The Room
Pidgin opened in 2013 on Carrall Street at the Crosstown-Gastown border. The dining room is dressed in concrete, dark wood and brass; the open kitchen runs along the back wall. The premise is Asian-influenced modern Canadian — a tasting menu that pulls from Vancouver's Pacific Rim ingredient bench through a French-classical lens.
Service is small-team and floor-warm. The cocktail programme has earned multiple national awards.
The Food
The kitchen runs a tasting-menu format alongside an à la carte side. Signature dishes pull from Japanese, Korean and Chinese ingredients on a Pacific Coast Canadian foundation. Cocktails are the bar's most-photographed work.
Best Occasion Fit
First Date: Pidgin's small Crosstown room is the first-date for the diner who wants the night to register as Asian-fusion-knowledgeable.
Birthday: Birthdays at Pidgin are warm-and-low-lit — a candle, the cocktail programme, the kitchen's small dessert.
