Tonight we were in search of a spot for happy hour that both my guest and I have never been to. This proved to be a challenge seeing as we both like trying new bars and restaurants as a hobby.
We eventually agreed to meet at Bar Asra after we both realize we don’t frequent South Granville often. They are a newer bar, having only been open for a year, and have recently started opening on Tuesdays.
On this sunny day their patio was a place to be. It spills out on to the side walk and invites you into their l-shaped space with thriving green plants and glowing string lights.
We grabbed a comfortable spot on the loungers by the window and began taking advantage of their happy hour menu. This is literally a “happy” “hour”. They open at 5pm so from 5-6pm and after 10pm, you get discounts on select food and drinks. The cocktails are familiar highballs, so we opted to order off of their more exciting regular drink menu and take advantage of their $2 drink discounts this hour.
As one who prefers savoury over sweet, I was happy to read so many options that weren’t just sugary punches, but cocktails with ingredients like Japanese plum, lingonberry vodka, seabuckthorn syrup, sumac dusting, brewed yerba mate tea, gochujang honey, and carrot juice. The cocktails are globally inspired, whereas the food menu takes inspiration from Asian flavours and reimagines them in a fusion style.
I don’t share drinks, so can only comment on the ones I ordered and enjoyed myself. My guest ordered a happy hour spritz to start. $10 during happy hour, saving her $7. The Plum-Rose Spritz was japanese plum liqueur, prosecco, rose blossom water, soda water, and grapefruit slices.
Her second was the spiced and bold Tikita with a Sanskrit background. Dry aged rum, bitter orange liqueur, amaro, assam tea, green cardamom & toasted fenugreek tincture, curry leaf bitters, fenugreek, and an orange ash rim.
And her third and last was the dark and rich Rubis, that was smoked and covered, but the smoke didn’t make it to the table for an uncovering moment. Cacao nib infused whisky, aged rum, red vermouth, strawberry cordial, beet reduction, chocolate bitters, and cherry smoke.
My usual cocktail order is a martini extra dirty, so I was intrigued by their take on with pepperoncini brine instead of the more common olive. The Italian Stuzzicante is a mix of dry gin, fino sherry, olive oil washed white vermouth, pepperoncini brine, celery bitters, and basil stem fragrance. It met my martini expectations being on the savoury side with plenty of dry and briny tang. The colour was striking in its neon green, just like the pepper; and it tastes just like it too. This was very clever and had me thinking how I can recreate this with other pickled items like Japanese pickled pink ginger, and pickled green beans that you find in caesars.
The Nordvin is Norwegian and it caught my interest with its photo of a snap pea garnish. Snap pea accented gin, white vermouth, aromatized wine, decarbonated tonic, black pepper bitters, and cinchona bark fragrance. This tastes just like sweet peas fresh from the garden, with a crushed black pepper finish. It is a delicious green cocktail that I would recommend with food as it offers a gentle freshness that will compliment lots.
Their modern and light take on your espresso martini is the Thai inspired Jaidam. It is like a spicy coffee with black sesame-washed rum, bitter orange aperitif, amaro, thai chilli tincture, and rich coffee syrup. The savoury heat counter balanced the robust coffee. Both are then brought together under the nuttiness of the roasted sesame. This is another one that would be great with food thanks to its oils.
Despite not being hungry, such bold and delicious cocktails deserve small bites to add longevity. Not to mention that the cocktails were impressive enough to have me wondering how well the kitchen would do with food.
Like with our regular menu cocktails you also get $2 off regular small and large plates during their one hour of happy.
We ordered off the appetizer menu to keep things light and snack-y. The Lotus Root Chips are fried crispy then covered in what they are calling a gochujang salsa with korean seasonings. However the look and taste reminded me more of Chinese style sweet and sour pork, especially with its neon orange hue and the amount of onion included. There were equal parts onion to lotus, if not more. We actually put in effort to pick chips without onion on it, or shake off pieces of onion. There was so much onion leftover that I even doggy bagged them home to use, so to not waste any of it. As for the chips, I would have liked them served separate from the salsa, as they were quick to grow soggy and tact-y and not as enjoyable as a result.
The charred shishito peppers and roasted cauliflower florets were delicious covered in a thick coating of parmesan-lime drizzle. So flavourful with cheese zest that it didn’t need the garlic rich za’atar toum dip also included on the platter. However, this was on the saltier side and definitely had us reaching for our drinks. Luckily my vegetal ones matched. Like the dish before, I wish this too came to the table crispier. Both the cauliflower and peppers were soggy whereas I wanted more crisp and char.
Overall I enjoyed my visit as much as I liked my company. I wasn’t as impressed by the food as I was the drinks, but would like to return to try their full plates to get a better idea of their cuisine.
Bar Asra
1480 W 11th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6H 1L1
(604) 569-2230
bar-asra.com
