The newest entertainment destination that has opened in Vancouver is Parq Vancouver featuring two luxury hotels, a casino and eight new restaurants. One of the restaurants in Parq Vancouver is 1886, a Chinese Fine Dining establishment located on the third floor of the casino. The restaurant is named after the year Vancouver’s Chinatown first emerged. 1886 is currently open for dinner and late night and serves Cantonese cuisine with Szechuan, Hunan, and Shanghainese elements. Their lunchtime dim sum service will start sometime in late October.
This past Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to visit 1886 for their six-course Peking Duck Dinner ($88 per person). We didn’t have a reservation but the hostess managed to squeeze us in. Hence, reservations would be recommended.
The interior of 1886 exudes elegance, luxuriousness, and sophistication in dark blue, light green and gold tones. Along the windows are a few cozy velvet booths while the centre of the dining room has round tables for group dining. There are also a few VIP areas, a lounge, and a bar.
One of the larger tables for a group had its very own lazy susan. According to our server, the restaurant can divide the dishes for you or allow you to do it yourself lazy-susan style.
These dark blue and gold velvet booths looked ultra-chic. They are meant to fit up to four people.
I also took notice of their deeply blue-coloured live seafood tanks.
1886 Menu
On the menu at 1886 are Cantonese specialties, live seafood, seafood, vegetables, meat/poultry, and rice/noodle dishes. They have two tasting menus: the Autumn Tasting and Peking Duck. Below are photos that I took of the menu. Click into each image to see the large version.
Peking Duck Tasting Menu
Note: None of the food in this review were complimentary. Opinions are my own.
The first course featured roasted duck carved at the tableside. And since 1886 offers top of the line service, the crepe wraps with duck meat are prepared for you on the spot. These included cucumber, scallion and hoisin sauce. I loved the melt-in-your-mouth duck fat, crunchy crispy skin, and tender flavorful meat. With the chewy crepe and sweet and savoury hoisin sauce, every bite was truly delicious.
The rest of the duck was used to prepare the following courses. There was the Peking Duck Salad with almonds and a crisp orange truffle vinaigrette. A very refreshing salad with some citrusy flavours. The only odd part was eating the salad with chopsticks. Perhaps I should have used the spoon instead.
The third course was the Double Boiled Shredded Duck Bouillon with yellow chives and mushroom. It was a hearty, comforting soup with some earthy flavours.
The fourth course was a Wok-Fried Duck with asparagus, mushroom, and black bean sauce. As a fan of asparagus, I quite enjoyed this dish where the asparagus was nicely crunchy
The noodle dish was a Pan Fried Shredded Duck with Crispy Noodles and Chinese broccoli.
And to finish off, the dessert was a refreshing Tropical Fruit Sago strawberries, banana, grapefruit and vanilla ice cream. The mango puree was poured onto the dish at tableside.
Service
I was highly impressed with the five-star service at 1886. Our server was very friendly and the timing of the dishes was on point. Other staff were very on top of refilling our water glasses. And as we exited the restaurant after our meal, many staff thanked us on our way out. A truly pleasant experience.
Overall Impression
While the Peking Duck Tasting Menu was good, I thought the service and the atmosphere stood out to me the most. The meal at 1886 was certainly an elevated experience and a far-cry away from a noisy, crowded Chinese restaurant. Prices are at a bit of a premium due to their setup, but I found the experience enjoyable and I would return again. Rating: 4/5
1886
Address: 39 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC
Website: www.parqvancouver.com