking an experience that their own reservation system makes impossible to do so. (Slow clap.)

I stayed for three dishes but didn’t make it to the third. I don’t expect every course to be a home run, but the first dish—white asparagus—was underwhelming, though generally okay. The second dish—fried maitake—was basically deep-fried sodium. After attempting to eat it, I asked the waitress to return it to the kitchen. I mentioned twice that it was overly seasoned but got little to no acknowledgment—just a passive removal of my plate. I was genuinely trying to understand whether A) it was meant to taste that way and I just have a sensitive palate, or B) it was over-seasoned by the kitchen. Instead, what I saw from my seat was her whispering to the manager behind the counter, which came off as unprofessional. I would’ve much preferred a direct conversation about the dish.

By this point, I assumed both the manager and staff could tell I was enduring an unhappy, forced dinner. The manager eventually came over to speak with me and offered a $50 gift card for a future visit, which I declined and frankly found insulting. We had a civil back-and-forth: I expressed my dissatisfaction with the experience, and he attempted to rationalize the staff’s behavior. In the end, we agreed it would be best to cut the dinner short, and the two dishes were on the house. I left and have no intention of returning.

To the owner of Published on Main:

Direct your efforts toward properly training your staff to handle situations like this, rather than allowing them to sour the customer experience. Some of your staff’s responses to my concerns were truly baffling. Improve quality control in the kitchen—it’s clear I’m not the only one raising concerns about over-seasoning. Streamline your online booking system or provide clear prompts regarding reservation requirements.

There was nothing even close to a Michelin Star experience about your restaurant.

Otherwise, you can find me at the bar at...

My experience sort of went off the rails for my first visit, unfortunately.

I arrived five minutes early (5:15 bar reservation) and was told that it will just be a minute, so I waited outside on a bench (the waiting area is a bit small, with only two chairs inside, which were in use by a couple). This took me by surprise: I've been doing a bit of a.. Michelin tour over the past month, and arrived five minutes early at AnnaLena and was seated right away. Similarly, arrived about 10 minutes early to Burdock & Co. and got seated right away.

There also seemed to be an issue with my reservation. I'm fairly confident I booked a tasting menu, and if I look at my browser history, I see "Summer Tasting Menu", followed by an Open Table "Your Reservation" page. Somehow wires got crossed and when the maitre d' seated me, relayed that it would be an a la carte menu. I was immensely bummed out (for my "tour" I've been making the trip up to Vancouver from Seattle area on Fridays/Saturdays).

Adversity be damned, I thought, let's salvage this and have a good time!

For the a la carte menu, I think I may have been given too much rope. Left to my own devices, I made some guesses at dishes I thought would be Published hits/favorites. I felt the majority were misses for me. The organization was a bit hard to derive any cohesion: it was noted that it was light to heavy, but, then salads appeared right in the middle?

For small bites I had the "Aebleskiver" and "Smoked and candied steelhead". Both were pretty tasty and had great sauces, but Aebleskiver stood out as the clear winner, and I think may have been my favorite of the night.

For a, first?, course I had the "Brezeln". The pretzel came warm and was texturally really comfy. Flavor good. The butter was nice, but did not wow me. I was most looking forward to the honey, as it was highlighted in the menu, but it was such a small amount it only lasted around two bites. My first thought was: why be so stingy with that?

Next up I had the sungold tomatoes. I was stoked about these, as previous week I had the "tomato dashi" at Burdock, and was blown away. I think these are from the same source. So incredibly good, and honestly can standalone. There were some flower petals which enhanced the visuals/plating. Unfortunately the tasty paste 6.0 I found overly salty.

Last up was "wagyu beef" deconstructed taco(?). The wagyu tartar was good. The pico de gallo was interesting, but the spice level I found too timid. This dish felt like it was having an identity crisis. After living in LA for 4 years, my bar for anything resembling Mexican is high, and this didn't do much for me. I made this the terminal course, hailed the barkeep for a double espresso and bounced shortly after.

For the space:

My position at the bar put me right under the flow of cold air from the HVAC, glad I wore long sleeves. My ears were a bit chilly most of the evening.

I was adjacent to the bar staging area, and got bumped by staff once when they were ferrying drinks.

I found the music/soundtrack to clash with most everything about the interior design. I did not feel (or, failed to understand) the ambiance.

Kudos: I think the staff and Aaron realized I was not a happy camper, and chipped in some lovely chocolates and a gift card.

I will definitely be back for round two with some lessons learned, and will update the review...