Tags
baked caramel custard, Food, Gastown, octopus, Pata Negra and Serrano hams, potato and chorizo stew, sardines on toast, tapas, Terra Breads, The Sardine Can, Valencian rice with paella, Vancouver
We were very fortunate that V had set aside another day for us in her busy visiting schedule last month. B and I snapped up the opportunity to have another food adventure with V. The day after our more formal 3-course meal at Les Faux Bourgeois, B suggested trying out something more casual – like tapas at The Sardine Can.
V and I headed down to Gastown together. Apparently The Sardine Can had just opened a few weeks before we ventured there. Although at that time, V and I were not entirely sure where The Sardine Can is located, we didn’t have to do too much guessing when we came across this wordless A-Frame folding sign.
sardine can lid at the door
The Sardine Can definitely lives up to its name. It is a small space with bar tops and bar seating. All the cutlery that you need is placed on the bar top so you can help yourself. The menu is one page in length but with many tasty options. Thankfully the menu is available at The Sardine Can’s website so at least I know what the individual items are called. It’s more interesting to have properly named photos than the generic description of “rice with seafood” or “bread.”
eating utensils in a pail
I really enjoyed the casual atmosphere and the friendliness of our server. There were four bar stools at our table but only three of us seated. Every time our server came by to answer our many questions or check up on us, she would slide onto the empty bar stool. Faced with so many options, it was difficult to decide what to order. Thankfully our server had some great suggestions and helped us narrow down our choices. While waiting for our food to arrive, we took a moment to admire the interior of this small space.
a Euro 2012 game on TV
Check out the cool wallpaper…
It wasn’t too long of a wait before our food started to arrive. I mentioned earlier about the friendliness of our server and was particularly amused when she quickly caught on that I like to take pictures of my food (every dish). She would actually move things around and out-of-the-way for a better picture as she placed it on our table top. Look at the variety that we had:
Pan (one of our several orders of Terra Breads)
Jamon (Pata Negra and Serrano hams)
Tostas de sardinas (sardines on toast)
Guisado de pulpo (stew of octopus, potato and chorizo)
Arroz La Bomba (Valencian rice with paella bits)
Flan de dulce de leche (Baked caramel custard)
The food was really good. My favourites were the sardines on toast and the stew. Luckily we decided to share one dessert at the end. I wanted to try the baked custard but definitely didn’t have enough space to eat an entire one by myself. Dessert was good as well but I only managed 2 bites of it. It’s a very thick custard.
After deciding that we indeed would not be able to order every single item on the menu, we asked for the bill. Oh yes, the bill came… in a sardine can! 
our bill in the sardine can
Never too busy to have dinner with good friends in a place that has fish wallpaper.
Oh yeah! I read about this restaurant open last month on someone’s blog, but I totally forgot about it!
All food looks good. I should definitely try them one day. I guess I have to gather my friends up to taste as many different dishes as possible, eh?
We told the friendly server that it was a hard decision to just pick a few items from the menu. She mentioned that it would be impossible to order all AND finish all in one sitting. I think she said a group of 4 guys (or was it 3 big guys) tried but were unsuccessful. Just means a few more visits if you enjoy the first visit!
nice blog post shelley has…keep eating and taking pictures.
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! Sure thing,… eating, taking photos and blogging.
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