“Fresh From…” Celebrates Corn & Crab at Four Seasons’ “YEW”

News from Scout supporter YEW restaurant + bar

Vancouver, BC | Fresh From British Columbia’s oceans, rivers, fields and farms Diners in British Columbia are blessed with an impressive variety of fresh local produce grown and raised across the Province throughout the year. Feel good about enjoying sustainably sourced seafood and flavourful meats, fish and poultry that are thoughtfully raised and prepared. We hope you’ve been making the most of summer – indulging in BC’s juicy cherries, sun-warmed peaches and impossibly flavourful heirloom tomatoes at home, on the road or here at YEW. This September, enjoy our ultra-fresh, local and seasonal dinner concept for dinner nightly at YEW restaurant + bar. Known as “Fresh From…” this three-course, prix-fixe menu focuses on in-season ingredients sourced close to home. Each month the menu will feature a starring ingredient with supporting roles played by complementary in-season produce. This month Executive Chef Oliver Beckert is featuring two much loved ingredients, crab and corn. View the menu after the jump… Read more

YEW Wins “Where” Magazine Nod For Best Hotel Dining & Bar

News from Scout supporter YEW restaurant + bar

Vancouver, BC | YEW restaurant + bar takes top prize in the Best Hotel Dining & Bar category at the recent Where Vancouver Magazine’s Annual Dining Awards. Voters credit the “gorgeous wood-trimmed room [that] lures the power crowd and celebrities, who come for inspired Pacific Northwest plates, served with flair in a dramatic setting.” Read more

YEW Pays Tribute to Earth Hour as Part of Global Celebration

News from Scout supporter YEW restaurant + bar

Vancouver, BC | YEW restaurant + bar at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver will join 46 Four Seasons sister properties to create a chain of candlelight dinners that will circumnavigate the globe in celebration of Earth Hour. On Saturday, March 27th, a sequence of candlelight dinners will begin at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney at 8:30pm local time and move westward across the planet. Read more

Four Seasons’ Yew Restaurant + Bar Joins The Scout Community

The good folks at YEW restaurant + bar in the Four Seasons Hotel are now proud member supporters of Scout. We will be publishing their news and press releases on our front page and hosting a page for them in our list of recommended restaurants. Click ahead or jump to their Scout page here. Read more

A Tour Inside Imminent “Oru” At The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel

We’re big fans of executive chef David Wong (Bocuse D’Or Canadian competitor) and manager Chad Clark (ex-Feenie’s), so while we’ve been hotly anticipating the arrival of small independents like Bao Bei and Corner Suite, we’ve also been quietly stoked for the coming of Oru in the new Fairmont Pacific Rim downtown. The hotel has just opened – running on 30+% occupancy until Thursday, when they hit 100%. Thursday is D-Day for Oru as well. I’ve just been given the grand tour, checking out the already opened Giovane cafe and the lobby bar (and raw bar), as well as the restaurant itself, currently a hive of fevered activity. Though it might look like Oru is long from finished, the kitchen is seasoned and fired up, the menus have been tested and priced (viewable on Chefs Table Talk), and the front of house construction appears to be down to clean up and final fixture installation.

The following video includes an interview with the chef (at the end) on the restaurant’s authentic Pan-Asian menu…

The Photos

It’s a big, voluminous space (8,000 sq feet altogether) that includes 2 chefs tables of 6 in front of the kitchen pass, a really cool cut-out, low-slung 12 seat communal table topped with grey marble (the place is weighed down with marble), a private room for 14, two patios (the lower floor outdoor space holds 50-75), and a flood of natural light enhancing the near-waterfront view. The dining room and adjacent Sky Bar lounge area seat 140. Upstairs, there are 3 banquet rooms (300, 200, and 150) and an open reception area with a capacity for 400+. The kitchen(s) are massive and pristine, including a tandoori oven, pizza oven, the biggest garde manger station I’ve ever seen, and every bit of kitchen equipment you’d expect in a top shelf operation. All told, chef David Wong oversees a 38 person crew. Phew. As he says in the interview above, 4 hours sleep is plenty.

Here’s what we wrote about the place when we first broke the news of it back in March of 2009.

The upcoming Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel will soon announce its plans for a restaurant. The not-yet-finished hotel has saddled up with the local design and architecture firm MGB, and together they are building a new, upscale, street-level swank expression of hyper modern BC. It’s the full-on fantasy model of clean lines and ocean zephyrs, a gambit for local favour and tourist hearts and minds.

Oru, as it’s called (from the Japanese: “To Fold”), will see plenty of Asian influence, a hodge podge of inspirations that tour the Ring of Fire. It will capitalise “on Vancouver’s multicultural vibe, with a focus on traditional dishes from Pacific Rim Countries authentically prepared utilizing locally sourced and responsibly harvested ingredients.” Not unlike “C” Restaurant, I suppose, only without Quang Dang or Robert Clark (no chef reveal yet), or indeed the affections of most concierges in town (it’s a hotel, after all). I really hope it’s good, as we run a deficit of first rate quasi-waterfront restaurants in this here waterfront town.

The designers have the run of the concept, from brand and chairs to art installations and schematics. A 180ft long and 5ft wide light sculpture by local origamist, Joseph Wu, will dominate the dining room. An 8 inch thick wooden wall of reclaimed lumber will hide a wine tasting room and a private room.

They will open “in advance” of the Olympics, which likely means in the weeks just prior.

