May 2026

Always interested in new restaurants on the Coast, especially with an inviting-looking French menu like this one, we dropped in yesterday for a late afternoon drink and potentially dinner. It’s a pretty dazzling venue (formerly Ocean Club Café) right on the Sechelt waterfront. We were told that in the kitchen is the former Brassica chef (we didn’t know whether this is Jack Chen or Hilary Prince, the team at the defunct Gibsons spot). But now, an anonymous comment suggests that this could be incorrect, in which case I apologize for anyone’s upset. Who is the chef?

With the memory of a couple of recent expat French bistros in mind we were hoping for classy renditions of casual French dishes but, too bad, it’s a half-baked version they are serving up here.

Server was a bit of an awkward young lady who cheered up through the dinner which we did stay for. We wish her luck improving cleaning stains on the table, removing used glasses, and faking knowledge of food and wine. We started with wine and spiritzes off the abbreviated drinks menu after we found they didn’t have Campari and a boulevardier wasn’t available. With the drinks came a burrata and tomato small plate with buttered white toast, quite tasty.

We requested an obscure Chablis and then dinner, the wine was just over $100 and lacked fragrance or substance. Dinner was croque monsieur for Robin and cassoulet for me. The croque monsieur was a piece of toast with a cheesy spread on top. Please compare this to my brief descriptions of the dish at the old Pastis in Vancouver or Le Select in Toronto where it’s done beautifully. My cassoulet was an interesting approach to the dish: beans at the base of a bowl, with cooked red pepper, zucchini, onion, duck confit, pork belly, and a not-bad sausage prepared separately and set on top. This is like pretending a bunch of people you’ve met once are old tried-and-true compatriots. It’s nothing like the rich shared and varied flavours typical of the complicated original dish. Half of the $200-plus bill was the wine.

Partly offsetting these disappointments was a soft ocean breeze, late-afternoon sunshine, and the calm ocean a stone’s throw away.

Might go back again if others find the chef managing real bistro cuisine. We doubt it.

(June 5: I’m surprised at the response to this post. I’m very low on the totem pole of popularity and most of my astounding posts are ignored by the world. For some reason this one is receiving a lot of attention. I support my original opinion about the restaurant but I’m curious about why so many people are interested)

Food 6.5, service 6.8, ambience 9.2, value 7.0, peace and quiet just fine.