St. Lawrence: Birthday dinner at a 1 Michelin star French restaurant in Vancouver
I am a self-proclaimed foodie so I always have a list of restaurants I want to try and high on my list for awhile now has been St. Lawrence – a French restaurant located in between Gastown and downtown Eastside Vancouver.
It was already kind of difficult to get a reservation to St. Lawrence, but after they received a Michelin star in 2022, I found it even more difficult 😭. Finally, I was able to dine here for my 31st birthday this month 🤩!
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St. Lawrence offers a different set menu every month and while they have several add-on options, they mostly do not have a regular al le carte menu. However, depending on the set menu, there may be options you can choose.
This review is based off on the return of their table d’hote available from May 7 – 31, 2024.
The vibe
I’m not gonna lie, St. Lawrence is not situated in the best neighbourhood since it is close to the downtown Eastside area. We found some questionable street parking but at least it was cheap 😅.
The restaurant itself is not that big but it was busy on the Thursday night we dined here (every table was full). The entrance is very small with mostly a curtain and just the host desk, so there is no area for you to wait inside if it is raining or anything like that.
We were seated right away to a small table for 2 at the back wall close to the large windows facing the street. Tables are situated pretty closely together so expect to be sitting pretty close to the table next to you. For our table, one side was a wooden chair (had better back support) and the other side was booth seating (lower seating).
Overall, I thought the vibe inside St. Lawrence was pretty cool – it gave off a very classic French atmosphere with lots of paintings and arts on the wall, plants and antique décor items. As the sun went down, it also became quite intimate and cozy.
Food and drinks review
Here is everything we ordered between 2 adults. Prices are in CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar.
The May set menu has 4 courses and was priced at $125 + tax and gratuity that you pre-pay at the time of booking. For each course, you are able to choose 1 of 2 options.
?? Cocktails ($19 each)
Sorry – I usually don’t start off my reviews with a bunch of question marks but I forgot to take a photo of the drinks menu so I really can’t tell you the name of these 2 cocktails we ordered, but they were both $19 each 🙂.
The one on the left was on their regular cocktail menu and was recommended by our server as something fruity. The one on the right was the cocktail of the day based off of one of their first cocktails when St. Lawrence first opened – also fruity. Both were delicious with a hint of strong liquor – just the way I like it.
?? Amuse bouche
Ok so this review really isn’t going well but I swear I have all the info for the next dishes 😂. This is the amuse bouche (a very small and free appetizer) and it is not listed on their food menu and I was only told what it was when it arrived. But since I don’t speak French, it was all just a blur 😵.
This little appetizer had something similar to Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning and tasted like a tater tot – yum!
Poached oyster
Our second free little appetizer was this poached Sunseeker oyster from the Sunshine Coast. It was a pretty large oyster in size and had this kind of bubble foam all over it.
It was poached with pickled cucumbers and the bubbles are from Pernod and beef fat. I have never eaten an oyster with this kinds of ingredients before 😗, but the flavours worked well together and it tasted very well-balanced due to the fattiness from the beer fat but also the sourness of the pickled cucumber.
Course 1: Tartare de boeuf, émulsion de ciboulette & pommes paille
For the first course, the first option is the beef tartare. We have eaten beef tartare many times but was pretty surprised when it arrived at our table as the presentation was not what we expected.
Perhaps the most surprising element on the dish was this naan-looking type of bread that the tartare is served with. We are used to crostinis and chips paired with beef tartare.
The tartare itself is plated prettily with edible flowers, crispy potatoes and a chive emlsuion.
Overall, I did think it was a little hard to eat because the bread was soft and not that easily cut with a knife (we ripped it with our hands so we could both try this course). The chive emulsion was interesting and so were the crunchy little potato bits for texture, but I wouldn’t say this is high on top tartares I’ve tried. I think I prefer a more classic take on beef tartare.
Course 1: Pétoncles, topinambours, vichyssoise
The alternative option for course 2 is the Hokkaido scallop appetizer.
It is plated delicately in the center of potato velouté and paired with some sunchokes. I felt this dish tasted very high-class and sophisticated. The scallops were light and refreshing and the potato velouté was creamy and savory. The sunchoke also added some sweetness to it.
I liked it and preferred this option over the beef tartare.
Course 2: Champignons et brioche, velouté de champignons & fromage Alfred le Fermier
For the second course, the first option is this mushroom toast.
The toast underneath is brioche bread so we are already off to a great start. Underneath we have mushroom velouté and on top of the mushroom bits we have shavings of Alfred le Fermier cheese.
I like mushrooms and I felt this dish was quite tasty – lots of flavour from the mushrooms and the cheese. All in all, a really nice small piece of mushroom toast.
