Lumiere Restaurant

Lumière is a dining experience to be genuinely savoured. I’ve had supper here on five occations in the past and by writing this review I suppose tonight will have to be my sixth!
Lumière never ceases to astonish one’s senses, visit after visit. There are two sections; the dining room in the back and the bar room in the front. The dining room is the place to be if you have enough time to indulge yourself and your company, this location also puts the guest in closer proximity to the sanctum-​sanctorum, the kitchen. Then there is the more casual front room, which has a view of the beautiful creative, fully stocked bar.
The menu always changes and the world-​class chefs always seem to impress more and more. I usually have the vegiatrian prix-​fixe menu; the chef’s tasting menu with seven to ten courses. These dishes are unique, adventurous, and always sumptuous. Try the cheese plate after your meal. The wine list here is verily a who’s who list of the best vintners. You will undoubtedly be impressed.
One cannot really write a review that does this culinary experience justice. So dust off your shoes, call a loved one and get hungery. Go to Lumière and be prepared to have the gastronomic equivalent of a spiritual experience. After you leave don’t forget to call Lumière’s lost-​and-​found in order to retrieve your tastebuds, as they will have surely jumped out of your mouth and into the kitchen. Enjoy!

I am so sad that this place closed down! It has the best French food I’ve ever had (but then I haven’t been to France yet). I hope whatever replaces it can live up to Lumiere’s former glory.

My boyfriend took me here as it was an award winning French, fine dining restaurant and we found out it was closing down.
We ordered the 5 course meal and the food was presented elegantly and tasted delicious. The ambiance was classy, romantic, and polished. The service was welcoming and attentive.
Will miss the food at this place, but not the prices $$$$!

A fine, classy restaurant.
My girl loves this place — makes me love it even more.
Only bad is, the waiter wasn’t very smart; accidentally told me the chef made me a b-​day cake when it was supposed to be a surprise… Yes I’m suprised…

We actually sent a glowing «thank you» to the manager at Lumiere but surprisingly did not get a reply/​acknowledgement back. Still a great meal though.

3.5 of the best hours of my life. i could go on and on about how incredible the food is, but it’s the kind of place you’re either going to go to, or you aren’t… i can’t convince you. but if you’re looking for a long, luxurious dinner with course after course of incredible food, i certainly couldn’t recommend anywhere better. it’s perfect for some sort of special occasion, since it’s obviously quite expensive ($ 425 for two of us), but is definitely an unforgettable experience. i’ve been there twice, and hope to return again in a few years.
my ONLY «complaint,» is that i found our waiter to be quite loud, and it was very out of place for a restaurant like that. we could hear everything he said to the people at other tables, which was a little annoying. but not enough to not go there or anything.

This place rocks, period.
It was the BEST dining experience we has had so far in Vancouver. The ambience was tasteful and romantic. The service was attentive and personable. The food was mind blowing. Moreover, the wine selection was fantastic.
We had the five-​course dinner. Since I don’t eat beef or pork, the chef (Dale MacKay) was flexible enough to substitute other ingredients for the beef and pork entrees on the menu. We also ordered the wine paring, the waiter was professional and kind enough to provide different paring wine for me since I changed some of my courses.
The oyster appetizer was amazing. I especially liked the corn bread coated scallops with truffle, it was an explosion of flavors on top of the tender texture of the scallop. The Artic Char dish was incredible, it had this perfect consistency that melt in your mouth while exuding tons of flavors. We were quite impressed with other entrees as well. My boyfriend had the lamb as the main course, he said that was one of the best lamb dishes he has ever had. I am not a big dessert person, yet the chocolate dessert literally blew me away.
We were quite pleased with the quality of the food as well as the quality of the wine. Though the price tag didn’t come cheap, but it was such an excellent dining experience that it’s well worth the money. I will definitely go back there next time I visit Vancouver.

Lumiere is a very high class restaurant with set menus made from the freshest ingredients daily. Several friendly hosts and servers are nearby to attend to your needs at all times. The food is absolutely fabulous, rare and exotic items, perfectly balanced dishes that are presented beautifully. Each dish was made with a lot of heart and care. This place is unbeatable locally, although it is more expensive than most, it’s worth the price and experience.

