French Archives - Page 2 of 3

In Dineout

Left Bank: Dine Out Vancouver

January 21, 2015

Left Bank is a French Bistro located on Denman Street close to Stanley Park. They participated in Dine Out Vancouver and had both a $28 and $38 menu to choose from. Their $38 menu wasn’t advertised anywhere, so we didn’t know about it until we sat down. We stuck with their $28 menu.

Complimentary popcorn coated in duck fat was quite interesting to eat. The texture of popcorn but tastes like pork belly.

Smoked steelhead croquettes with tomato vierge and lemon mayo. Everyone else at the table ordered this as it was the only option with meat. The croquettes were crispy on the outside and fluffy soft on the inside.

Curried butternut squash velouté topped with pumpkin seeds and raita. The raita is like a yogurt and adds a nice zing to the dish.

Braised chicken leg has potato cake, peas, veggies and mint pesto sauce. The chicken leg skin was crisp, full of flavour and the meat was tender.

Steak frites has flank steak, Szechwan peppercorn sauce and half a plate of crisp fries. The steak was cooked to medium, but could have been more of a medium rare. This dish was good but it wasn’t mind blowing.

Pan seared sockeye has beluga lentil and cabbage fricassee, and smoked red pepper coulis.

Yogurt and meyer lemon panna cotta is topped with maple oat crumble. M said it tasted like froyo because of the yogurt. Interesting taste but not as good as traditional panna cotta.

Chocolate and espresso torte comes with toasted marshmallows and an amaretto crème anglaise. The chocolate really packs a punch and is quite sweet and rich.

Overall, it was a decent meal for $28 but I didn’t find any of the dishes outstanding. Service was good and all the staff was friendly. Food came out at a nice pace.

We Rate Left Bank:

Address:
751 Denman St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://leftbankvancouver.com./index.php

In Brunch

Le Neuf Cafe: Brunch in Toronto

November 4, 2014

Le Neuf Cafe is located near Spadina and King by Clarence Square Dog Park. This cafe is cute because it’s located among a row of cozy town houses. The cafe is founded and staffed by lifelong Parisians, so you may get a bit of some attitude when ordering.

Flo took us here when we were in Toronto and it was a delight to try some authentic French brunch.

It was very busy when we came here at 10:30am, but barely managed to get a table for 5.

Cappuccino ($3.75) is large and topped with a good amount of foam.

Benedicto ($12.90) has prosciutto, basil, tomato, and hollandaise. You can choose it to be served on top of brioche or english muffin. There are sides of homefries and salad. The egg was poached perfectly and oozed all over the brioche bread.

Mediterranean Galettes ($13.95) is a savoury crepe with prosciutto, fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella. The galette was really good!

French Toast ($11.50) is served with fruit, cinnamon butter, housemade caramel and topped with powdered sugar.

Overall, the food is pretty decent and the cafe has a really nice charm. Service is ok, but if you ask for customizations, the staff might get feisty.

We Rate Le Neuf Cafe:

Address:
9 Clarence Sq
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://leneufcafe.com/

In Bakery

Baguette and Co: New Bakery on Main Street

October 21, 2014

Baguette and Co has a new location by Main and Broadway. This is their third location and the other ones are in Kitsilano and the West End.

The intersection on Main/Broadway is really shaping up! Lots of new restaurants coming into the area. Mags and I came here before work to grab a coffee and a few treats before going into the office.

They serve up Salt Spring Coffee, sandwiches, pastries, and a variety of desserts.

The other side of the cafe has a few seats available. All the seating is in pairs, but I’m sure you can move around the tables.

I just grabbed a Small Cappuccino ($2.95) and 3 mini pastries ($2.95 for 3) to go. The mini croissant, mini chocolate croissant and raisin danish. They didn’t last on my desk for very long. Every email I responded to, I felt a need to eat each little treat.

I like the option of the miniature because you don’t have to eat the whole thing. Sometimes you just need a little taste.

The quality of the treats were ok, but it wasn’t anything unique. I also tried some of their brownies and it tastes more like chocolate cake than a brownie. I think they need some tweaking on some of their pastries.

