Finally, something interesting in Vancouver – Nero Tondo

Despite the title of this, Vancouver does have some interesting restaurants. What I mean by the title is that its been a while since something interesting has opened. Nero Tondo, as of today (2/27/2025), is just a couple of weeks old. The restaurant is small and has a rustic feel. There are only 2 or 3 tables, then about 8 counter seats. I recommend these so you can interact with the chefs and watch the prep:

What is interesting about this place is that there is no menu. They cook from scratch daily. After speaking with one of the chefs I learned that they do repeat items and make small changes depending on availability of ingredients. They are also super focused on sourcing local, knowing their suppliers even down to the first name of the person who foraged something served. That’s impressive and I’ve only come across that a few times globally. Upon being seated, we were almost immediately served a soup to start. I could not quite heard what it was, it looked like miso but it is not. The soup was a nice start:

I also ordered a negroni which was made well though I wish the ice cube was clear.

The place also offers $3 sparkling water for the entire night which is a good deal to me. From here, the food service slowed a bit. However, there was plenty to look at while the chef’s prepared food. The first course was a trio of “amuse” starting with chips and mushroom “pate”, squash tempura (good batter), and a sort of corn bread crouton. Everything was delicious.

My wife also got an oyster which I declined because of two recent bad experiences with raw oysters!

Next was an amazing cabbage salad which incorporated textures and acidity really well, and had an amazing brown butter sauce!

This was followed by a kind of beet carpaccio:

One of the highlights of the night would come next, in house baked bread which was really good (and impressive considering how small the kitchen was), clams with an amazing turmeric broth, and a kind of vinegar dip for the bread (which was a little too acidic and the broth worked better as a dip):

This is how amazing this dish was:

The chef also dropped off a bite that was a play on a Caesar salad. It was a good bite and demonstrated the passion the team had for pleasing guests.

I also tried one of their aquavit spritzs:

For pasta, they served what looked like gnocchi, but it wasn’t (there was no potato), in a cacio e pepe style. The pasta was hand made in house and perfectly cooked al dente. Although it was good, it lacked the flavors of an authentic caio e pepe. The radicchio salad they served with it was also very good.

The comment above about this not being a traditional cacio e pepe is a technical one, and I would still gladly eat this any day.

Our last dish was a kind of tuna poke and tuna with rice. The poke was good, but I felt it could use slightly more bold flavors. The tuna and rice was also good, especially with the chili sauce they put on it, but the rice was kind of mushy. The chef did acknowledge that they were still perfecting the art of cooking Asian white rice.

What I loved about the rice was that were we told that it was locally produced, and they also make sake out of it. I had to try the sake (which was very smooth):

The chef offered us one more course which I sadly declined because I was getting so full. At this point, they moved on to dessert for us:

It was amazing. Some ice cream with local honey and hazelnuts. I loved every bite of this. The hazelnuts, while not my favorite nut, were full of flavor and texture (they ground them up perfectly). The honey was not too sweet and perfectly complimented the ice cream. This is a really special restaurant. I could see the passion they have and the hospitality. At times, it felt like dining in the chef’s home. He even gave us bread to take home. Service was very good. There was one lady who worked service and glasses were always full and dishes cleared. I would go back and highly recommend. I would also be surprised if they were not included in the next Michelin Guide. The place and style of dining was like a Western Omakase and a refreshing take on traditional tasting menus.