Crowbar Restaurant

I’ve walked/driven by Crowbar Restaurant more times than I can count but have never been stepped foot in here until a recent dinner with 7 friends. It’s directly across the street from Osteria Savio Volpe.

We dropped in on a Saturday evening (around 5:45pm) to find the place already bumping. Clearly, everyone was here early to take advantage of happy hour (5:30pm to 6:30pm, 10:30pm to 12:00am). The inside is narrow and cozy but has a stylish flair to it with exposed brick and high walls. Staff are attentive, friendly and constantly refilling your water.

Hilarious that they have a bitcoin machine in the back. Yes, it’s that neon glowing machine by the washrooms.

The menu is a simple one pager of tapa style sharing plates along with happy hour drinks and cocktails. If you have a big enough group, go the route of the chef’s choice.

We did just that and each person paid $40.00. The most impressive thing is that the kitchen is run by ONE chef. Impressive.

Negroni & negroni cider sbagliato ($8.00)
Almost everyone at our table ordered a negroni to get their happy hour started.

Robbie Hart ($13.00)
Luksusowa vodka, grapefruit, local honey, butterfly peaflower, lavender and green strawberry bitters.

Malbec & torrontes ($8.00)
Sweet and refreshing. This was a quality wine.

Daily house bread
Mackerel and aged butter. Everyone loved the fresh, homemade bread.

We debated whether to get another order to get every last morsel of the sauce.

Grilled radishes & turnips
Wild boar nduja and piave. Simple ingredients but well executed.

Veal stuffed chard
Chard condiment, rice, lemon and olive oil. This was ridiculously good. Rice was so flavourful and the ingredients matched perfectly.

Roast spigariello
Farm egg bolognese and almond.

Tajarin al burro
Aged butter and 10 month garum. The first of two pastas; fresh and handmade, this had a great bite. The noodles reminded us of egg noodles but 10 times better.

Roast suckling pig
Roast treviso, ginger scallion, various parts and sizes. The noodles were the same but the suckling pig was ridiculously juicy and flavourful. There was also a hint of spice.

Marinated & dry aged whole hen
Fried turnips, serrano and mustard remoulade. This might have been the best dish of the night. The hen was amazingly juicy.

Dipping into the sauce was an option but completely unnecessary.

Whole pork neck
Green curry, potatoes, Thai basil and rice. This was a massive hunk of meat to share.

Roast cantaloupe & burrata
Nigori sake and new olive oil. Really interesting texture and unexpected combination of flavours .

Sadly, Crowbar’s last day of operations is this week. Happy that I was able to try it.

Crowbar Restaurant
http://crowbareastvan.com/
646 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 336-2769

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