Sometimes the final bill can leave a bad taste in your mouth, especially if the food does not equate to the price and you still leave hungry… You know the saying «You get what you pay for», sadly this place does not hold true for me.
I really really really wanted to love this place. We had 3 nights of dinners in Vancouver and this was one of the places that we chose. It was a destination, not just a meal. Out of all the great places to eat in Vancouver, we picked this place. Being a huge foodie, I carefully picked this place because of all the great reviews and the chef’s experience and abilities to create food masterpieces. I knew the menu was going to be pricey, but if the food is on par with the price, I don’t mind paying.
We chose the 7 course meal at $ 155 per person. Add another $ 95 per person for the non premium wine pairings ($ 150 for the premium) or choose from their vast selection of wines at 3 times the mark up price. Oh, I shouldn’t forget the cocktails are about $ 20 each. So with prices like these, I was expecting a mind blowing experience.
Now onto the food, the most interesting, tasty parts of the meal were: 1. the amusee-​bouche 2. the cardamom glazed ducked. That’s it. Nothing else was unusual or different or made my taste buds dance with joy. Sadly, after I finished everything, I left still sort of hungry and with 6 less bills in my pocket. Such a disappointment.
Perhaps I have eaten out too much and had too high of expectations for this place, but I have to say, lumiere did not ignite anything special for me.

Seriously I think it might be as good as it gets for a French Restaurant in Vancouver-​for me anyway– Combining overall experience, service, décor, and food, I was so thrilled! The meal here will be a forever memory. It really was special. (not the music, that should be listened to with some more thought-​what they are trying to achieve? I can’t block out background music for the life of me).
I made reservations online, that part was easy. I also didn’t bust out my camera during the meal even though the plating’s were all spectacular. The interior is warm and cozy, silky and supple, a little wooly and a little glossy. There was a dapper server who took our order, the head guy so to speak, and the rest of the night dishes were brought out to us by one of 3 – 4 people, which made things a little more casual and didn’t create any over– intimate interactions with the staff. They were very professional.
They have a 5 course and a 7 course menu as well as some other options for dinner. I really wasn’t feeling the 5 course menu as it was heavy on seafood and shellfish, which I am not the biggest fan of, no matter how fresh and fantastic it is.
I’d like to mention price. It’s expensive. It’s an event, what you will do for the evening. Plan accordingly. The wine pairings as well as the bottle prices were –well, pricey. I looked through pages of wine from all over the world, and just chose a less expensive bottle of Canadian Cab from the Okanagan. Since I wasn’t that discerning, I didn’t need the help of the Sommelier, but they are on hand if you so desire!
I will not go through all of the courses, but I will mention some of my favorites– the Quebec Foie Gras Terrine on a Rhubarb purée with Almonds and ‘Country Toast’ was damn good. I found myself daydreaming about it at work last week!
The duck with Walla Walla Onion purée and Kum Quats was amazing. I also really liked the salmon dish they served. Being in salmon country I knew they would not disappoint. One cut on the plate of two ‘concepts’ was a tiny little smoked square with something yummy on top, and the other was almost like a cut of sashimi with a pea purée.
Things were starting to get rich by the second meat course, but desert may be my highlight over all and I took the most delight in was the desert!
We each got a plate with a little pot on it, that was covered with a larger disc of semi-​sweet chocolate. Sitting atop the disc was a shaving of 24 Karat gold. Also on the plate was a tiny pitcher of hot chocolate syrup. The server took the hot chocolate syrup, and slowly poured it over the disc, thus melting it and creating a decadent cascade of gold and chocolate into the goodness contained in the little pot below.
Squuuuee! Okay that is awesome, is it not?! I’m all for some culinary theatrics. And that’s not ALL. Besides the ridiculous chocolate desert we had a little basket of fresh warm Madeline’s, and *then*, since nothing is worth doing if it’s not done spectacularly, (to quote our waiter) we were brought a plate of 6 different mini desserts. I guess they were petit fours. They were so cute! Little perfect mini replicas. So adorable.

