Haisan Plans a Commercial Drive Restaurant Opening
Scout Magazine reported September 10 on Haisan, a Chinese-Pacific Northwest tasting-menu restaurant planned for Commercial Drive. The restaurant's own website now gives October 2026 as its opening target. That is a month to watch, not a confirmed dinner reservation. Your calendar can put the pen down for a moment.
What to expect
The official site describes a Chinese-Pacific Northwest tasting menu and offers a signup for updates and early access to reservations. It does not announce an exact opening day. Its food photograph gives an early look at the restaurant's presentation, not evidence that we have eaten there or that every pictured dish will appear on your eventual menu.
For a date, the interesting choice is the format. A tasting menu could suit an evening you want to build around dinner itself, rather than squeeze between three other bookings. If your usual restaurant selection involves seventeen browser tabs and a spreadsheet with emotional consequences, consider this an invitation to simplify the brief.
Planning a tasting-menu date
Before booking, discuss dietary requirements, what you both want to spend, and how much of the evening you want to devote to dinner. Ask the restaurant about accommodations and timing once those details are available. A surprise is fun when it is the next course, less so when someone discovers the entire plan ignores their allergy.
Use the restaurant's official signup if you want opening and reservation updates. Do not mistake joining a list for securing a table. The difference becomes especially vivid when one of you has already chosen an outfit.
Once an opening date and booking are confirmed, keep any follow-on plan flexible. Our suggestion is one optional next stop rather than a second timetable to race against. If the October target shifts, choose an already-operating venue together and save Haisan for another night. A good date can survive a change of restaurant; it should not require a change of personality.
