At the Northern-most end of Mt. Pleasant, The Whip is a fun, neighbourhood pub, that is one of the most popular hangouts in the city.
I've wanted to write up The Whip for a while now. My problem was that it tends to be packed. People love it, and it fills up fast. This is a good thing. My friends tend not to be the most prompt people in the known universe. It makes getting a bunch of us into a popular bar difficult. We took advantage of the pre-Christmas lull, and went a few days before the big holiday. I would have gotten this up sooner but... Christmas.
I really dig this place. It's a long, low, two level room that is actually fairly spacious, but manages to feel cozy. It's in an old building; lots of exposed wood. This probably contributes to that feeling of coziness. I've said before that a good pub should be one in which you feel instantly comfortable, and this place has that quality in spades. Something about bars in old brick buildings...
Food's really good. Standard pub fare. A little more expensive than I'd like, but they're trying to turn a profit in Mr. Pleasant, what are you gonna do? Everything on the menu seems strategically designed to go well with a cold pint. They also do a weekend brunch. I haven't been for that, though, so I can't tell you if it'd go well with beer.
Speaking of beer. They've got a healthy list of local microbrews. No major national or international producers. (For those not yet in the know, that's a good thing, nationwide mega-breweries tend to produce terrible beer). They rotate the whole list every few months, and one of the taps rotates much more frequently than that. They also do a cask Sunday (cask ale is an absolute treat). This was a bigger deal a few years ago when cask ale was hard to get your hands on in this city. It's still rarer than it should be though, so I'll encourage any place that's trying to sell it.
Final word: The Whip is an awesome place, and a Vancouver treasure.
The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
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