farmer's apprentice

i was hoping that the farmer's apprentice would be the highlight during my week in vancouver as it was recommended by a local friend and several food bloggers, but i was kist sp disappointed. it might went down in my "travel to eat" memoir as one of the top 10 worst set menu meals i ever had.

booking via bookenda was easy and we got an instant confirmation. i already knew there are only set menu options with "omnivore" $55 and "herbivore" $50. since there were 2 of us, we ended up ordering both to share.

all i had to say that the chef worked too hard trying to bring different flavours and elements together without any balance in taste. i really appreciate how local and seasonal ingredients are used to create each dish. but the bottom line, the food has to taste good. i think the portion was fine as a taster menu as too much mediocre food just means too much food.

during the meal, we just kept asking ourselves why? why we paying for these? why we ended up eating here? did the chef taste the food? maybe we just not have the sophistication to understand?

the only thing we enjoyed was our dessert.... beewax ice cream, mutsu apple, milk was just so clean tasting and refreshing!

service was attentive and i love the small cozy vibe here. i just wish the food taste better.

the farmer's apprentice comes highly recommended, so of course we had to try. their prix fixe menus change seasonally, and are divided into omnivore and herbivore. our group of three all chose the omnivore set menu.service was excellent -- the server and kitchen were wonderfully accommodating when notified of dietary restrictions, and reworked some of the courses completely instead of simply excluding the ingredients. servers were also pretty knowledgeable about the dishes (which was helpful in many cases). portions were small, which was expected of a tasting menu, but the entire meal ended up being pretty filling. everything was fresh and prepared well, but opinions on the courses varied within our group. overall a satisfying experience, but we probably wouldn't recommend this to everyone.

overall a disappointing experience. we went there for brunch and ordered the beef tongue hash and brioche. the beef tongue was nicely done but overall the dish was flavorless and unsatisfying. the brioche was quite well done, great flavour to mouth and nice texture with really wonderful subtle flavours. however portions were so small i was hungry within an hour.

engineer boy is back in town this week visiting environment girl, and catching up with some old friends. he’s a big fan of the farmer’s apprentice, so as soon as he touched ground in vancouver he rounded up the troops and planned a meal for sunday evening. i was excited since the restaurant serves one of my favorite brunches in the city, but i’d yet to try their dinner service. i was also unaware before arriving that they no longer have an a la carte menu, but instead have two prix fixe menus: the omnivore and the herbivore. the restaurant used to be known for its ever changing daily menu that varied depending on the ingredients delivered daily, and my guess is that this is still the case, although i didn’t ask so i can’t be sure.

a charming small restaurant on 8th and granville. serves up pacific northwest flare with simplistic playing. seasonal menu is offered to bring customers the freshest ingredients to the table. food are light in both flavors and portions alike, its almost like having a nice big appetizer.

my friends and i ordered three different dishes yesterday. i tried the pulled pork with buttermilk biscuits and fried egg and my two friends tried salads. all of the food tastes good and fresh. knowing that the food was organic. i did not feel special about eating the food though. for my dish, it surprised me that their pulled pork was not too salty. buttermilk biscuits were great.

my friends were late, so i had to wait for them sitting at the restaurant by myself. a staff asked if i would like to drink something else until my friends arrived. i ordered a cup of coffee. the coffee was elysian. it was alright.

the kitchen was open and clean that customers could see everything inside. many chefs and helpers as well as waitresses were working together.

last night was my first time at farmer's apprentice for dinner and unfortunately i don't think i'll be back. 3 friends and myself all ordered the tasting menu which went from good, to underwhelming to downright bad. the highlight was the amuse bouche which would best be described as a turnip taco which was fresh and super tasty, the chanterelles with green beans and corn which was brilliant and fresh but served at a temperature that was so blazingly hot that i almost spit it out. the fish course and salad course were both perfectly prepared but they left very little impression as i could really remember them today.

the two major fails in the meal were the beef course, which was served with a "thai style" salad. if i had to sum up the course in one word it would be "disgusting". there was so much mint in the dish that it was as if i had just licked a car air freshener, even after removing all of the mint that i could find it left a terrible taste in my mouth and ruined the course for me. fortunately the bread course was served directly after the meat course, the only downside to it was that it also served at a temperature so hot that i burnt my thumb picking it up off of the plate (i actually have a blister on my thumb  this morning), it also could have really benefited from some more salt and fell a little into the bland category. 

