Provence Marinaside: 20th Anniversary

Provence Marinaside is a French restaurant located in Yaletown. They celebrated their 20th anniversary since opening this year and offered a special 20% off all food and drinks from their dinner menu so we went to check them out.

Interior

We had an 8pm seating and we were seated in the dining room, where they had live music entertainment. For those who want a quieter area, they also have lounge seating in the back.

The dining room can fit quite a lot of tables for a not so large space, but I didn’t feel cramped. Even with a table of 2, one of the 2 seats was bar seating so I was comfy. We were nestled near the bar but was never neglected by our server.

Drinks

Figgy smalls and Fleur d’Abricot ($15 each)

For cocktails, my boyfriend chooses the figgy smalls and I order the fleur d’abricot.

The figgy smalls cocktail uses brandy, figs, lemon, orange and Grand Marnier. It tastes similar to a plum wine due to the fig, but it’s still a relatively fruity cocktail.

The fleur d’abricot cocktail I ordered uses rum, giffard abricot du roussillon, chilled tea, lemon, and mint. Mine tasted more fruity.

Food

Crab and shrimp cakes ($17)

For appetizers, I choose the crab and shrimp cakes. The serving comes with 2 cakes on top of a bed of baby Romain lettuce, apple and lemon aioli. The crab cake is quite large and has lots of cake and shrimp chunks inside – very flavourful and wasn’t mushy.

Garlic parsley meatballs ($14)

For our second appetizer, we order their garlic parsley meatballs from the small bites section of their menu. Similar to the crab cakes, it comes in 2 servings with a mixed green salad in the middle. The meatballs are covered in an onion and tomato sauce and sprinkled with grana padano cheese.

I really liked the sauce and the meatballs were not dry and didn’t fall apart. The sauce tasted extra good with the garlic crouton at the end for a completely clean dish.

Bouillabaisse ($37)

Bouillabaisse is a traditional fish stew originating from the city of Marseille. My boyfriend orders this but he has never tried it before. Inside the fish stew, they put prawns, scallops, mussels, clams, 2 pieces of fish, and fingerling potatoes.

We actually really enjoyed the soup base. Our server had told us that it is a strong fish broth, but we loved it and thought it was super tasty with the crostini because it was full of flavour. My boyfriend also really liked how much seafood was in his dish and everything tasted fresh.

Seared smoked sablefish ($42)

I love sablefish so I had to order this as my main! The sablefish was cooked really well – very soft and tender – and it was also smoked so that added a nice unique element to it.

I also love brussel sprouts and I didn’t find them to be soggy even though they are in this broth. The broth is very interesting as well because it can taste quite sour on its own, but when paired with the sable fish, it has a really nice balance. The pickled mushroom also adds to that balance.

And of course, the crispy parsnip and yam ribbons were very pretty!

Clafoutis aux fruit rouges ($12)

Our server highly recommended this dessert so even though we were both really full, we ordered it and we were blown away. Clafoutis is a baked French dessert usually made with black cherries, arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. Provence Marinaside put their own spin on this dessert and their version of it actually resembles a classic Japanese pudding to me. It is wonderfully soft, with a really delicate texture that just melts in your mouth.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

We were both really full and had a great time at Provence Marinaside for their 20th anniversary. The live music, buzz in the room and all the happy folks made for a really great atmosphere. Even better yet, everything was 20% off! But looking at their regular menu prices (prices listed in this review are their regular price), it’s not ridiculously expensive for the quality of food and portion sizes.

Our mains both tasted really good, more impressive than our appetizer round, and of course, the dessert was the highlight of the night. I would say their clafoutis is a definite must order!

Sincerely, Loewe