Vancouver’s Top 5 British Restaurants

Take a culinary trip across the pond with these British-inspired Vancouver restaurants

Charred meat, insipid vegetables, deep-fried Mars Bars: if British food once conjured up thoughts of low-rent grub, it’s time for a serious rebranding – thanks in part to Vancouver restaurants adding culinary swagger to Old Country classics.

Click through for five on the Cool Britannia, B.C.-style hot list…

The Fat Badger

With The Fat Badger’s wood-centric gastro-pub-style setting, the former Le Gavroche restaurant has recently crossed the Channel to bring English, rather than French, influences to the West End.

So say hello to its most characterful potato hit: the Badger’s chips with paneer, curds and chicken tikka masala (the curry combo that is Britain’s national dish, after all). No self-respecting Brit-style restaurant would go without serving fish and chips – complete with true mushy peas – and the Badger’s beer-battered offering is exceptionally generous.

Leave room for the sticky toffee pudding (nothing like the Canadian meaning of ‘pudding’) or Eton mess. Expect plates to be licked clean.

Location: 1616 Alberni Street, Vancouver

Phone: 604-336-5577

The London Pub

The London Pub’s lively pub atmosphere helps transport anyone instantly to the Old Country (especially when a Premier League football game is on). And, let’s face it, when beer is virtually part of a Brit’s DNA, cooking with it is an obvious. This pub grub is suitably hearty. The beef and Guinness stew crowned in pastry, cottage pie (ground beef – you guessed it, stewed in Guinness – and mashed potatoes) or bangers (sausages) and mash. The four-year-old pub has also just started bringing in one of London’s quintessential ales, London Pride from Fuller’s Brewery, just to complete the experience. St George, England’s patron saint, would send his blessings.

Location: 700 Main Street, Vancouver

Phone: 604-563-5053
 

The Cascade Room

Sundays just aren’t proper without a roast in the U.K. and The Cascade Room has a solid reputation for delivering one heck of a tender joint of beef with all the trimmings, including Yorkshire puddings every Sunday night. Head chef Tim Evans, who hails from Gloucester in the U.K. and worked at Martin Wishart’s restaurant in Edinburgh, makes sure it hits one of the most authentic notes: sizeable portions.

It’s enough to wipe away the tears of any homesick expat.

Location: 2616 Main Street, Vancouver

Phone: 604-709-8650
 

The Abbey

Named for its tall, cavernous church-like space, The Abbey boasts a menu that’s partly British-inspired, but with a modern twist. No ordinary lamb shepherd’s pie here; the hip, clean-lined ‘progressive tavern’ – formerly Wild Rice – ups the ante by using duck; neither does it plump for ordinary bangers, but serves Toulouse sausages with its mash. Try the starter Welsh rarebit; it’s like diving into a succulent personalized cheese fondue melted onto bread with a perfect watercress garnish, to boot. Cheers, indeed.

Location: 117 West Pender Street, Vancouver

Phone: 604-336-7100
 

The Cheshire Cheese Inn

For a taste of ye olde worlde Britain, head straight to Dunbar’s legendary The Cheshire Cheese Inn and into a beautiful time warp: from the comic strip of Andy Capp in the windows to the Toby Jugs and brass and decorative knick-knacks all around.

Enjoy a shameless doubling of carbs at The Cheese, as it’s affectionately known. The Yorkshire puddings stuffed with sausages (otherwise known colloquially as Toad in the Hole) and beans and mashed potato, or steak pie with puff pastry and served with chips are enough to sate any hunger pangs. Guaranteed to add body heat to any wintry night.

Location: 4585 Dunbar St, Vancouver

Phone: 604-224-2521