east / west / eat / drink
Who We Are
Located in historic Gastown, we are a Vancouver restaurant paying homage to the unique cultures that make up the tapestry of this great city. Seamlessly using Asian and Pacific Northwest ingredients with current techniques. Michelin 2022 recommended and enRoute top 10 for best new restaurant in Canada in 2013, we continue to strive for excellence in everything we do.
Reflecting our namesake, we combine multiple cultures and cuisines to create a whole new language in dining. Our goal is for you to leave PiDGiN having an experience unlike anywhere else in the world.
At PiDGiN, we see no need for distinctions between casual and fine dining.
A restaurant can be both beautiful and comfortable; cuisine can be at once delicate and approachable. As dining perspectives have changed, so too has the line between east and west. Our experiences travelling and working in various continents is reflected in our food, bar, and even on our walls.
/menu
Common cuts rendered sublime. Deceptively simple staples skewed and polished with Asian elegance. Large format family-style ssäm with the attention to detail and flavour usually reserved for highly composed dishes. These are the cornerstones of PiDGiN's food: rarely predictable but never overwrought and fussy, always thoughtful, cared for, and prepared with the utmost integrity.
/bar
Our bar pays its respects to classic cocktails with fresh interpretations that make good use of our region’s fine local bounty. By the glass and bottle is a tight wine and sake list, bolstered by a well-curated reserve list for those seeking something truly special. Perhaps most exciting is the harmony between kitchen and bar, a collaboration that ensures equal attention to detail and creativity with the ladies and gentlemen behind the wood and stoves.
/design
Craig Stanghetta of Ste. Marie based Pidgin’s design around the food and approach of PiDGiN. Much like the namesake, the design borrows liberally from different schools of thought. Curated ephemera, inverted subway tile and contemporary lighting stand against clean Japanese joinery, simple panel moulding and an intentionally sparse and functional layout. The mandate was to be disparate and somehow achieve balance--much like each dish that leaves the kitchen.
Menus
beautiful bites / best enjoyed with great company
SNACKS / AMUSE
beef tendon chicharron 
hokkaido scallop tartare
MEDIUM
roasted delicata squash
chicken wings
*stuffed fermented cabbage
*agedashi tofu
smoked halibut cheek polenta
LARGER
korean rice cake
pork belly rice bowl
foie gras rice bowl
seared hokkaido scallop
smoked magret duck breast
tajima ribeye 10 oz
SWEET
szechuan pepper beignet
chocolate mousse
best way to start and end
CLEAR ICE
CLASSICS
PIDGIN CREATIONS
ZERO PROOF
a sip for every bite
FLIGHTS
BY THE GLASS
BY THE BOTTLE
UMESHU / PLUM
a sip for every bite
BUBBLES
ORANGE / SKIN CONTACT
WHITE
RED
cheers
BEER
a good selection of unicorns
FLIGHT
whisk(e)y
ssäm / for proper gluttony with friends
Currently we are doing full duck(s), with our made hoi sin glaze. Always served with a leafy green like red lettuce, shiso or sesame leaves, sauces, and a generous amount of panch'an (Korean side dishes) like house made napa kimchi, kkakdugi (daikon kimchi) and more.
Given the portion we suggest for groups of 4 or more, there's limited availability so order ahead especially on weekends.
$150 2 ducks / $80 for 1
Latest News
Our Team
Wesley Young
Executive Chef
Jordan Pollard
Assistant GM
Brandon Grossutti
Owner / Operator
Gift Cards
We offer gift cards in any denomination at the restaurant or purchase one of the following options below through Paypal.
The gift card will be kept at the restaurant for the recipient to pick up unless other instructions are specified.
Historical Mural
1855-1955 #pidginmural
The Painting
The Process
The Dinner
The mural at 350 Carrall by Ilya Viryachev is meant to symbolize the history of Vancouver, concentrating primarily on its surroundings between 1855-1955. It is impossible to include every significant event over a century on one wall, so rather we aimed to represent various significant processes to reveal how Vancouver’s current model of tolerance and multiculturalism was forged through histories of violence, racism and inequality.
The piece starts pre-colonialism on the left of the mural. It depicts the lush green areas of Luck-Lucky, now ‘Gastown’, and references the Musqueam canoe portage route between Burrard Inlet and False Creek, as well as some traditional long houses. Moving right, the significance of the early forestry industry is expressed through the transition from dense trees to stumps.
Next we pay homage to what initially drove a great deal of settlement and the expansion of Vancouver, the Gold Rush in the interior of B.C and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The gold rush is represented by a pair of hands gold panning. It was this process that brought the first Chinese settlers to the area, initially from San Francisco in 1858 and then directly from China in 1860. The construction of the CPR greatly expanded these numbers, as an estimated 17,000 workers were brought across the Pacific from the Guangdong province of China. We have purposely placed a Chinese worker in the foreground while the stumps transform into politicians and Captains of Industry driving-in the Golden Spike in the back.
Next we have a tribute to Maple Tree Square and the role that alcohol and vice played in the development of Gastown. The tree transitions to a fire representing the great fire of 1886, where the city was destroyed just weeks after it was officially incorporated as ‘The City of Vancouver’. Next we have the 1907 Chinatown / Nihon Bachi (Japan District) riot, shown with an angry white mob attacking a storefront in Chinatown. There is reference to Wing Sang building, the oldest building still standing Chinatown, built by the influential Yip Sang in 1889.
We then fast forward to the depression where the rioters transition to a bread line and a despondent man is slumped over in the foreground. The background shows the confiscated fishing boats of Japanese-Canadian fisherman, which were taken during WWII when Japanese-Canadians were moved to internment camps in the interior. During the war Vancouver was one of the most productive ship building ports in North America, we symbolize with a large ship.
Throughout the piece, you see a train that starts at the golden spike and finishes near the end of the mural, this train represents the inter urban which used to bring passengers from all over the lower mainland to Hastings and Carrall, making this termination the centre of the city. In 1955 it was relocated from this spot and relocated to Granville Street, taking with it thousands of daily commuters and visitors and re-orientating the ‘centre’ of the city further west.
The last piece is a representation of a Musqueam woman symbolically tearing up the Indian Act in 1951. The reforms allowed the indigenous people of Canada to once again perform cultural practises such as the Potlatch, bring land claims to the government, and for women to vote in band council elections.