Eat This Week: All the Seafood at Fanny Bay Oyster Bar

We’re showcasing Vancouver’s best restaurants and special menu items—and why they should be your next meal

Restaurant: Fanny Bay Oyster Bar

Location: 762 Cambie Street

The Dish: All the tide-to-table seafood dishes

Janine VerreaultChef Tommy Shorthouse shows off his West Coast Cioppino, complete with Dungeness crab

The Details: There was a lot of buzz around the eight Vancouver restaurants that received Michelin Guide stars back in October—and while Fanny Bay Oyster Bar didn’t receive an official star, they did earn themselves a Michelin recommendation. According to Michelin, “It doesn’t get much more tide to table than Fanny Bay Oyster Bar. This menu features some of the best shellfish and seafood-driven entrées around.”

And we couldn’t agree more. With its convenient and cozy location in Vancouver’s stadium district, this is one of our favourite spots to have dinner before a game or event, or really anytime we’re craving seafood.

We recently got to sample Chef Tommy Shorthouse’s latest menu and his passion for cooking shines through once again. The new menu features a bounty of fresh-caught seafood in signature dishes that include: Grilled Octopus (chili, pumpkin seed salsa verde), $13; Mussels and Clams (spicy tomato fennel sauce or white wine, garlic butter and herb, grilled millstone sourdough), $25; Scallops and Pork Belly (cauliflower purée, apple-mustard chutney, roasted cauliflower, carrot, radicchio, sherry vinaigrette), $33; Sablefish (pan-roasted, house-made ricotta-kelp gnocchi, oyster mushrooms, mushroom vin blanc, kelp chips), $32; West Coast Cioppino (mussels, clams, scallops, tiger prawns, octopus, daily catch, potato, leek, fennel, tomato sauce, Pernod, half Dungeness crab), $48; and so much more. All the dishes are super-fresh and tasty, but the Cioppino was definitely the showstopper.

For dessert, we enjoyed a beautiful Pumpkin Spiced Crème Brûlée (pumpkin seed sablé), $13; as well as a wonderful Apple Tarte Tatin (Gala apples, cinnamon-vanilla caramel, puff pastry), $15, ice cream add-on $3 (definitely add the ice cream!).

Fanny Bay Oyster Bar is open for dine-in service and takeout seven days a week from 2 to 10 p.m. with daily happy hour features available from 2 to 6 p.m. The Fanny Bay retail market is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offers fresh and smoked seafood selections, premium shellfish and oysters from British Columbia and Washington State, gourmet pantry items, seafood boxes and specialty kits available to order online for pick-up or home delivery.