Nettles are springing up on menus across the city right now with chefs putting their gloves on to grab the first greens of the season which are treasured for their grassy, nutty flavours. Nettles are renowned for their healthy properties; they're great to eat if you're anaemic, nettles have four times the amount of iron than spinach and seven times more calcium. If you've never tried them before - don't worry, the cooking process neutralizes the plant's sting. In no particular order, here are the Vancouver restaurants where you can eat and drink nettles right now.
All-vegetarian restaurant Acorn, an Eater 38 favourite, are naturally using nettles on their menu. Look out for a stinging Nettle Coulis which makes regular appearances on their ‘harvest’ fresh sheet.
Chef Andrea Carlson is renowned for her locavore cuisine and love of seasonally-reflective cooking. Based in Pemberton, Namasthé Tea created a custom blend, Gobo Lemon Green which Chef Carlson pairs with a halibut dish of rich burdock tea broth, hops shoots and fried burdock. Also on the menu, a Ricotta Nettle Gnudi with Walnuts.
Come for the amazing pies and gluten-free cuisine and stay for the Green Goddess nettle tea, a custom blend from Namasthé with matcha genmaicha, nettles, tulsi and wild ginger.
Chef David Gunawan is using stinging nettles in a pesto over at Farmer’s Apprentice. Expect to see other uses of nettles from this innovative and exciting chef.
Head to Granville Island to check out Edible Canada’s Cauliflower and Blackburn Rotolo with fiddleheads, wild onions, radish, nettle and hazlenut pesto.
La Pentola is featuring a nettle risotto, Chef Lucais Syme is a big nettle fan, “...this wild and interesting superfood has a subtle but deep flavour that I think our guests will really enjoy.”
Chef Faizal Kassam is currently using nettles in house-made fazzoletti dish which features stinging nettles, cream, gorgonzola and house made bresaola. We’re thinking it’s worth seeing what the innovative cocktail crew next door at Uva under Lauren Mote’s watchful eye can mix up to pair with this.
Forage are going stinging nettle crazy with a line-caught halibut, stinging nettle gnudi, roasted sunchoke and hazelnut purée on the menu. R&B is making a nettle beer for them and on April 24 you can feast on a special all-nettle four-course dinner.
Take a sneak peek at Blackbird’s nettle dish which will launch on April 6 along with the rest of their spring menu. Pesto d’Urtica - the Latin name for nettles - features seared pacific scallops with Cumberland sausage (made in-house from pork from Gelderman Farms in the Fraser Valley), fresh pasta, stinging nettle pesto and bacon.
Right now you can try a fresh chorizo sausage, white bean cassoulet with a stinging nettle pesto at Wildebeest but they often make it to the Fresh Sheet in another preparation. Operations Manager Nick Miller talks nettles: “Due to the cooler temperatures here on the mainland, our supply is primarily coming from Vancouver Island. As the weather gets warmer, we'll be getting our nettles from Paul Healey and his team over at Hannah Brook Farm, often times they grow wild around the boundaries of his property."
Chef de Cuisine Joachim Hayward at Campagnolo ROMA is making a stinging nettle bruschetta with yogurt and radish using a cannellini bean and yoghurt hummus. The nettles are marinated in chilli flakes, EVOO lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic confit and spread on top.
All-vegetarian restaurant Acorn, an Eater 38 favourite, are naturally using nettles on their menu. Look out for a stinging Nettle Coulis which makes regular appearances on their ‘harvest’ fresh sheet.
Chef Andrea Carlson is renowned for her locavore cuisine and love of seasonally-reflective cooking. Based in Pemberton, Namasthé Tea created a custom blend, Gobo Lemon Green which Chef Carlson pairs with a halibut dish of rich burdock tea broth, hops shoots and fried burdock. Also on the menu, a Ricotta Nettle Gnudi with Walnuts.
Come for the amazing pies and gluten-free cuisine and stay for the Green Goddess nettle tea, a custom blend from Namasthé with matcha genmaicha, nettles, tulsi and wild ginger.
Chef David Gunawan is using stinging nettles in a pesto over at Farmer’s Apprentice. Expect to see other uses of nettles from this innovative and exciting chef.
Head to Granville Island to check out Edible Canada’s Cauliflower and Blackburn Rotolo with fiddleheads, wild onions, radish, nettle and hazlenut pesto.
La Pentola is featuring a nettle risotto, Chef Lucais Syme is a big nettle fan, “...this wild and interesting superfood has a subtle but deep flavour that I think our guests will really enjoy.”
Chef Faizal Kassam is currently using nettles in house-made fazzoletti dish which features stinging nettles, cream, gorgonzola and house made bresaola. We’re thinking it’s worth seeing what the innovative cocktail crew next door at Uva under Lauren Mote’s watchful eye can mix up to pair with this.
Forage are going stinging nettle crazy with a line-caught halibut, stinging nettle gnudi, roasted sunchoke and hazelnut purée on the menu. R&B is making a nettle beer for them and on April 24 you can feast on a special all-nettle four-course dinner.
Take a sneak peek at Blackbird’s nettle dish which will launch on April 6 along with the rest of their spring menu. Pesto d’Urtica - the Latin name for nettles - features seared pacific scallops with Cumberland sausage (made in-house from pork from Gelderman Farms in the Fraser Valley), fresh pasta, stinging nettle pesto and bacon.
Right now you can try a fresh chorizo sausage, white bean cassoulet with a stinging nettle pesto at Wildebeest but they often make it to the Fresh Sheet in another preparation. Operations Manager Nick Miller talks nettles: “Due to the cooler temperatures here on the mainland, our supply is primarily coming from Vancouver Island. As the weather gets warmer, we'll be getting our nettles from Paul Healey and his team over at Hannah Brook Farm, often times they grow wild around the boundaries of his property."
Chef de Cuisine Joachim Hayward at Campagnolo ROMA is making a stinging nettle bruschetta with yogurt and radish using a cannellini bean and yoghurt hummus. The nettles are marinated in chilli flakes, EVOO lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic confit and spread on top.
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