Nu Reviewed: RestoLounge or Undersea Lair?

A few weeks after dining with my writing class at Nu, I'm still convinced that rather than a restaurant/lounge, it is the setting for the undersea lair in some yet unwritten Bond film. The scene is set when you enter the tiny room and look out past the polished copper, neon green lighting and sea-green disks repeating themselves in retro-glamorous fashion right up to the edge of the sea - which thanks to the circular shape of the restaurant jutting out over False Creek, is lapping up to the edge of every window. But the key evidence for the undersea lair theory lies in Nu's clever camouflage. It's just impossible to find. I run past it probably 3 times a week and (OK, I've seen the signs, I knew it was somewhere around there) never noticed it.

It's hard not to notice all the hype surrounding it, however, and judging by the number of free tables on a weeknight (a scant few), those looking for it can find it well enough.

This is where I feel compelled to make a small disclaimer. I never would have gone looking for Nu if it weren't the final assignment for my writing class. It's too polished, too trendy, too perfectly situated, and the website left me feeling empty and confused, like they're trying so hard to impress with their strange math and made-up spelling, that they were really missing the point.

Luckily for me though, we did get a class invite to the deep sea diner, because I really really liked it. The service was impeccable from start to finish, including such niceties as providing a bottle of my favorite wine, Joie's Noble Blend, for the table, and a sampler of their signature crispy fried oysters for each of us. Far beyond a fried oyster, this dish is something no doubt concocted in the hi-tech Bond laboratory - the huge battered shellfish comes accompanied by a pipette of Granville Island Lager, to infuse the oyster with beer while you're eating it. It's exquisite, novel and tasty and I forgave them their pretentious website at exactly that moment.

The rest of the meal brought a rich pea soup with won-ton wrapper prawn ravioli submerged in it, followed by a dish of enormous mussels fresh off the boat from Salt Spring Island, flavoured with pork belly, shallots, white wine, tomato, and thyme. Frites and truffle mayo accompanied.

A dessert platter to trump all evil villains appeared with the explanation that if we were left to order for ourselves, we might miss something, so manager Andrew Fleet had taken the liberty of just bringing every last sweet thing they had in their kitchen. And so we swooned over delectable lemon tarts, profiteroles, fresh raspberries, truffles, creme brulee and coffee jelly, until we were quite unable to move.

I have no complaints about the food, but Nu's strengths are in the wraparound views and the quality of the service, so I will definitely be back, but I think I'll pick a deck chair, a sampling of small plates and a bottle of that Noble Blend. A couple of Bond girls wouldn't hurt either.

Nu
1661 Granville Street
(604) 646-4668