Gastropod

1938 W. 4th Avenue Vancouver



I've heard so much about this place before I actually got there: Vancouver Magazine's Gold Medal winner for Best New Fine Dining, Silver award for Best Design..etc etc. And the buzz generated by Angus An...well you get the picture. I had high hopes for this place and was able to convince Mik to take me there (thanks hun!) on a sunny summer evening.



Maybe it was the hype...maybe it was my choices...but honestly, I wasn't all too impressed. Lets reminice shall we...?

Lets start off with the good. Gastropod is located right in the heart of Kits and falls comfortably into the whole gist of the area-it's simple, comfortable, and not overbearing at all. It's quite a small space but it definatly doesn't make you feel cramped. The use of neutral colours as their palate allows patrons to just fall into the place and settle in nicely. It definatly exudes a confident, but no-need-to-be-flashy type of feel. Our waitress was wearing a uniform that was the same colour scheme as the restaurant, which I thought was kind of amusing but we're here for the food, not a fashion show rite?

We began looking at the menu and the first thing that struck me was that the menu on the website did not match what was on the menu given to us. Now, you know I like eating out so I always do my homework. I had the entire meals planned out and now all of a sudden, I was thrown for a loop. This I did not appreciate! On top of that, the "new menu" didn't have anything I was too crazy for. Yes, it was small and I understand that at restaurants like this, the menus are usually small. But shouldn't they at least cover their basis and have at least a dish for every genre? Anyways, don't ask my why but I decided to get the salmon tartar as a starter and prbably a fish as my main (i'm really sorry people but I went a few months back and my old age is getting to me). So I don't eat raw fish and I'm not a big fan of salmon so why i ordered the tartar i don't know. But I was willing to give it a shot. I've had raw salmon before and there were times I enjoyed it. But not this time. It just had that harsh raw salmon taste to it. Bleh.... Okay you can blame it on my own stupidity but hell, I've definalty had better raw salmon! As for the main course, all I can say is that I didn't remember disliking it...but I dind't remember finding it fantastic either :
We did end the meal with a dessert and I believe Mik decided on a chocolate concoction and it was okay. Yes...even the dessert did not win me over! i'm sad to say that my whole experience at Gastropod was not the epicurial sensation that everyone seems to make it out to be. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should give this joint another chance. I will...I'll go back...but I'm definatly in no rush......