Mandu and I were out at lunch again and well, we were both on a budget since the end of the month calls for a tighter budget. Being a student is not fun, plus working downtown can kinda suck the money out of your pockets since there are so many good places to eat!
I thought I would take her to JJ’s Restaurant in Vancouver Community College. It’s very close to both our offices and I never came here for lunch.
She first glanced at the menu and was so surprised by the very very affordable prices!
You start off with some bread and butter!
I started off with the Shrimp & Avocado Salad ($4). It was just amazing! All the items tasted very fresh and the avocado just blended so nicely with the little shrimp. The presentation looked very nice! I expected something totally different, but this just blew my mind. It seemed quite popular too since I kept seeing this fly out the kitchen.
Mandu had the Soup of the Day ($2.50), which is a roasted tomato soup with herb crème fraiche with a piece of bruschetta on the side. Unfortunately, she had to run back to her office for an emergency call, so she didn’t touch it until later. The server was very nice when she came back and offered her a new soup, but she insisted that they just heat it up since no food should ever be wasted.
The soup came back nice and hot like nothing ever changed. She loved the texture and the deep flavour of the roasted tomato soup. She even fell in love with crème fraiche. She even googled it and started saying the words a few times.
For her main, she had the Mild fragrant green Thai curry with chicken, fresh mango chutney, papadam and basmati rice ($9).
She enjoyed the taste but in particularly, she loved the papadam cracker. Super thin and was just the perfect amount of alt added to the top. You could probably sit at your desk eating papadam all day!
I had the Grilled steak cooked Medium, focaccia Bread, horse radish cream, grilled peppers, mushrooms, crisp onions and au jus ($8.50). For that price, it was really good!
The grilled steal was cut up into very thin slices covered in the delicious au just accompanied by the amazing ingredient. Worked really well together and the horseradish cream just added the extra kick that this dish needed.
Overall, great lunch experience at a very affordable price! I would go weekly if I could. Just amazing food! It’s a culinary school so you know that your money and your tips go back into the program to help the students. I really didn’t mind tipping more since the menu is already a steal! I love this place, so take my recommendation and GO!!
Words of Wisdom:
- Lunch is also super affordable!
- Closest Skytrain – Stadium
- Under $10
- AMAZING Service
- You’re missing out if you don’t visit this place!
- Check out their dinner
We rate JJ’s Restaurant: 
Address:
250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC
2 Comments
Darn!! I was hoping nobody would mention this place. Cat’s out of the bag now 🙁 If you want something quick, their cafeteria (just down the hall) is absolutely amazing as well. It’s usually around $7 for an amazing entree with 3 sides (there is always a choice of 4-5 entrees as well: sometimes roast beef, filleted fish stuffed with crab, chicken stuffed with exotic cheeses, all sorts of things)
I’ve only eaten at JJ’s, but in the future I plan to hit up the other restaurant, the bakery and the cafeteria.
I can’t believe it’s just SO good!