Les Faux Bourgeois

We finally made it to the French restaurant! Michael and I have been looking to try this place out for a few weeks now, but every time reservations were fully booked. I'll admit, I wasn't sure until I tried the food whether Les Faux Bourgeois was overrated. It wasn't.

Decor is nice, with a relaxing, dim atmosphere

FauxBo is on 663 E.15th avenue in Vancouver, right across the street from where Michael works. I felt so-so about coming to this restaurant, but I knew Michael was really excited about it since somebody had given a raving review of it at work. My mind was changed the moment I walked inside. There was a whiff of Paris scent, tough to explain, but it felt like I was going back to France. A quick look around show a small, but trendy restaurant, with a bar and rows of dining tables dimly lit by candles and soft tungsten ceiling lights. The decor featured black chalkboards scattered about, describing the specials of the day. Very cute.

The French onion soup

It reminded me of when I went to Paris for the first time, I was young and didn't appreciate the European culture like I do now. It was then that I had my first authentic French onion soup at a cafe near the Palais Royale. Tonight, we decided the Soupe à L'oignon Gratinée ($8) would be the perfect dish to start off. It arrived covered with cheese, the gruyère and mozzarella was just spot on. Pure ooey gooey goodness. But I'm sad to report the broth was just a little bland tasting. It was perfect otherwise.

Classic steak and fries

I had originally planned on ordering the Moules Marinière, mussles in white wine and frittes. The the La fausse niçoise, their take of the classic Niçoise salad, looked delightful. The Le Steak Frites ($19), a classic steak and fries, was what I finally settled on. Though I rarely eat beef, steak et frites is one of my favourite French dishes. The beef at Les Faux Bourgeois melted in my mouth, being so juicy and tender with the scallions and red wine sauce, which was beautifully paired with the steak. The fries were well seasoned and crisped to perfection, and arrived with aoli for dipping. How French!

Trout

Michael had the Truite meunière ($18), a Ruby trout with green beans, fingerling potatoes and lemon parsley sauce. Michael said the fish was very flavourful, especially complimenting the sauce, which tasted like a melange of ingredients. It was fresh and tasted refreshing too, improving the overall taste of the dish by vast measures. The dish also came with two fillets of trout, more than he had expected. Not to mention, the potatos and beans that came on the side played an integral part. Michael could tell that a lot of effort and thought was put in to making the veggies, despite it being just the side dish. Magnificent.

Overall, we really enjoyed coming here, I hope we'll be back. The price wasn't bad for the quality of food we got today, we could really tell the chefs are passionate for what they do and put in a lot of effort in to their work. Aside from the food, I was really curious to see if any of the staff members were French, but ended up being too scared to say anything. Maybe next time?

With appetizers, mains, and a beer and cocktail, the bill came $82 including tip. Bon Appétite.

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