It’s still a good place to go in the morning for coffee and treat before work. There’s lots of pastries to choose from. You can’t go wrong with a muffin.

We Rate Baguette and Co.:

Address:
2509 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.baguetteandco.ca/index.html

In Canadian

Frenchies: Montreal Smoked Meat and Poutine

October 17, 2014

Frenchies has relocated to Main Street right by Broadway. It now occupies the now closed – Cray Kitchen. Frenchies had their previous location on Dunsmiur. I went there years ago, but it wasn’t very good.

For a goodbye lunch for a coworker, we decided to come to Frenchies for poutine. It’s great for vegetarians because the gravy is veggie friendly.

Their menu is more or less the same as before.

You will still see favourite items like Smoked Meat Sandwiches, Poutines and Hot Dogs.

Breakfast Poutine (Small – $10.95) is topped with scrambled eggs, onions, bacon, cheese curds and gravy. Mags loved it as it contains all of her favourite breakfast items. She’s a sucker for anything related to breakfast. Small was a pretty big size, so you may want to share.

The ratio between the amount of fries and toppings was great. You will have enough gravy and cheese to cover those fries.

Smoked Meat Trio ($13.95) is something I always end up ordering. It comes with a pop, coleslaw, fries and a 5oz Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich. The fries were addictive and crunchy and the coleslaw was good.

I ordered a coke as part of the combo.

The smoked meat sandwich was average and I think quite lean. I still prefer the smoked meat from Schwartz or Rosemary Rocksalt.

At the end of the meal, you get a maple candy to finish off this Canadian experience.

As they are still settling into their new location, the service is atrocious. As they were short on staff, the owner helped to take orders and serve, but a lot of our orders were incorrect or missing. The owner was very honest and tried his best to make sure the experience was good. They kitchen was a bit slow in pumping out the lunch time orders for the rush, but they have a lot of things to work out.

We Rate Frenchies:

Address:
2470 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://frenchies-diner.com/home/

In Brunch

La Brasserie: Amazing Brunch in Vancouver

June 5, 2014

La Brasserie has been on my t0-eat list for a very long time. I came here for Brunch on a Sunday at 11am and they don’t take reservations. Brunch goes until 3pm, so have you have time to enjoy a taste of brunch. They serve Franco-German food and their brunch menu does look pretty delicious.

They also have a food truck, but obviously they sell different items.

I find that if you come right at 11am, you won’t have trouble finding a table as they can seat about 35 people. We decided to sit at the bar, but that turned out to be the best decision ever.

Usually 3 women can sit and chat forever, but when sitting at the bar facing the kitchen, you would not hear any of us talking to each other. We were too mesmerized looking at the chefs cook up a storm.

We decided on what to order by looking at what the chefs were creating rather than focusing on the menu.

French Press Coffee ($4) in what I needed to kick off the day. The coffee is freshly ground for the order and tasted really good.

Savoury Crepes ($14) has chicken, mushrooms, mornay sauce, and veggies on top. This is what I ordered. It’s not the most visually appealing dish, but I chose it because I love mornay sauce, mushrooms and chicken. It didn’t seem like it would disappoint. It was really good! It’s the type of dish I love. I would definitely order this again.

Roast Pork Neck & Eggs ($14) has poached eggs, potatoes, and hollandaise. TaiwaneseGirl really enjoyed hers and the egg was poached perfectly.

Brasserie Breakfast Poutine ($13) has poached egg, bacon, gravy, truffle oil, and hollandaise all slathered above the fries. CanuckGirl did enjoy it, but after awhile, she was sick of the fries as there were so many. This is perhaps a good item to share among the table rather than eat it individually.

One item that I really wanted to order was the Brasserie Burger. It looked amazing and it’s topped with a mountain of crispy onions. I haven’t been here for dinner yet, but so far, I love brunch here.

