Jules Bistro: French bistro in Gastown
I’ve been to Jules Bistro on 2 occasions – one for a date night and one for a birthday dinner with my girlfriends. Jules Bistro is a French bistro restaurant located in Gastown, downtown Vancouver.
Interior
The interior is very cute and chic. There’s a charming brick wall, chandelier, and patterned tiled floors. Most of the seating is black wooden seats. For our date night, we were seated at a small table for 2. For my birthday dinner with 5 girls, we were seated at a larger table in the back by the wine cellar.
Food
Jules Bistro offers a dinner tasting menu for $63 per person, but they also have most of the dishes al le carte. This review includes a mixture of the tasting menu and al le carte.
Chicken liver mousse ($15)
If you select the dinner tasting menu, the chicken liver mousse is one of the 4 appetizers you can select. If you order al le carte, it is around $15 and portion size is the same.
The chicken liver mousse is in the jar and you scoop some and spread it onto the blinis, which are like mini pancakes. I love the grape chutney paired with the taste of the chicken liver and there are also some pickled veggies too. This appetizer is very rich and savoury and a must-order!
Lobster bisque ($17)
The lobster bisque was on special both times I came and it’s quite good! The soup has a good consistency and there are chunks of lobster meat. It has a strong lobster taste and is served with some crusty bread, cheese and sauce. The crusty bread can be quite hard so it doesn’t totally soak up the soup, but can give it a nice texture.
Seared Hokkaido scallops ($37)
For our second course in the dinner tasting menu, we selected the seared Hokkaido scallops. You can order this al le carte for $37, but the portion size is much larger when you order it al le carte.
The seared scallops are served with a mushroom risotto in lobster oil. It is a dish that is easy to eat and the risotto is cooked well.
Fraser Valley moulard duck confit ($34)
For the dinner tasting menu, I choose the duck confit as my entree. You can order it al le carte for $34.
It’s a pretty large entree with the duck confit laying on a bed of salad, potato sarladaises, honey glazed bacon and pine nuts. The duck confit was a little salty for my taste, but eating it with the salad helped with that. I really liked the potato sarladaise underneath because it had soaked up some of that duck fat hehe.
Pork chop
My boyfriend orders the pork chop that is on special. Unfortunately I don’t remember the price or really what was on the dish, but I have to say this pork chop was gigantic lol! Such a good deal for the price solely based on the portion size. The pork chop was cooked well and we had leftovers.
Vanilla crème brulée ($10)
For dessert, we had the vanilla creme brulee, which was delicious. The top layer was thin and not bitter, but the dish itself is not very deep. I liked it paired with the fruits but could do without the really hard meringue.
Buttermilk pannacotta ($10)
My boyfriend loves pannacotta so we ordered a second dessert when we came for date night. They have a lemon brulée topping so that added a nice citrus to the otherwise sweet pannacotta. This dessert is not very sweet and was a nice way to end a very filling meal.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I enjoyed both of my times eating at Jules Bistro. Service was great, especially when I was with a larger table and I felt like they had given us lots of attention in case we needed anything.
As for the food, portions were quite generous for everything so I feel the prices are quite reasonable. I think the dinner tasting menu is a great deal because you get 4 courses for $63 and there are so many options within those 4 courses so there is something for everyone. Out of everything I had, I liked the chicken liver mousse, scallop risotto, and lobster bisque the most. Desserts were also really good. I would love to come back and try their other entrees and I also think it’s nice they have rotating specials so there is always something new to try.
Sincerely, Loewe