Mackenzie Room's World Cup menu turns soccer into dinner
Chef Sean Reeve channels the tournament's cultural moment into six courses inspired by competing nations—a playful but thoughtful approach to the summer's biggest event.
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For one month as Vancouver welcomes the FIFA World Cup, The Mackenzie Room on Powell Street is offering a six-course tasting menu inspired by six competing nations: Australia, Turkey, Belgium, Qatar, Canada, and New Zealand.
Chef Sean Reeve has a history of building menus around cultural moments and storytelling—pop culture references, music, current events have consistently found their way into his dishes. This World Cup menu continues that tradition, but with a twist: the dishes are playful, the thinking behind them serious.
Take "Everyday I'm Wafflin'"—a savoury waffle topped with pork, gouda, sauerkraut, and sauce Andalouse that transforms Belgium into a plate. Or "While My Qatar Gently Weeps," which pairs halibut with saffron rice, loomi beurre blanc, and bitter greens, borrowing both a country and a famous Beatles song title for its name.
Rather than creating a soccer-themed menu full of gimmicks, Reeve has used one of the biggest cultural moments Vancouver has experienced in years as a starting point for creativity. Food becomes more memorable when it connects to something people already care about—and for many visitors arriving this summer, that's the World Cup.
The six-course tasting menu runs from June 10 to July 12 at $65 per guest. It's the kind of meal that captures a city in motion.