There is a new spot in Gastown fit for food and music lovers.
That is the actual centre of gravity at Amber, the listening bar that opened in early July at 99 Powell Street.
The window decal says the rest: “Listen, closely.”
Amber sits in the Anchor Hotel redevelopment at Powell and Columbia, the black-fronted heritage stretch with the tall windows.
We first reported on it back when the team was targeting late fall of 2025, so this one landed the better part of a year behind schedule.
The concept has not moved in that time.
It is built on the Japanese kissa tradition from the 1950s, the listening lounges where the stereo is the reason people come and conversation drops to match it.
The room commits to it harder than the pitch suggested.
Curved acoustic panels hang from the ceiling in overlapping ovals, shaped from the brand’s own identity work rather than bought off a shelf.
One side is a floor-to-ceiling gallery wall of framed art and photography with large speakers mounted straight into the arrangement, so the sound gear reads as part of the collection.
Below that sit leather sofas and banquettes, black tub chairs, brass-edged tables, patterned rugs, and arched alcoves cut into the millwork.
The kitchen is not an afterthought bolted onto a sound system.
Chef Ryan Mills is running a Pacific Northwest menu pulled toward global flavours, with a raw bar and sharing plates.
The day splits into four distinct moods, which is a lot for one room.
Brunch runs 10am to 2pm, with drinks coming from Celeste, the team’s sister cafe next door.
Happy hour takes 2pm to 5pm with $2 oysters, then rolls into dinner service.
After 10pm the lights drop and the music takes over the room.
Behind it is Thomas Eleizegui, GM and partner at West Vancouver’s Isetta Cafe Bistro and the former operator of the cycling cafe Musette.
Celeste, the smoothie and cafe bar from the same team, opened next door in June and is the daytime half of the pair.
The early reaction has been loud for a room designed to be quiet.
Amber joins other recently opened Vancouver food spots like Gringo in Gastown, Bisou Bakehouse on Robson, and Krave Kulture at the Coal Harbour marina.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 99 Powell Street, Vancouver BC