We Rate La Brasserie:

Address:
1091 Davie St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.labrasserievancouver.com/

In Bakery

Jean-Philippe Patisserie: Crepes, Gelato and Pastries in Vegas

April 19, 2014

Jean Philippe is the Executive Pastry Chef at ARIA Resort & Casino, has brought his expertise and passion for French gourmet to Jean-Philippe Pattisserie. The pattisserie is located next to the elevators to the hotel rooms. There is also another location inside Bellagio.

There is a huge retail area where you can purchase chocolate as gift to bring home.

Some items can be quite pricey, but its really good.

A lot of people love to come here for the crepes. During peak hours, you can see a long line up.

We were told the crepes were really good, so we decided to get a few of them. The crepes range from $7 to $12 depending on what you are ordering. We got the chicken crepe ($11.95), Salmon crepe ($11.95) and Berry crepe ($10.50).

Chicken crepe ($11.95) comes with grilled chicken breast, spinach, chipotle sauce, piquillos peppers, swiss cheese and a lot of mayo. The chicken is all hiding inside. It’s not bad at all.

Salmon crepe ($11.95) has caper/dill sauce, smoked salmon, swiss cheese, asparagus, spinach, and pico de gallo. They really don’t skimp out on the salmon. Theres a lot on top. There’s none inside the crepe, but its good enough.

Berry Crepe ($10.50) has marinated berries, whipped cream and powdered sugar on top of the crepe. It uses a different crepe batter than the savoury crepes. The marinated berries was quite sour for some reason, but it was still enjoyable. I think I would have been happier with the nutella version but the berries looked good.

Besides crepes, they also have gelato. There’s a good amount of flavours.

Strawberry gelato scoop came in a cute cup. My little sister sure enjoyed it.

Another section of the cafe has cake, snack items and stuff like that. The next day, we had an early start to the grand canyon, so we just decided to grab a few things quickly.

Croissants, blueberry muffin and a bran muffin. It was decent, but it wasn’t amazing.

I got a fruit cup and orange juice. Pretty simple stuff but I didn’t want anything too heavy for breakfast.

My little sister got a yogurt parfait, it has granola and fresh berries. It was pretty good since it has both the fruit and granola. A good mix of items.

Overall, good selection of items for the sweet tooth or the savoury tooth..if thats such a thing. The items aren’t overly amazing, but its still decently good.

We rate Jean-Philippe Patisserie:

Address:
3730 Las Vegas Boulevard S
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Website:
http://www.aria.com/dining/restaurants/jean-philippe-patisserie

In French

Mon Ami Gabi: French Cuisine on The Strip

April 5, 2014

On the Las Vegas Strip is the Paris Hotel. Beside it’s charming faux eiffel tower and beautiful building, it is home to one of Vegas’s most talked about restaurant – Mon Ami Gabi.

As you walk closer and close to Mon Ami Gabi, the faux eiffel tower is actually quite tall. There’s a restaurant up there too.

Mon Ami Gabi is on the first floor and they specialize in French cuisine. They have other locations in Chicago, Oak Brook, Reston and Bethesda in the United States. It was a busy lunch hour, but there is plenty of seating inside.

The patio was a popular spot and there was over an hour wait. It’s a great area to people watch while sipping on cocktails under the sun.

We decided to sit inside as there were no waits. It was packed!

They also have a bloody mary bar on Saturday and Sunday for $11. The waiter brings you the vodka and the glass, then you go to the bar and create your ultimate bloody mary.

Complimentary bread arrives at the table and it’s quite soft inside. Our family just ripped it apart with our hands.

The bread was quite good so we ate it quickly…

…until there were only crumbs left. You can also ask for additional bread for no charge at all.

When the food arrived, we were ready to dig in. The wait wasn’t that long either. We shared everything family-style because it more fun to try a little bit of everything.

Mussels Mariniere (Full order – $21.95) has white wine and herb sauce. It is also served with fries. The mussels were a bit on the small side, but I’m just being picky because I’m from the West Coast and we have some pretty stellar mussels.

Nonetheless, the broth that it was cooked in was delicious. Great for dipping the bread into.

The fries that come with it were crispy! Really addictive, but it was heavily salted.

