Edible Canada Bistro At the Market

Edible Canada Bistro at the Market is located on Granville Island, across from the Granville Island Market. This restaurant opened late last year, so it's still a relatively new kid on the block. They celebrate everything sustainable, ethical, and local. They also have a retail store and offer private wine tastings, culinary tours, and cooking classes.

They've got a small takeout window, a large patio (with heat lamps), and upscale, yet casual indoor dining. They grow leafy greens and herbs around their patio which they use for their salads and garnishes. How awesome is that?! The space is beautiful and bright, classy and upscale without being pretentious. But the very coolest part about this place is that two of my best friends are getting married at the bistro this summer!!!!!!

The menu is divided into small plates (around $10) and large plates (around $20). The menu is seasonal (so it changes) and all focused on fresh, local ingredients. The special of the night was spot prawns and sounded tasty. They also were able to put together a vegan option since I had mentioned one of our party was a vegan. They also have a really extensive beer, wine, and cocktail menu.

I ordered the Market Inspired Seafood Soup with east coast lobster, coconut broth, mussels, clams, seasonal sustainable fish ($12). I really enjoyed it, especially since it was comforting and warm on a chilly not-quite-summer patio evening. The coconut curry broth was rich, red, and velvety and extremely aromatic. The fairly large bowl was generously filled with a nice variety of well-cooked seafood. Great flavour throughout.

I also ordered their Crispy Cauliflower with Spinnakers malt vinegar, capers, parsley ($8).
This was a another knock out dish. Raw, plain, or standard boiled Cauliflower has no appeal to me but it seems to come alive when roasted and fried with other flavourful ingredients like lemon, salty fried capers and dried cranberries. I'm not sure if this cauliflower is pan-fried but the result is not crispy or greasy but so flavourful!!! This was similar to "Najib's Special" a crispy cauliflower dish from Nuba- a dish that I absolutely love. This cauliflower wasn't as browned and crispy as the Nuba version. It was dynamic and absolutely loaded with delicious explosive lemony, salty flavours. The vinegar balanced out any oil from the frying so the dish wasn't heavy, the parsley also added some light freshness, the fried crispy capers packed a salty punch and there was a sprinkle of dried cranberries to add just a touch of sweetness.


Other dishes at the table were:

Pemberton Winter Beet Salad with  fresh arugula, crumbled goat cheese (ordered without for the vegan sous-chef), citrus vinagrette ($12) This was a very beautiful salad! 

Ricotta Roasted Squash Gnocchi with market vegetables, wild mushrooms, carrot, squash ($19). The two ladies who ordered this really enjoyed it calling it light and pillowy, with a perfect chew and slightly crispy exteriors. One ordered that she felt like it was a bit low on sauce but still enjoyed the bold flavours and freshness.

Peace Country Braised Lamb Pasta with pappardelle, brown butter, wild mushrooms ($19). The diner who ordered this loved it, calling it the perfect portion size with wonderfully cooked noodles, plenty of rich buttery wild mushrooms, and chunks of tender pieces of falling-apart lamb.


Staff were very friendly, attentive, and the the overall service felt personalized. When the food came out, initially I thought the other diners "large plate" portions all looked quite small but everyone left feeling satisfied and no one was still hungry enough to order dessert (although listening to the options did make me drool a bit). Edible is a nice space, with a great location, good customer service, and wonderful food with a focus on local, fresh, season ingredients. It's a nice addition to Granville Island and I can't wait for my friends to get married there!!!!!!!!!