131 Water Kitchen & Bar

The Vancouver Home and Design Show was in town last week; thanks to my employers, I was able to score 2 tickets to the huge trade show. I brought along a dear friend of mine for a day date and after walking around for over an hour, we were famished. Mind you, we weaved through the exhibit so could see all the exhibitors. It was also our excuse to get hungry so we could dine right after.

A lavish table setting

Close up of the table setting

Once we were finished feeding our creativity, it was time to chow down. At first, we couldn’t decide where we should eat. I remembered this tasting room in Steveston Village called Gudrun which I spotted it while walking to La Tandoor Restaurant last week. It’s a good thing we decided against it because I remembered that it wouldn’t exactly be what we wanted; we were famished and we wanted bigger sized dishes. So we walked down to Gastown and found a *quaint* looking resto-bar, 131 Water Kitchen & Bar.

131 Water Kitchen & Bar signage

Patio area outside

Looks were definitely deceiving as my friend and I discovered that it was actually pretty big once we saw the rooms separating the bar area from the restaurant. We were seated by the bar area and began to look over their dinner menu.

But before we ordered, my friend decided to get a Raspberry Mojito.

Raspberry Mojito

Light, refreshing with a little hint of sweetness from the raspberry. I like the fact that the mint was crushed well, unlike some mojitos I’ve had where the mint was still in huge chunks. Quite a delicious drink to start our meal.

Closer look

After deliberating for a while (we’re both really indecisive), we finally decided to share everything and get multiple dishes. We started off with the Bruschetta.

2-bite Bruschetta portions

For me, what really stood out was the sharpness of the balsamic vinegar. It was a strong taste that almost, if not actually, overpowered the dish. The baguette was quite soggy; I almost feel like it was because of the balsamic vinegar. I really did like the taste of the vinegar though, but I wish there wasn’t as much. I also would’ve like my baguette a little more crunchy. Again, this probably because of the balsamic.

The tomatoes added a nice texture and the cheese helped balance the balsamic a little bit.

We went after the Artichoke Quesadillas right after.

Artichoke Quesadillas

A mini slice

I love quesadillas, so I always have high expectations when it comes to it. Although I wasn’t blown away, I thought it was still pretty good. The dish comes with shredded lettuce and tomato salsa, which again, I found spicy (sensitive to spice here). The quesadilla contains cheddar, artichokes and green onions. I like artichokes in larger quantities when it’s sliced thin like this as it gives it a more meaty and filling. It doesn’t stand out in terms of taste, but it’s not horrible either. I like to alternate between having no salsa and lettuce with my quesadilla to having salsa and lettuce with my quesadilla. I find the switching gives me a chance to taste and balance the cheese and artichoke flavor with the spice of the salsa.

A look inside my quesadilla

Right after the quesadilla, we moved on to the French Onion Soup.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is one of my guilty pleasures. I’m quite particular about it, specially since it’s a classic. What I liked about this soup are the big crouton chunks. It soaked up the broth pretty well, and I like tasting semi-soaked/semi-dry croutons as I eat my soup. I also quite like the cheese as it gave the soup thickness; it wasn’t very liquidy at all. The broth was quite rich, which was nice and hearty.

Spoonful of croutons and soup!

What I didn’t find appetizing about this soup was the fact that there was too much oil floating on top of the soup. Really any soup for that matter, because it means the cook/s used too much oil in the dish. Otherwise, it was an okay dish.

For our final dish, we selected the 131 Fish Tacos.

Lovely presentation

Beer battered haddock, shred iceberg, house made salsa in flour tortillas. With a side salad in balsamic dressing.

I adore the presentation of this dish. Don’t you think it’s pretty? I was expecting dinky, 3-bite tacos when I was reading the menu but boy was I wrong. It was a nice size portion, and two tacos were perfect for me and my friend.

The fish was nicely deep fried cooked, it wasn’t dry, and it was fairly huge. I’ve mentioned that I’m sensitive to spice, but the salsa was not overpowering at all.

The inside of my taco. Battered haddock

The side salad was nice and refreshing. It’s a good balance to the carb heavy tacos. I must say I really like pumpkin seeds and the addition of that to the salad was a very nice touch. I also took just used a little bit of the balsamic, remembering the overpowering one from the Bruschetta.

Overall, I found that 131 Water Kitchen & Bar is quite decent. It isn’t the very best out there, but it’s actually not bad at all. I would definitely come back and try their other offerings. The staff was very friendly and accommodating and I really liked that. I’ll be sure to mention this to my buddies when we’re on the look out for a pub/restobar/restaurant place in Gastown.