I loved it. I'm going back again.

Those were the first words out of my mouth as soon as we stepped out of the tiny 18-seat restaurant at 11 PM.

The setup is cozy, with seating around the bar, several tables for two along the wall, and a table for four by the window. It was a hot summer day, and the air conditioning was waiting for a technician to finish the installation. Although we had to enjoy our dinner in the heat, it didn't dampen my experience.

We had an 8 PM seating, but upon finishing our omakase menu, we discovered that the restaurant also serves a late-night menu after 10 PM. As we savoured the last bites of our dessert, neighbourhood fans started grabbing a seat at the counter to relish in the scrumptious late-night eats. Beef heart tartare burger and fresh noodles with aged butter and quantum beef seasoning, to name a few of the mouth-watering dishes that made me wish I had a larger stomach.

Am I raving about the dining experience because every course was out of this world? No, but you can feel the chef's ingenuity and innovative spirit through each dish. The drinks menu isn't extensive, but you could tell it has been thoughtfully curated; it's like you are visiting a friend's kitchen and then they sit you down to tell you about their latest and greatest culinary discoveries.

General Manager Scott Mitchell went through the menu with us and helped us pick two sakes to pair with our five-course Omakase menu. The first sake had a clean, crisp taste, and the second was unfiltered sake, which he describes as "as close as you can get to drinking it straight out from the barrel."

There are two Omakase seatings every night. The menu could be different every night depending on the ingredients available, but here's what we had.

1 | Creamy Turnip Soup with Smoked Sablefish Fat

How do you make it so buttery and creamy? When I picked up the bowl and brought it to my face to drink the soup, the scent was one of comfort; the soup's texture was silky. Topped with Smoked Sable Fish Fat, the medley of flavours made me crave more soup even though I was already warm from the summer sun.

2 | Bitter Lettuce with Snap Pea, Veal Brain

One thing we like about the menu is that it uses a lot of veggies, and the meat/offal is almost an accent to the flavour instead of other menus, which take the opposite approach.

The zesty, punchy flavours reminded us of aromatic Thai cuisine, and if that's high on your list, then you'll enjoy the tasting notes here.

3 | Summer Squash with tiger's milk, dangjo pepper

Moving onto the third course in the Omakase menu, the in-season squash offers protein and carbohydrates to start filling us up. It is served in a light and refreshing soup base with dangjo pepper. Again, the flavours are strong and tangy; the squash absorbs the flavours well, and the sauce would make for a nice dipping sauce for cold noodles.

4 | Fermented Laab Moo with Isan spices, pomelo and Thai herbs

This dish is served with a bowl of rice, which is a great idea because the taste is intense. The key to consuming this dish is to add a bite of the sweet pomelo to each bite. The rice also helps to balance out the flavours. When we have a flavourful dish in a Chinese household such as mine, we know it's best served with rice to soak up the sauce's flavours. This is the case for this fourth dish on the menu.

5 | Chicory Root

It's always interesting to me when I hear about a chef's preparation process for an intricate dish. When you look at the ice cream, it just looks like a multi-layer ice cream, but here's how Chef Justin Song-Ell crafted the Chicory Root Ice Cream "melon bar". The chicory root was debittered for 2 weeks and then oven roasted into three levels of caramelization and flavour. We were floored with the first bite; it wasn't just because the ice cream delivered a concentrated coffee flavour; it was because of the soft texture and an appreciation of the infusion of the time it took to infuse the dessert with the flavours.

Just when we thought we had made the heroic feat of finishing all of our dishes, Scott let us know that they had an extra entree in case we were still hungry. Sadly, we were already packed to the brim, so we gazed over at our neighbours at the counter as they enjoyed the Offal Bolognese layered in between with ricotta cheese. The dish resembles a generous portion of tiramisu, but we could only guess at the delightful flavours.

We discovered the late-night menu as we sat to finish off our sake, and when Scott mentioned the Sliders with Beef Heart Tartare patty with fermented onion and two cheddar sauces, I knew I had to make room in my stomach to try this dish. While I only managed to finish a little more than half of the burger, I have no regrets about ordering it.

I would be confident returning to Chef Justin Song-Ell's restaurant because it's on par with my confidence level for another restaurant operating on a similar model--Burdock & Co. You can rest assured that everything tastes good. I've already marked it down on my calendar to go back after I catch both the Barbie and Oppenheimer movie in theatres next weekend. The freshly made pasta would be perfect for wrapping up my evening!

Visit

Elephant

(604) 895-4233

1879 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V5L 1H8

Photography by Florence Leung