Restaurant Review: Fayuca
FAYUCA
1009 Hamilton Street ~ fayuca.ca Twitter: @fayucaville ~ Instagram: @fayucaville Co-Diner: Tim Golem
If you wanna be fancy in Vancouver, you go to Yaletown. And that’s where you’ll find Fayuca. They are an enRoute magazine Canada's Best New Restaurants 2017 nominee (only 3 days until the reveal of Canada’s Best New Restaurants Top 10!). And they serve North Pacific Mexican food. I didn’t know what that meant either. (Hint: It’s not tacos.) The restaurant itself is quite large, located on a trendy strip. They have a nice patio out front that is surprisingly warm and toasty, even on a cool fall evening. (When the online reservation system asked me if I wanted an outdoor table, my reaction was something like; “it’s October, are you crazy??” but now I see that it would’ve been totally enjoyable!) Going inside, the vibe is extremely cool. The decor is gorgeous and it feels like an upscale Mexican resort. From the beautiful tile work, to the woven wooden panels, to the super interesting orb-like light fixtures. The atmosphere is warm. Our friendly server was very pleasant and accommodating and the food arrived quickly. The cocktail list is long and filled with intriguing choices. I went straight for The Death of Apolonio Castillo ($14.00) - yes, that’s the name of the drink.
A dirty vesper with a twist. Sheringham's Seaside Gin, Sid's Vodka, Lillet blanc, house pickled onion & kombu brine.
As a fan of the (extra) dirty martini, this seemed like something that would speak to me. And it did!! I’ve never tasted anything quite like this and I enjoyed every single sip. So unique and so flavourful, especially the beautiful olives that garnished the glass. I was also very excited to see that they were using Sheringham’s Seaside Gin, a distillery located on Vancouver Island. Their gin is made with sustainable hand-harvested local winged kelp, hence the “seaside” name. I have a bottle at home, but haven’t been too sure about how to mix it. So I loved the opportunity to taste the gin in full cocktail action. The gin paired perfectly with the kombu brine, a type of seaweed. I loved this briny beverage very much. Not in the mood for booze? Their virgin cocktails sound really nice too.
The food menu is one page long and is the sort that is ever-changing. They claim to go to great lengths to source the right products from the right people. The dishes operate in a bit of a tapas style, with sharing encouraged. From the appetizer section we noted that the Guacamole sounded very good, but we encouraged ourselves to branch out a little more and chose the Grilled Cactus ($14.00). We were also delivered housemade tortillas and a spicy sauce.
Halloumi cheese, avocado, and charred salsa verde.
We absolutely loved this! The halloumi cheese, for one, is something from dreams. It’s a salty cheese that reminded me a bit of saganaki. The corn tortillas are also something a bit special, and they claim to take them very seriously. They’re made in-house, by hand, every day. I liked that they served both hard and soft versions and each variety dove into the flavourful salsa verde easily. The pieces of grilled cactus were plump and well-matched with the avocado. A wonderful fresh dish! I also really liked the sound of the Potato Dumplings with grilled beef tongue and would be interested in trying those next time.
For my main dish, I thought that the Halibut with Charred Tomato Sauce ($32.00) sounded like it was comprised of a lot of ingredients that I typically enjoy.
Castelvetrano olives, peppers and almonds.
I’m one for big, bold flavours, so what I wanted from this dish was a massive tomato and olive punch. The fish was cooked very nicely and was meaty and tender, I also enjoyed the crisp skin. But I felt that it was a bit one-noted and lacking in the flavourful kick that I was looking for. I liked the bright and fresh sauce a lot, especially the crunch from the almonds, but I did find the olives to get a bit lost. It was a beautiful dish, but a little too tame for my tastes. I might have been happier with the Sablefish? Oddly enough, we were only charged $29 on our bill for this dish, which was less than the price on the menu.
Dessert couldn’t be missed and we were given a verbal list of three choices. The Buñuelo Mexicano ($8.00) sounded excellent!
A buñuelo is a fried dough ball and this version uses a crisped tortilla. They top it with half of a grilled mango, charred gooseberries, vanilla ice cream, and drizzle it with cane-sugar caramel. (As you may have noticed, there is a lot of charring going on at this place.) This dessert was very wonderful. It was nice and light, sweet and toasty. The mango was beautifully juicy and everything worked in a lovely harmony.
Fayuca is an interesting take on higher-end Mexican food. When you think “Mexican,” you automatically go to tacos and burritos, and this place is nothing like that. They’re taking beautiful local ingredients and turning them into Mexican food unlike anything that you’ve quite seen before.