Before I get into what I have to say about Le Gavroche, why don’t we start off with something that has nothing to do with restaurants, Vancouver, or food altogether? I’ve bolded some of the key parts – keep reading to find out why:

…Gavroche was a whirlwind. They saw him incessantly, they heard him constantly. He filled the air, being everywhere at once…He vexed the loungers, he excited the idle, he reanimated the weary, provoked the thoughtful, kept some in cheerfulness, others in breath, others in anger, all in motion!

For those of you who are Les Miserables (read: Les Mis) fans, you may recognize those few sentences from Victor Hugo’s book of the same name. Gavroche was the little guy that stole the bread, remember?

Anyway…why did I include a quote like this? Because after my first experience with Le Gavroche, I have to say that I think Mr. Hugo had a point. Le Gavroche definitely does ‘fill the air’ with a certain feeling and its staff (based on our encounters with them over a couple of hours yesterday evening) certainly did ‘excite the idle’ and ‘reanimate the weary’, and ‘kept some in cheerfulness’!

So, by transitive property, this little gem of a restaurant tucked away at 1616 Alberni Street in downtown Vancouver certainly picked a fitting name and menu logo (I am assuming Les Miserables has ’seniority’ in this situation, of course).

Like I said before, this was my first time at Le Gavroche Vancouver and up until that point, I had no idea that this slightly renovated two-storey Victorian house, complete with an upstairs terrace, large fireplace and a private dining area on the main floor (surrounded by legions of wine from all over the world, just as an FYI) had been a downtown Vancouver resident since 1979!

Regardless of when Le Gavroche came into existence, the service we received was remarkable (aside from one dropped plate) and the private dining room fit our group perfectly. My favourite touch is how the serving staff entered through one door near the front of the house and exited through the back of the room, keeping the flow and the energy going. I notice these little things, and if you do as well, you’ll appreciate what Le Gavroche serves…it really is something to watch!

Wine. Where do I even begin?

I appreciate a strong wine list when visiting restaurants and Le Gavroche certainly has an impressive one, to be sure. What’s more, and getting back to service, is that our server could speak intelligently about them and answer questions that our group threw out from-the-hip.

Our group wished to keep it local and we ended up selecting a number of bottles from Quinta Ferreira and Red Rooster, two vineyards in Oliver and Naramata (in the interior of British Columbia’s wine country) that I had visited earlier this summer.

Having already touched on the service we received, I wanted to say a few words about the food, obviously. The menu…simple. It’s on one-page and has enough depth to interest most guests, I’d suspect. The Table D’Hote was particularly appealing and I would strongly recommend it if you plan on going.

I’ve spoken before about seamless service (regardless of how old or young) and what it means to your overall restaurant satisfaction. Not taking anything away from food, but service is important! If you’re in the mood for bread (that hasn’t been stolen) and a classic restaurant experience, there are a lot of options here in Vancouver; Le Gavroche is certainly one of them.

darren