Hotel Vancouver’s Roof Restaurant and Bar

The Roof Restaurant and Bar | BCBusiness
The Roof will pay tribute to its earlier years with modern twists on culinary classics from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.

Hotel Vancouver revives a classic city space

Amid a $12-million renovation of its lobby and 900 West Restaurant and Bar, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver has opened a pop-up restaurant on its 15th floor, reviving the heyday of the Panorama Roof restaurant, which served as a Vancouver hotspot for dining, music and dancing from 1939 until mid-1996.

Hotel general manager Michael Pye says the reopening lingered in the minds of his predecessors, and the renovation provided the perfect scenario to bring back this longed-for space, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and incomparable city views.

The Roof will pay tribute to the earlier years with modern twists on classic culinary dishes of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, and old-school cocktails. Cameron Ballendine, 900 West executive chef, will create an experience that gives “a nod to the past while still making sure we stay relevant,” says Pye.

When the renovations below are complete, expected by late fall, The Roof will close and be used as social catering space, but Pye admits that keeping it open is not off the table. “If it’s wildly successful, then we will have to cross that decision-making bridge when we get there,” he says (fairmont.com/hotel-vancouver).