Course 2: Pâte farcie au Gruyère & consommé à l’oignon caramélisé
The second option for course 2 is this little pasta dish. The ravioli/dumpling-looking pastas are really cute with this green striped pattern and inside it is stuffed with gruyère cheese. Around it are peas and a French onion consommé.
I felt this dish was pretty interesting because the cheese inside is quite strong but the broth is very light. So the pasta gave a burst of flavour and then it is counter-balanced with the peas and the consommé.
Course 3: Côte de porc, pomme purée, Oka & sauce charcutière
For the third and main course, there were actually 3 options. You could choose between a lamb trio, grilled cod, or opt for a shared main of pork chop.
The pork chop sounded more enticing to us even though that means we would be sharing 1 dish and not able to try 2 different dishes. Well, we didn’t regret choosing it 😋!
The pork chop arrives and it isn’t super large portion, but it was enough for 2 people and it was presented in a really cute way. It is pre-sliced for you into thick cuts of pork belly fat and makes it easy for you to eat. In between these slices, there’s cheese and underneath it all is a mustard demi glaze with bits of pickles and more pork fat.
The 2 sides that come with it are a dish of potato purée and a very cute potato bread baguette.
I’ve never had pork chop like this before and I really enjoyed it 😍. I usually find pork chop a little dry, but this was super juicy and flavourful. I liked the pairing of the sauce and the sourness of the pickle to cut through the fat when it got too heavy. The potato purée was soft and creamy and I liked dipping the bread into the leftover demi glaze.
Add-on: Éclair à la mousse de foie de canard ($21)
We opted to choose one add-on and we chose the éclair pastry filled with duck liver mousse. It arrived right before the dessert course as it is considered an in-between savoury and sweet dish.
The éclair was very pretty and they went pretty ham with the duck liver mousse inside. It is served with a sweet cherry compote and everything went so well together! It was a very decadent little pastry because the duck liver pate is quite fatty and also has a twinge of bitterness to it, but then the cherry sauce would balance it out.
Course 4: Riz au lait, pacanes & crème glacée au caramel salé
Moving onto dessert, the first option is rice pudding.
Now I will preface that I’ve never been that impressed by rice pudding when I see it on dessert menus. It just never seems that exciting to me, but since there are only 2 options on the menu, we decided to order 1 and see.
The rice pudding had a simple and humble appearance, topped with candied pecans and a small scoop of salted caramel ice cream. They put in the candle for our birthday, which was nice.
Well… I actually ended up really liking the rice pudding 🤯! To be fair, it didn’t have too much flavour (as rice pudding does…), but the texture was comforting and soft, and it tasted really good with the sweetness from the salted caramel ice cream. The candied pecan gave it some crunch and I found myself saying the old Asian tale while eating this: Oh, this is not too sweet 👵🏻!
Course 4: Tarte tartin aux pommes, miel caramelise, creme glacee
The second dessert option is the apple tart, which we were both originally leaning more towards. It is a small slice of apple tart, with rowan honey caramel and a Labrador tea ice cream.
I actually preferred the rice pudding over this apple tart, which was surprising because I love apple tarts. I found this apple tart to taste quite boozy and so it had a heavier taste to it.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
We had an enjoyable and romantic birthday dinner at St. Lawrence.
My favourite dishes of the night were the pork chop, scallop and the duck liver éclair. The most interesting dish I tried was the poached oyster. The only dish I really didn’t like that much was the beef tartare.
Our bill came to another $60-70 on top of the $315 we prepaid when we made the reservation. For the 4 main courses prices at $125, I think it is actually pretty reasonable given that they are fine dining and have earned a Michelin star.
The $60-70 is for our 2 cocktails, the éclair add-on, and Kelvin saw a bunch of people in the restaurant ordering a decaf coffee after dessert so he ordered one too 😂 (below is a photo in case you are wondering). They also gave us a small candy before we left – a jello and a marshmallow.
Overall, I find the set menu was well planned and well balanced. There were lighter dishes and heavier ones, and we finished our meal without feeling bloated or so full that we would need to go home and eat tums.
Service was excellent. The servers were very patient in explaining the menu and recommending dishes for us based on our questions.
I would like to return to St. Lawrence, but I wish making reservations wasn’t so difficult. Since I made the reservations 1 month in advance, I actually didn’t know what the menu would even be for May or what the price point would be. So I think if you are able to snag a reservation or if you are not picky about having options and have a flexible price point, then this reservation booking wouldn’t be a pain point for you.
I recommend you to check out St. Lawrence for special occasions! They do not seem like one of those restaurants that earned a Michelin star and then hike their prices up obnoxiously. I feel like they have stuck to their classic non-assuming roots and that came off in their food, pricing and service.
Sincerely, Loewe