You know the old adage, «You get what you pay for»? Regrettably, I’ve found that it doesn’t hold true at many fine dining establishments. (And ironically, I’ve had some of the best meals at hole-​in-​the-​wall joints.) I’ve only ever had two experiences where all my (high) expectations were met and/​or exceeded. Now that I’ve been to Lumière, I can happily say that number is up to three! Every morsel was incredible. All the components were expertly cooked and each top-​quality ingredient had a role and purpose. The spot-​on and innovative flavour combinations were complemented by presentations so beautiful they were works of art. (I could go on and on, but you get the gist…)
The interior design of the restaurant is clean, bright, and sleek with the perfect balance of traditional and modern (
). The extremely knowledgeable servers were professional yet warm and never seemed put off by my numerous questions and requests to describe the dish «just one more time». Our needs were anticipated at every turn of the meal, starting with the individual stools for our handbags.
My mom and I ordered from the $ 58 Prix Fixe menu — a steal at a restaurant of this calibre. We began with an AMUSE BOUCHE of succulent spot prawn (
) that paired well with the creamy lemongrass velouté. What a great start to my meal!
From the appetizers we chose the roasted scallops and watermelon dungeness crab salad. The SCALLOPS (
) epitomized what scallops should taste like and came with avocado and fennel three ways. The combination of the three main ingredients was to die for. The CRAB SALAD (
) was possibly even better. With the sweet crab, crunchy cucumber, juicy watermelon, and cold horchata sorbet, each bite brought a surprise of flavours and textures that complemented each other amazingly.
Next came the FOIE GRAS (
) we ordered a la carte. A little steep at $ 40 but so worth it! It was served with ingredients I’ve never had paired with foie gras (walla walla onions four ways, cardamom, kumquat, sweet & sour jus) and the flavours melded beautifully. The cardamom and onions really elevated the skillfully cooked, melt-​in-​my-​mouth foie and the jus and kumquat provided the necessary acid to balance the richness of the foie.
For our entrées we got the duo of AAA prime beef and herb crusted halibut. The PRIME BEEF DUO (
) was beautifully presented. Both preparations were seasoned to perfection and oh so tender; all the accompaniments were great as well. The silky HALIBUT (
) was flawlessly cooked and came with a tomato butter jus that was so good I could’ve licked the plate. Under the fish was a bed of delicious potatoes with bits of fresh lobster in it.
We got the hot and cold tiramisu sundae and tropical pavlova for dessert. An incredibly rich TIRAMISU deconstructed in the best way possible, the bowl of coffee ice cream was covered by a thin wafer of chocolate with a hole in the middle (
). As our server poured on the hot chocolate sauce, the chocolate wafer melted away to reveal the yummy goodness inside (
). The PAVLOVA, which came with meringue, coconut cream, roasted pineapple, and confit mango (
), was much lighter and very refreshing.
Our meal ended with the requisite PETIT FOURS (
) and some mini madeleines served in the most intricately folded napkin basket I’ve ever seen (
). The fresh-​out-​of-​the-​oven madeleines were warm and crispy and were just sweet enough with a strong eggy flavour.
This was one of the best meals I’ve ever had — and I’ve had plenty. Daniel Boulud and Dale MacKay, you rock my (culinary) world!

This is one of the restaurants I wanted to go to. The restaurant is quite small, and the interiors were modern. Snobbery is unheard of as everyone seems friendly and ready for small talk.
We had the Chef’s tasting menu which doesn’t really cost that much compared to so and so restaurant. It might also be because we didn’t do wine pairings. I had one glass of Le Vieux Pin, Vaïla, Pinot Noir Rose 2005. To cleanse our palate, we had the Asian inspired tuna tartare with sake sauce. I am drooling as I type, theirs and asia de cuba tuna tartares are the best. And we also had the ambrosial seared foie gras. Very, very good.
Next we had Scallop tartare with caramelized onion foam, freshly shucked oyster with reggiano cheese. The scallops were yummy, not really a fan of oyster but I ate it nonetheless, more like swallowed it right away.
My favorite course was next, short rib ravioli with truffle and wild mushroom consommé. Good, but not my type, pan seared arctic char with grainy mustard risotto, wild mushrooms, and red wine butter.
Next was seared polderside duck breast with BC morel mushrooms, fava beans, green peas and a garlic, chili, and lime jus. This was YUCK. After that we had Le plateau de fromages, we picked three cheeses (2 creamy and 1 hard); La Sauvagine (with a hint of mushroom), Brie Bonaparte, and Le Cendrillon. The plate comes with nut breads. There’s nothing much to say except that it was so damn good.
The yellow summer fruit and sequential terrine with apricot and vanilla nectar looked amazing. The fruits were impeccably fresh and just right and looked like they were encased in glass, their goodness preserved forever. The Chocolate with beet fondant with espelette pepper ice cream, aged balsamic macerated strawberries and beet raspberry coulis didn’t really impress me. The pepper gave a ‘kick’ to the ice cream, but that was it.
Last, we had les migniardises.
I will give this restaurant a ⁴⁄₅. This is a cliché but dining here was an amazing experience. If I were a millionaire I would probably be fine dining every night. I like that it makes me try different things, the weird combinations, and the different tastes and textures that allow you to broaden your food horizon. The icing on the cake was when Chef Rob feenie sent us a signed menu back home.

