Don’t we all love a good discount? First Table, is a restaurant discovery platform that connects diners around the world with local restaurants that offer its members 50% off the food bill at specified times.
Every week, participating Vancouver restaurants will list their ‘first tables’ for the upcoming seven days on the First Table website, allowing diners who pay a $10 booking fee to secure a table at the restaurant of their choice and 50% off the food bill for two to four people.
There are many Vancouver restaurants added on an ongoing basis and the list is pretty good including restaurants like Nuba, Ancora, Fable Diner, Cuchillo, and The Greek by Anatoli to name a few.
We were invited to Papi’s Seafood and Oyster Bar by First Table to get a sneak peek of this experience.
Papi’s Seafood and Oyster Bar
Papi’s Seafood and Oyster Bar is located right by English Bay and has a cozy ambiance and decor appropriate for its seaside location. There are wood ceiling and floor mimicking a boat’s deck.
They even have a beautiful feature wall drawn by a local artist in the back dining room. Their choice of music is questionable with rap, dance and pop music, when perhaps classical is more fitting. Nonetheless, people come here for the seafood.
Chips
We started off the meal with these chips instead of the usual bread. It has paprika and other seasoning. It reminded us of shrimp crackers as its light and crunchy. It came with a spicy aioli which was a nice touch.
Fried Oyster
The fried oyster has charcoal butter, lemon crème fraiche, and jalapeno. It is a unique dish to Papi’s and it did stand out compared to the other dishes on the menu. It’s not aesthetically pleasing, but nicely fried and not greasy at all. Good for those who don’t eat raw oysters.
Octopus and Popcorn, red pepper, smoked paprika, warm bread with pesto
The popcorn gave the dish an interesting look, but didn’t add much to it in terms of taste. The octopus was cooked well and on the soft side without it being chewy. It looks to be the body of the octopus rather than the tentacle which most restaurants use.
Lobster Risotto
This was the favourite dish of the night. It has a generous amount of lobster. With a regular price tag of $30, it’s a steal at 50% off with First Table. Highly recommended.
Coffee Espuma
The coffee espuma is part of their 3-course meal. We’ve never had this before and it was fluffy and light.
Brownie with mousse
We ended the meal with their brownie mousse. Nice presentation but the taste wasn’t anything special.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I love the First Table concept and the discounts of course. For people who love to eat early around 5-6pm, it’s perfect as you can enjoy the discounts. I love that it helps restaurant owners fill tables at the beginning of the evening. For myself, dining at 5-6pm is perfect since I have a child. Not everyone wants to eat so early, but when there is a discount that is too good to pass up, why not?
