Breaking: There’s a New Comfort Food Lunch Pop-up Opening in Gastown

Gastown’s newest pop-up is called Lunch Bar. That’s all you need to know. It’s an announcement that could have been a tweet (but given the Musk-y state of that platform, we figured we’d better use our own website).

It’s a lunch bar. It serves lunch food (stews, bowls and sandwiches) at lunch time (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily). Get it?

Okay, here’s a bit more info for you: Lunch Bar was dreamed up by Aaron Kafka of Kafka’s Coffee, and the pop-up menu will be available at the Kafka’s Gastown location (151 W Hastings). The menu includes two stews (one vegan, one not) that change weekly—this week’s duo is a Moroccan lamb stew and a squash and chickpea stew. Said stew is $13.50 a bowl and served with focaccia bread.

 

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A post shared by Lunch Bar by Kafka’s (@lunchbaryvr)

If the term “Pop-up in Kafka’s” is ringing a bell, that’s because Lunch Bar isn’t the first concept launched from the local coffee roaster. The seasonal Lil Bird Sandwiches is another temporary eatery by Kafka’s—in fact, through some careful internet sleuthing (read: scrolling through Instagram) we discovered that Lunch Bar has actually taken over Lil Bird’s IG account. Birds are out; stew is in.

To us, this sort of begs the question: what’s the difference between launching a pop-up concept and simply introducing a new seasonal menu? Answer: menus don’t have Instagrams.