Anecdotes from Chambar

Some wine pairings are so archetypal they are recognized around the world: Champagne and caviar, port and Stilton, Cabernet and steak- but some wine couplings extend beyond flavour profiles.

“I had this vision of a very red room, almost like a theatre” remarks Sophia Lin, the Chinese-Canadian art curator-turned-restaurateur, “I never intended for it to be fussy, with tablecloths or tea.” If anything, Old Bird is luminous. A night-market turned inside-out. Reverent, yet a little surreptitious.

Whether you drink beer or not, it has been somewhat of a time-lapse photography experience to watch the sound progression of what is now Vancouver’s craft beer scene

Things are very different at Chambar, where the cellar of some 350 labels is run by not one woman, but three.

The iconic Chambar cocktail. An artistic oxymoron. Civilized debauchery in liquid form.

There is a fighting spirit inherent in anyone brave enough to open an independent restaurant, and this disposition is abundant in Chambar owners Karri and Nico Schuermans, who started the infamous Vancouver hotspot in 2004 on a shoestring and a dream.