Brie & Butternut Squash Quiche ($12.95) was alright. Nothing special.

Frisee, Kale & Warm Bacon Salad ($10.95) is topped with a soft-poached egg. It was a pretty good salad. The egg was really soft and added a delicious texture to the salad.

Steak Classique ($24.95) is served with a Maitre d’hotel butter and half a plate of fries. I’ve never had a stead look like that…it was very thin. The butter on the side went really well with the steak.

The service was friendly and they are very accommodating to dietary restrictions. They even have a gluten-free menu too. Overall, the food was good, but I do find some of their items a bit salty.

We Rate Mon Ami Gabi:

Address:
3655 S Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV

Website:
http://www.monamigabi.com/

In Bakery

Faubourg: Coffees and Pastries

April 1, 2014

Another rainy Vancouver day and hanging out with the girls means we indulge on coffee and pastries. Typical womenly behaviours of me and my friends.

As we were in the Kerrisdale area, we decided to go to Faubourg. It was a busy Saturday afternoon and all the seats were occupied at 3pm. They always have great coffee and pastries.

Small Cappuccino was what I like to relax with. Surprising since caffeine is a stimulant. It was a good cappuccino.

Tiramisu is made up of ladyfingers, Mascarpone cream, and blackout cake as a base. It was alright, but I wasn’t too impressed.

Chocolate Eclair is baked to perfection and filled the French way, with chocolate pastry cream and finished with chocolate fondant for a bit of added sweetness. It’s a decent size and pairs nicely with coffee.

Overall, good Saturday spent with friends indulging on treats and sipping on coffee.

We Rate Faubourg:

Address:
2156 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.faubourg.com/

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In American

Burgoo: Amazing Comfort Food

March 28, 2014

I’m so glad I work so close to Burgoo. Burgoo is the ultimate place for addictive comfort food. Sometimes, we have to put diets aside and just indulge in delicious food. Their location is on Main street and have others in Kitsilano, North Vancouver, and Point Grey areas.

They have Mac and Cheese, Grilled Cheese, fondue, soups, stews and a bunch of other satisfying items. They don’t take reservations on Fridays/Saturdays, but they only do reservations for large groups (8-12 ppl) on other days. The wait time can fluctuate. One time I had no wait and another time, it was an hour.

After School Special ($16.50) give you the choice of any sandwich and soup on the menu. To keep it classic, M chose Gooey Cheese Grillers which includes two grilled, angle cut, house baguette sandwiches with melted Mozzarella, Gruyere, Emmenthal and white Cheddar. For his soup, he chose Straight Up Tomato Soup with red wine simmered tomato and garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

This is the ultimate comfort food! Best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. You can’t go wrong with this choice. They don’t skimp on the cheese.

Mussels Cocotte ($18) has fresh mussels cooked with white wine, cream, herbs and bacon, served with house bread. Its an appetizer that is supposed to be shared, but I had it all to myself. This is my version of comfort food. There was a lot of mussels and the size was definitely worth the price.

There was so much sauce too! Great for dipping the bread into. There was also large chunks of bacon. MMMMmmmmmm BACON.

Overall, M and I were impressed. The price is fair and if you make the right choices of your dish, you’ll be in heaven.

We Rate Burgoo:

Address:
3096 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://burgoo.ca/

In Bakery

Faubourg: Delectable Pastries in Downtown Vancouver

March 23, 2014

Faubourg opened their new location last year in August 2013. It is located right beside the Vancouver Art Gallery and has indoor and patio seating. They also have a location in Kerrisdale and Park Royal in West Vancouver. KoreanGirl and I stopped here for some croissants and a drink. But most importantly, to chill and talk.

The interior is really beautiful and a great place to send the afternoon with friends. Look at those chandeliers.

We came here when it was a little bit snowy outside, but it was nice to get out of the rain/snow.

They have a variety of savoury items great for the lunch time crowd.

There are also some very sweet treats. You might be staring at this section for a while because everything looks good.

Many baked items that smelled amazing. Croissants are definitely very popular here.

Don’t forget to look at their beautiful macarons. So many choices!

