Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar

Celebrating Our Ocean's Harvest

Photography by Steve Li

An anchor in Vancouver’s culinary landscape, Blue Water Cafe is recognized for captivating seafood dishes prepared using the freshest wild fish with emphasis on environmentally sound and sustainable harvest.

Awarded Gold for ‘Best Seafood’ by critics in Vancouver magazine’s annual Restaurant Awards and only one of two Canadian venues listed among Robb Report’s 100 favourite restaurants worldwide, Blue Water Cafe is celebrated by locals and visitors alike.

From the dynamic ‘East meets West’ open kitchen and raw bar, acclaimed Executive Chef Frank Pabst is known for his innovative and brilliantly executed plates, while ‘cut master’ Yoshi Tabo has his own dedicated following for his expert sushi and sashimi.

Acknowledged by Vancouver magazine for using “a delicate touch to make sustainable seafood sing”, Chef Pabst was also voted ‘Chef of the Year’ from Critics in the 2008 Georgia Straight Golden Plate Awards. In their ‘Best Formal Japanese’ category, Vancouver magazine judges remarked: “The Raw Bar at Blue Water Cafe (Silver) consistently cranks out some of the best sushi and sashimi anywhere...thanks to disciplined and expert knife skills, top-notch sourcing, and informed service.”

With one of the Country’s finest wine collections, Blue Water Cafe is annually awarded with the 'Best of ' Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine, and was one of only three restaurants overall to receive the top honour of the inaugural ‘Platinum Award’ at The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, a category introduced this year to recognize those wine programs which have excelled into an elite echelon of their own.

Enhanced by intuitive service from Restaurant Director Stephan Cachard’s allstar culinary team, the dynamic dining room houses two live tanks and the sweeping main bar leads out to the heated patio.

Blue Water Cafe is housed in a handsome brick and beam heritage warehouse conversion in the heart of historic Yaletown, the city’s vibrant and hip neighborhood.

Valet nightly.

Menu Highlights

RAW BAR

dungeness crab salad with wakame seaweed

thinly sliced hamachi with jalapeno, ginger and sesame oil

stamina roll: fresh crab, barbecued eel, and smoked salmon

goma-ae: albacore tuna marinated with sesame seeds and soy

CHILLED SEAFOOD TOWERS

masterfully-layered selections of chilled fresh and wild fish, shellfish, sushi, and a whole dungeness crab

FIRST PLATES

lobster ceviche: avocado, sweet potatoes, creamy red jalapeno sauce

unsung heroes: sardine escabeche, mackerel with beets, cured herring tartar, grilled humboldt squid

dungeness crab + flying squid

wild prawns: snap peas, and carrots

albacore tuna tartar: baby mizuna, poached quail egg, ponzu sauce, sesame wonton crisps

PRINCIPAL PLATES

sablefish: glazed with soy and sake, green beans, tamarind-orange reduction

halibut: cauliflower, fingerling potatoes, nigella seeds, and capers

white sturgeon: salsifis, king oyster mushrooms, beluga lentils, sauce bordelaise

big eye tuna: fingerling potatoes, fennel and artichokes, olive and anchovy sauce

arctic char: leeks braised with wakame seaweed and clams, vermouth sauce with kohlrabi and mountain caviar

‘kobe style’ beef short ribs

LAST PLATES

chocolate coffee macaroons and Szechuan pepper ice cream

chestnut charlotte: frozen chestnut filled with mango sorbet and chantilly cream

warm dark Cuban chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream

raspberry panna cotta with white chocolate-citrus ice cream

Best of the Cellar

With one of the Country’s finest wine collections, Blue Water Cafe’s extensive wine, bubbles and sake selection includes nearly 1500 handpicked labels to compliment and complete the dining experience.

AWARDS

Wine List Award, Platinum (Best Overall) Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival

Best of' Award of Excellence Wine Spectator

Restaurant of the Year, Silver
Best Seafood, Gold (second consecutive)
Best Formal Japanese, Silver (third consecutive)
Best Service, Bronze
Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards, 2009

Pictured above: Hecate Straight halibut - braised fennel, millet cake, brown butter and caper emulsion.

BLUE WATER CAFE + RAW BAR
1095 Hamilton Street @ Helmcken, Yaletown, BC
604-688-8078

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