Bin 941 Tapas Parlour – Vancouver BC
Even though there is no shortage of fine food or shops in Seattle, we often drive to Canada to enjoy the range of food and shopping that Vancouver BC has to offer. There are a few favorite restaurants that we frequent, but we also try a new place every now and then. Bin 941 is not exactly a new restaurant, we’ve been there years ago, but somehow forgot about it over time. This time I was browsing through the complementary Vancouver magazine in our hotel room and saw that Bin 941 was voted as the best in the Small Plates category yet again. Now you all know how much we enjoy small plates, so we had to try it, and boy, were we glad we did!
Bin 941 is a super tiny hole-in-the-wall with really loud music, which is half the fun, along with the extensive wine selection and amazing tapas this has moved into our favorite Vancouver eateries list, I can’t wait to go back. They don’t accept reservations, but there is a small waiting area towards the back of the restaurant where you can sit and order some drinks. When I say a waiting area, it really is a narrow walkway to the restrooms, but who cares! We barely finished our first drinks when the waitress asked if we wanted to sit at the Chef’s counter. Of course we did! We love watching chefs in action, and did we catch some action here!
We had THE BEST SEATS at the restaurant. There were two chefs in the kitchen, one doing the cooking and the other one doing the plating. Each plate is assembled with so much care and artistry we had the greatest time watching them at work. The menu has a Tapatiser section where each plate costs $16, and the portions are meant to be shared. I saw one vegetarian option in there, a Portobello Mushroom cutlet with salad and a bunch of other accompaniments. Then there is another section in the menu called Tongue Twisters which is also the name of the cookbook by owner chef Gord Martin featuring the menu from Bin 941 and sister restaurant Bin 942. There were Mussels steamed four different ways and also some sides like different types of salads, mashed potato, veggies, hand cut fries and grilled rosemary fry bread which seemed to be quite popular with the patrons.
We ordered four dishes from the tapas section which was way too much for two people, but that was the problem with sitting at the chef’s counter. As we could see the plates getting assembled, we wanted to try it all! But by the time we got to the fourth plate we were way too full, we still gobbled up quite a bit, it was that good!
Our first dish was Sashimi grade Ahi Tuna seared rare, spicy tuna tartare as salsa, shitake mushroom sui choy egg noodle chow mein with sweet soy pinot gris lime sauce. As you can see I got the step by step pictures of the assembly.
Finally, here is the finished product. The chow mein was so good on its own and so was the tuna tartare and seared ahi and they all worked well together as well.
Then came the Grilled Lamb Sirloin with cerignolo olive tapanade, potato latke, fried caper yogurt, arugula shoot heirloom tomato salad. Another beautiful dish and the lamb was perfectly grilled, brown outside, pink and juicy inside. We loved the way how the chef assembled this plate as well.
Our third tapa was the Yucatan spice rubbed Bison flat iron steak with tequila lime sauce, pumpkin spiced pearl onions, jicama and fried yuca salad and cilantro poblano chile syrup. Bison again was perfectly done, but the jicama and fried yuca salad was the best part of this dish. The crunch from the fried yuca gave this surprising texture contrast.
We ordered our last dish just because it looked so good! I can never resist fries and when I saw the chef piling up fries on the flank steak, I had to get it. Cinnamom chile rubbed Texas Flank Steak with maple syrup chipotle glaze served with hand cut black pepper pommes frites! Those fries were so good, but we were too darn full that we barely put a dent. Flank steak was perfectly spiced and succulent. This dish is perfect to share for a party of four, it is a bit too big for just two.
This was the best restaurant experience in Vancouver so far! Service is kind of slow here, but with a show like that, we have no complaints. Also, the drinks were pretty quick to come by, there was no waiting there, maybe because we sat so close to the bar. Anyway, we had the greatest time, and we are going back for sure!
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Saw these pics on FB and was waiting for the story… my mom says, ‘My stomach is full, but my eyes think otherwise”
Wow Sig looks like you again had
FUN eating out.
All the plates look superb.
Hi hi i would also fall for that fries,
you know here in Belgium fries are so famous, at home we make them once a week.
I should do a post about it once.
I liked that you took pictures to show how they assembl up.
mark of a true foodie…they talk about hopping over to the next COUNTRY for some food as casually as sauntering over to the neighbourhood coffee shop
Watching them work their magic must’ve been quite an experience… food looks yum.
That tomato-arugula salad is pure art!
Why no pix of you, I was hoping to see some.
nice to see them putting it all together in plate. we can get some tips and do it for our posts
Hey Sig, its always great reading ur posts……… i liked all the food that was served….. also, i liked the cooks tatoo
You know I never make fries at home, but I am a sucker for fries when we go out
Looking forward to that post!
LOL, lucky for us Canadian border is just less than 2 hours away…
Yeah, I love watching the chefs in action… it is like watching an artist…
Yeah, I always think of adapting some of these techniques while plating my food, but I am way too lazy to do that!
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