Cocktails, Shaken - and Stirring
A well-made cocktail isn’t just a delicious drink. It is a story, a journey, an adventure in a glass. It takes science and culture, adds ice, and shakes it all up into something exciting and new. A cocktail can be light and refreshing, dark and complex, sweet and deceptively boozy or virtuously alcohol-free. Most of all, a cocktail marks the end of the workday and the beginning of fun times.
Vancouver is a great place for a cocktail.
Some of the world’s best bartenders are crafting drinks here, the kind of folks who shine at national and global cocktail competitions such as Diageo World Class, Bacardi Legacy and Bombay Sapphire’s Most Imaginative Bartender. Maybe it’s because they tend to take a culinary approach to drinks, using many of the same ingredients and skills as the back-of-house team. Maybe there’s just something in the water. Whatever the reason, some of the best places to get a drink have long been at restaurants such as Suyo Modern Peruvian, Botanist, Published on Main and too many others to count.
And now Vancouver sipsters have even more choices. The last few months have seen a sudden surge in new cocktail-forward establishments, including Meo, Prophecy and Good Thief. These three lounges combine great food, drink, ambience and really stylish concepts. As Amelie Nguyen, co-owner of Good Thief, says, “We’re doing things differently. We’re a bit rebellious.”
Here's what you need to know about your new favourite watering holes.
Meo Chinatown
Chinatown has long been a destination for cocktail connoisseurs. It’s where you’ll find The Keefer Bar — No. 8 on Canada’s Best Bars list — as well as high-concept speakeasies Laowai and Bagheera and bijou bars Chickadee Room and The Boxcar. It’s also where you’ll find the Michelin-starred restaurant Kissa Tanto and its sibling, Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, with their exceptional cocktail programs. (After all, co-owner Tannis Ling spent a decade behind the bar before opening Bao Bei in 2010.)
In February, they welcomed a new member of the family: Meo, a cute, playful, retro-inspired cocktail bar tucked below Kissa Tanto on East Pender Street. Ling was inspired by Greg Girard’s photographs of Hong Kong nightlife in the 1970s and ’80s to create a sort of “love motel” ambience, executed by Studio Ste. Marie and featuring soft lighting, romantic pink hues, dark panelling and plush furnishings, all of which surround a sexy bar and glowing jukebox.
Shaking up the drinks here is a team led by bar manager Denis Bykov, who came to Vancouver from his native Ukraine by way of Dubai, where he worked alongside the legendary Renato “Tato” Giovannoni, considered one of the world’s greatest bartenders. (He’s the founder of Florería Atlántico in Buenos Aires and winner of the 2020 Altos Bartender’s Bartender Award, among other accolades.)
At Meo, Bykov is all about upending expectations, especially when it comes to sweet and savoury flavours. Think: a nitro-charged Espresso Carrotini made with Beefeater blood orange gin, citrus-peel-infused cold brew and, yes, carrots, in the form of both a reduction and dust; or the Cosmo Fizz made with shōchū, beet shrub and prosecco.
There’s also a bourbon-and-rum Old Fashioned washed with duck fat, highballs made with turmeric or matcha and, fittingly for a Chinatown joint like this, a whole Asian market’s worth of ingredients such as pandan, ginseng, calamansi, Thai basil, lemongrass, makrut lime and osmanthus tea.
“Each cocktail on our menu tells a story of exploration, of discovery, of the soul poured into every drop,” Bykov has said.
As one might expect with rock star chefs such as Joël Watanabe and Alain Chow running the show alongside Ling, the food is also sensational. The menu features a selection of globally inspired small plates designed for snacking late into the night, such as the milk buns stuffed with curried potato or tostadas topped with kanpachi (amberjack), avocado and layers of chilies.
Ling’s vision is for Meo to become a neighbourhood hangout where guests come, go and indulge in spontaneity as well as cocktails and snacks. And she’s not done yet — she has another concept in the works, so stay tuned for whatever comes next.
Meo
265 East Pender St., Vancouver
meochinatown.com | 604.559.6181 | @meochinatown
Prophecy
In June 2019, Jeff Savage stood on a mountaintop in Whistler, dressed in Superman’s cape and holding aloft the World Class Canada trophy. A few months later in Glasgow, Scotland, he placed second in the world, beating 10,000 bartenders from more than 50 countries. (Canada, it must be noted, has done extraordinarily well at World Class, the biggest, most prestigious cocktail competition on the planet. Since this country started competing in 2013, Canadian bartenders, several of them from Vancouver, have consistently been in the top 12 of the global finals and won the top prize four times, the most of any country: Vancouver’s Kaitlyn Stewart in 2017, Edmonton’s James Grant in 2021, Toronto’s Jacob Martin in 2023 and Keegan McGregor of Halifax just this year, in September.)
At the time Savage competed, he was the head bartender at Botanist Bar in the Fairmont Pacific Rim; four years and a global pandemic later, he was ready for a change.
And so he opened Prophecy in May, in the former Prohibition location below the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in the heart of downtown.
This has long been a destination for the fashionable types who like to drink and dance and celebrate good times. For decades, long before it became Prohibition, it was a legendary jazz club that attracted everyone who was anyone in the city. In fact, it’s said that the back room here was the first place in Vancouver to legally serve a drink after B.C.’s. short-lived Prohibition was lifted in 1921.
As Prophecy, its aim is to bridge the past and present; created by At Home Hospitality and designed by Studio Ste. Marie, the space is stylish and swish in warm pink and gold hues, with plush furniture, contemporary digital art and a dramatically long bar that sets the stage for serious talent.
