Restaurants

The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Lamb Rib from Qube

Meat falls off the bone at this new Lebanese restaurant on West 4th.

By Alyssa Hirose /

Over at our sister publication BCBusiness, we’re just wrapping up the nomination period for our 30 Under 30 competition—meaning lately, I’ve spent a lot of time faced with folks who have achieved a lot more than I have in a shorter amount of time. Going to Qube, a new Kitsilano restaurant opened by 21-year-old (yes, you read that right) Daniel Berro didn’t help.

The citrus fizz, Qube’s take on the lemon drop (in an absurdly intricate glass).
The mojito—cool, right?
The house fried kibbeh with ground beef, served with yogurt and mint

Qube is a Lebanese restaurant in Trattoria’s former digs. It’s a sprawling space that Berro has decked out in warm woods, velvet and lush greenery. It’s clear the young restauranteur has been thoughtful about the details, particularly when it comes to dishes and glassware: the cocktail glasses are extraordinary, some appear to have glass dripping from the bottom. (I asked our server if these delicate vessels are easy to break, and she replied, “Oh yes!” with a laugh.)

Qube’s Lebanese charcuterie: halloumi, shelal, aaakkawi, Kashkaval, goat labneh, cured Basterna, smoked salmon, olives, honeycomb, and more.
Muhammura, hummus’s sexier, tastier cousin.
Garlic labneh, the elite dip.

I tried a lot of the food at Qube—the muhammara, fried kibbeh, halloumi, chicken tawouk—all colourful, bright dishes that satisfied the camera as well as the palate. But of course, the one I liked most—the lamb rib—simply looks like a lamb rib. I debated picking a more colourful dish for this story… but in the spirit of The Best Thing I Ate, I’m sticking with the best thing I ate, which happens to be very brown.

Qube’s lamb rib comes with mashed potatoes (also delicious, also not very photogenic).

It’s not as pretty as the Lebanese charcuterie (if you haven’t tried stringy, salty Shelal cheese, this is your sign) or the garlic labneh (this one’s dressed in flower petals; a delightful dip), but the rib at Qube was certainly spectacular in its own way: with a generous slather of barbecue sauce and meat that literally fell off the bone (I could slide the bone out easier than the first move in a Jenga game), this dish was a winner. Mary had a little lamb, sure, but Qube has a big one… large enough to feed a crowd, and delicious enough to get no complaints.

Lamb Rib, $46
Qube Lebanese Cuisine
1850 West 4th Ave
qubevancouver.ca

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose

Alyssa Hirose is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, illustrator and comic artist. Her work has been featured in Vancouver magazine, Western Living, BCBusiness, Avenue, Serviette, Geist, BCLiving, Nuvo, Montecristo, The Georgia Straight and more. Her beats are food, travel, arts and culture, style, interior design and anything dog-related. She publishes a daily autobiographical comic on Instagram at @hialyssacomics.