Hot Chocolate was our drink of choice. We’ve been definitely having a huge craving for hot chocolate. It was rich and nice and smooth.

Butter Croissant was good too! It was flakey on the corners and soft on the inside.

Small Assorted Pastry Box ($16) was something I grabbed to take home to M. It is a bit pricey, but it makes a great gift. It comes with 4 mini versions of their signature tarts. It has lemon tart, blueberry tart, coffee opera, and chocolate tart. They are all bite-sized and great for people who like a taste.

Overall, we had a good time at Faubourg for a girl chit chat session over drinks and pastries. I’d come back again with friends. The location is also great because it is near skytrain and in the heart of Downtown.

We rate Faubourg:

Address:
769 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.faubourg.com/

In Cafe

Les Faux Bourgeois: French Cuisine in Vancouver

January 3, 2014

Les Faux Bourgeois has been on my list of places to eat for a long time. I just never had the right group or occasion to come here. MedicalGiraffe brought together a few of my friends for an intimate engagement party. Just the right occasion right? We made a reservation for 9 and was just 1 person shy of trying their prix fixe menu for 10. This worked out fine since not everyone was very hungry. The only time available was 5pm, so that explains why we were not hankering for lots of food.

Les Faux Bourgeois is a French restaurant, I suppose you can guess that by their name. They have had rave reviews and have won many awards over the past few years.

We were not seated in the bistro area, but we were seated in their cafe area. It was definitely intimate and we took up most of the space except for the bar seating and a table for 2.

Complimentary Bread arrived at the table with some butter. It wasn’t heated up, so it was cold and boring.

I enjoyed my dinner with a beer. Their wine menu has a good selection, but their beers are quite limited.

Escargots de Bourgogne ($9) are snails. Thats right, SNAILS. They aren’t that scary, but they have a chewy texture and drowned in the garlic butter/parsley combo.

Ris de Veau ($12) has seared sweetbreads, rémoulade, watercress and pickles. Just so you know, sweetbreads are glands of a lamb. No carbs here.

Soupe a l’oignon grantinee ($9) has caramelized onions, smoked bacon, Gruyère, and Mozzarella. I think I was anticipating this dish way too much and it just tasted ok. M said it was ok too, but he still prefers the french onion soup at Chez Meme Baguette Bistro.

Pleurotes ($17) has grilled oyster mushrooms, parsnip purée, brussels sprouts, squash, kale, hazelnuts, and brown butter. MedicalGiraffe likes this dish and it was sure yummy.

It was a perfect mesh of winter vegetables. Squash was soft and sweet, brussel sprouts crispy, kale still had their crunch and mushrooms were delectable.

All the flavours blended together well while still maintaining their own texture and taste

Moules Marinieres ($17) or best known as mussels and fries. The mussels are cooked in a white wine, garlic and parsley sauce. The pommes frites are on the side and you can dip them into the aioli sauce or into the broth.

The mussels were quite large and absorbed the delicious sauce but Chambar still knocks the socks off mussels and fries.

Queue de Boeuf ($19) has braised oxtail ragout, king oyster mushrooms, kale, carrot, pommes purée, and crispy leeks.

Le Steak Frites ($19) has Hanger steak served with fries. M chose to have his rare and it came out perfect. He chose to have the green peppercorn cream sauce and he likes it. You get half a plate of meat and other other half of the plate is piled with fries. If you aren’t into fries, you can swap it out for salad.

Filet De Boeuf Grille ($23) has tenderloin with potato gratin and glazed vegetables. You can have your choice of sauce – red wine shallot jus, herb butter or green peppercorn cream sauce.

Overall, we had a good time at Les Faux Bourgeois some of the food was a hit or a miss, but most were average. French food isn’t my favourite cuisine, but it takes a certain type of person to appreciate French cuisine.