Savage is the project’s beverage director; he’s joined by bar manager Nicole Cote, formerly of the Michelin-starred restaurant AnnaLena. They’ve crafted not just a cocktail menu, but a narrative journey that travels through myth, music and culture of all sorts, drawing inspiration, as Savage has said, “from both local and international writers, poets, musicians and artists who, through their work, have passed down legend and lore through time.” Pick it up and settle in for a good read. Seriously.
Here's how they describe a drink called Canadian Shield (Michter’s Rye, Oloroso sherry, candy cap mushroom, cordyceps, Hōjicha green tea and black cardamom): “Stone and soil, wood and loam. The near-impassible heart of the country — tightly woven together with trees, mushroom and the ancient geologic core of the North American continent. Literally the land between.”
Drinks range from the refreshing or herbaceous to the lush or spiritous, and include small pours and spirit-free drinks. Should you be feeling particularly flush, you might opt for the $150 Cavalier Martini, which is made with Belvedere 10 vodka and comes with a caviar service. It pairs quite nicely with the $100 A5 Wagyu Katsu Sando served with katsu sauce and Kewpie mayo on buttery brioche. It’s the bar’s signature move, and a truly impressive one at that.
Prophecy
801 West Georgia St., Vancouver
prophecybar.com | 604.336.3383 | @prophecybar
Good Thief
From Chinatown in the north to Little India around 49th Avenue in the south, Main Street is home to some of the most exciting food and drink in Greater Vancouver, including the Michelin-starred restaurants Burdock & Co and Published on Main, as well as Suyo Modern Peruvian, which Michelin recognized last year with its Exceptional Cocktails Award.
But day in and day out, year after year, the longest lineups are outside Anh and Chi, the modern Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of Mount Pleasant that’s owned and operated by the sister- and-brother duo Amelie and Vincent Nguyen. For years they’d been dreaming of opening a cocktail bar, too, and in July, their dream finally came true in the perfect location — right next door.
Good Thief introduces Vancouver to the concept of “nhau,” the culture of gathering for food, drink and conversation, connecting with family, friends and even strangers. “It could be friends catching up over beer and peanuts — or it could be people in business suits closing a multi-million-dollar deal,” says Amelie Nguyen. “It’s been a tradition in Vietnam for hundreds of years and it’s so inclusive.”
The 40-seat space is a chic homage to ’70s bars in Vietnam; its décor, also designed by Studio Ste. Marie, is fresh, playful and modern, but with a vintage vibe that includes lots of sage green, potted plants, brass accents and a pretty, gleaming curved bar. Oh — and don’t forget the gorgeous glassware. Each of the 14 different cocktails comes with its own unique glass, and all 2,200 individual pieces (Amelie counted) are stored in the freezer.
She describes Good Thief as the “rebellious younger sibling” to “the perfect children” Anh and Chi. In many ways, it’s Vincent’s place (they’re both co-founders, but he’s named as the owner and head of operations, while she’s the creative director). As Amelie says, “My brother has two sisters and a mom who is the matriarch. He’s always doing so much for the family. He wants a place where it’s OK to be different, where even being an outcast, you’re celebrated.”
They’ve expanded “the family” with an impressive lineup of talent that includes chef de cuisine Jonathan Lee, formerly of Blue Water Café, and beverage director Ben Kingstone, who recently moved to Vancouver from Toronto, where his resumé includes roles as director of operations at Mother Cocktail Bar and beverage director for Harlo Entertainment. He was also a finalist in World Class Canada.
In creating his cocktail list, Kingstone was inspired by the clever and mischievous Vietnamese folk hero Trang Quynh. “The entire menu is a map and you can take a journey around the entire Southeast Asian region,” he explains, adding: “We’re really passionate about all the amazing ingredients we have here, being on the coast and as close to Asia as you can be. And we’re also nerdy bartenders. Each cocktail has a hero ingredient.”
For instance, the Pom Pom Punch is a lightly carbonated spiced rum-and-pomelo punch that’s clarified with rice milk; the Old Secret includes the secret-recipe chili fish sauce made by the siblings’ mom (whose name is Me) as well as housemade aged amaro and Michter’s Rye washed with toasted sesame oil.
And then there’s Pho Dac Biet, a light, silky, savoury concoction that comprises bourbon fat-washed with beefy pho broth as well as junmai sake, rice noodle amylase (for the sweetener) and Me’s famous pho seasoning and herbs. It tastes just like a bowl of pho in cocktail form.
“This is the drink I’m most proud of,” Kingstone says. “This is our signature cocktail.”
The food that pairs with these creative cocktails is equally complex and delicious, and much of it is designed to be shared as snacks. That could mean triple-fried pomme frites with Thai chili aioli; crispy frogs’ legs with a fish sauce glaze; halibut in a dill and turmeric soubise; or the whelks and escargots that remind Amelie of street food in Vietnam.
“We’re taking inspiration from all over the world and bringing it all back,” chef Lee says. “I’m collaborating a lot with Vincent and Amelie and taking inspiration from their childhood memories.”
It may be inspired by the Nguyens’ memories, but Good Thief is different from Anh and Chi’s traditional Vietnamese fare. “Here, we’re mixing everything. We’re borrowing from around the world,” Amelie says, adding that, like the cocktails, “The food, it’s a journey.”
Good Thief
3336 Main St., Vancouver
goodthief.ca | 604.428.3336| @goodthief.ca
Note that, just as at Anh and Chi, guests can reserve tables by donation, 100 per cent of which goes to charity in an initiative thathas so far raised more than $300,000 for local non-profits.
