New Year's in Vancouver: Dozens of ideas to ring in 2024
From thrilling performances to culinary arts, there are countless options for December 31 and January 1 celebrations
East Van Panto: Beauty and the Beast.
IF YOU’RE SEEKING an alternative to a house party on New Year’s Eve or an open house on New Year’s Day, you’re in luck: the local arts community has plenty on offer to ring in 2024. From holiday shows to culinary arts, there’s a wide selection of events to take in on December 31 and January 1. Here’s a glimpse at just some of the offerings for the last evening of 2023 and the first day of the 2024.
Talk about a fun way to celebrate: hit a local performance for guaranteed good vibes as 2023 leaves the building. Elf: The Musical at the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage has its last show at 2 pm on December 31, perfect to catch before dinner out or in (see below). If you liked the movie, you’ll love this rendition with Andrew McNee in a knockout role as Buddy.
Mom’s The Word: Talkin’ Turkey winds up its 2023 run on December 31 at 2 pm at the Granville Island Stage. The Arts Club’s mother of a comedy features personal anecdotes from its five veteran performers that mamas everywhere will be able to relate to.
East Van Panto: Beauty and the Beast has a 2 pm show on December 31 at The Cultch. It’s full of laughs and East Van love; take that, West Van.
Carousel Theatre for Young People’s Snow White is running at 11 am and 2 pm on December 31.
Sinbad!, Metro Theatre’s show for all ages, is a classic panto, with music, topical jokes, audience interaction, dancing, slapstick comedy, and a traditional Pantomime Dame. It runs December 31 and January 1 at 2 pm, and there’s a toy drive with items going to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.
NYE at TIC is The Improv Centre’s offering, with shows at 7, 9, and 11:15 pm, giving people a chance to kiss 2023 goodbye while laughing out loud.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is on December 31 at 1 and 7:30 pm at Gateway Theatre, and this titular character has agency.
QuiRING in the New Year is now in its 15th year at Evergreen Cultural Centre. It features the Quiring Chamber Players, Reg Quiring on viola, and Rosemary O’Connor on piano. Special guests include Jae-Won Bang, Jonathan Lo, Lucia Hyunsil, and Barbara Irschick.
Circus3 is putting on its 10th annual Circus3 New Year’s Eve Variety Show. Hosted by magician Rob Teszka at the Vancouver Playhouse, it features local acrobats, jugglers, aerialists, and more. The show ends hours before midnight with Vancouver’s biggest balloon drop, leaving people enough time to get home to put little ones to bed or continue the festivities elsewhere.
On New Year’s Day, there’s also Salute to Vienna, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s annual collaboration with Strauss Symphony of Canada at the Orpheum. It features magnificent dancing and costumes with appearances by Viennese conductor Michael Zehetner; soprano Brigitta Simon from Budapest; tenor David Danholt, who splits his time between Vienna and Copenhagen; and dancers from Austria’s Europaballett.
Suyo Modern Peruvian.
On the culinary arts front, every single restaurant in town will be pulling out all the stops on New Year’s Eve, and reservations are recommended.
Hotels can always be counted on to celebrate New Year’s in style. NYE in the Lobby Lounge & Raw Bar is at the buzzy Fairmont Pacific Rim, where there will a band and a DJ to go with the Dom Perignon and sushi; there’s also an acrobatic act on the books and its first-ever masquerade party. At Michelin-recommended Botanist (also in Fairmont Pacific Rim), chef Hector Laguna is doing a special “We’ll Take It From Here” tasting menu, with rising-star pastry chef Kate Siegel bringing things to a sweet close. Notch8 at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is serving up a three-course menu with live music and complementary sparkling wine to ring in the New Year; New Year’s Day sees a brunch buffet complete with a chef-attended carving station, classic dishes, sweets from the in-house pastry shop, a Caesar and mimosa station, and more. Bacchus at the Wedgwood Hotel & Spa is featuring an à la carte menu as well as a four-course gala menu for New Year’s Eve, with selections for starter, mid-course item, main, and dessert, with its usual live piano in addition to other live entertainment. The Relais & Châteaux property will also put out a lavish New Year’s Day brunch spread. Bruno’s at Versante Hotel is putting on a holiday-themed brunch buffet on weekends and New Year’s Day, complete with dazzling festive décor. On the menu: prime rib, honey-furikake fried chicken, pistachio Liege waffles, sushi, smoked-salmon omelettes, Nutella-stuffed croissants, and more. On New Year’s Eve, the restaurant is serving up a Surf & Turf buffet, with dishes like ahi tuna tartare, rosemary-garlic grilled leg of lamb, crab legs, and Pacific calamari.
