Tag: Restaurants

The Teahouse in Stanley Park is a stunning location for a fancy brunch, lunch or dinner. It’s located on the west side of Stanley Park off of Stanley Park Drive. Assuming you aren’t visiting on the swampy day we visited, the views from the restaurant and the grounds are spectacular. The restaurant itself has that English country style to it and looks festive at Christmas time. We attended at brunch to celebrate a birthday. There’s a large wine list, which we did not take from (we need to sun to be a bit more over the yardarm than that). I […]

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Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House on Thurlow Street in downtown Vancouver is a rare downtown eatery that combines a decent lunch special with a cool venue. It was a slow Friday where a bunch of us decided to go out for lunch and catch up. A co-worker suggested Joe Fortes because of their Blue Plate Lunch specials for $9.95. On this particular November day they were offering any of their blue plate specials. This meant that you weren’t stuck with the Tuesday Thai BBQ Chicken special if it were Tuesday. You could have it on Friday. We were seated […]

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Yes…just like the Beatles song, this restaurant will take your taste buds under the sea! This little place is an awe-inspiring, intimate sushi restaurant in the heart of the Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver. The Head Chef, Sada, hails from Japan and the freshness of his ingredients and his presentation skills are unparalleled. This little gem is our favourite sushi spot. With dishes like “iron show” sizzling tuna or wagyu beef, spot prawns, lobster, an excellent array of sashimi/nigiri, tempura, broths, or vegetarian options/rolls, and a wonderful sake/wine selection, the scintillating flavours are for everyone! We highly recommend calling ahead, and […]

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Urban Fare is an upscale grocery store in Vancouver with many extras. There are four locations in Vancouver: 177 Davie St. (Yaletown), 1133 Alberni St. (downtown beside the Shangri-La hotel), 305 Bute St. (Coal Harbour), 1688 Salt St. (Olympic Village). The chain is an offshoot of the more aggressively priced Save-On Foods. But Urban Fare is not the place you go for grocery deals. What it does have is higher quality products than you might see elsewhere. It’s definitely the emergency “Honey get me something on the way home from work I’m making pasta sauce” destination. However, at lunch time […]

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After a short stay at the Sheraton Wall Centre, it was time to go home and I promised my kids breakfast. However, the hotel breakfast was too complicated and too expensive for my children’s tastes and my wallet. So my tech savvy iPhone addicted older child looked for breakfast places near Burrard and Nelson. It was a bit further than I wanted to limp, but we arrived at the Nero Belgian Waffle Bar at 1002 Seymour St. It’s not that big inside, but they use the outside space well with effective heaters to offset the chill of an October morning. […]

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There’s a 19+ years of age movie theatre in Vancouver at 5th and Burrard (Fifth Avenue Cinemas). For the people who don’t want to deal with children, there’s an option for you. For my friend and I, children aren’t the problem (we have our own) it’s the choice of movee. Dunkirk is not for pre teens. At 5:30 PM on a Friday we managed to get a table for two outside at Trattoria in Kitsilano on 4th Avenue. We did not have reservations but what I see on other sites tells me that if you are tight for time, reservations […]

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Sometimes you have too many meetings and things go late and you are gripped by strange food urges. In this case my urge was for seafood chow mein. Also, sometimes, you find yourself not in your usual neighbourhood and you have to take a risk. Main Street from 13th to 16th in Vancouver is slowly gentrifying and certainly gives the rough-and-tumble neighbourhood feel but you see the creeping in of branded stores and eateries. In this particular case, I found Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House. I tend to test a Chinese restaurant’s authenticity by the number of anglo-looking faces […]

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I received a call for non traditional, non chain restaurant recommendations in Vancouver. The audience is a newlywed couple wanting to be a little different. Since I have children, and have seen more grilled cheese sandwiches than I like, I reached out to a foodie friend. Here’s what he said: If you can get reservations … Kissa Tanto in Chinatown (Japanese/Italian). It sounds weird, but it works. Depending on how big their appetites are, you may need to order a few more dishes than you think. www.kissatanto.com Distance from downtown: 2.5 km Les Faux Bourgeois -French, in the Kingsway/Fraser Street […]

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Sophie’s Cosmic Café is always a treat for us. At 4th and Arbutus in Kitsilano in Vancouver. It can be relied for its great burgers (including a very satisfying vegetarian nut burger) plus other items including good perogies, a great nacho plate, falafel and more. Perhaps the standout item is the milkshakes. So far in experience, the milkshakes are the best in town. They had R&B Brewery products on tap that included a good lager and cream ale. The décor is always wonderful. It gives you the impression that starting in the 1960s the owners gathered up all their play […]

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Dim Sum is not something I have a chance to enjoy very often, but I recently had a chance to organize a lunch for 12 at Victoria Chinese Restaurant. It’s located in the Royal Centre on the Melville Street side near West Georgia and Burrard in downtown Vancouver. It’s been in that location for a number of years but there was a fire a while back and it was out of commission for over a year. But it’s back and in my opinion a great place for Dim Sum. However, if you were expecting delivery via trolleys, they don’t do […]

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