Les Faux Bourgeois - French Food That's Worth It

663 East 15th Avenue, Vancouver

Food: 5
Service: 4
Price: Moderate to High (Quite reasonable for this cuisine.)
Reservations Required: Yes

Les Faux Bourgeois, an unassuming hotspot serving French meals on the East side. When my friend L. told me over facebook that there was a popular French bistro deep on Fraser & Kingsway, I first responded, “No way! It’s Vietnamese ‘town’.” I’ve travelled in that area
many times, I was so sure. Little did I know after that conversation that I would come to adore this corner restaurant after a lovely dinner there with some good company on a bright and sunny Friday evening.

Interior

What to expect:
·    to make a reservation – My friend L. made a reservation here a week in advance and all we could get was a 5:30pm sitting.
·    limited seating time – Don’t be surprised if they tell you beforehand that you’ll be only allowed to sit in the restaurant for 2 hours.
·    servers who can speak French as well as English
·    very good portions for reasonable prices – the highest price entree of the night was $20
·    very efficient service – well, they had to be if we had to be out in 2 hours....
·    casual atmosphere

Daily Specials

Bread Basket

·    good, but wasn’t the freshest French bread I’ve ever had

·    served cold

·    butter served on the side

Moules Mariniere, $17

·    mussels in white wine, garlic and parsley, with pommes frites (fries)

·    the mussels were large, very plump, and juicy

·    there was not one mussel served in a closed shell

·    very nice garlic sauce; just had to drink the sauce to the bottom of the bowl after I finished my mussels!

·    ample serving of fries, served in a bowl equivalent to the size of the mussels’

·    french fries were fresh, crisp and quite salty – this was the star of the night for my friends, though I would have liked them less salty

·    on the side, the fries were served with a sauce that was a cross between mayonnaise and butter

·    (The portions are quite deceiving in the pictures. The bowls are taller than your average serving bowl.)

·    my friend C. also had this dish, and claims that this dish changed her mind about the food at this restaurant for the good, as her last experience with the food here was not worth mentioning

Le Steak Frites, $17

·    hanger steak in red wine shallot juice, served with pomme frites (fries)

·    the steak was served already cut-up into small slices – she didn’t like that

·    L. thought this steak was incomparable to the great steak she had in Quebec

·    I had a piece of the steak and thought it was quite tender, not overcooked, and flavourful

·    L. was ecstatic over the fries

Pan Seared Red Snapper, $18 (Daily Special)

·    snapper in champagne grapes beurre blanc sauce, served with vegetable sautee, roasted potatoes, and arugula salad

·    (“champagne beurre blanc” sauce is a white wine and butter sauce)

·    our friend R. said the sauce tasted like a lemon butter sauce

·    beyond its fancy named sauce, R. thought it was cooked well but simply, with basic salt and pepper seasoning

·    the restaurant did a nice job of not overcooking the fish

Oftentimes a bad location can kill a restaurant, even the good ones. But if a restaurant is great, people will come flocking no matter where it is – this restaurant is no exception to that. The greatness of this restaurant is its food, without a doubt. Filling portions, reasonable prices, and very good cooking are what makes this place fly. The only knock on Les Faux Bourgeois for me was the time limit that was put on our sitting. Without paying attention to the time, our two hours were up after some chit chat and finishing our entrees. That was fine, but had we ordered appetizers and desserts I think we would have been constantly looking at the time. When I go out for an evening meal, I don’t ever want to feel rushed, so with that in mind, I don’t think I’ll want to order a full meal here the next time I come around.