Vancouver restaurant AnnaLena has evolved alongside chef-owner Mike Robbins
Change is good.
That’s the outlook chef-owner Mike Robbins takes with his Michelin-starred Vancouver restaurant AnnaLena .
“The core feeling is still there, but it has really changed from what it was,” Robbins says of the restaurant, which is located at 1809 West 1st Ave. in Kitsilano.
Founded in 2015, AnnaLena started with a casual share plates approach, along with an option for a curated tasting menu. During the pandemic, to comply with restricted numbers of diners, they shifted to a tasting menu-only model.
“We had a good runway during COVID, where we built a name for being a tasting menu,” says Robbins. “And then we kept building off that.”
Six years after the pandemic, they are still going strong with the set menu.
“We started off as a five-course. And then I said, ‘I’d really like to do a six course.’ Or, ‘I’d really like to do seven courses.’ We keep doing that,” says Robbins. “We find that we’re really enjoying the process and we want to see how far we can take AnnaLena on refinement.”
His motto these days is: “Doing less, better.”
It’s an approach that also extends to the restaurant’s pared-down alcohol offering. In recent years, they have whittled down what was once an expansive bar space with a wall of bottles to accommodate a bigger kitchen. Less alcohol options means a more-curated drinks menu.
“Better cocktails with fewer of them,” Robbins summarizes.
Named after the chef-owner’s grandmothers — whom he says were a big part of this childhood — AnnaLena is fuelled by the mission to make fine dining more approachable.
“When you’re going out to a fine-dining restaurant, it can be intimidating,” Robbins says. “We try to give you an amazing experience, in a very casual way. Where you feel relaxed. And you just enjoy and have fun.”
A selection of toys dotted here and there throughout the restaurant adds to that sense of play.
“I’ve always had an affinity for collecting without turning into a hoarder,” says Robbins, who grew up in east Vancouver. “I like nice things. I like to collect things that, at least at that time and space in my life, that it would be worth something in the future.”
In its most recent iteration, AnnaLena has matured. The number of collectibles on display has been pared back. It’s a marker of Robbin’s own evolving esthetic, and another acceptance of change.
“The toys and collectibles that were in there when we first opened are completely different from what they are today,” he says. “And there’s much less of them. It’s a lot more focused.”
When he opened the restaurant over a decade ago, Robbins was just turning 30. Since then, he’s got married and had a son.
“I opened up AnnaLena 12 years ago, and it was very much a reflection of me at that time,” he says. “As my life changes, the things I like change. So, my esthetic changes.
“So, AnnaLena is always evolving. If you look at how it was when it opened 10 years ago, even just the interior design was completely different from what it is today. Along with the food. It’s kind of maturing with me.”
The restaurant’s current menu includes eight rounds of dishes ranging from the starter Off The Coast, with Argentine prawn and scallop in a mussel Vin blanc, to the Slow and Low beef striploin with turnip and a Madeira jus. The course names appear scrawled in a childish font of varying colours that come courtesy of Robbins’ son.
“Where I’m at in my life, and with where AnnaLena’s at, obviously my son is a very important component in my life, and I want him involved with AnnaLena because AnnaLena is very important to me,” he notes of the family integration.
The inclusion is both a nod to the strong family ties that originally inspired the restaurant, along with his ambition to create memories for his son to look back on in the future.
“I always tell him there are ‘no borders, think freely’,” he adds of a motto that frequently comes up in both his life and career.
Summarizing AnnaLena’s cuisine as “modern Canadian, through a Vancouver lens,” Robbins says the restaurant is, above all, a manifestation of himself.
“When you come into AnnaLena, it’s just a reflection of me, my thoughts, where I’m at,” he says. “I feel like you don’t necessarily need to meet me in the space. Just by dining at AnnaLena, you understand who I am.”
Pointing to the strength of his current team as a primary factor behind both the restaurant’s evolution and its accolades, Robbins says the rankings and awards — including this year’s No. 35 placing on the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list and No. 12 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list — are welcome acknowledgments of the efforts they all put in.
“Restaurants are always hard work, at every level,” Robbins says. “Everyone puts in more than they should have to. When you get these kinds of awards, it makes everyone feel good. It lets you know that you are doing the right thing.”
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Source: vancouversun.com