At last — the best meal I’ve had in Vancouver.
We were surprised though to be seated so quickly, and without a booking (on a Friday night)! Is this a sign that Lumiere is not popular or a sign of the times? However, the meal was well presented, with reassuringly small portions (meals for tasting rather than for the hungry), friendly & helpful staff, great wine-​list and no problem with the doggy-​bag at the end of the night.
A restaurant for two, not a venue for group dinners.

This was my first time back since Feenie left and a lot has changed. Excellent service but the quality of food no longer matches the price. I’ve had similar food in many other restaurants in Vancouver for much cheaper. The food is no longer as refined as it used to be, the dishes are not very unique and the lamb (with paprika, red pepper, eggplant) was especially boring.

This review is long due since when I tried it RF was still the executive chef and came out to greet us during our dinner. Hopefully the same standards have been upheld since his departure.
I came here with a girlfriend for a thank you dinner for her for letting me stay at her place while I was in Vancouver. We both had the tasting menu sans the alcohol since I learned from my other tasting and wine flight meals that too much alcohol can ruin your meal.
We had the scallop and ravioli, duo of foie gras, duo of beef, squab and duck, and crème brûlée. Everyone of my senses were dancing with pleasure during our meal.

On our last visit to Vancouver (we’re originally from there but moved away ten years ago) we made a pact to visit one really nice restaurant while in town. Like the procrastinators we are, we went shopping downtown and then on the fly decided to pop over the Burrard St. bridge to Daniel Boulud’s new bistro place. We walked by and saw that there was no one inside, so we did a kind of walk by thing… Then it struck me… Oh! So this is where Lumiere is!
We walked in and asked if we were too casual. We were the first people there and it felt kind of weird. They told us that no, we were fine. In our defense, I was wearing a skirt with suede boots and my husband was wearing a jacket but for us and the place we seemed dressed down.
We ended up doing the 5 course tasting. How else can i put this? Fantastic. Highlights included an egg inspired amuse bouche and the hamachi. I didn’t much care for the accompaniment to the char but that’s more a personal preference. Hubby did the wine pairings and I did cocktails. I snuck a little bit of his wine. Superb french wines, perfectly paired… Awesome chocolate dessert at the end. I don’t know how I had room for more (I probably didn’t) but I ate a couple of the petit fours anyway.
For all you foodies out there, you know that people who aren’t just don’t get a $ 500 price tag on a fabulous, one-​of-​a-​kind meal. We were completely impressed by our experience at Lumiere and will definitely be back!

First of all i was addicted to Daniels show on the now defunct MOJO HD channel, so i was excited to try one of his restaurants. Went there for a bachelor party, which might have been a mistake because it was pretty stuffy in there.
The food was pretty good. Had the three course pre fixe. Dungeness Crab with champagne mango was a great start. The duck was awesome considering the rest of the party of 10 went with the duo of beef and wasnt impressed.
The Strawberry Pavlova was a great finish along with an esspresso.
Had a second thoughts about the black forest sundae when they came and poured ht cocoa sauce over a chocolate disc to melt it into the gelato… impresive.
Overall, we got louder as the night went on and they were probably happy when we left. Great date place, just avoid going there for a stagger.

First off, I’m a vegetarian and usually french restaurant’s are best for omnivore’s not plant eaters.
Since I only ate the veg. friendly options I was not impressed. I have heard amazing things about this place but when I left I was still hungry and not really amazed at anything they put on my plate.
The Atmosphere was nice, but wow, the people that work here act like they are the most important people on the planet. Despite my negative review, for some reason I enjoyed myself here. I did have a lovely cocktail and I was in good company, so the experience was nice but I won’t be going there again.

We ate here for our 1 yr anniversary and had a prixe fix menu! We had sooo much food! And the the cheese is sooo yummy, although I think I’m lactose intolerant, I ate as much cheese as I could! the food here was prepared soo well and very tasty! I mean this place was fantastic! Come here for a special occasion because you spend some money!!!

We ate here before Daniel Boulod took over as Executive Chef… so I’m not sure how much has changed lately. We had the vegetarian sampler and some items were mindblowing, but some were a miss. and for a restaurant of Lumiere’s calibre and $$$$… it really is not acceptable to have misses.
Service is perfect. And I give it a 4* just cos they introduced me to one of my favourite Terra breads… star anise and fig. YUM.