Mini-Review: Bin 942

In honour of Carol's departure today, we went to Bin 942 (which is the sister restaurant of Bin 941 in Yaletown) yesterday. Bin 942 is opposite Chapters on Broadway. It is a very long and narrow restaurant which I guess is why it's called a bin :-) The decor is funky and cool! I really like the ambience of the place; it reminded me of the restaurants I went to in when I lived in Germany. The only defect would be the loud din of the drum and bass and techno music that was playing. It made conversation more difficult than it should be. If the staff would just turn down the stereo a tad, it would be perfect!

It was fun and the food was delicious!

The food consists of "tapas". Not tapas in the Spanish sense which are mini portions of food, but "tapas" ala Sienna, Coco and a lot of other restaurants where the portions are bigger almost like three quarters of a normal main course.

The tapas cost under ten dollars each and there are about 13 to choose from. There are also salads available and side dishes like fries, foccacia and bruscheta and dessert.

There were 7 of us so we were able to have a sample most of the tapas available.

Some of the favourites were: the portobello mushroom tapa which had a tasty crust. I also liked the sable fish in a "chow mein" sandwich and the lamb. We ordered two orders of fries which were scrummy: thinly cut and dipped in balsamic vingar. The bruscheta with gorgonzola and pesta was outstanding. The muskox that we tried was a bit of a disppointment because it didn't seem that special but it was very edible nonetheless.

To finish off, several of us had the dessert of the day: a chocolate tart. This was absolutely "gorgeous" as Carol would say. The crust was flakey and tender and there was some sort of berry. Mmmm mmmm. Although not as good as the creme brulee that we had at our last visit in 1999.

And the bill was very reasonable $183 for about 7 or 8 tapas, two orders of fries, one order each of focaccia and bruscheta; and about 8 beers.

Just a small warning: they don't take reservations so be prepared to wait if you get there past 6p.m. The restaurant only sits 46 people so it's probably better to go with a small group. Highly recommended if you don't mind a little bit of loud music!

Bin 942, 521 West Broadway, 734-9421

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