We Rate Les Faux Bourgeois:

Address:
663 E 15th Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lesfauxbourgeois.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=663+E+15th+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=663+E+15th+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+2R6&z=16″]

In Brunch

Twisted Fork Bistro: Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

December 31, 2013

It’s been 3 years since I first visited Twisted Fork. Times have certainly changed and they now have an electronic system to handle people waiting in line. You put your name and number down and they will text you when you are 2nd on the list. Very handy if you don’t want to spend time waiting outside the door. If you want to cancel, you just text them a number and you’ll be removed for the list.

MedicalGiraffe and I waited for a table for over an hour. Saturdays are definitely busy and there were over 10 tables in front of us! We went to a nearby Starbucks to wait it out. An hour wait is quite crazy, but we were crazy enough to wait.

We got seated in a booth and it was definitely roomy. We think it was intended to seat 4 or 5 people.

We had a good view of their kitchen. Their staff are definitely working hard to pump out all those dishes for hungry customers. Our stomaches were growling too, so we promptly ordered. We avoided the eggs benny since I had that last time. Might as well explore their other options on their menu.

Well Done Gruyere Baked Eggs ($13.50) with sourdough bread, bacon, tomato, rosti and instead of baked beans we substituted for sauteed spinach. The eggs were definitely well-done and a bit tough. MedicalGiraffe thought the dish was ok, but wasn’t worth the 1 hour wait.

Honey Lager Sausage Frittata ($13.50) is filled with stewed tomatoes, roasted squash, caramelized onions, brie and fresh basil. It is also served with sweet corn relish and fresh greens.

This visit was definitely average. If you want a good brunch, definitely stick with the eggs benny. Also, come early to put your name down and then come back a bit later.

We rate Twisted Fork Bistro:

Address:
1147 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.twistedforkbistro.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1147+Granville+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1147+Granville+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6Z+1L8&z=16 “]

In Downtown

Tableau Bar Bistro: French Inspired Cuisine

December 18, 2013

Tableau Bar Bistro has been on my to-eat list for a long time. This year, the girls and I decided to have our Christmas dinner here. It was close to TaiwaneseGirl’s place and the menu looked great. They serve up French-inspired cuisine to pair with our beautiful West Coast seafood and ingredients.

We made reservations online just in case the place was packed for the holiday season. Sure enough, all the tables were filled up.

The bistro is quite cute and even our waiter had a French accent. For tables are a bit cramped together and seating is tight. For our party of 7, it was a bit hard to wriggle around.

Complimentary Bread and butter arrives at the table. We didn’t get enough for everyone at the table, so we asked our server for more bread.

Steak Tartare ($14) is topped with a quail egg and has a side of pomme gaufrette. Wow, this appetizer was full of flavour and just awesome. Highly recommended. This makes me want to never be a vegetarian.

Mushrooms on Toast ($12) has creamy mushrooms on top of brioche. Another amazing appetizer! The crispiness of the brioche bread paired with the mushrooms.

Roasted Duck Breast ($25) has orrechiette pasta & duck confit ragout on top.

Moules Frites ($20) was ok. The Tomato creamy sauce with tomatoes and onions was a tad salty but it didn’t have a good depth of flavour to it. The fries were not very crispy and was more soft that I would have liked it.

I would still prefer going to Chambar for mussels and fries.

Braised short ribs ($22) is their Saturday special and it comes with seasonal vegetables. It was really good. The meat was tender, flavourful and definitely enjoyable.

Scallops ($22) has leek and herb risotto. It was good but a bit small in size. It seemed like more of an appetizer portion.

Steelhead trout ($18) comes with a bed of quinoa & almond and a lemon brown butter sauce. The skin is very crispy and the quinoa was a nice touch.

Overall, the appetizers we chose blew our minds! The prices are fair for the type of food and its located Downtown. It’s a cute place and has pretty good seafood.

We Rate Tableau Bistro Bar:

Address:
1181 Melville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://tableaubarbistro.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1181+Melville+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1181+Melville+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6E&z=11 “]

In Cafe

Le Marché St. George: Coffee Shop in the Neighbourhood

December 15, 2013

Le Marche St. George is a little neighbourhood grocery store and cafe in Vancouver right smack in a residential area. It’s really a hidden gem and tucked away from all major streets and businesses. MedicalGiraffe and I came for a drink and discovered this place is the community hub and hangout for people in the neighbourhood. People know each other and it has such a cool vibe.

