oving the much-loved Moustache Café from its Marine Drive location to 2nd and Lonsdale was certainly a curious decision. The heritage house location in North Vancouver was an uncompromised, cartoon-sweet restaurant in the most delightful way. Finding the right balance between “original” and “new” is never easy, but the Moustache Café doesn’t seem to have lost much in translation.

What works on Marine Drive could have turned odd and even ineffectual on 2nd and Lonsdale. Fans of Moustache Café had every reason to be worried. The original spot was sweet, cheery and tucked into a unique location. Now, in its new locale, there are substantive changes which make the restaurant a fundamentally different entity in terms of aesthetics and cuisine. The new room bears no resemblance to the old space. Gone is the somewhat intimate feel, as the new Moustache sports a gorgeously dark and stark look and feel, outfitted with white leather chairs and simple dining tables. Bar stools are neatly lined up with military precision. A natural wood floor adds warmth, while white and black paisley wallpaper covers the walls. The change is shocking and totally different from the first go, but it works.

On an initial visit, Chef and owner Geoff Lundholm ran the floor and the kitchen in tandem gracefully, managing to deliver plates to the tables with precise timing. The seasoned chef has plans to expand the menu with tapas and shared plates for the bar and front area of the restaurant with a more formal menu for the back room. But he is in no hurry for another quick change, as his current menu is full of ingredients that speak for themselves.

My guest and I started with a roasted purple and golden beet salad and the beef carpaccio. Both plates were scraped clean. My companion had the ubiquitous Cornish hen with garlic-mashed potatoes while I tucked into the braised lamb shank at perfect fork-tenderness served with butternut risotto. This is a place where flavours match and mouths water. There’s no crazy fusion mix to contend with at Moustache.

The wine list is limited for the moment, but we are assured it will grow in coming months. I’d like to see more selections sold by-the-glass, but we were assured that this will also come in time. A few more local selections from B.C. would be appreciated as well.