Forage

One of the best meals I’ve ever had. Great service too.
Ordered from absolutely amazing to still good:
1 — pan bread with spicy honey and cheddar. Out of this world
1 — mushrooms. So so good. Both of these dishes were a great value for the money.
3 — quinoa dish. Very solid, cool pairing with the yogurt side thing, definitely enjoyed it
4 — seafood chowder. Mixed on this. For $ 8 and quite filling, its one of the better dishes for «bang for your buck». Chock full of fresh seafood which was great. Liked the quail egg too. Cons: chewy chicharron was not good, sort of fishy taste
This would be a great choice for a nice date out or special dinner of some kind.

Visiting from LA with my wife and 4 month old baby, stopped in here for Sunday brunch. Staff was very accommodating to our stroller and other baby needs. Food was good although not amazing and the service was sweet although not speedy. Reasonably priced and above average (except for the scones. Kinda blah).

The brioche French toast I ordered was really delicious. ($ 15) The only reason I rate it lower was because of the service. The waiter was very rude. Otherwise, the food was pretty good.

This is kind of a family style meal. We ordered forage and cultivated mushroom, stinging nettle risotto, ling cod special, asparagus fiddlehead and braised octopus. I really liked the nettle risotto and fiddle head. I felt the cod was kind of salty. Also the octopus felt a little undercooked. To drink, I ordered the forage trio 3 beers: hoyne pilsner, killer bee, and strange fellows. The beers were all good depending on your taste preference. Service was good here as well. This is a good place especially if someone in your party is a vegetarian. Overall, very fresh foods.

A great farm-​to-​table, locally sourced, taste good, feel good little restaurant.
Who: x3
What: (In order of fav to least)
1. duck breasts with liver pâté puffs — really really delicious and well cooked. The skin of the duck breast was crispy and overall very well-​seasoned. The rhubarb sauce added a interesting sweet and sour element to an otherwise savoury dish. We were not huge fans of the puffs filled with liver pâté — but it certainly added points for the presentation (which was beautiful).
2. pork jowl carbonara — just a perfect, perfect dish of carbonara. I enjoy very savoury things and this was very savoury but some of my companions complained that it was too salty. The generous amounts of «pork jowl» (essentially fancy bacon) was a bit too fatty for my taste — but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this immensely.
3. stinging nettle risotto — a very earthy tasting dish. it was quite refreshing after the carbonara but i wouldn’t order this expecting the normal, creamy risotto that most people are used to.
4. Braised octopus — not a fan of this dish. The cold noodles were really bland and the octopus itself had a slightly bitter taste. It was very fresh seafood though.
NY cheesecake tart — not given a ranking because it’s dessert. Love the crumbly crust and light, cheesecake fillings. The same rhubarb sauce used in the duck appeared again here, and was very welcomed.
When: Tues — 7:30pm. We made reservations. It wasn’t too busy though.
Where: Simple, up-​scale décor and convenient location on Robson street.
During dinner, they had a draw for a piece of duck confit from their kitchen to take home. We didn’t win the draw but it was fun to watch. The service was absolutely lovely and attentive.

We came here for Sunday brunch and had a great meal! The food was excellent, the service was very good, and the setting was modern and inviting.
My husband and I started our meal by sharing a fig and rosemary scone, which was delicious! I then had the turkey sausage hash for my entrée — it was flavorful and not too heavy. The house made sourdough toast was a great accompaniment. My husband got the ham hash, which he unfortunately found too rich and heavy. We ended our meal by sharing a half order of the brioche French toast with rhubarb purée — it was delightful!
The service was friendly, helpful, detail oriented, and attentive.
The setting is bright, modern, and inviting (though a bit loud).
Overall, a great spot!

We came here for breakfast on a Sunday morning. The place is very nice. They take reservations, and it was not very hard to find a suitable reservation on short notice
I got the the goat cheese & mushroom omelette and my girlfriend got a classic benny and replaced the bacon with tomatoes. The food was very good, but nothing special. We also shared an order of french toast.
I think this is a very good restaurant but for me… it does not standout as anything extraordinary. The staff is nice. I would come back here for the food for sure.

I came here on a Saturday night and was advised to make a reservation which I did
The service was extremely friendly
I was with a vegetarian friend and was glad there were plenty of vegetarian options
The dinner is sharing style, we ordered a green risotto and mussel fries. The mussel fries were super flavourful and packed with a punch. The risotto I thought was average but that’s likely cause I usually like meat/​seafood in mine. Overall it was a light dinner with good service, would definitely recommend!

