I didn’t realize that Time Out hosts events.This is Vancouver’s new boutique food court, featuring the city’s best and most acclaimed restaurants. This grab and go fast food format, allows you to pick and choose dishes and craft your perfect meal across all their vendors. And tonight we were here for 4 of them.
Today I learned that Time Magazine is the original inspiration for the market, which they paid homage to with the vintage wrap covers that paper the washroom. This media company has often created memories around food, beverage, and drinks. So now they bring the best of the above, under one roof, city to city. Different kitchens locally, often a mix of Michelin recommendations and neighbourhood favourites. Whereas some restaurants require 3 week reservations to get a seat, guests can come here and enjoy the food that they want, on a whim. Then mix and match all the meals available to their current tastes.
Time Out’s goal is to serve different kinds of groups in their variety of settings, and today was a good show of that.
Outside of their events you can also rent out various sections of Time Out. This is a great option for corporate and large parties, as you don’t have to worry about dietary restrictions, when each guest gets their own loaded specialty event gift card to use on the day. With this you have the ability to limit which vendors they can dine from and even which bars they can drink at. Once again we were able to get a glimpse of that today.
The only downside to the space is the lack of privacy and runoff noise. Despite doing a tranquil candle workshop, with the need to hear our instructor via microphoned audio, it was hard to ignore the surrounding noise pollution. This included babies crying, the clanging of cutlery, and loud conversational chatter. Not to mentioned the live DJ that comes on after 5pm.
Time Out hosts these workshops every Wednesday with events like introduction to mah jong, arts and crafts for younger children, and today’s candle making workshop hosted by the city’s premier luxury candle brand: Ollie & Co.
In our case, we arrived earlier to be able to enjoy some food before our class. Between my guest and I we tasted from 4 different vendors. I have been before so knew what I was going back for. However, this was his first time so he wanted to try the Feenie Burger that is only available here; and one of the meat, rice, and fried egg platters from Lunch Lady.
I got this month’s Umami Burger special from Downlow chicken and Lobster noodles with a side of chicken wings from Mee Bar. We both loved the ability to jump from different flavours bite to bite as we shared our 4 courses.
As for our candle making workshop, our larger group was gathered at the very back of the space, and asked to take a seat along the long table. Each chair preset with all the tools we would need to make our own custom candle.
This is Ollie & Co.’s Raincover workshop, where they invite you to smell your way through a collection of Pacific Northwest fragrances like balsam fir, sea kelp, and red sequoia. many of these I have never smelled before to today. You can mix as little or many essential oils as you want, building what you will later want to smell burning. I like the scent of freshness and greenery so combined cucumber, black pepper, petrichor, and spearmint for something that completely spoke to me.
Your signature scent is blended into candle wax and poured into a single serving, reusable coffee mug with rubber lid. So after your candle is burnt and done with, you can reuse its vessel for its intended purpose, and remember what it once was. All this you do yourself, so if you don’t like the outcome, the onus is on you.
And as we were waiting for our candle to set, we were tasked to making our own customized key chain. This is Ollie & Co.’s signature “workshop within a workshop”, and the running joke is that it is always a challenge. Today was no different as we were attempting to tie knots and string together our names in plastic beads. Both this and our candle mug above serving as great travel accessories.
I love how Ollie & Co. is always so thoughtful in creating each of their workshops and how everything pairs together seamlessly. This is the third I have been too, and each one is just as unique. From your own custom tea scented candle in an individual tea cup with a decorative string accessory, to a cocktail scented candle in a glass tumbler with a woven coaster, and now this.
We also got a sneak peek of what we can expect from Ollie & Co. in the future, with the ability to have our own refillable lipgloss containers engraved. This was a stunning keepsake of the day and a great gift to give anyone.
We then ended our Time Out workshop with a couple glasses of wine at 1 of their 3 bars. Where else can you eat, drink, and do all the above in the span of 3 hours?
Time Out Market Vancouver
Oakridge Park
650 W 41st Ave, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2M9, Canada
