Downtown Vancouver has one of the best spots for a Southern summertime dinner and it might be one of Vancouver's greatest secrets because you might not expect a hotel to have a barbecue specialty in its food program. H2 Kitchen + Bar fills a unique need in Vancouver's downtown dining scene and I had the pleasure of trying out many of their signature dishes in anticipation for a packed summer season of dining which includes distillery dinners, Friday Fry'd Chicken Days, and outdoor long table dinners you can book for special occasions.
Food and Drink:
I came here for an outdoor long table experience and had a great taste of the following:
- Tin Can Nachos ($26)
- Crispy Corn Elote ($18)
- H2 Backyard Tartare ($22)
- Watermelon Salad ($18)
- Green Goddess Salad ($16)
- Baja Fish Tacos ($22)
- Date Night Meat Sweats ($72)
- Carnivore's Feast ($195)
- Bayshore Beignets ($14)
- Martha's Mudpie ($14)
We kicked off the night with tin can nachos which meant a tin tray loaded with corn tortillas, a melty cheese blend, scallions, black beans, jalapeño, pico de gallo, salsa, and sour cream guacamole. This was a fun take on nachos by means of its cheese blend. This was no mere tex mex. It was a slick stream of cheese that strung itself out and made it so your teeth would need to cleave the cheese. Pairing this with guacamole and pico de gallo made for a great appetizer.
My favourite appetizer though, was the crispy corn elote. This was served with a chipotle-lime crema, cotija cheese and cilantro. I loved the pop of the baby corn on my teeth and loved the seasoning dusting every inch of the cob.
Our final appetizer was the H2 backyard tartare which was a very unique take on the classic dish. The presentation was top notch with a crispy chip of white cheddar atop the bed of grass-fed tenderloin. The whole experience felt like a Big Mac on a plate but way more refined.
Summer isn't complete without watermelon so I was really happy to see this next item on the menu. The watermelon salad came with cubed watermelon in a bowl of cucumber, red onion, jalapeño, mint, basil oil, and whipped feta. This is a tough dish to serve fresh because watermelon is so instantly watery, but ours looked amazing.
Our other salad of the night was the green goddess salad which came with gem lettuce, frisée, cucumber, edamame, radish, and toasted seeds. The sauce was a great binding agent for the gem lettuce to everything else. This had a great variety of textures from crunchy seeds to tart greenery.
Moving on to our mains, the baja fish tacos were a fun bundle of crispy battered cod, cabbages, pico de gallo, cotija cheese, cilantro, and chipotle-lime crema on flour tortillas. This picture is an oversized portion (it normally comes with 3) but these tacos had an amazing crema to bind the cod with the cabbages and cheese. I could imagine myself eating 6 of these, but there was something much much huger in store for us.
The "small" version of the barbecue was the date night meat sweats, which came with 1/2 lb smoked certified angus beef brisket, 1/2 lb pulled pork, half a rack of ribs, corn bread, pickles, and a choice of sauce and sides.
However, the biggest version of this barbecue platter, which is perfect for 6-8 friends, was the carnivore's feast. This big boy doubles all the meat from above but also adds half a rotisserie chicken, blacked cajun prawns, andouille sausage, and every single sauce plus 3 sides which is half of them.
The barbecue boards undoubtedly are the highlight of any visit to H2. I most enjoyed the andouille sausage with its light heat, the rotisserie chicken which was H2's original namesake, and the pulled pork which was full of juice and flavour.
Moving on to desserts, both the bayshore beignets and Martha's mudpie were solid choices. The bayshore beignets are a Louisiana classic with soft, pillowy buns you can dip into a boozy caramel sauce, or the mudpie which feels very similar to the famous Billy Miner Pie from The Keg, but so much larger. If I could choose just one, I would opt for the beignets because I think those are harder to find on a dessert menu in downtown Vancouver.
H2 also offers a full menu of drinks and cocktails. Now, I'm not the biggest drinker these days, but I quite enjoyed the sprits in the garden which was a mix of lavender, rose, lime, and tonic. I loved the addition of real roses to the glass so I could feel fancy like all the cocktail drinkers at the table. That being said, I have photos of the smoking barrel, coconut jasmine sour, and habanero pineapple margarita ($16-$19).
Cocktails at H2 Kitchen + Bar in Vancouver
Vibes:
H2 Kitchen + Bar has a little something for everyone. For my experience, we were situated on the backyard patio, and I couldn't have enjoyed this any more. The patio is on the north side of the building so golden hour hits perfectly but you also don't get totally sun-soaked if you don't want to or you care about sun damage. The backyard patio has space for about 50 guests.
In addition to the backyard patio, H2 makes a point of growing its greens and honey as close as possible. To this point, they have a small apiary where bees thrive and honey gets harvested straight from this apiary, mere metres from the kitchen. This is the type of local farming I love to see in a hotel restaurant.
Final Thoughts:
One-liner: H2 Kitchen + Bar is fully open for summer, featuring season dinners and a barbecue menu hard to find anywhere else in downtown Vancouver
Highlight: Carnivore's Feast Platter
Price per person: $40-$80
Would I go back? Yes.
