Executive chef and co-owner Elliott Hashimoto of the Cork & Fin Restaurant displays his Ahi tuna carpaccio, with watercress and truffle aiolio. Photograph by: Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Sun

Tapas Tree alumni launch Gastown venue that offers good value

Mia Stainsby
Sun

AT A GLANCE

Cork & Fin

221 Carrall St.,

604-569-2215

www.corkandfin.ca.

Open: For dinner, Tuesday to Sunday. (May be opening for lunch in the summer.)

Rating 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3 1/2

Service: 3 1/2

Price: $$

“You gonna eat that?” It was more demand than question so we surrendered our leftovers. That’s how a dishevelled couple, slumped on the sidewalk on a Downtown Eastside street one evening, supped on braised lamb with harissa chickpeas and on pappardelle with Dungeness crab, peas and creme fraiche.

We were happy to share what remained of our meal at Cork & Fin, but I had been looking forward to tucking into the lamb for lunch the next day. It was quite scrumptious.

The pappardelle was easier to forfeit; it was tasty, but the noodles were middling and the crab was playing Find Waldo. If it was there, it wore camouflage.

Cork & Fin arrived in the culinary cauldron of Gastown just as the Olympics began.

It’s run by Francis Regio and Elliott Hashimoto (the chef), both alumni from Tapas Tree in the West End.

Gastown has exploded with arty little eating places which are more character-driven than Yaletown’s polished gloss.

Cork & Fin is a little more mainstream than some of its edgier neighbours, but there’s a place for a warm, unpretentious spot that offers good value.

We noted that sports medicine guru Doug Clement and wife Diane — both also Sun Run founders — had dropped in for a nosh, as well as a Sun colleague, who’s a regular there.

As I often find in these tapas-driven times, the menu needs better focus. It’s largely a tapas menu, but dishes like the pasta and the half pan-roasted game hen with gravy and wild mushrooms read more like mains.

It ought to get with one program or the other.

The seafood, or the “fin” part of the name, is fresh and foraged with care from various suppliers.

The first dish we tried, however, lowered expectations.

Ahi tuna carpaccio was rather bluntly plated and we braced for so-so food.

But things perked up over our two visits.

The house-smoked sablefish was gorgeous; it was perfectly poached in milk and simply presented with a grainy mustard sauce and napa cabbage. A special, ling cod en papillotte with julienne vegetables, was a delight. So often, ling cod is badly handled.

Seafood chowder was done in a light tomato-based broth with very good prawns, mussels and clams cooked just right.

They did go astray with a side of Dungeness crab mashed potatoes. It was dumped on a dish, pale and unappetizing.

Scallop ceviche with pea shoots, chilies and lemon dressing was fresh, but the flavours weren’t impressively balanced.

A side of pommes frites with aioli began auspiciously, but wilted soon after arrival.

On the meat side, the half game hen ($15) was flavourful and a bargain.

As for desserts, I’d say don’t fool around with what ain’t broke.

A dessert billed as poached pear arrived as cut-up bits in a sabayon.

The pot de creme with brandied cherry syrup was like a custard with a transparent layer of cherry syrup atop it. Pretty, but not rocking with cherries.

The compact wine list is thoughtful with an eye to partnering with seafood.

Regio, who ran the wine program at Tapas Tree, says one outcome from the recent recession is lowered wine prices.

“Now we’re able to offer wines by the glass that we couldn’t a few years back. Prices are back to where they should be and it’s a great time to buy wines.”

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