The Trump Champagne Lounge + Crudo Bar is a premier boutique cocktail lounge located in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. The Crudo Bar was inspired by Executive Chef Antonio Tardi‘s passion and dedication to sourcing the best natural ingredients for his dishes. The Crudo Bar features creations that feature products from BC farmlands, fisheries and vendors.
The Crudo Bar just launched their new Happy Hour menu and it is a great way to experience the luxury of the lounge without burning a hole in your wallet! It is available Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4:00 – 7:00 PM. Most dishes on the menu are priced under $10.00 and they even have $1 oysters! They also feature $5 beer and $7 wine and cocktail specials during Happy Hour. I dropped by earlier this week to sample a tasting of some of their offerings and it was a delicious early evening well spent with my friends.
Now a days it’s increasingly rare to find Happy Hours with $1 oysters, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Crudo Bar offers a selection of oysters at $1 per piece with a minimum order of 6. The oysters were fresh and expertly shucked. It was served simply with horseradish, a mignonette and the cutest bottle of Tabasco.
The tuna was fresh and I loved the salmon roe because the saltiness complemented the citrus dressing.
Octopus is not an offering commonly found on Happy Hour menus, so this was definitely very unique. The octopus is prepared sous vide style and therefore it was very tender and soft. If you are used to eating octopus in Japanese restaurants, the texture my throw you off. This dish was simple, really showcasing the octopus.
This was my personal favourite dish of the night. Although the chef is from Italy, his career has career has taken him across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, therefore there are several Asian influence dishes on the new menu.
Each dumpling was positively stuffed with Dungeness crab. The dumplings came pre dressed with sauce, and it complimented the delicate crab without overwhelming the natural sweetness. This dish is a must order!
This was the table’s favourite dish. These spring rolls featured Peking Duck from Mott 32, and they were perfectly fried packages of savoury deliciousness.
The calamari was crispy and paired well with the spicy sauce. Each calamari ring was meaty and evenly coated.
This is the only vegetarian offering available on the Happy Hour Menu. It’s not a terribly exciting dish, but the tomatoes were fresh and bright and paired nicely with the basil.
This was our final dish of the night and a table favourite as well. The chicken was fried lightly and coated in a sweet and sticky glaze. It was absolutely delicious. I also really enjoyed the yogurt spread (very similar to a tzatziki sauce) and thought it worked well with the fried chicken.
Would I come back? Absolutely. The service was impeccable and the food was outstanding. There is no shortage of Happy Hours in Downtown Vancouver, but the Crudo Bar really stands out for it’s atmosphere, food and service.
