Six Acres: Storybook Menus and Tasty Tapenade
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Located right behind Gassy Jack in Gastown, Vancouver is a cozy little pub perfect for after work drinks and nibbles. Even though I am convinced the washroom is haunted. More on that later.
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
We headed there on a Monday night and ordered a bunch of appies to share. The interior of Six Acres is so rustic and intimate, it literally feels like visiting someone’s house, an old house with lots of history and character.
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
I also loved that the menus were inserted inside the covers of children’s books. The little book covers brought me all the way back to kindergarten story time.
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
We started off with the Charcuterie plate: cured meats, asiago cheese, tapenade, grilled artichoke, onion jam with sliced romas and a warm baguette.
Charcuterie Plate, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
The sweet and savory, gritty tapenade was by far our favourite on the plate. It was the perfect intricate texture, smooth in some parts but with granular bits of olive, chopped garlic and anchovy incorporated. It was the perfect nibble.
Tapenade, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Grilled Artichoke, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
I don’t even like vegetables but the grilled artichoke was too tasty to ignore. Sweet and juicy in the middle and slightly charred on the outside, this went great with the tapenade.
Asiago cheese, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
I usually love cheese but the three little squares of asiago on the plate were a tad ordinary compared to the other stellar items. I smeared some tapenade on them and ate them anyway. Cheese still remains one of my biggest vices.
Cured meat, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Charcuterie Plate, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Warm baguette, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
The cured meats were also very delicious, salty and well seasoned. It was a good thing the refreshing tomato slices were also on the plate to curb some of the stronger salty meats. I wish we had more bread, there was so much meat on this little plate that we ended up eating some of it plain. Not that I am complaining. I am a total carnivore.
Classic sliders, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Next we ordered some very juicy and moist little sliders. They were tiny but they were packed with big punches of flavour, each little patty was well seasoned and delicious and covered in gooey melted cheese.
Steak and Arugula Salad, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
To balance things out, we did order a salad. Thank goodness it came with steak and lots of gorgonzola cheese because that’s mainly what I ate while my friend polished off the greens. The steak was scrumptious, nice and pink on the inside, it was tender and delicious. The tangy gorgonzola was a wonderful accompaniment. It definitely brought out the licorice flavours of the arugula.
Steak and Arugula Salad, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
You wouldn’t think that eating just a few appies would be very filling but we actually barely had room for dessert. I blame it on the tapenade!
Dulce de leche Creme Brulee, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
We decided on my fave dessert: the creme brulee. The feature creme brulee flavour that night was dulce de leche. We also ordered the lemon tart.
Lemon tart, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Don’t you hate it when the other person’s dessert looks better than yours? I wasn’t expecting the lemon tart to come out looking more like a big, sweet and yummy lemon square. It was also on a shortbread crust, which is my absolute favourite crust for pastries. I had to try some and I pretty much ended up almost eating the whole thing.
Lemon tart, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
The lemon tart was incredible with a nice crumbly top and a dense and buttery crust. The lemon filling was so creamy and rich, and even though I was pretty full at the end of the meal, I couldn’t get enough of it.
Lemon tart, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
I was still very happy with my creme brulee though. I loved that the hard caramelized top gave a big, satisfying crack as I smashed my teaspoon into it. The custard underneath was thick and creamy. The sticky dulce de leche swirled on top was the ultimate topping to push this dessert over the edge. I would totally order this again. It was decadent and delicious.
Dulce de leche Creme Brulee, Six Acres, 203 Carrall Street, Gastown, Vancouver
Now, the washroom. It’s located upstairs, up a very creaky set of stairs and down a short and dark little hallway. Inside the washroom, it looks more like a washroom in someone’s house than it does a public washroom. The faucet is on top of a little wooden cabinet, and the walls are adorned with old paintings. The entire room is very dim and the scariest part is that instead of music, Six Acres opted to play an audio tape reading of Beowulf. Beowulf is already a pretty scary story, imagine it being read aloud in a dark room by a very ominous sounding male voice. I have never used the washroom faster in my entire life and bolted back down the stairs to the dining area. I swear, that washroom might as well be haunted.
I will go back to Six Acres. I probably won’t use the washroom though.