Tag: Restaurants

It’s not often that I’m on the North Shore at brunch time, especially on my own. But an odd set of circumstances allowed me a solo brunch and I was not willing to put up with Tim Hortons (found in the same plaza.) On the stretch of Main Street North Vancouver that heads to the Second Narrows Bridge on the north side is a mall with Canadian Tire and other shops, but Toby’s was the only restaurant/pub in the plaza. It was quiet on a Saturday at 11:30. It’s a family oriented (a child’s birthday party with adults was on) […]

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Lefty’s is a yummy restaurant in Parksville, B.C. Their menu has many choices with a lot variety, as it is not a “we-only-have-one-focus-that-we-take-way-out-of-proportion” restaurant. Lefty’s has everything from pastas to burritos, literally, when I visited I had a burrito. When I went it was at an odd time, before dinner but after lunch so there were very few people in the restaurant. The waitress came right away with menus and drink orders (I had a Shirley Temple) so no complaints there. However, once we’d decided what we wanted to eat and ordered it took a rather long time for the […]

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In Victoria, in the Oak Bay neighbhourhood, there is a sushi restaurant called “Bon Sushi” on 1467 Hampshire Rd. I went for dinner with a few people and I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was one of those really hot summer days where nobody wants to cook so the restaurant was very full. However, we managed to get a table outside in a small amount of time which was very nice. The service was friendly and relatively quick. Since it was so hot outside, I was most definitely not in the mood for any hot […]

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As a celebration for the end of yet another school season my parents took my brother and I out for dinner at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company in Vancouver. Their main location is on 1st Avenue and Cypress St. Once inside I was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of pizza cooking in an amazing way. Right as we come in somebody comes up and gives us a seat inside near their big pizza oven and their new green wall. We met our waitress shortly after and she was very friendly, helpful and did not fail to mention any details. Now, my […]

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I was going out for dinner in Vancouver with a group of friends and nobody was very picky as to where we were going to eat. One friend (we are all 14-15) suggested we go Hi-Nippon, a sushi place on West 4th Avenue and Vine. I figured well, we have no better ideas and I’m getting hungry so sure. We enter the venue and are immediately shown our seating options. We could either sit at a regular table or we can sit in one of the take-your-shoes-off-and-get-into-what-feels-like-a-mini-apartment tables. We are a party of five and the Japanese tables look like […]

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I’ve been to a number of places for steak in Vancouver, but this is where I always return. I think the primary reason Neil fully understands steak is that he never fully bought onto the fat-makes-you-fat routine. Back in the 80s or so when the de fatting of all food was really in full swing, I noticed that steaks at home and out generally started tasting bland. Guess what, the fat helps give it flavour. Anyway, the restaurant is stylish without emptying your pocketbook. It’s best to be on Neil Wyle’s mailing list because that’s how we found out about […]

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On Salt Spring Island, in the middle of a parking lot, connected to an old house, with a large tree growing in the middle, is a cafe more suited to hobbits than normal humans. Salt Spring dining has a distinct tendency to be gluten free, vegetarian, and/or local — they are quite proud of their grass fed beef and lamb. Tree House Cafe does breakfast and lunch, so you need to be there before 3 PM to enjoy it. We took in lunch and the vegetarians very much enjoyed the veggie burgers. You can always tell when a place understands […]

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During our trip to Salt Spring Island, we investigated Fernwood Cafe on 325 Fernwood Road, which is in the north end of the island. It’s a small cafe and like many rural businesses they share space with a massage therapist outfit. I mean, what else is more West Coast? The cafe is small, but has high ceilings and is very bright with a view of the water across the street. It was a bright sunny day when we were there and the birds were singing in the tree. The food is all home cooked. There was a 20 minute wait […]

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Our first night on Salt Spring Island we needed to find a place to eat. In our case the usual issues of kids’ menu and vegetarian choices applied. Our B&B (Quarrystone House) was keen to recommend the Oystercatcher as they share ownership! The Oystercatcher is located at 110 Purvis Ln #201 near the Ganges shopping area. The restaurant has a great view of the Ganges Harbour. The decor was nautical with boats (like a sculling boat) hanging from the ceiling. I had the beef burger that’s a common theme on Salt Spring Island as they like to use the local […]

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It seems we have a tradition with Parksville. It’s Lefty’s Fresh Food, which is a restaurant on the Island Highway. It’s right beside a Thrifty Foods in the same strip mall. We never manage to leave Vancouver early enough to stock up for our stay at Thrifty Foods and have the energy to cook something back at where we stay. Part of the reason that we end up late in Parksville is because of a) we aren’t morning people and b) BC Ferries is odd. BC Ferries charges you extra to book a sailing but they only allow bookings for […]

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