Amazing tastes of Canada, excellent service and reasonable prices. Highly recommended!

We made reservation online for brunch on a Sunday and got a table right away last year. We didn’t make reservation today. We got two seats at the bar waiting for a short period of time only. It was pretty good.
Our server who worked at the bar was busy making drinks for other customers. It took him a bit longer to take our orders. However, he was trying to be nice to us and meet our needs.
We enjoyed the food overall. We would not say the food was the best in town but the quality was good in downtown Vancouver and the restaurant could maintain the quality and service last year and this year.
We ordered a coffee as well. We enjoyed the coffee as we saw the restaurant was not too busy that nobody was waiting at the door. We just took our time to finish the drinks and paid our bill on a relaxed Sunday.
We had a good experience here. We wouldn’t mind to come back for brunch, lunch or dinner next time. We would highly recommend to make reservation online (e.g. Open Table), so it would be shorten the wait time for sure and you could find out their availability right away.

I got the seafood chowder, nicely presented on a wooden plate! Don’t be fooled by the small bowl — it’s quite rich! Really creamy with some scallops and fish. I actually prefer it without the egg. The chicharrón was visually interesting though I found it a little chewy. Nice flavours, though I think I’d try something new next time.
My friend got the braised octopus with cold noodles, spicy kelp and pickles. The octopus was incredibly tender, nothing like the texture of squid… it melted in your mouth like steamed tilapia!
The morels were packed with delicious flavour in the pork and mushroom carbonara. I must say though, that dish was really greasy.
I love the whole concept of forage food and local sustainable dining. Many unique and fancy foods on the menu. What took this experience up a notch was the service. Sebastia, our waiter had such personality and passion. He was happy to explain the menu, offer us drinks and checked in with us all evening. A dinner to remember!

What a delicious dinner we enjoyed here. First off the décor and vibe is totally cool. Secondly they use all local foods and the server said they even make their own honey.
Four plates was more than plenty for the two of us. We started off with the arugula salad. I love arugula and it was simple, nothing crazy but simply very good.
Second we had the mushroom salad. Sounds plain and kind of weird, but it was delicious. The mushrooms are cooked in shallots and garlic, tons of flavor and served on toast. The goat cheese on top is subtle and a nice touch.
Third we actually had a mixture of two dishes. I can’t have raw/​non-​fully cooked fish right now and we really wanted the seared tuna dish so our server suggested to have the halibut fully cooked on the bedding and dressing of the tuna dish. It had a popcorn butter cream sauce that was so good! One of the best fish plates I’ve had out at a restaurant.
Lastly we had the octopus with cold noodles. This I would pass on. It was okay and I definitely would’ve left nicely satisfied with just three dishes.

Daaayyyuuum. Yep. It was that good.
From the moment I made the reservation to the second I paid my bill — wow. I can’t believe this restaurant is not more known.
Vegetarian Wife — Happy
Meat whore husband — Happy
Well tipped waiter — Happy
Need I say more. Stop reading, start eating.

I think I can die happy. We came here for brunch and I may never come across a place as amazing as this one ever again. It’s okay though, it just means I get to go back!
Customer Service: 4.5÷5, the staff there were amazing, the only thing to be aware of is the fact that there are so many people running around that it may be hard to wave down the right server for your table. Everyone is ridiculously nice though, so don’t be scared to ask for someone if you need anything.
Food: 5/​5, absolutely beyond amazing! I ordered the «two free-​range eggs, crispy potatoes,
house-​made toast,» with the choice of fruit (can choose bacon or sausage if you’d like), my friend ordered the «alpine juniper duck confit frittata, brie, roast garlic, arugula» and added a side of crispy potatoes and bacon, and my other friend ordered the «foraged and cultivated mushrooms, Okanagan goat cheese, grilled caraway rye.» Everything was delicious, the frittata was a bit creamier than my friend was used to for her taste palette, but that wasn’t a surprise as there was a lot of cheese in the dish. If you’re a potato fan, you will love this place! Also, their jam is to die for. I might go back just for the jam.
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅ Classy, beautiful and excuse me if I decide to move in here! We got seated in a corner booth and the three of us decided to squish in so we could all sit comfortably and there was definitely enough room! The restaurant itself was dimmer than it was outside (considering it was around noon on a 8 degrees Celsius, clear skies Saturday). Overall, wonderful!
Note: they take reservations and I would recommend calling in advance as it gets pretty packed. We got there around 11:30ish and ended up leaving our phone number and wandering around for a bit before getting called back cause there weren’t any tables. Not a problem for us since we had extra time, but something to consider if you’re on a time crunch.