dessert was also just ok, a mint sorbet (i'ld already had my share of mint at that point) and sliver of peach (which could have benefited from having the skin removed, as it was quite difficult to eat with my teeny dessert spoon. 

the best part of the meal with the tiny bite of carrot cake that was served with the bill. it was probably one of the best things that i've ever eaten, and it was only a 1" square.

dinner with drinks came to about $100/person which is about right for that level of service but i think next time i will try someplace else.

the first time i went to farmer’s apprentice was more than a year ago when i went for brunch. i remember being stimulated more intellectually than gastronomically. since then, this restaurant has won a few awards and is generally regarded as one of the best restaurants vancouver has to offer — especially when out-of-towners ask where to eat on chowhound. speaking of chowhound, check out this little discussion of chef david gunawan’s new downtown venture with donnelly group (!).

interesting . you will have the most interesting meal ever and that's good but make sure you go with someone who has similar taste as its sharing plates ...i would recommend a visit for sure !

our server was great and attentive, refilling our water, drink orders and making sure our needs were met throughout the meal. the prices were comparable to any other restaurant in the city for brunch and the dishes were made with fresh products that you can taste. i cannot wait to come back for dinner, curtis and i both agreed this needs to be sooner than later.

went here last night with much anticipation to the fanfare. i had the tasting menu, my friend had the a la carte. the food i found quite mediocre and one dimensional. the produce maybe fresh and local, but there wasn't anything interesting been done with it. the service was also quite mediocre. it's normal when having a tasting menu to have some description of each dish when served. the servers really didn't seem like they cared, wanted to be there, or liked what they were serving.

first visit - 7:45pm on a sunday night - most tables open. by 8:15, no tables open.

the menu is a bit confusing - not because it's all that unusual, but because they sort of make up their own names for "tasting menu" or "dégustation", dividing them into "ominivore" and "herbivore". trendy i guess. the last page of the menu (which is about 5x7", no inexpense spared, has ala carte "family style" items, some vegetarian, err, herbivore, others pescatarian / meatitarian ("vegetables are what food eats"). 

ok but what about the food, scott? generally awesome. we chose 5 items for 3 people (one was appy-sized) - bread and onion butter, a peach and frisee salad, gnocci, sablefish, and pork saddle. 

the salad was not a hit. the peaches were quite tart (i mean, peaches should be tart, but there are limits), and parts of the frisee were too salty, others not enough. unimpressed. the dish included hazelnuts which are lovely, but the didn't really add much to it. maybe pine nuts would have been better, you'd just need a bank loan to pay for them.

just when you're thinking "he gave it a four, but all he's done so far is complain?" press on, gentle reader. everything else was stellar. none of these ingredients were exotic, nor were preparations technically difficult, yet every one was perfectly cooked and had subtle flavourings just right for the particular item. presentation was simple too, none had that "fussed with" appearance (or perhaps it was "fussed with" to the point of not appearing fussed with? ooooh my head just exploded).

yeah, so... awesome. a couple of thoughts - the lowest price white wine we spotted was $45, high standards are great but comon'. there's a single table we actually requested when we saw it that's sort of between the entrance and the rest of the tables. it was set for three, we were three. it's too small for three. also surrounded on 3 sides (coincidence?) by windows, thus isolated from both the fans in the main dining room and any breeze from outside. "can't recommend this too highly".

give the place a shot. despite some quirkiness and one disappointing dish, the food's absolutely solid.

several weeks ago i was invited to gastropost vancouver’s screening of chef. the idea of watching a movie all about food put us in the mood for something tasty and visually appealing. we decided on farmer’s apprentice because its been touted as one of the best new restaurants in vancouver and it was just a block away from the movie theater! (i apologize that i can’t remember all of these dishes in perfect detail – there were a lot of garnishes and sauces and the menu varies daily!)

the farmers apprentice is located in fairview and they serve a farm to table style cuisine that uses the best ingredients that our local farmers have to offer. as per weekend tradition, brunch is a must! farmers apprentice has been on my ‘eating list’ for a while. they were named best new restaurant of 2014 by en route magazine, restaurant of the year by vancouver magazine, and so many more.

farmers apprentice is a farm-to-table restaurant that really harnesses the essence of each ingredient. i came here with friends for brunch and it was a great experience, but it wouldn't be a place they would revisit over and over again.

it's quite healthy and tastes super clean, so it's really not for everyone. i personally loved the treatment of each ingredient as there is a lot of care that goes into the dishes.