Feed me, please!
For any student, a food budget is an important thing. We have to keep a close eye on eating out at restaurants and make sure the milk in the fridge hasn’t gone bad and robbed a 7–11.
In keeping with this struggle of bills versus dills, Nexus assigned me the duty of acquiring free meals and reporting on them. Be it stealing my sister’s lunch or fine dining on a restaurant’s bill, the goal is to keep the bottom line at $0.
This might sound difficult, and it most likely will be, but our first review is sheer extravagance.
The Mark is a charming little place with 28 seats in the middle of the Hotel Grand Pacific. It’s an excellent strategy to keep the riffraff out. In fact, I’m probably the first person to wear jeans in this place since construction finished.
Our hostess leads us into the gorgeous, wood-paneled room with candles and finely carved everything. After sitting down, she even offers to prepare our napkins for us.
Our waiter is extraordinarily proper and respectful, showing off a bottle of Norwegian sparkling water like a finely crafted cabernet.
He’s also well informed, explaining the gravel on our table is actually a very special type of salt from the Atlantic coast of France.
The meal is already better travelled than I am and we haven’t actually consumed anything yet. I don’t think my tongue is properly trained for the forthcoming experience.
Luckily, bread arrives, and I feel a little more at home. Then I see coloured lumps of butter. Pesto, sun-dried tomato, and plum-flavoured scoops sit there and I feel obligated to eat a whole loaf and all of the butter or risk feeling guilty about the kids in Africa.
As we look through the menus, fanciness comes up and smacks us in the face again with a list of foods we’ve never heard of. Char, squab, and sablefish?
To translate the gastronomical vernacular, chef Michael Minshull comes out to explain. And then, if we had any further questions, he hands out business cards. Chefs with business cards? This is madness!
We get around to eating as our appetizers arrive. Being on the west coast, The Mark goes with fresh and local ingredients, and seafood populates the plates. Raw tuna and poached scallops are placed carefully on gigantic white plates with sauces, vinegars, and oils painted across and around the centerpieces. I almost licked those damn plates.
Afterwards, a small dish arrives, compliments of the kitchen. Sardines with a light dressing on a couple shards of lettuce; this is what sardines should taste like—fresh. And I thought they only came from a can.
Soon entrees arrive and again there’s a massive amount of plate, but these aren’t tiny meals. They also aren’t huge, but they are very satisfying. I went with the black cod... er, sablefish, and my compatriot dined on char (a trout that looked and tasted like salmon). Despite depleting the sea of a few fish for our dinner, The Mark has the approval of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program for sustainable and ocean-friendly food practices.
All in all the meal is amazing, way better than anything I’ve had in... years, probably. The fish is stunning, the pasta is rich, the sauces flavourful...
There are only two downsides to the entire meal. It’s incredibly oily, but all the oils taste sooo good. And the price—appys would’ve been $16 and entrées start at $32.
If you have a trust fund or want to guarantee your romantic date has a happy ending, The Mark is perfect. Otherwise, this place is going to remain the domain of the rich.
The Mark - Hotel Grand Pacific (463 Belleville), 250–380–4487, themark.ca
CCSS Nexus promo