Romance with Seafood

The Cannery Seafood Restaurant
Seafood Restaurant
2205 Commissioner Street
Vancouver, BC
V5L 1A4 Canada
ph: (604) 254-9606

Having the Entertainment Book is the best thing ever especially if you love to dine out. I have gotten mine last year from a draw at our company's Christmas party and ever since then I have been hopping from one restaurant after another. When I found out that The Cannery is on the book, I was ecstatic. Not only I have heard amazing things about this place but having a coupon means great food for less moolah and having known for a "date" restaurant, The Cannery is a bit heavy on the wallet.

My good friend and I were planning our "lesbo" date to The Cannery months back but we always set it aside and when I realized that I only have less than a month left to make use of the great Entertainment Book discounts, we decided to finally head out to this infamous restaurant. Making a reservation is always a good habit but we were a bit disappointed that we were only given the 5:15 time slot. Located in the Vancouver port, the very friendly host gave us a quick run-through of the directions and I thought that it would be a piece of cake to find it so I didn't bother to take down notes. Actually going there is a bit tricky and we had to make a few detours to go to the right direction but the worst thing was we were stuck waiting for the freaking long-ass train to cross. It was annoyingly moving so slow, taking its sweetest time and as if it knows that were running behind schedule, it would back-up and move forward again, back-up and move forward again. Afraid to lose our table, we called the restaurant and told them about our train dilemma. The host was very nice about the situation and reassured us that we will still have a table when we get there. With our stomachs growling and our patience thinning, the train was finally able to go across and we were able to pass and continue on to The Cannery.

When we got there we were a bit surprised to see the parking lot full of cars. I guess there is a reason behind our 5:15 table slot, it seemed like a busy night at the restaurant. The host greeted us with a big smile and when she found out about that we were the ones having problems with the train, she sympathized and asked our server to lead us to our table. The restaurant was so cozy and beautiful. The fireplace right smack in the middle gave warmth to the whole place and the huge windows showcasing the amazing view seals the deal for this restaurant to be one of the most romantic in Vancouver. I was kind enough to my friend to give her the seat facing the huge window and just enjoyed the view on my side of the table. Our server gave us our menu and we were thinking of ordering a starter dish with our mains when we decided against it since we'll be given bread with lobster oil and we were not planning on skipping dessert. I was torn between the Salmon Wellington which was a dish of salmon, shrimp and mushrooms in a puff pastry and the Scallops and Prawns. I asked the server for his suggestion and he told me that the Wellington was the specialty of the house and of course I would choose that. My friend decided on the Crispy Rainbow Trout which was my third option.

We were munching on the yummy lobster oil and balsamic vinegar dipped bread when we noticed the very well-dressed couple beside us. My friend and I continued on with our conversations as we waited for our food. For some weird reason the lady seated beside us seemed to be eavesdropping and whispering to her boyfriend, poking fun or saying whatever, we tried not to mind her especially when our food came. The Wellington was a huge portion with a good serving of veggies, coming from a dimsum brunch, I already know that I was gonna take half of it home. The puff pastry gave it a little bit of baked sweetness although the salmon was a tad dry but forgivable because the pinot noir sauce made it moist and was just perfect for the dish. I don't know what's in a pinot noir sauce besides the obvious red wine but it tasted like mushroom sauce to me, whatever was in there, it made the dish more delish. My friend gave me a little bit of her trout and scalloped potatoes which was very good as well. The potatoes complimented the trout very much but I liked my Wellington more. As we were eating and conversing, we kept on getting a bad vibe from the lady seated beside us, still eavesdropping and whispering to her boyfriend and it was starting to piss us off so my friend and I spoke in our native Tagalog, it sure beats to have a second language!

I asked my server to wrap the rest of my dish and asked for the dessert menu. Three things that stood out: 1.) Jacques Favourite, a combination of chocolate desserts with mousse and ice cream 2.) Pavlova cake, this light airy cake topped with fruits is a bit hard to find so we got excited seeing it on the menu 3.) Apple Cheesecake, two words: CARAMEL SAUCE. It was so hard to make a decision so I once again asked our server and told us that the cheesecake will surely leave us satisfied and fulfilled so we went for it. When we were picking our dessert, the lady once again was bothering us, looking and eavesdropping so my friend and I decided to go all out and talked about her in her face in our language and laughed a lot, then the dessert came and one bite of the apple cheesecake dipped in caramel sauce totally made us forget about that eavesdropping annoying lady or her suit-wearing boyfriend, even the view outside the window, the server was so right, we were both satisfied and fulfilled.

We got our bill, it was actually not bad but we still had our coupon so it was even better. We made sure to give a good tip to our very accommodating server. Overall, it was very good. It wasn't just the food but the place itself, the restaurant being hidden in the Vancouver port, the very friendly staff, everything made it good and even without the Entertainment Book coupon, I would still go to this restaurant, hopefully next time there will be no overly-dressed eavesdroppers so we would be left alone with the good food and the great view.

* picture stolen from flickr.com/photos/60168506@N00/257798218