Lavantine Ticks Many Boxes but…

Lavantine Restaurant and Skybar is a 3 day old restaurant located on the 14th floor of the also new Azur Hotel in downtown Vancouver. The cuisine can be described as Middle Eastern. The space is nice. Vancouver lacks this type of venue – a nice bar, rooftop lounge, and restaurant with a nice view in a modern setting. Here’s a look:

I liked the nice airy roof and the space certainly has a lot of potential. I would like to see boozy brunches and a late night destination lounge though I don’t know how that would play out given the city’s highly restrictive regulations for law abiding businesses. I tried a few of their cocktails which were inventive and pretty good. A few could be better balanced but in general, they have a ambitious cocktail program. A whisky I ordered later in the night, which I wanted to have with a lamb dish, took forever to come, and actually arrived after I already finished eating. I think the bottle was downstairs and they had to go find it, but given that I ordered it neat, it should of not taken this long. Anyway, the meal started with octopus:

I would say it was above average, and came with some tamarind sauce. It was cooked well and tender. The potatoes it came with were nice and crispy. The seasoning could have been more aggressive which I my general feedback for most of the dishes. I think the price was fair at $29 (as regular readers know, I rarely mention the prices but the reason for prices in this post will become evident later on). By the way, I think the cocktails were also fairly price at around $20. Next, there was the lobster and lamb kebabs. The lobster was good but the tails were on the small side ($59). The lamb kebabs were good, but not the best I’ve had. I think the pricing for the kebabs is on the high side at $39. There are a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants in Vancouver, and I think you can get a similar or better kebab for much less. I understand that these places may not be as nice, but I don’t think people will be flocking here to pay these prices for kebabs. Its like when places try to do “high end pho” or any other dish that’s meant as a street food, its hard to pull off.

The final dish was lamb chops ($90). They were really tender and the quality of the meat was really high. It was slightly over cooked and under seasoned. I think the pricing is also on the high side.

For dessert, we had the baklava ice cream sandwich. This was my favorite thing on the menu. The crust was fantastic. Flaky and well flavored. The ice cream was a nice twist on baklava, but I wondered where the ice cream was from. It would be nice if it was house made but our server did not say.

Overall, the service started well and got really slow toward the end. I think the dishes were well cooked and nicely presented, but some were overpriced. This may be a combination of various factors including the ridiculously restrictive policies of the current government. However, if I look at this place in the overall context of the city’s dining scene:

Positives: nice space, lots of potential given the lack of rooftop options in the city, food is cooked well, nice bar etc.

Cons: if I look at where else we could of eaten for the price paid, there are certainly places with “better” food including many Michelin starred places. Also, some of the dishes served here were priced high, compared to options available at other places.

In the end, I would return for drinks because the space is so nice. I might have a few bites but I would be selective in the ordering, and probably go for dinner elsewhere.