Can you guess the street that it’s located on? St. George of course!

On a Saturday afternoon, this place was packed! All the seats were occupied and there were long lines. This isn’t a bad thing as it’s a compliment to their success.

Their grocery part of the store isn’t too large, but there’s a lot of things to look at.

If you take a look at their shelves, you’ll find some pretty cool products that you won’t find at usual grocery stores. Instead of asking your neighbour for some cream or sugar, you can just walk a short distance to Le Marche St. George to stock up on something you don’t have.

Milk, eggs, cheese, etc.

There’s even fruits and vegetables.

Their menu has a bunch of coffee, tea, pastry items, snacks, and ice cream.

London Fog (12oz – $3.90)

Latte (12 oz – $3.90) was really good. Nice and strong! Just what I need to keep me awake.

Overall, this place is very cute and is very different than any cafe or grocery store you’ve been to. Definitely a great hangout place on the weekend.

We Rate Le Marche St. George:

Address:
4393 St. George Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.marchestgeorge.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=4393+St.+George+Street+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=4393+St+George+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5V&z=16 “]

In Bakery

Paris Baguette Cafe: Bakery in South Korea

November 24, 2013

Paris Baguette can be found all over South Korea. You are 100% guaranteed to bump into this place somewhere on the street as there are over 2,900 locations. They have sandwiches, cakes, buns, drinks, and pastries. While I was in Korea, I probably came here almost everyday to get some breakfast or snack. It’s just convenient and sometimes open 24 hours.

They even have a few locations in North America, specifically in California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

All the tables are filled with bread. There is even a little seating area too for you to enjoy your baked goods here.

Bread, bread, bread.

More bread.

Cheesy Pizza Bread was heated and sliced into 4 pieces. It was cheesy and a hint of sweetness to it.

English Muffin with ham, cheese, and egg. Tasted ok, but I wouldn’t eat it again. Needs more filling between the buns.

Sausage Wrap has sweet sauce, cheese, egg and fried onions. This was pretty good too.

Grapefruit Juice and bottled coffee.

Cream cake was for my birthday. It has layers of white cake with cream and fruit. It was good, but as you can tell, the fruit isn’t ask fresh.

Overall, I would stick with their savoury bread items. Those are my favourites. If you are a tourist like me and have no idea what to bring home, they have a few locations inside the Incheon Airport. Great for last-minute gifts because they have gift boxes of assorted treats.

It’s not the best bakery, but it sure is convenient.

Website:
http://www.paris.co.kr/

In Downtown

Mosaic: 5 Course French Tasting Menu

October 9, 2013

When you think of French cuisine, what do you think of? I just think of escargot since I’ve never really had true French cuisine. I knew I missed something when I went to Paris. Too many crepes and visits to cafes. Clearly I did something wrong. I wasn’t too into food back then when I was younger.

Good thing in Vancouver you can find anything to eat.
Now until October 18th, you can indulge on a 5 course French Tasting Menu at Mosaic for $55, which includes:

Fois Gras Parfait
Escargot
Lobster Thermidor
Duck L’Orange
Mille-Feuille

You don’t need to be in France to enjoy French cuisine. Head over to Mosaic to try Chef Thomas Heinrich’s take on French cuisine.

Complimentary biscuits are cute and has a delicious smokey flavour.

Fois Gras Parfait is made with rougie quebec fois gras. There is also apple, calvados and marcona almonds on the mirrored plate. There was a nice contrast of flavours on the plate and the fois gras mousse tasted like butter.

Escargot is made with burgundy snails, garnished with shallots, roasted garlic and parsley. There is also pumpernickel crumbs on the side. The smell of this dish was fragrant from the shallots and garlic. Yum. It was really good. If you’ve never had snails before, it’s not scary. It kinda chewy.

Lobster Thermidor is made of Atlantic lobster tail, lobster roe pomme puree and garnished with kale nori. That lobster was so tender that it oozed buttery goodness. You’ll love this dish.

