What’s on the menu at the Parlour, a new King West restaurant and lounge with Vancouver roots
By Renée Suen
| July 8, 2019
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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And again.
The Parlour’s main entrance is down this alleyway.
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