FORAGE DINEOUT 2016
I’ll try to keep this one simple.
Appetizer: Have the seafood chowder unless you are offended by a very rich, creamy (albeit a bit salty) chowder loaded with seafood.
Entrée: The Spring Salmon was cooked oh-​so-​perfectly, and it meshed so well with the carrot purée and gnocchi! Do NOT be fooled by the deliciously sounding Pork Belly and Crackling – it was very underwhelming and it was a workout to cut the thick pork skin with the knives provided.
Dessert: I subjectively enjoyed the Lemon Verbena Cheese Puff (basically a giant cream puff sitting in a creamy, blueberry liquid) more than I did the Chocolate Hazelnut Roulade. The roulade was put together more professionally, but it was a clash of too many flavours and textures (spongy chocolate cake, custard, berries, crumble, topped with a spicy blueberry shortbread biscuit,).
Sorry, I tried.

This review is for the Dine Out Vancouver 2016 dinner menu ($ 30). I had a pretty good experience at forage’s DOV last year, which brought me back. Even though I noticed some similarities to last year’s menu (offering an elk carpaccio app, pork belly entrée, and salmon entrée last year), I wanted to try their Dine Out again.
APPETIZERS
Bison Carpaccio: thin slices of bison with liver parfait, smoked potato crackling (potato chips with a smoky flavour), and sourdough slices (like crostini). The components of the dish looked and tasted good together. However I found that the slices of bison were too large and a little chewy. It would be easier to eat with more bite-​sized pieces.
Seafood chowder: So jealous that I didn’t order this. Rich and creamy, loaded with salmon chunks and potato. Topped with a soft boiled egg. No wonder it’s award winning.
ENTREES
Pacific Provider Spring Salmon: loved the plating of this. Highlight for me was the charred cabbage. Never had cabbage like this before. It tasted buttery and grilled at the same time. The salmon was cooked perfectly. The gnocchi were bouncy and carby, as expected.
Gelderman Farms Pork Belly: I didn’t try the pork belly, but my friends all agreed that it was too heavy and oily as an entrée. The bottom of their plates were smeared with oil, and the skin on top was tasty, but essentially drenched in oil. The pickled parsnips were too sour and chewy. The celeriac purée was quite good. Again, plating was on point.
DESSERTS
Lemon cheese puff: a puff filled with a cheesy custard, sitting atop a scoop of ice cream. Matched with some blueberries, this was a delicious end to the meal.
Chocolate Hazelnut Roulade: the less sweet option. Served in a small mason jar, it had layers of buttercream and custard, and the hazelnut roulade sat on top. Also a good choice but I preferred my puff.
Overall, one of the better dine outs I’ve been to, especially at the $ 30 price point. Service was good, plating was perfect, and food came out in a timely manner. I will probably go back again next year! Also, I heard their brunch is fantastic so that’s on my list in the near future!

Forage!
I have always wanted to try this place but hesitated because of the small portions and high price. When we found that they had one early seating left for dine out, we grabbed it right away! The appies and desserts are as good as they get, it was the best clam chowder I’ve had! However the entrees were a bit weak, but still tasty!

