Do you ever find yourself wondering where to get good pasta in Gastown, Vancouver? You might remember that we previously went to Water St. Cafe this summer. Well, we’re back again and this time, we’re sampling three of their pastas and we want to tell you all about them!
MORNING CARBONARA
If you happen to be in Gastown for brunch, you could always stop at Water St. Cafe for their famous Morning Carbonara. Ok, so it’s basically carbonara with an egg on top but somehow having that egg adds something special. The sunny side egg is cooked perfectly so you can slice into that yolk and watch it drip all over your pasta.
It seems guanciale is very high quality and has a nice crisp to it while keeping all of its fat still. The flavors are delicate and each bite of pasta just melts in your mouth. If you’re looking for brunch pasta in Gastown, you’ve found just the place for it.
Don’t forget to add a mimosa to your order! You won’t regret it!
RIGATONI WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE
We happen to love rigatoni with Italian sausage so this dish must work hard to impress us. Thankfully, it hit the spot quite well!
There were generous chunks of Italian sausage. In the pasta, we’ve been to restaurants that have skimped out on the sausage. Thus, a good chunk of flavor and texture in this dish is gone because of that. The chef obviously knows his way around a pasta this because we were drooling over this plate. The sweet tang of the tomato sauce was delicious paired against the savory flavor of the sausage.
We will absolutely be back for this dish!
MEATBALLS & PAPPARDELLE
Did you know meatballs are one of the foods that Howie is very picky about? Howie says the firmness of the meatballs have to be packed enough so they don’t disintegrate when you put the fork in. Yet the perfect meatball will still have a nice bounce when you chew on it. What does Howie think of these meatballs?
He loved them! These meatballs are handmade and are have beef, pork and veal inside them. We think that adding veal added an extra dimension to these meatballs for a wonderful burst of flavor. The texture was exactly what Howie was looking for in a meatball.
The pasta sauce was again a tomato one and the flavors that came out were beautiful. It reminded us of a classic Italian dish and it impressed us very much.
We didn’t expect to find such great pasta in Gastown but now that we know how great it is, we’ll be back to Water St. Cafe often. It’s not often you find gems like this at reasonable prices so be sure to make a reservation there. Use our guide to get started on what to order at the restaurant or if you try something else, leave us a comment and tell us what you think!
If you ever want to see where we’re eating in real-time, check our our food Instagram!
