What’s on the menu at the Parlour, a new King West restaurant and lounge with Vancouver roots
By Renée Suen
| July 8, 2019
Copy link
Name: The Parlour
Contact: 642 King St. W., 416-583-2642, theparlourrestaurants.com, @theparlourrestaurants Neighbourhood: King West
Owner: Sean Holland (the Parlour in Vancouver’s Yaletown; Cactus Club), Chris Holland and Paul Rivas (Vancouver’s La Bodega)
Chefs: Executive chef Sean Holland and chef de cuisine Joey Agostino (Broadview Hotel)
Accessibility: No steps at entrance; elevator to reach the upstairs mezzanine and private room
The food
Oysters, pizzas, burgers, short ribs and a bunch of vegetarian-friendly dishes. Weekend brunch features everything from brioche french toast to a skillet of eggs and braised AAA short rib. Coming soon: a lunch menu of sandwiches and half-sized pizzas.
The popular burrata plate comes with frisée dressed with lardons, house-made apricot jam and toasted baguette. $23.
The 99.9% Raw Wrap features a tomato-red-pepper wrap (that takes 14 hours to make), tomato, avocado, cashew nut pesto, red pepper, pickled red onion, cabbage, sriracha, hummus and cucumber. $15 for two.
The spicy ponzu aïoli–topped ahi lettuce wraps are made with tuna in a citrus-ginger-soy dressing, avocado, mint, crispy shallots and sesame seeds. $17 for four.
Advertisement
For this dish, charred broccoli is tossed in garlic, shallots, jalapeno, roasted pepper, pine nuts and sweet soy sauce. $14.
The signature Goldmember pizza is topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, Yukon Gold potatoes, gruyere, mozzarella and truffle oil. $24.
The Yaletown pizza features ahi tuna, red onion, green onion, avocado, jalapeño, cilantro and spicy aïoli. $24.
The raw chocolate torte is raw, vegan, gluten- and dairy-free. It’s served with raspberry sorbet, compressed raspberries and crispy dark chocolate. $10.
The lemon mousse is one of the gluten-free desserts. It’s made with elderflower gel, whipped white chocolate and orange streusel. $10.
Advertisement
The drinks
There’s beer (Goose Island, Collective Arts, Mill Street and Halo, to mention a few), and enomatic-dispensed and sparkling wines. Beverage manager Mike Arthur is behind the cocktail list that includes four batched cocktails, a few signature creations, and punch bowls that serve a minimum of four people. Happy hour brings buck-an-ounce wine and $5 highballs.
The Blackberry Smash is made with Hennessy VS, house-made honey-ginger-lavender syrup, lemon and blackberry. $16.
Give Me Ten is made with Aviation gin, sencha tea, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, strawberry bitters and prosecco. $16.
Bubbles in the Sky, the bar’s take on a Paper Plane, is made with Jameson, Amaro Montenegro, Aperol, Giffard apricot liqueur, lemon juice and bubbles. $16.
The Eye of the Tiger punch bowl serves at least four and is made with Botanist gin, St. Germain, lemon, prosecco and orange blossom water. It’s finished with edible orchids. $90.
Advertisement
Here it is again.
The space
Lead designer Chris Holland transformed the 1894-built Mason & Risch piano factory, preserving as much of the original structure as he could, including a refurbished salvaged factory floor workbench (it’s now the host stand) and a deconstructed Mason & Risch chandelier. In addition to a year-round 55-seat courtyard with a retractable roof, there’s another 40-seat patio flanking an alley.
The host stand is made from a refurbished factory floor workbench that was salvaged from the former piano factory.
The entrance opens up to the Parlour’s kitchen (with a 10-seat bar) and stairs that lead to a mezzanine. The upstairs event space will soon function as a late-night lounge.
There are a number of hidden spaces including a powder room and this cubby under the stairs with a phone charging station.
Advertisement
Here’s the lounge.
And again.
And from a different angle.
The lounge’s back bar is stocked with memorabilia from the Hollands’ childhood, as well as mirror-finished television sets that will only play major sporting events.
Here’s the courtyard.
Advertisement
And again.
The Parlour’s main entrance is down this alleyway.
NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY
Sign up for Table Talk, our free newsletter with essential food and drink stories.
The May issue of Toronto Life features the artists, professors, scientists and other luminaries moving north to avoid the carnage of Trump. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.