Elsewhere, Per Se Hospitality is the group behind Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant acquafarina—which is cooking up a seven-course tasting menu on NYE, culminating in panettone with Remy Louis Martin XIII Cognac—and per se Social Corner, which will have live music and Champagne at midnight. Suyo Modern Peruvian—another Michelin-recommended spot—is ringing in the New Year with a tasting menu that’s a passport to its namesake cuisine with the restaurant’s most popular dishes from 2023. Think smoked pork belly with charred eggplant tamal and romesco sauce and a beef tartare with nori chip and cancha (Andean toasted corn). Its arroz con pato is cilantro-beer rice with a spicy cheese sauce and pickled shallots.
Sushi Mahana.
Sushi Mahana will ring in the New Year with two traditional feasts: Ōmisoka and Oshogatsu. The first, on New Year’s Eve, will honour the centuries-old Japanese custom of marking the last day of the year by slurping a bowl of noodles as temple bell rings at midnight. The toshikoshi (year-end) soba noodles will be served at the end of the omakase sushi courses instead of the usual miso soup. Additionally, the Ōmisoka dinner will include a course of awabi (abalone), which is often eaten on special occasions, served with a snowlike sauce made from snow crab and egg white. Diners will experience other customs, such as o-toso sake, which involves steeping a mixture of herbs in the sake for several hours before it is served in lacquered cups. The Japanese kanji characters for “toso” mean “to slaughter the evil spirits”. The Oshogatsu dinner, running in the New Year, takes its name from the Japanese term meaning “the first three days of the new year”, considered Japan’s most important holiday. It begins with a welcome o-toso sake drink and features items such as kazunoko (herring roe), representing blessings with the promise of new beginnings and the joy of children; kuromame (black soybeans), signifying good health and energy; and ko-haku namasu (pickled daikon and carrot), root vegetables that means “to put down roots”.
Minami is ringing in the New Year in style with two exclusive NYE Shokai experiences, including a “countdown to 2024” seating. A seven-course menu features its popular surf and turf options, including Iwate A5 wagyu, lobster, sashimi, and aburi sushi.
Provence Marinaside is offering a Prix Fixe New Year’s Menu with dishes such as seared Hokkaido scallops, beef tenderloin, rack of lamb or sablefish with black truffle accompanied by thoughtfully selected French wines.
Michelin-recommended Wildlight Kitchen & Bar’s New Year’s Eve dinner will include dishes that encapsulate the restaurant’s spirit of “west coast wild”, such as hiro wagyu carpaccio with maitake tempura and pickled chanterelles, a creamy roasted parsnip and truffle velouté with seared Hokkaido scallop and shaved Perigord truffle, and dry-aged duck breast with pommes Dauphine and seared foie gras.
Any of Vancouver’s 78 Michelin-recognized restaurants will be hot tickets, with 17 Bibs Gourmand being the ones to seek out for great value. The latter category includes Fiorino, Italian Street Food; Anh and Chi (Vietnamese), vegan Nightshade; and Little Bird Dim Sum + Craft Beer (which recently got a boost thanks to a well-publicized visit by Seth Rogen).
Tawnshi Charcuterie.
For dinner in, there are several local Indigenous catering companies to choose from, including Tawnshi Charcuterie, a Red River Métis and Gitksan-owned business that takes its name from the Michif word for hello and that serves boards with bannock, smoked and cured meats, seasonal fruits and vegetables, assorted jellies, and cheeses. Cedar Feast House Catering is a Turtle Island First Nation venture that serves dishes like rhubarb-BBQ pulled bison mini sliders, three sister salad, pumpkin-crusted halibut, and bannock-berry bread pudding. Salishan Catering’s menu features items such as roast turkey stuffed with cranberry, cedar plank steamed cod, and more.
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