Forage serves new Canadian fare family style. I thought the dishes were mostly interesting and well executed, although I haven’t had much new Canadian food. My dinner companions’ reactions to the various dishes were really mixed, so the meal wasn’t exactly a crowdpleaser.
Dishes we tried, sorted from best to worst IMO:
* Seafood chowder — $ 8
Tiny cup but okay for 2 to share. Served with a soft boiled egg. Very creamy and tasty.
* Bison ribeye with hay smoked potatoes, chanterelles, wild green chimichurri — $ 37
The hay smoked potatoes were interesting but too intense in flavor for me. The chimichurri was a bit too sweet. The bison was really nicely cooked, chewy but not gamey.
* Foraged + marinated mushrooms with Okanagan goat cheese + caraway rye bread — $ 14
I like mushrooms and rye bread a lot, so it wasn’t a surprise that I really enjoyed this combo.
* House cured pork jowl and mushroom carbonara — $ 19
The sauce was not as creamy as I’d expect of a carbonara, and the noodles were flavorful but a tad overcooked.
* Pan roasted salmon, collar arancini, braised root vegetables — $ 26
The salmon was well cooked but not terribly interesting. The arancini was the best part of the dish.
* Seared BC scallops topped with ponzu pearls and garlic chips, served with marinated frills on the side — $ 14
2 scallops per order. The marinated frills were an interesting touch.
* Carrot tortellini — $?
This was one of the night’s specials. I found the dish a little bland. The broth made the dish awkward to share, and we left the broth under the tortellini mostly untouched.
* Braised octopus with handmade cold noodles, hazelnut romesco, spicy kelp, house pickles — $ 22
This was a complete miss. I love pulpo, but the octopus was too unseasoned. The texture was not great.
Although eating family style is the official recommendation, I don’t actually think the dishes here are all suited for family style. I ate here with a group of 8, and we had to double up (or even quadruple up) on some dishes to have enough to go around. It wasn’t obvious from the menu how big each dish would be, and our server didn’t always guide us towards appropriate quantities.

We are visiting Vancouver for the in-​laws anniversary and decided to eat at Forage. I have a lot of forage puns ready, but have decided to go for useful points rather than funny points.
The restaurant has mixed reviews – but I decided on five stars due to one exceptional item.
Forage focuses on locally-​sourced food, so the menu seems to vary. I think this is a great type of restaurant when visiting city.
We started with popcorn and crackling. Google this and you come to this restaurant. Crackling is pork rinds – but really good ones. The popcorn is really tasty also, but filling before the main course. I matched this with some local cider that was really nice.
Next, we had albacore tuna with squash and mushroom gnocchi. The tuna was seasoned with hazelnut and was just perfect – with a particularly good bite mixing tuna with squash. We really liked this dish.
We LOVED the brown butter miso-​glazed duck. This isn’t have been the best duck I ever had. It just melted in my mouth and that glaze was perfect for duck. It also came with a pulled duck roulade. Just a fantastic dish.
We ate at the bar and service was a little slow. Also the local wine I had was not a good value for the price and the wine selections are limited. Absolutely worth it for the duck.

Favourite dish of the night: DUCK
We came here for dinner over the weekend around 7pm without a reservation and they had two seats available at the bar for us. It was steadily busy throughout the night. The ambiance noise was good and we were comfortably able to have a conversation without having to raise our voices.
Plates are meant to be shared and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the portions for the dishes are fair for the style of dining and price.
We ordered a dozen of the oysters ($ 15) which came 6 and 6 of two different kinds (the names of them escape me). Half of them were really sweet and delicious while the other half were only ok. A few of the oysters still had some remnants of shells in them. I would have preferred if it came with more horseradish and mignonette but in hindsight I guess we could’ve asked for more and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a problem.
Next we had the seafood chowder ($ 8) — portion is less generous than the other dishes but still enough for us to get a good taste of it. Nice flavour, very creamy with a medium consistency.
Next we had the brown butter miso-​glazed duck breast, liver parfait profiterole and pulled duck roulade ($ 28). The duck breast was cooked nicely, I would’ve liked a little bit more crisp on the skin. The liver profiterole (think duck liver hush puppies) were rich in game flavour but not over-​powering as it was toned down by the batter.
Next we had the seared albacore tuna with fall squash, mushroom gnocchi, mushrooms and sun choke chips ($ 22). The tuna slices were very fresh, tender and delicious. I wish there was a sauce element to the dish, as I did find it a bit dry.
Our neighbour ordered the beef steak which looked amazing and portion seemed really generous… we will have to come back next time to try.
They have a great selection of local beers on tap, I had the Russell Angry Scotch Ale which was very similar to a porter. I finished up with their Old Fashion cocktail which had a great stiff kick to it and paired nicely with my dessert (pumpkin pie in a jar).
Overall, delicious and fresh ingredients with generous portions. A great selection of seafood, meat and vegetarian options!
At first, I was a little taken aback by our server telling us that he had no control over the timing of when each dish will come out. I’ve never had an issue with this before, but we decided to just go with it and take it as it came. It turned out that the timing of each dish worked out perfectly and the server made a note to comment and apologize for his earlier uncertainty. Service was prompt, efficient and professional.