Vancouver: Ultimate Comfort Food at Burgoo Bistro

I love Burgoo. It must be one of the restaurants I miss most about Vancouver (plus the general seafood and fresh sushi, of course!). The Burgoo I frequent is off West 10th - since then, other locations have opened in North Van and on Main Street. This was a favourite of mine when I lived on campus...the perfect comfort food in a cozy, rustic setting. Who wouldn't love a restaurant that specializes in stews and soups??

Favourite items at Burgoo include the decadent French onion soup, Kenturky Burgoo, lamb tangine, cheese fondue and for dessert, the chocolate banana bread pudding. I originally fell in love with Burgoo over a Singapore Laksa, but it's been a long time since it disappeared from the menu...sadness. They always change and expand their menu, adding items of different origins and also a lighter offering during Summer, more suited for the warm weather. The Winter stews and soups, of course, are why I love it though!

Without any fixed plans on our "free" day in Vancouver last week, we made our way to Burgoo for lunch. Sure, we could have gone to Main Street, but I'm emotionally attached to the West 10th location :) We stopped in just before 1pm, and funny thing, it was PACKED. Late lunch for a lot of people on a balmy Friday afternoon I guess! The menu has expanded since I was last there, but the old favourites remain. We started with a delicious wild mushroom pate that was topped with salted hazelnuts. It was served cold and MUCH bigger than I expected. If I really had to eat 50% of it, I probably would have been full! Luckily, if anyone loves mushroom pate more than me it's probably Tony! We also couldn't resist ordering the Fonduemental fondue - Guyere and Emmenthal melted with white wine and other herbs, served with grapes and bread. Sooooo good! As you can imagine, we were already quite full after our "starters." But we pressed on, with a new item on the menu (new for me!), paella. It was quite big, so it's a good thing we didn't each order a "main."

It was as deliciously savoury as I had imagined, but I think not as unique as some of the favourites I like. Still, we inhaled it all. And sure enough, we bravely ordered the chocolate banana bread pudding. Even the waitress was impressed we could still eat....BARELY, but it was worth a try. The chocolate banana bread pudding is really AMAZING, with melted chocolate chips on top, it's actually not too sweet either, because it's dark chocolate with banana bread. The fruit crumble is actually quite good as well, but really, how can you have room for more than one dessert after all the amazing food to start?

Burgoo, will you please open in Toronto? I promise to visit all the time!

Burgoo Bistro, Vancouver

4434 W10th Ave/3 Lonsdale Ave (North Van)/3096 Main St

www.burgoo.ca