Ash and Alaleh Sarifaie, just in from London, proprietors of Marmalade bring a bit of London cool to Vancouver. Love the location… right next to Fiddlehead Joe’s (which, incidentally I hear is still working out the kinks since they re-opened), with spectacular views of the water and, well spectacular views of joggers, dog walkers and rollerbladers as they pass by. Heck, you might even be one of those joggers, dog walkers or rollerbladers… or better yet, you might just MEET one of those joggers, dog walkers or rollerbladers as they pass by.

The place is open early for breakfast – I think they said 8am weekdays, maybe even 7? About 9 (maybe even on Saturdays and 10 on Sundays… but I could be mistaken, all I recall is that they do open early for breakfast and you know that I’ll be in there in the next couple days for breakkie but really… waking up prior to noon on the weekend is a stretch nowadays given additional work and parties going on.

My favourite view is looking in from the outside. The bar is very inviting and the staff, very friendly. After enjoying my double GT, I had a chance to enjoy their Vanilla Skyy Martini. Ash also did us well with the Strawberry Bellini – not the slushy bellini type but a real bellini like they make in Italy.

Food is decent and very reasonable. Dinner for two, I had the mushroom soup, caesar salad and the burger. My co-conspirator had the salad nicoise. For dessert, we had the chocolate confusion. During, we enjoyed a bottle of sparkling mineral water. Total bill, $51 including my pre-dinner fit of alcoholism.

• The mushroom soup was pretty good, not rich or creamy as I imagined (without any basis, mind you) but definitely tasty and full lots of mushroms in every bite.
• Hamburger was tasty, lots of flavour, fresh bun and not too many toppings (yes, there is such thing as too many topings – just check out Vera’s Burger Shack and you’ll find out).
• Caesar salad, yummy – very generous on the dressing. Salad Nicoise, quite nice. Lots of dressing as well. Co-conspirator complained that the potato in the salad wasn’t inspired but when I grabbed a bite, I felt that it was okay. Perhaps she was missing the dressing on her previous potatoes?
• Chocolate confusion was quite chocolatey and decent.

So that’s how I would describe the food – decent. You’re not going to find Valrhona truffles on the dessert menu (which incidentally includes Tiramisu (hope Amanda Gill doesn’t rip ‘em for that)), or a Michelin in the kitchen… but you’ll get a food taste and composition experience which is a bit above what you see in the mainstream.

Service is a bit lax. I felt that the place being relatively empty, and with a spot on the patio, a bit of a way from the bar, the waiter was sometimes nowhere to be seen. This can be improved very easily, I’m sure they will over time. I might go there for breakfast tomorrow and it’ll be fixed.

I’ll definitely go back. The owners are nice to chat with and the bar menu looks very appealing.

Location: #3 – 1010 Beach Avenue MAP (park on Beach Ave., come out towards the water at the bottom of the stairs on the right hand side… pretty close to being under Burrard Bridge.)
Website: http://www.marmaladekb.com/
Telephone: +1 (604) 689-7800