Duck L’Orange is made of duck breast from Thiessen Farms and garnished with orange fruit leather, terragon and celery root. Another great dish too. Succulent meat.

Mille-Feuille is like a Napoleon. Layers of puff pastry, lemon cream, and vanilla salted caramel. There was a mini pear on the side too. I felt like an awesome giant eating this cute dessert.

You definitely get a taste of everything, but if you are a very hungry man, you will probably have room for an extra dish.

We Rate Mosaic:

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

In French

Cache Bistro Lounge: Yaletown French bistro

August 19, 2013

Cache Bistro and Lounge is located in Yaletown and serves French inspired dishes with an asian touch. Chef Alex Mok uses local ingredients and creates beautiful dishes with them.

They have 3 course dinners for $35, also they serve brunch on the weekends.

It’s a nice place for the summer as they have a patio outdoors.

Bread arrives and you get lobster oil, raspberry butter, truffle butter and satay peanut butter. I loved the different butter you can use. Satay peanut and the truffle butters are really good! I couldn’t stop eating it.

Chef’s Charcuterie samples features three cured meats from Oyama Sausage Co., mixed olives, onion jam, crostini, and house pickled vegetables. Its a nice item to order if you want some nibbles and a glass of wine. Great for after work.

Lambrusco di Sorbara is paired with the charcuterie.

Pan Seared Scallops (appetizer size) has a jumbo scallop, warm quinoa, orange vinaigrette and a baby zucchini. It was yummy! That quinoa is really goos with the scallop. The entree version has more scallops and quinoa.

Lang Bravo White Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc ’11 VQA BC is paired with the scallops.

Deboned Quail has the Bacon wrapped Fraser Valley quail on top, marinated cranberries wrapped in the quail meat, Kennebec potato and yam pavé, bacon & maple syrup brussel sprouts on the side. It’s quite fatty, so if you don’t want anything too heavy, you might want to avoid this dish.

Clos du Mont-Olivet La Sabonite is paired with the quail.

Chocolate mousse tree has the chocolate mousse base with a hidden mango sauce on the bottom, a pastry tree trunk, mint leaves, and a cotton candy bush. The dessert was creative and cute. It would definitely be fun for a kid to eat. They way you would eat this is taking the bush and truck off the mousse and eat that first. Then, saving the mousse for last.

Overall the food was quite decent. They have some pretty cool items on their menu that I would want to try. I heard their ribs were to die for. Perhaps another visit is required.

We Rate Cache Bistro and Lounge:

Address:
1269 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://cachebistro.com/

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In Downtown

Chou Chou Crepes: French Crepes on Wheels

August 13, 2013

The Queen Elizabeth Plaza Food Cart Pod is now open and there are some mighty delicious food trucks in the area. You need to keep an eye on the Vancouver Food Truck App to see what trucks will be open that day. Its always different.

Chou Chou is a new food cart in Vancouver. They sell French crepes, made by a French woman. What I like about this food cart is that she makes the crepes ready to order right in front of you.

There serve savoury crepes and sweet crepes.

It’s like a meal and a mini show. Just watching her make the crepes were pretty cool when you actually see the ingredients go inside.

Madame Marie Crepe ($8) has mozzarella, black forest ham, apple compote, and greens. LonelyCubicle enjoyed it.

Mr Saumon ($9) has smoked BC salmon, mascarpone, chives, lemon, pepper, and green. I thought it was pretty good. Very portable to eat if you want to walk around Downtown.

Caramel Sale ($6.50) is slathered with homemade salted caramel. She doesn’t skimp on this either. When it’s all done, you’ll get all sticky from the oozing salted caramel. Magz took the leftover caramel at the bottom of the bag, went back to the office and made herself a cup of milk sweetened with the salted caramel sauce.

Overall, the crepes are pretty good, but if you are a big eater, you may still be a bit hungry afterwards. There are some seats in the area that you can sit at. We decided to check out CBC’s outdoor concert series during the weekday.

We Rate Chou Chou Crepes:

Location:
Varies (Use the Street Food App to find them)