Dinner at Tuc? Yes, please.

We had a reason to go out for a nice meal the other night, and we chose Tuc Craft Kitchen in Gastown.  There are a lot of good restaurants to choose from in Vancouver (and many of them just in Gastown), and we wanted to make sure our visitors got to experience some of the best that Vancouver had to offer.  Let's just say that we chose well.

Tuc was more than we expected.  The food was imaginative and beautifully prepared.  When I say beautiful, I mean both flavour and presentation.  The trout is a particularly good example of that. Somehow the kitchen took the trout and cooked it with beets so that the fish itself was a gorgeous ruby red colour.  The flavour was unlike any trout I have ever had, and I can't wait to try it again. Everyone in our group was impressed with the food.

Even the wine turned out to be great.  As much as I love my home and native land, Canadian wine is still hit or miss for me.  To be honest, it's more miss than hit actually, and I am always leery about ordering it.  The waiter recommended a bottle that was reasonably priced, and it turned out to be great.  Our guests, who had just arrived from Europe, couldn't believe it was Canadian.

Everything was complemented by the space.  It's not unique in its decor as it shares a lot in terms with style with other Gastown neighbours, but it shows the beautiful walls and wood of the old Gastown buildings and is filled with beautiful old things that accentuate the history of this incredible part of Vancouver.

The staff as well deserves a mention.  Nice restaurants, when they have good service, sometimes tend towards incredibly friendly but somewhat intrusive service.  Tuc seemed to get it just right.  Our waiter was really friendly and interested in both our food choices and us.  He managed to do this while never making us feel interrupted or that someone was hovering over us.  Like everything else, the service was a complement to the meal.

Tuc also participates in Mealshare, a social enterprise that provides meals to people in need in Canada or internationally.  The menu has several items with the Mealshare logo.  Each time one of those items is ordered, Tuc makes a contribution to Mealshare and someone gets a meal.  All fish is certified Ocean Wise as well to indicate that it is caught using sustainable fishing practices.