The Oakwood Canadian Bistro is located in Kitsilano. I’ve been here before for brunch and dinner but I thought it would be great to take a few friends to Oakwood for Dine Out Vancouver. A 3-course meal for $29 is a pretty good price for this place. To add on wine pairings, its an additional $20.
Dine Out Menu
You get to choose 1 item from each category
Course 1
- Potato and leek soup with bacon and cheddar roll
- Lemon pepper calamari with blistered green beans and sauce rouille
- Buttermilk fried chicken, endive and pear salad with honey mustard ginger dressing
Course 2
- Braised beef shank bourguignon, pomme puree, gherkins, and crispy onions
- Olive oil poached ling cod, wild rice, puffed rice, cauliflower puree, coconut curry, and pickled fennel
- Smoked ham hock orecchiette, shemiji mushrooms, brussel sprouts, creme fraiche, and pangratatto
Dessert
- Salted Caramel and Apple Cheesecake
- Chocolate and orange tres leches cake
Their space is quite cozy even on their patio. Its heated and theres blankets to keep you extra toasty.
Our table sat inside right by the fireplace in a large booth for the 4 of us.
Drinks
Before we dug into the menu, drinks are needed! They have a good selection of wines, cocktails and beer on the menu. Also, the bar looks pretty nice.
Bomber Pilsner has a floral aroma, which makes it a refreshing and clean-drinking lager. It won a gold medal in Vancouver Magazine’s International Craft Beer Awards in 2015.
Nagging Doubt Pinot Noir has intense strawberry, red cherry, spice, and pepper notes. Medium-bodied with nice acidity and extremely soft tannins, this pinot will pair well with duck and salmon.
Buffalo Eat Grapes ($11) buffalo trace bourbon, pinot noir syrup, lemon and bitters.
Course 1
Buttermilk fried chicken has endive and pear salad with honey mustard ginger dressing. It tasted delicious, but it was a bit small and the presentation was pretty much lacking. It looked like chicken nuggets on top of salad. It’s hard to not judge it by its presentation, but when you taste the fried chicken, its very delicious and tender! The endive worked very well in this dish to give more texture to the rest of the greens.
Lemon pepper calamari is served with blistered green beans and sauce rouille. The calamari is very tender with delicious green beans. Since it was a small starter, we wish we had more.
Course 2
Braised beef shank bourguignon comes with pomme puree, gherkins, and crispy onions. The gherkins felt like it was oddly placed in the dish. The dish was delicious but we wished there as more beef. The beef was super tender, but there were only a few pieces.
Smoked ham hock orecchiette has shemiji mushrooms, brussel sprouts, creme fraiche, and pangrattato. It was more filling than the other dish. I love this grungy presentation and the flavours of the brussel sprouts are awesome. The pangrattato add awesome texture too.
Dessert
Salted Caramel and Apple Cheesecake is what half the table ordered. Pretty average tasting.
Chocolate and orange tres leches cake came in a jar as well. I wasn’t very impressed by the dessert as the flavours didn’t shine through. It was a cute idea to have it in the jar, but felt below par for what they usually serve.
Overall, I find with Dine Out that its a love-hate relationship. I love a 3-course menu at a reduced price, but i just hate how there are time limits imposed on eat seating, and also the quality decreases since its all batch cooked. Thats what they need to do since it’s a packed night every night. Oakwood has amazing dishes but this visit was average. The entrees were definitely worth devouring and I’ll be back again for a regular dining experience.
We Rate Oakwood: 
Address:
2741 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
Website:
http://www.theoakwood.ca/
