I took a gander inside the upcoming Pink Elephant restaurant at 1152 Alberni yesterday. Even if you’re not entirely sure about the hot pink and light grey colour palette, it’s nevertheless impressive what they’ve done with their allotted 2,800 square feet, especially considering the address used to be the entrance to an underground parkade (for serious).
So what do we know about it? It’s an 88 seater and the newest province in the Chen Empire, aka Thai House Restaurant Group (see also Urban Thai, Charm, Samba, etc). Split on two levels with the kitchen and an approximation of a chef’s table filling the mezzanine, it’s a voluminous box sound-softened with faux concrete linoleum floors. A communal table runs down the center of the main floor and is flanked by an 8 seat bar backed with flat screen and a series of deuce booths complete with stainless steel foot rests. The straight-lined look comes courtesy of restaurant first-timers Horizon, and as you can see their aesthetes have really tucked the garish brand’s shirt in (this place is freakin’ pink).
As for the food, the plan is tapas-style Thai street chow priced in the $5 to $15 range with nothing over $20 (menu 1, 2). The chef is Parichat Poomkajorn stable poached from cousin Thai House on Robson. Expect opening day before the end of the May.
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I’m not normally a fan of pink, let alone hot pink, but I must say the light colours do make the skinny room seem spacious, and the pink certainly prevents it from being washed-out or boring.
Here’s hoping the food has the same combination of a fresh, smooth style with a powerful kick! If not… well, they could always go after the 6-year-old girl birthday-party market.
Great to see a new addition to Alberni Street and Coal Harbour. Slick room. Looking forward to their opening !
My prediction is another hideously noisy room filled with vacuous poseurs all pounding away on their smart phones looking for yet another ‘scene’.
This is pretty awesome. I hope their food will be as good as the look of the restaurant!
THE DUSTY LOFT
This is pretty awesome. I hope their food will be as good as the look of the restaurant!
Went there for lunch today (opening day). I really cant tell you how the food tasted because I never got my order and had to back to work. (Ended up grabbing a burger at Wendy’s next door)
I guess they werent ready. We were a group of 6 and I was the only one that didn’t get food. The table of 6 behind us didn’t get any food at all and they left too.
Since I work in the building, I’ll probably give them a try in about a month. Hopefully they will have their kinks worked out. Even their credit card machine wasn’t working.