All signs seem to be pointing towards what began as a "temporary closure" for Gastronomy Gastown at the end of last year being a permanent closure now.
The Italian restaurant at 62 E Cordova St was best known for its pizza menu and cozy vibes.
The brick-walled space was the longtime home of trailblazing Neapolitan-style pizzeria Nicli. The space sat vacant for over a year when the Gastronomy team - owners Sahand Bigloo and Kiarash Tarikhi - got to work on the project in the summer of 2022.
Local businessman Bigloo is the proprietor of the popular King Pins Bowling venue in North Vancouver while business partner Tarikhi came from a background in architecture, art, and design. They took on the respective roles of Operations Director and Creative Director when Gastronomy opened in January 2023.
Gastronomy leaned on industry experts to craft its opening menu. Food-wise, the restaurant offered share-plates, including raw bar selections like spicy "Crazy Oysters" (oysters on the half shell with spicy toppings), along with starters, a few hearty mains, and a line-up of cleverly-named pizzas with enticing flavour combos.
The pizzas were baked in a wood-fired oven, which is a rare find in a Vancouver restaurant, as it was licenced by a previous tenant and those licences are no longer available. As Gastronomy did, a future occupant could enjoy having the "grandfathered" approval to operate the wood-fired oven.
Restaurant ended 2024 with a "temporary" closure
However, as 2024 drew to a close, Gastronomy showed signs of struggle, and the business was marked "Temporarily Closed," on Google and its own website.
In November, the business was listed for sale by 88West Realty as a "confidential" (unnamed) business with a request: "Please avoid approaching the staff or business owners."
While Gastronomy Gastown was listed as one of the 400+ participating restaurants in the 2025 Dine Out Vancouver Festival, the reservations link on the DOVF page for the business goes to the landing page of reservation platform Tock; a search of Tock shows no results for "Gastronomy" in Vancouver.
There has been no activity on the Gastronomy Gastown Instagram page since early December 2024.
The business' website is gone, and email addresses previously used by V.I.A. to contact Gastronomy yielded bounce-backs on Monday, Feb. 3.
The City of Vancouver's business licence database shows a 2025 licence for Gastronomy, filed by business owners Ruba Holdings Ltd, remains pending, but not issued.
There have been multiple reports online indicating the business was ultimately evicted from its address due to failure to pay rent. V.I.A. stopped by 62 E Cordova St on Feb. 2 and the roller shutters were in place, covering the front door, so no such notice was visible, nor was the interior. The space that typically holds the restaurant menu, however, was empty.
V.I.A. will update should any further information become available regarding the status of Gastronomy Gastown restaurant.
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