Nude Nu News

[BCinBC]

First time at Nu yesterday, just stopped by for a drink. Saw the infamous chairs and the green neon chandelier, and I'd put myself in the "not to my taste" line. I get that it's supposed to be fun and whatnot, but I was left scratching my head. It gave me that booze-cruise feeling. Where the hell did I leave my stubby holder?

Having said that, the patio is beautiful, with insanely effective windscreens. So good that any amount of hurricane-force wind combined with the least bit of sunshine could still result in a good sweat going, hair or no hair. Watching the endless parade of dragon boaters with a pint in hand, it was a scene man. Will have to bring N for a couple drinks and some confit I guess. Free parking too.

Nice to see Daddy-A and Mommy-J, whom I haven't seen in a dog's age, enjoying un pot de rose. When in France, head south!

[eatrustic]

We stopped in at Nu for an early snack and a cocktail a few days ago. What a pleasure it is sitting on the terrace watching the boats go by. (Although those party boats are something else with the sound from their discos blasting and bouncing off the condos.)

As usual a bite and a drink turned into dinner.

We started with a Hemingway Daquiri and glass of wine. The Daquiri was the classic kind (not a slushy) and delicious.

For starters we had the Goat Cheese stuffed Chicken Wings with Chile Gastrique and the Scallop Ceviche. The Wings were tasty enough for a snack but I couldn't find much goat cheese and the gastrique tasted of classic Canadian sweet and sour chinese. The Ceviche was nicely presented and tasty.

Still thinking I wasn't having dinner I had the Frisee Salad, croque monsieur, poached egg with warm bacon vinagrette (all one dish). OMG! If ever there was a perfect breakfast, lunch or dinner dish this has to be it. Nestled inside the frisee was a mini croque monsiuer sandwich with the poached egg sitting on top. Total comfort food!

At this point my wife had seen the Chilled Seafood Salad Nicoise Style go by and had to have it. It is very impressive looking, served on a long plate with a lovely selection of fresh seafood and greens with just a drizzle of dressing to set it all off.

I, now accepting that this was dinner, ordered the Parisian Gnocchi with Braised Oxtail. This was a mistake. I should have had the Salmon. The plate was a big mound of gnocchi with bits of oxtail mixed in and basically a garnish of sauteed red onion, red and yellow pepper. The dish was bland and uninteresting and I told the server but did not want anything else.

The overall experience was quite pleasant (especially not having to sit in the designer posture chairs). I have to say though, that the menu has way too much of a Fall/Winter feel: Duck confit, Gruyere Cheese Soup, Wine Poached Pear and Walnut Salad, Pork Belly with sweet potatos and pears. The Pithiviers with Beef Bourquignon or Navarin of Lamb. I mean c'mon, there a lots of trendy ingredients like Duck Confit and Braised Pork Belly that could be used in a more seasonal way but it looks like the menu has not really changed since the Fall (with a few exceptions).

Although this is picky there is also a lot of baby frisee used in many of the dishes that need a salad element. If the choice is the ever present and done to death mixed greens or frisse I will always take frisee but there all kinds of cool greens available now like Purslane, or Lambs Lettuce that would be nice for some variety.

After saying all this I would not hesitate to go back as the deck is so pleasant and the food for the most part is tasty and well presented. Two days later I was a guest for dinner at the Sylvia Hotel and Holy Crap! what an embarrassingly amateur rip. It made me appreciate how nice Nu is and a world away in Vancouver cuisine and style

[waylman]

In my opinion, Nu is easily one of the most overrated restaurants in the city. Up a few posts, FannyBay lays it out perfectly. The restaurant does not serve good food. It is tasteless. The menu is just plain weird for summer. I've tried the veal cheaks, beef bourguinonne and tuna steak. If bland is your thing, Nu is for you! The place is great for a drink on the deck and nothing more.

