The Rise Eatery: 3-course Asian fusion prix fixe menu in Vancouver

The Rise Eatery is a hipster fusion restaurant in the quiet neighbourhood of Kerrisdale. We visited this restaurant spontaneously while in the area, but I have seen many photos of their infamous squid ink pasta.

Interior

The restaurant has a very moden vibe to it with geometric patterns, irregular wooden tables and fairy lights.

They have a lobby (aesthetically pleasing but I wonder if it’s needed) at the front with a nice sofa and a great-looking bar.

The kitchen is downstairs but they do have a small but very cute patio with green walls. We opted for a table inside by the window due to my crutches.

Food

We choose the seasonal set dinner menu (3-Course Prix Fixe) at $42 per person.

Appetizer

Pseudo Crudo

We both chose this appetizer over the second appetizer, which is a vegetarian dish featuring asparagus.

The pseudo crudo has ahi tuna crudo, house dukkah, vietnamese coriander, scallion, sizzling olive oil, ponzu, crispy quinoa, micro greens, pickled chili, and nori nachos.

We are pleased at how different it looks and tastes from other tartare-style dishes we’ve had in the past.

The ahi tuna is chopped up into little squares with a nice ponzu sauce that tastes lightly sour with the toppings. The seaweed nachos are deep-fried with shrimp chip batter and sturdy enough for you to put a lot of the ahi tuna on top.

Entree

Salmon Sacrifice

The salmon sacrifice features grilled achiote spiced wild salmon, braised quinoa, chorizo, peas & artichokes.

I find the salmon to be slightly overcooked and the meat could have been softer or juicier. The interesting point about this dish is that the salmon tastes almost like sausage because of the chorizo cooked underneath it. Both of these ingredients have a very smoky flavour.

I’m not a big quinoa fan but at least it’s healthy. The artichokes and peas are good pairings with it. The corn and mango salsa/salad gave the dish a refreshing kick.

Uni-versal pasta XO edition

This pasta is the main reason why I wanted to come. My boyfriend loves squid-ink anything. If you order this without the set dinner, it’s $13 for the pasta and an additional $12 for the shrimps.

This pasta is so bomb. I think well worth the hype. It looks great and tastes even better. It has house xo sautéed prawns, squid ink pasta, sea urchin cream, egg yolk, tobiko, nori.

The pasta is creamy from the egg yolk and sea urchin cream – a sort of lighter Japanese pasta style. The prawns with the xo sauce goes great with the sweetness of the pasta and is not spicy.

Dessert

Amoussing end

This is a new dessert that they have recently added onto the menu. It has white chocolate mousse, ginger basil sponge, lemon curd, pumpkin seed praline, meringue.

The plating is lovely and you can tell right away that they tried to incorporate many different textures – the sponginess of the cake, soft curd and meringue, crunchy pumpkin seeds.

My boyfriend enjoyed this dessert and thought it was interesting to pair the different elements together to create different tastes.

Luv u so matcha

This dessert is a matcha cheese tart with raspberry coulis and crispy white chocolate pearls. The tart is the size of my palm and is warm when it arrived at our table. It took a while for our desserts to come so we assume it’s because they were freshly baking this tart.

The cheese tart is sweet and savoury. It’s nice to eat it warm. I would’ve liked if the matcha cheese filling was a little less runny, but aside from that it is a very yummy dessert.

Final thoughts

In total we spent $100 CAD for two people after tax and tip. Generally, we were impressed by the three dishes as they were all very “fusion”.

I hear on Wednesdays, their set menu is only $30 per person. At this price point, it feels more worth it.

The highlight of the meal is definitely the squid ink pasta. I recommend everyone to choose this for your entree because it is unique and absolutely delicious. It may also feel weird to pay $12 to add 4 shrimps (if you are not getting the set menu), but you really should because it is a great pairing with the pasta.

The restaurant was pretty empty and our reservation was for 7:45 pm on a Saturday. Therefore, I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to reserve a table for dinner. Their brunch seems pretty lit judging by their Instagram, so perhaps this is more of a brunch spot.

Anyways yes, TLDR: go eat this squid ink pasta. Might be my new favourite pasta in Vancouver.

Sincerely, Loewe