Award-winning dining is easy in West Vancouver

West coast cuisine, Italian and Indian are all part of the fare in West Vancouver

In a fortunate land where eating out is a regular pastime, creating a restaurant that is on the top of everyone’s go-to destinations is an ongoing challenge. Here are three that have consistently come top of the list in West Vancouver.

Beachhouse Restaurant and Lounge

Located at 150-25th Street at the foot of West Vancouver’s popular Dundarave Pier, the Beachhouse Restaurant offers tasty menus for casual lunches and fine dining.

Famous for its signature West Coast cuisine and 180-degree ocean views, the Beachhouse has been a must-visit North Shore dining experience forever. Now owned by the Fuller family, long-time North Shore restaurateurs, the Beachhouse is one of those places around which a community is built.

Mike Mitchell, who is both general manager and sommelier, upholds the restaurant’s five-star reputation, while menus are prepared by head chef Sean Blancard.

Blancard is a Red Seal trained chef, Canada’s highest professional chef designation. He is also an avid fisherman—a most appropriate pastime for a chef who heads up one of Vancouver’s premier seafood restaurants.

The Beachhouse has made sustainability and quality food and service its guiding principles. So it’s no surprise that Blancard uses the freshest of local ingredients sourced from local suppliers wherever possible—and that includes the ingredients he needs for his famous North Pacific sablefish and Haida Gwaii halibut and chips dishes.

Although seafood is the Beachhouse specialty, menus are diverse and please many tastes. 

“Paired with Chef Blancard’s distinctive cuisine, our award-winning wine list will delight the most refined palates,” Mitchell said. “Whether our guests are a couple celebrating an intimate occasion or on a night out with family and friends, our menus and wine lists are to be enjoyed for any occasion,” he said.

So if RVers from Europe or elsewhere are looking for a memorable fine dining experience that is quintessentially British Columbian, a reservation for the Beachhouse at Dundarave should be high on the list. 

Carmelo’s Ristorante, Pizzeria, Trattoria

Located at 1448 Marine Drive, Carmelo’s has been a mainstay in West Vancouver dining for 25 years. 

Peter Oates, who has owned the restaurant for over 12 years, gained his University of London City & Guilds certificate in catering before finding his perfect niche in Carmelo’s.

Chief chef Adam Shaughnessy first studied culinary arts in high school. He then began his career as a line cook at Vancouver’s famous Umberto Menghi’s restaurant before moving to Montreal for a year to learn French and Italian cuisine. With those credentials in hand, Shaughnessy returned to B.C. and eventually joined Carmelo’s in 2008, where his salads and meals cooked in a wood-fired oven are enjoyed by patrons to this day.

Carmelo’s menu is a local blend of West Coast and Italian and ranges from a wide variety of antipasti (appetizers), Italian insalate, pastas and pizza. All items are available for takeout.  

Between them, Oates and Shaughnessy have developed an enviable reputation for their wide variety of exquisitely presented lunch and dinner items in a welcoming environment.

“Carmelo’s isn’t stuffy,” Oates said. “It’s a place where you can come to have a fantastic meal at an affordable price. We are the heart of Ambleside.”

On Monday nights from January to November 2016 diners can choose from 10 select pastas for $10 each.

Handi Indian Restaurant

An award-winning restaurant in Vancouver for many years, the Handi Indian Restaurant location at 1579 Bellevue Avenue in West Vancouver has pleased North Shore patrons for over 12 years.

“We invite RVWest readers and travelers to join us in our own journey,” said owner and chef Par Maroke.

The Handi name is apt in both India and North America. Its literal translation means a thick-bottomed clay cooking pot that has a narrow top. Likely an early version of today’s slow cookers, its design allows for lengthy simmering to bring out rich, deeply-spiced flavours.

Maroke takes pride in knowing that his Handi team offers wonderful meals and great service in a soothing environment.

“Our Handi families have represented the finest authentic Indian cuisine in the traditional way for three generations,” he said.

Handi’s lengthy and award winning menus range from sizzling tandoori items to curries and vegetarian specialties. Their mouth-watering butter chicken scores high on the list of favourites.

“We enjoy hearing such positive feedback from our happy clients,” Maroke said. “Learning is an important part of our lives, so meeting new people every day gives me an opportunity to hear about other cultures and to learn the tastes of all the people who come into our Handi Restaurant,” he said.