Alouette Bistro: French happy hour in downtown Vancouver
Alouette Bistro is a classic French bistro located in downtown Vancouver. They serve up breakfast, brunch, happy hour and an all-day menu. I came here with a friend to check out their happy hour menu.
The vibe
I really liked the interior of Alouette Bistro. It is not necessarily my preference (I like bright and airy spaces), but it has a really great vibe with dark wooden furniture, a nicely lit bar, and a Parisian feel.
Our table for 2 was quite small against a pillar, but I was comfortable. The only thing was that not all of our food fit very well on our small table.
The space itself is not very large, but they are able to pack quite a few tables inside and it feels intimate as we arrived pretty early before dinner service for happy hour. We actually stayed pretty late and we were there for almost 2 hours, and we saw the buzz during dinner hour – many tables were filled and there was some good buzz/chatter in the air.
Food and drinks review
Here is everything we ordered during happy hour for 2 people. Happy hour runs from 3-5pm.
Some of the items included in this review are from their all-day menu (not happy hour).
Drinks
Alouette Bistro’s happy hour menu features $6 wine and beer, but we ended up getting a bottle of white sparkling because bottles were 50% off.
Duck poutine ($12)
You guys know I love my french fries but maybe you didn’t know that I actually don’t like poutine that much 😬. I find the gravy makes the fries soggy and I like eating fries just with ketchup, sweet & sour sauce, or by itself in its natural essence of salty goodness.
Anyways, this duck poutine still sounded interesting to me. On the menu, it says the fries are triple cooked 😉, served with confit duck, duck gravy, cheese and herbs. The fries were very good – I really like it when they double or triple cook them. I’m not sure if it was because of the confit duck, the duck gravy, the cheese or a combination of all 3, but I did find this dish to be too salty for me.
Portion looks small but it is bigger than it looks.
Moules et frites ($12)
Probably one of the best value items on their happy hour food menu is their mussels and fries. The mussels are from BC, cooked with pastis, fennel, tomato, leeks and herbs. They serve it with a separate plate of grilled bread and also fries! So we had double the fries at our table.
Again, portions look kinda small in their black pot but there is more mussels in there than you think. The mussels were also pretty large and each one of them had meat inside. Overall, a pretty classic pairing and yes I did like the fries better just on their own. The bread with the sauce also tasted really good too.
Bone marrow ($21)
Not on the happy hour menu but on their regular menu is the bone marrow. My friend really wanted to order this, eat it, and take shots off of the bone 💀.
The bone marrow is pretty big actually, and it is roasted with some parsley sprinkled on top. On the side they have a small little bunch of mushrooms and shallots, and 4 pieces of toasted baguette (same ones as the ones for the mussels).
Some decent fatty bites here. I think it’s good to share between 2 people, but doesn’t beat the bone marrow I tried at Le Crocodile, another French restaurant downtown.
Recommended: Read my birthday dinner review of Le Crocodile from 2019.
Escargot ($13)
This may not be a dish for everyone, but my friend really likes escargot (snails 🐌). This is also off of their regular menu and not on happy hour special.
It is served in a very traditional little bowl that comes with 5 little holes to cook/bake your snail meat in. It is cooked with lots of butter, garlic, herbs and shallots, with some bread crumbs on top. You scoop the snail meat and all the juices/sauces and eat it with a baguette.
Pretty classic and met my expectations. But by now I’ve also eaten a lot of this baguette, whether it be with the bone marrow or the mussels.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
I am giving it 3 stars based off of the happy hour menu. Their food specials on their happy hour menu is pretty limited. I would probably order the mussels again on happy hour but not the duck poutine. Drink specials are good, so perhaps come here for happy hour if you mostly want to drink and unwind.
In general, the food is good. Their regular menu has an assortment of French dishes and quite a wide range of prices for entrees – anywhere from $25 to $60 or MP. I would return to try their regular dinner or brunch menu to get a better sense of the quality of the food for the price.
Service was great but our servers also probably thought we were ratchet because we were taking shots off of our eaten bone marrow and then packing it up to take home to our dogs 💀. We stayed for almost 2 hours but never felt rushed to leave.
Sincerely, Loewe