El Gato Gab Gab: Dine Out Vancouver 2025
Dine Out VancouverΒ is back and it is one of my favourite food festivals in VancouverΒ π! This year it runs from January 22 β February 9, 2025 and restaurants are offering special course menus starting from $20 β $100 per person.
For my second Dine Out, I ate at a new restaurant called El Gato Gab Gab with some girl friends.
El Gato Gab Gab is the newest restaurant to join the family group that features Michelin star π Published on Main and Bar Susu. They are a modern Mexican cocktail bar and botanero located on Main Street in the Mount Pleasant area. Their Dine Out Vancouver menu is priced at $65 per person and includes 5 courses.
Recommended: Read my review of my 2021 NYE tasting menu at Published on Main in Vancouver.
I came here as a table of 4 adults and here is everything we ordered.
El Gato Gab Gab
2650 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3E6
The vibe
The exterior of El Gato Gab Gab is unassuming, as with many restaurants on Main Street. But once you step inside, you will find yourself in a colourful and fun aesthetic with bold interior designs and playful art. The inside is actually bigger than I thought with a cool rounded bar and 2 different dining areas.
Our table of 4 was seated near the back with half booth seating (lots of rooms for coats and bags) and 2 chairs. The table space was also spacious. Lighting was a little on the darker side with candle lighting and certain accent lamps and lighting.
Food and drinks review ($65)
El Gato Gab Gabβs Dine Out Vancouver menu is priced at $65 per person and includes 5 courses. They offer a reduced al le carte menu if you want to order additional dishes. We didnβt get any add-ons so I will not include any prices for specific dishes in the post.
Gato-rita ($13) + Melon man ($17)
There are a lot of cocktails on the menu and I like how they add a description to each one instead of just naming the ingredients because it helps me decide what kind of drink I want.
My friend ordered a glass of wine and my other friend got the gato-rita. It has el jimador blanco, lemon, agave and shaved ice. On the menu, it describes it as “the cheapest marg on-main”. It is a cute little margarita with a very salty rim.
I was looking for something fruity and ordered the melon man. Also the description for this drink said “Drink with your eyes – your insta followers will love it” and I knew I found my drink π. This cocktail uses fandango mezcal, midori, hpnotiq, honeydew & coriander falernum and a “cherry”. The cherry was actually a soft boozy candy sort of item that surprised me. The drink was really yummy and fruity as expected, with a hint of smokiness to it.
First course: Tostadita
The first course is a tostadita, a deep fried tortilla. You can either choose the Dungeness crab one or the smoked cauliflower.
Most of us, including myself, chose the Dungeness crab. It was a pretty big tostadita (took me several bites) and also had a mixture of burnt eggplant and a lot of fried garlic and shallot. It was crunchy, savoury from the fried aromatics and had that fresh sweet taste from the crab.
The smoked cauliflower one also has coconut cashew and a cream salsa negra.
Second course: Fresh
The second course was themed “Fresh” but we all chose the same item – the yellowtail aguachile. Aguachile is a type of raw seafood dish and in this one, they use yellowtail fish, shiro shoyu, BBQ leeks, and pico de gallo ice. This was a small but very refreshing, vibrant and zesty appetizer.
The other option for this course would have been a spiral cucumber salad with pozole hummus guajillo, chili crisp and fried hominy.
Third course: Botanita
Everybody gets the same third course – blistered shishito peppers with a Mayan pumpkin seed puree, black garlic and arare.
This was a pretty small item so not sure if it can be really considered a course, but I liked the taste of it. The shishito peppers were smoky and soft and the puree at the bottom gave it an extra bump of flavour.
Fourth course: Tacos
There are 3 options for the main dish:
- Sake braised cabbage: Chintextle XO corn smut (�?) and black garlic
- Top sirloin carne asada: Duck fat confit, spring onions, bone marrow salsa
- Sablefish al pastor: Mojo braised fennel and salsa taquera
Since we are a table of 4, we decided to order 2 meat and 2 fish and share so we all get to try both. I guess no one was really feeling the braised cabbage although it sounds delicious.
The tacos came in a very large oval dish and all the components were disassembled for us to build our own tacos. Each person gets 4 tacos in total.
The sirloin carne asada taco was yummy but I did find it a little hard to chew/eat in taco form. It is easier to cut it up into smaller pieces with a knife and fork vs. biting and pulling on the taco. The bone marrow salsa was delicious and so were the spring onions.
For the sablefish, I don’t know why I thought it would be battered and deep fried. The sablefish was cooked in this slightly spicy sauce and the fish was so soft and flaky π! I also really liked the fennel – I don’t eat fennel much, but it was seasoned really well and also easy to eat in a taco form.
Overall, I preferred the sablefish option over the sirloin.
Fifth course: Golosinas
Lastly for dessert, we have the kitty kat flan!
I was a little surprised when it arrived at our table because I had saw a video of the Dine Out menu beforehand and the kitty flan looked different vs. than here. But as I ate it and fell into the sweet gooeyness, I didn’t care anymore.
The kitty kat flan was creamy and spooned into a big lump with toasted horchata caramel, passionfruit and habanero. The passionfruit gave it a citrus/sour punch but without it, the flan is sweet along with the caramel.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
We had a fun and tasty dinner at El Gato Gab Gab.
From my cocktail to each course, I felt each dish was full of flavour and had a lot of different textures π. My favourite item from the night was probably the sablefish tacos, but I am a sucker for sablefish. I also highly recommend my cocktail the melon man.
In terms of an overall tasting menu, I think it was well balanced but leans a little bit on the smaller side. To be specific, this was enough food for me but I don’t think it would have been enough for my husband.
It also seemed like a lot of their Dine Out Vancouver menu items are not on the regular menu, so there are still a lot of different dishes I want to try from their regular menu. I will be back to try their al le carte menu!
Sincerely, Loewe