Voya Restaurant and Lounge is a magnificent bar!
Lorraine, Dale and I had a chance to swing by Voya (in my case, rather briefly) to check it out. We’d heard lots of stories from different people saying how wonderful it was, but it hadn’t been until we actually made it there that we realized that all the stories are true. Voya IS indeed a magnificent bar I will try it out for a dinner experience, but even if you just head down there for a couple of cocktails, you’re in for a treat.
LODEN VANCOUVER 1177 Melville Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 0A3
Reservations 877 225 6336 | T 604 669 5060 | F 778 373 1609
Voya Restaurant and Lounge is housed in the boutique Hotel Loden Vancouver. Unless you hang out on this side of Coal Harbour, on a regular basis, I would seriously doubt you know how to get there. But its location is unbelievably convenient. Less than a block from the Burrard Skytrain Station. Not kidding. I doubt that any of you would choose to imbibe as much alcohol as to end up stumbling back home (their drinks are simply too nice to over-do them!), you *could* if you wanted to, as it is very accessible even by Skytrain.
Santarac (created by Simon Ogden, Voya)
The lead bartender is Jay Jones, joined by Simon Ogden, who also happens to be one of the top theatre bloggers in Vancouver. I had to stop short of gushing, simply because they DO create art with their hands. The Christmas Sazerac that Simon has developed (which he called “Santarac”) includes smooth vanilla mint, and according to Simon, “it tastes just like a Terry’s chocolate orange!”
Lorraine and I agreed that the Santarac is very much more along the lines of my personality: sweet, strong and refined. I didn’t have a chance to spend nearly enough time at Voya with Lorraine and Dale and Simon as I would have loved to, but one thing you can rest assured of: I am, for sure, coming back.
Voya is a unique experience and you should most definitely head down there. Their hours of operation are posted on the website (linked above).
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I came by for the first time, like your blog I’m from Western New York and will be heading to Vancouver next year..
Sounds like a great adventure…
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
I just stopped by for some Christmas drinks the other night. Jay Jones took excellent care of us. The 12 days of Christmas cocktail menu is really worth checking out, the bartenders are a very creative bunch! Also had dinner there on my b’day- it was outstanding!
Thanks for the info, I’ll have to check it out
Hahahahahaha, you edited out what you said about my drink. My drink was a classic Sazerac, which you can hardly find since Bogey died, and it was made with real Absinthe. And it was magnificent.
It’s a drink that will kick your ass and have you begging for more. So, my drink was just like me!