Archer: Dine Out Vancouver 2024
Another year of Dine Out Vancouver is here 🤩!
Dine Out Vancouver is a food festival where restaurants offer special menus and experiences during a usually slow period of the year. This year, Dine out Vancouver is running from January 17 – February 4, 2024 and menu prices range from $20-65 per person.
Every year, Dine out Vancouver gets more expensive 🙃. When I first heard about it, the most expensive menus were priced at $45 per person, but now we are hitting the $65 benchmark. To me, this makes it less appealing because I actually have to do math and check out the restaurant’s al le carte menus. There have been several instances where depending on the items I choose in the Dine out Vancouver menu, it is actually a few dollars cheaper to just order the exact same 2-3 dishes al le carte, which really defeats the whole purpose 😢.
So this year when selecting the restaurants I will be visiting for Dine out Vancouver, I did have to do some research just to ensure that I would actually be getting “a deal” if I order the Dine Out menu vs. if I just come on a regular day and order from the regular menu.
The first Dine Out Vancouver menu I checked out this year was at Archer, a new restaurant located in downtown Vancouver that boasts a modern Canadian/Pacific Northwest menu. Archer’s Dine Out Vancouver menu is priced at $65 per person with 3 courses.
Here is everything we ordered!
Recommended: Read about my second Dine Out Vancouver experience at L’Abattoir, a French restaurant in Gastown.
The vibe
Archer is located on Alberni Street in downtown Vancouver. The space itself is pretty small but they made good use of the space they have to seat as many tables as possible.
The interior was pretty dim when I first entered. Our table wasn’t ready yet, so we were temporarily seated at the bar in the back, which was actually quite a pretty bar with the lights and some greenery. The owner did provide some free shots while we waited 😆.
We waited for almost 30 minutes before our table was ready. As a table of 5 adults, we were seated in a booth table. Half of it was a plush green booth – quite comfortable – and then there were 2 chairs for the last 2 seats. Overall, it was comfortable and spacious enough for all of our dishes. Coats were taken and hung by the wall near the washroom.
Food and drinks review
Archer’s Dine Out Vancouver menu is priced at $65 per person, but there are some additional add-ons you can purchase. We also split a bottle of red wine that cost around $100 (so $25 for 4 people).
First course: Venison tartare (+$10 for truffle)
The most “meaty” option for the first course is the venison tartare. It comes with a black garlic aioli, cured duck yolk, parmesan, and house-made malted chips.
Several of us ordered this as our first course, but I added $10 to include some burgundy truffle onto mine because my friend really wanted to try it with the truffle.
Presentation-wise, it’s hard to distinguish which tartare had the truffle vs. the ones that did not. However, taste-wise you could taste the difference.
The tartare was pretty delicious even though they added the cheese, which I’m not sure I am usually a fan of in my tartare. It tasted quite savoury but had a twinge of a sour aftertaste from the chips so it was actually pretty well-balanced.
First course: Hamachi crudo
The second option is the hamachi crudo. It is served with a seabuckthorn vinaigrette, ikura, rogarashi crisp and shaved vegetables.
Presentation was quite good and the vinaigrette wasn’t too sour. Taste-wise, this dish is a lot lighter than the tartare and the flavours are also much more delicate. I did like the addition of the ikura to add a small explosion of saltiness.
First course: Spicy burrata
The last option for your first course was the spicy burrata, a vegetarian option. The burrata is placed on a slice of sourdough bread, topped with crispy onion and a house-made chili oil.
Originally, none of us planned on choosing this as a first course, but the owner highly recommended it so one of us ordered it just to see what it would be like.
The burrata was a decent size for 1 person – pretty generous actually – and did have a nice ooey inside once sliced open. I actually really liked the house-made chili oil and crispy onion additions – the sauce had a similar taste to the Korean gochujang and the crispy onions gave it some nice texture and crunch since the burrata is soft and milky. The bread was also a good base for it.
Second course: Fraser Valley duck breast
Moving onto the main course, I chose to order the Fraser Valley duck breast. It comes with 2 duck breasts, wilted greens, golden beets, a beet puree and a foie gras sauce.
I didn’t originally think 2 duck breasts was that much, but the portion was actually perfect for me. The duck was cooked well without it being chewy and it had a nice pink colour to it in the middle. I really liked the beet 2 ways – in the puree and as 2 golden chunks. And I also think the wilted greens paired very well with the duck and beets.
The sauce wasn’t anything to rave about and I did expect it to taste richer because of the foie gras, but I couldn’t really tell between this and regular jus.
Second course: Caramel miso sablefish
The second option for your main is the caramel miso sablefish. It comes with some bok choy, gregola sarda and chorizo nage. I actually don’t know what the last 2 items are so I googled it 😅. Gregola sarda is a type of pasta from Spain and it’s the little balls in the photo (I thought they were beans). Nage is a broth usually used with poached seafood and infused with white wine, veggies, herbs and in this case, chorizo.
I usually order fish for my main and I love sablefish but again, because I didn’t know what 2 of the things were, I opted for the duck instead. I was happy to see that the sablefish came in 3 chunks (bigger portion than just 1 piece), but my friend said that like the hamachi crudo, it is a much lighter dish.
Second course: Mushroom cavatelli (+$8 scallops)
Lastly, the vegetarian option for your main course is this mushroom cavatelli pasta. It comes with a sous vide egg, foraged and cultivated mushrooms, truffle cream sauce, and calabrian chili crust. My friend added scallops for +$8.
Sadly, she was disappointed to find they only add 1 scallop when the menu says “scallopS”. 💀
The pasta was actually a decent portion but it definitely is more whole with some sort of protein (in my opinion) as there wasn’t a lot of mushrooms (mostly underneath all the pasta). I did like the chili crust though – it was like breadcrumbs and tasted really good with the pasta.
Third course: Salted caramel pot de creme
For dessert, we actually all got the same one. The other choice was a dark chocolate mousse in case you were wondering but since we all ordered the salted caramel pot de creme, I will not be reviewing the chocolate mousse.
The salted caramel pot de creme came in a pretty unassuming little jar but it actually had more substance than you think. They add on an espresso biscotti (nice and crunchy), white chocolate ganache and chocolate pearls. I really liked eating it with the biscotti as well as the fruits – it was nice to mix it up and eat it with different combinations. The salted caramel by itself is also not too sweet (the ultimate Asian compliment for desserts! 😊).
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In total, my bill came to $150 for the 3 course Dine Out Vancouver meal, truffle and the split of the wine. This was because I actually double tipped, so actually the bill should have been around $130 after tax and a 20% tip, but I paid another 18% on top because I didn’t see the already included gratuity on my bill 🥲.
Food-wise, everything was delicious and I actually do think it is worth the $65 price tag, especially if you order the duck breast as your main. I liked all the courses but I do prefer the meatier options (venison tartare, duck breast) over the fish options (hamachi crudo, sablefish). Shoutout to the spicy burrata though because it was also delicious even though it is a vegetarian option.
Service-wise, things were positive. One of my friends is doing dry January and was hoping to get a non-alcoholic beer (none on the menu), but the owner made it happen so that was awesome. They also were very accommodating when splitting the bill as it got a bit confusing as to who ordered what add-ons and which people were splitting the wines.
I am interested in returning to Archer to check out their regular al le carte menu. They currently are on the Michelin guide. Thank you for a wonderful night!
Sincerely, Loewe