Go East to Replenish Your Chi

The intersection at Nanaimo and East First Avenue is a good place to get gas before heading east on Highway One. It's now also a good place to get Yaletown style dining.

Chi restaurant has transformed a previously non descript pink, stucco building, amongst the crowd of Vancouver Specials and exhaust churning commuters, into a downtown dining experience.

Beautiful teak furniture fills the space. The sound of trickling water draws attention to an elegant tile mosaic backdrop behind the bar. And the whole room is painted a powerful shade of spring green. The exterior slowly, but surely, has begun to match it's inward calm. Bamboo, a patio water fountain, and a more demure grey has replaced the otherwise slapdash feel of the building.

The menu is another East, West fusion concept, served as tapas. The main fare is coyly separated into three parts: land, water and earth, each section with the type of dizzying food combinations that have come to typify the fusion genre.

Lotus root chips come gratis at the start of the meal and are a nice alternative to the conventional bread starter. If you need a little more to nibble on, the first bites section of the menu if full of tasty fillers. I particularly like the roti with curry dipping sauce.

The food is good, if the fusion ingredients aren't sometimes mismatched, like the salmon wrapped in mango. Also, you might want to think twice about taking your uncle just in from Red Deer. The tapas sized braised beef short rib paired with a purple yam puree might cause unnecessary distress.

There's ample free parking, which is a benefit of being outside the downtown core. Just don't drink too many lychee mojitos..

1796 Nainamo St., T 604.215.0078

This patio was added after my last visit. It looks lovely and should be enjoyed while the weather is still decent.