Once again, should you want to browse through Oru’s menus, you can at in the Chefs Table Talk forum.

Break a leg.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

First Look At Oru In The Fairmont Pacific Rim

The upcoming Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel will soon announce its plans for a restaurant. The not-yet-finished hotel has saddled up with the local design and architecture firm MGB, and together they are building a new, upscale, street-level swank expression of hyper modern BC. It’s the full-on fantasy model of clean lines and ocean zephyrs, a gambit for local favour and tourist hearts and minds.

VIEW ALL ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS

Oru, as it’s called (from the Japanese: “To Fold”), will see plenty of Asian influence, a hodge podge of inspirations that tour the Ring of Fire. It will capitalise “on Vancouver’s multicultural vibe, with a focus on traditional dishes from Pacific Rim Countries authentically prepared utilizing locally sourced and responsibly harvested ingredients.” Not unlike “C” Restaurant, I suppose, only without Quang Dang or Robert Clark (no chef reveal yet), or indeed the affections of most concierges in town (it’s a hotel, after all). I really hope it’s good, as we run a deficit of first rate quasi-waterfront restaurants in this here waterfront town.

The designers have the run of the concept, from brand and chairs to art installations and schematics. A 180ft long and 5ft wide light sculpture by local origamist, Joseph Wu, will dominate the dining room. An 8 inch thick wooden wall of reclaimed lumber will hide a wine tasting room and a private room.

They will open “in advance” of the Olympics, which likely means in the weeks just prior.

And that’s all I got for now…

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines, and a proud board member of the Chef’s Table Society of BC. He lives and works by the beach in Vancouver.

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YEW restaurant + bar

Details

YEW restaurant + bar is located in the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver
791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 2T4
Phone: 604.692.4939 for reservations or use Open Table.
web: http://www.fourseasons.com/vancouver/dining/yew_restaurant.html

Gallery

Hours

Coffee To Go | Every day 7:00 am – 10:30 am
Breakfast | Every day 7:00 am – 11:30 am
Brunch | Saturday and Sunday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
Lunch | Monday to Friday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
Dinner | Every day 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm

People

Executive Chef – Oliver Beckert
General Manager – Jeff Hanson

About YEW restaurant + bar

Dine and unwind at YEW restaurant + bar, with its West Coast urban vibe that feels both cool and inviting – a rare combination. Its dynamic ambience, creative menu and highly experienced and attentive staff, have made YEW a city favourite every day of the year. Named for the rare indigenous Pacific Yew tree, YEW restaurant + bar provides an ideal escape in the heart of the city.

With large windows and skylights, lustrous wood and natural rock, YEW brings together the most beautiful elements of nature in a clean, contemporary style.  The menu represents the broad culinary vision of Executive Chef Oliver Beckert by including ingredients from the entire Pacific region.

Designed to capture the essence of British Columbia’s natural environment, lofty 40-foot ceilings reach to the sky, while wood-panelled walls and a floor-to-ceiling sandstone fireplace emanate warmth and comfort.  The very contemporary “raw bar” features stacked alder wood with granite surfaces. YEW’s unique communal table for fourteen is created from a slab of hand hewn western maple from Vancouver Island. Or for a more intimate experience, guests can dine in a glass enclosed Private Dining Room for ten, under a vast sky light located in the center of the room.

“The physical design of the restaurant combines sophisticated urban with the natural beauty of British Columbia,” says Executive Chef Oliver Beckert, “so we wanted a menu that was consistent with that vision.  The food we have chosen to include is sophisticated and dramatic. We don’t want to overpower the palate, but we want to stimulate it.  Our focus is on the integrity of flavour.  We allow the food to speak for itself.”

YEW restaurant + bar is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktails and is ideal for both personal and business occasions.

Coffee Culture Bar

Single or double, long or short, your signature bean awaits at YEW Coffee Culture Bar in Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver. Personalise your morning where every cup is tailored for the above-average Joe.

YEW bar

In YEW bar, the menu of over 300 wines includes more than 150 by the glass – a temptation to sample the best of the best. YEW’s mixologists continually renew the cocktail menu with fresh inventions. Hours: Sunday to Wednesday – 11am to midnight | Thursday to Saturday – 11am to 1am

Diva Fridays
Join us every Friday from 2:30 pm until 10:00 pm for special bites and cocktails. Divas wearing pink clothing or accessories receive a complimentary appetiser. You may view the menu from the sample menus below.

Wine Down Sundays
Every bottle is 50% off on Sundays all day/evening.

YEW catering

Bring home the tantalising tastes of YEW restaurant + bar. Whether you are hosting an intimate gathering, a large dinner party for up to 45 guests or a reception for up to 65, YEW offers the perfect choice for an elegant, flavourful evening. YEW’s catering menu features dishes from the Pacific region, including seared prawns and jalapeño scallop ceviche, as well as the restaurant’s signature mango lobster roll.

For additional information or to book your event with our catering team, please call 1 (604) 689-9333.

Awards

Vancouver’s Top Hotel Dining – YEW restaurant + bar
~ WHERE Magazine 2008 ~

World’s Best Places to Eat – YEW restaurant + bar
~ Food & Wine GO List 2008 ~

Best Restaurant Design – YEW restaurant + bar – Silver
~ Vancouver Magazine 2008 ~

Best Hotel Dining – YEW restaurant + bar – Bronze
~ Vancouver Magazine 2008~

Award for Excellence in Design of Architectural Woodwork – YEW restaurant + bar
~ Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada 2008 ~

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