Tap and Barrel, the newest addition to the Olympic Village, had their official grand opening yesterday. They have been quietly open for a couple of months now serving local craft beer and premium wines on tap. Owner, Daniel Frankel invited 100 followers on Twitter to a special VIP party that took place prior to the 8:00pm public opening. The party started at 6pm and the place was PACKED by the time I arrived 10 minutes later!

There are seating areas on two levels with plenty of patio space.



We were given two drink tickets as we entered for any wine or beer on the house!


Small bites were brought around the establishment for people to try some items from the Tap and Barrel menu. But they took a long time to make it's way to us. lol probably because it is such a big space and so many people attended, they disappeared long before they reached us!

Sweet fennel sausage handcrafted pizza - peppers, roasted tomato sauce, provolone. We ordered the full version of this later on.

Local wild mushrooms handcrafted pizza - smoked mozzarella, fresh baby arugula, truffle oil. I LOVED this one. I would have ordered it later in the evening if my sister didn't want a meatier option.

Original T&B Monster Pretzel - home baked in a wood stone oven, served with grainy mustard dip. That big piece is the monster pretzel not the tiny ones. lol It was very soft, slightly salted and yummy!

Steak bite with cherry tomato and potato. 

PB&J burger - chipotle peanut butter, bacon jelly, angus beef with pulled pork. Peanut butter in a burger?! I've never heard of this! Surprisingly it was very delicious!

 I don't know what kind of white wine this is. I only know it tastes very fruity.

Pumkin Ale. It smelled sweet and reminiscent of fall and apples. There's some spiciness to it. I couldn't taste the pumpkin but my friend could and she said she could taste a hint of nutmeg as well. 

I also had some water...er I mean pure vodka. I love their cups! They are so cool looking and I am digging their logo.

About half way through the party, we were interrupted for the grand opening ceremony.

 Dawn Chubai from Breakfast Television giving an intro of Tap and Barrel.

Deputy mayor, Raymond Louie saying a few words on behalf of Mayor Gregor Robertson about how Tap and Barrel adds to the Olympic Village community.

Tap and Barrel owner, Daniel Frankel welcoming everyone to the grand opening!

Daniel Frankel and Raymond Louie cutting the ribbon! Tap and Barrel is officially open!

After the ribbon cutting, came something totally unexpected! Open Gangnam style! Everyone started dancing, even Daniel Frankel and Raymond Louie!


I captured it on camera for you folks who missed it. Coolest grand opening ever. LOL

The few samples we had were not nearly filling enough and the servers kept skipping our table (slightly miffed) so we decided to order something from the menu.

This menu item was so unusual that I HAD to order it. Infamous sticky yam fries $8 - burnt marshmallow fluff on yam fries. Yam fries? Yum. Melted marshmallow? Yum. Together? ... er. It was interesting. I enjoyed eating it. But it made my taste buds so confused! It was more like a dessert than an appetizer because it was so sweet!

1lb drunken mussels $17 - salt spring island mussels, wood stone artisanal flatbread. There is a choice of two types:  tap: craft beer, caramelized onion, cream and barrel: white wine, garlic, fresh herbs. The Tap version the waitress said is a lot creamier so we ordered the Barrel version. There was more than enough bread to soak up the yummy sauce which contains diced tomatoes. The mussels had some fishiness to them though.

My sis loved the sample so much we ordered one for dinner. Sweet fennel sausage handcrafted pizza $16 - peppers, roasted tomato sauce, provolone. We thought the smaller version was tastier maybe because there was more crunch and flavour in the smaller version. The real version was still pretty good though.   

So now Tap and Barrel is officially open, go pay them a visit! If you go when sun has set you can enjoy this view from the patio. Amazing!