The New Power Lunch: Where to Wheel and Deal (or Complain About Your Boss) Over a Meal in Vancouver Right Now

A traditional “power lunch” would be held somewhere kind of swanky—what better way to impress someone than with a little white-tablecloth razzle dazzle?—but power and business look a lot different today from how they looked 20 years ago.

In a city where so many influential industries exist in the creative realm, and at a time when many of us work from home in our sweats, business is pretty casual around these here parts… and working lunches have chilled out to match. Think: fewer back-to-back martinis and more local fare that gets us excited to step out of the office and into face-timing (in person!) with clients, colleagues and potential collaborators. Here’s where to wine and dine and then get back to work in 2024.

You’re a tech worker in Mount Pleasant and you need to vent about your new manager so you go to…

Mt. Pleasant Vintage and Provisions

Mt. Pleasant Vintage and Provisions has two patios providing ample space (and ambient noise; they pump some incredible throwback tunes) for a last-minute vent sesh. Plus, the ’70s-themed gem is more than just a weekend fave for folks looking to have a few of its famed Tiger Claws ($10, a house-made take on a White Claw)— it also serves up some top-tier weekday lunch fare. From a punchy and bright tuna aguachile verde ($22, that’s topped with cauliflower or chicharron!) to the woodfire-grilled and always-tender chicken thigh teriyaki banh mi ($21), the casual-meets-elevated dishes are worth making up an excuse to get out of the office.  67 W 6th Ave.

You want to impress a client from out of town so you go to…

Miku

Our stunning city should always be part of the sales pitch, and Miku highlights just what makes business in Vancouver so exciting, with jaw-dropping views of the Burrard Inlet. The food is nothing to scoff at, either: founder Seigo Nakamura invented the now-ubiquitous B.C. salmon aburi oshi (an ideal name-drop, if you ask us)—and the restaurant’s “Lunch Shokai” ($45) highlights the skill of the sushi master. It includes chef-selected appetizers, miso soup and 10 pieces of the famous aburi, traditional sushi and nigiri, all of which are made with pitch-perfect rice, expertly sliced fresh fish and time-honed flavours. 70–200 Granville St.

You’re pitching a collab to an impossibly cool Vancouver brand, so you take them to…

New Fuji

In this city, being cool is less about who you know and more about knowing where to go. We like to up our own cool factor with under-the-radar gems like New Fuji, Kitsilano’s ’80s-themed Japanese restaurant that offers a vibey space for creative takes on classic dishes. Wheel and deal over the uni tomato cream yaki udon ($25), which combines a dashi-spiked rose sauce with crab, ikura, arugula and uni, or the duck breast ($16) that’s kept fork-tender with a sous-vide preparation and hits every flavour profile thanks to salty shiodare, sweetened soy sauce, spice-forward wasabi stems and gently sour yuzu peel. 1815 W 1st Ave.

You need to show off that you’re a big spender, so you pull out the corporate card at…

Botanist

Not all old-school methods of the business lunch are dead; sometimes we still like to drop a little dough on our high-level clients. For this we head to Michelin-recommended Botanist, where the food is seasonal, refined and worthy of the finest of power suits. Take its versions of the classic beet salad ($25), where delicate beet “snow,” meringue, punchy mustard greens and burrata are all married with white balsamic, or the pepper-crusted salmon ($38), which arrives with an awe-inspiring ginger beurre blanc, spaghetti squash and toasted pumpkin seeds.  1038 Canada Pl.

You need somewhere private where you can trash-talk your COO without anyone overhearing, so you go to…

Tableau

The tucked-away tables at Tableau—a finalist for Best French in this year’s Restaurant Awards—feel effortlessly private even though the room itself is often abuzz with diners. The masterful French bistro fare almost begs you to lean forward and whisper the latest gossip as you dig into the city’s best French onion soup ($17, and the amount of broiled gruyere is shocking and fabulous) or the crushable (and shareable, ideal for joint complaining about upper management) mix of West and East Coast oysters (market price). 1181 Melville St.

And now, for some new-school ettiquite

Power-lunching (yes, it’s a verb) was once all about removing elbows from the table, knowing which fork is actually for salad and remembering to not sip the lemon water you’re supposed to dip your fingertips in. And sure, keeping all that in mind is still important, but we’ve updated the rules to fit with these modern times, and to help you position yourself as the most powerful person in the room.

• Tip Generously  Prices are currently high across the board, but being stingy when you receive excellent service is never in. If you want to be perceived as powerful and not as a jerk, tip the people who have helped make your dining experience so special.
• Bring Sneaky Floss  Nothing is worse than hitting up the washroom midmeal and noticing a massive chunk of spinach wedged between your teeth—save yourself the struggle and embarrassment of having to return to the table with salad teeth in tow by carrying some pocket floss. Might as well add a Listerine strip or two, too. Stinky breath does not scream “future CEO.”
• Be the Wine Taster  To be the most powerful diner at the table, take on the sometimes arduous task of the sip-and-nod, and keep in mind that the point isn’t whether you think the wine is tasty, but whether it’s gone off. A quick sniff and swig is all it takes. Please don’t gargle at the table, or pawn off the task to someone who looks nervous or uninterested.
• Be Informed  Take a look at the food and wine menus before you arrive—this means you can suggest dishes, know which wines are truly worth the inflated price (now that’s power) and, most importantly, not spend time hemming and hawing over what you want to order. You don’t want a side dish of regret when you’re trying to close a deal.
• Dress Nicely  Each industry has a different standard of what’s considered “nice” workwear. The more creative the industry, the more creative the ’fit; which is A-OK as far as etiquette is concerned. But maybe save your fave crop top and lounge pants for post-work drinks with friends rather than for spending some face time with investors.