[eindm]

In my opinion, Nu is easily one of the most overrated restaurants in the city. Up a few posts, FannyBay lays it out perfectly. The restaurant does not serve good food. It is tasteless. The menu is just plain weird for summer. I've tried the veal cheaks, beef bourguinonne and tuna steak. If bland is your thing, Nu is for you! The place is great for a drink on the deck and nothing more.

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I like the food at Nu and I don't like bland food.

[quattroporte]

My husband and I went to Nu a couple of weeks ago. The weather was nice, and we were early enough to get a seat outside. Love the view - classic Vancouver land and seascape.

Not wanting a full sit-down meal, we ordered cocktails: me, a French 75, delicious and refreshing, and my husband had a beer. We ordered three appies that I had heard about but never had the opportunity to try. We ordered the crispy fried olives, the crispy pork with some sort of sweet dipping sauce, and the shoestring sumac-dusted fries.

The olives came first. Seems to me that the fryer wasn't up to temperature, and they were rather soggy with oil. And salty! Oh my lord! almost inedible! Needed a sip after every olive. Then the pork came. So much for "crispy" - again, oil not hot enough or something, but it was short strips of chewy pork boiled in oil. Not nearly crispy. Or tasty. The fries arrived cold and again, overly salted. We didn't finish one of the plates.

I've had some awesome dishes at Nu - I raved to everyone how it was my favorite restaurant, and hopefully, some of those dishes are still there. In retrospect, I should have sent everything back, but we were out on a date, it was a beautiful night and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of sending the food back. I felt badly for our waiter - he was so attentive and kind. Anyways, the drinks and view were great, but three lousy appetizers in one evening = 3 strikes out.

By the way, for a Friday night, the place wasn't busy at all. Hmmm....?

[eatglobally]

Sbonner and I were at Nu for brunch on Saturday at 11:30. Nice and quite and even better after Stephen paid for two bottle of Champagne Our Australian server was great. I'd highly recommend Brunch. Bonner was pretty happy to have an omelette with truffles in it now he can't eat brunch at Aurora. I'll have to try Nu for dinner soon.

Ralph

[Dumpling Girl]

  Then the pork came.  So much for "crispy" - again, oil not hot enough or something, but it was short strips of chewy pork boiled in oil.  Not nearly crispy.  Or tasty. 

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I've had some awesome dishes at Nu - I raved to everyone how it was my favorite restaurant, and hopefully, some of those dishes are still there.  In retrospect, I should have sent everything back, but we were out on a date, it was a beautiful night and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of sending the food back.  I felt badly for our waiter - he was so attentive and kind.  Anyways, the drinks and view were great, ...

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Hey! I've had a very similar experience. Dropped by late (well, I think it was only 9:30, but it was a Sunday in the late winter, so the room was fairly dead) for nibbles, drinks, desserts. I thought it was kind of funny that my my "crispy pork" wasn't crispy. I wondered if they had shut down the fryer and reheated it for me, but not quite high enough. They were soggy, and I didn't like them. I was disappointed, and I had that same feeling of regret that maybe I should have sent it back, but then again, I didn't want to go through that hassle (and yes, I was there on a date too). Good thing it was a second visit, after having a really good dinner there before, so I knew that they can do a lot better. I've had those olives another time, and when they're done right, I love them, and they are crispy (but yes, they are really really salty). Had wonderful service both visits, and haven't held the pork dish against them (just have a mental note not to order them again). I still wish I had ordered the chicken wings instead. Anyhow, I keep meaning to go back, because their patio seems like a perfect summer meal spot.

Nancy

[Malik]

I had a very disappointing dinner at Nu back in May on my last visit to Vancouver. Three of us shared a bunch of small plates and sides, and were not impressed overall. The worst dish of the night was the bone marrow, and that's one of my favorite things in the world to eat. But it seemed like they had taken the marrow bones straight from the freezer to the oven, so the bottom half of larger bone on the plate was cold and thoroughly uncooked! A lot of the other dishes were either bland or unfocussed (scallop ceviche, beef tartare, onion tart, etc). We did enjoy the fried olives and the matchstick potatoes, but that's not quite enough to make a meal unfortunately...