Downtown Archives - Page 21 of 22

In Downtown

Eli’s Serious Sausage

January 31, 2011

After hearing much about Eli’s Serious Sausage, I wondered, why are the sausages so good? What makes people coming back for more? Since it was a nice day outside, I decided to walk all the way to the cart with the help of the Vancouver Street Food App.

They sell premium sausages in either on a dish or on a bun. The cart may look like a usual hot dog cart, but its not.

They are quite famous for their sausages because they are made from a 5th generation sausage maker. You can really taste the difference.

I got a chance to meet Eli. Yes, Eli’s Serious Sausage does indeed have an Eli. I chose the Currywurst on a dish ($6). I didn’t feel like a bun, so I had it the authentic German way. For $6, having it on a dish, really doesn’t do the sausage justice because without the bun, it looks small.

The sausage may seem a bit expensive, but their prices are pretty on par with JapaDog prices and other food carts.

The Currywurst is a bratwurst with curry powder and ketchup. It tasted good with it, but what if one day…there was real curry? That would be exciting.

I don’t think I ate enough to really rate Eli’s Serious Sausage, so I will probably be back to try another type of sausage with their pretzel bun.

Twitter:

@EatEli

Address:

110 Dunsmuir St
Vancouver, BC

In Culinary School

JJ’s Restaurant

January 30, 2011

After looking at There’s Always Room Food Blog, it looked like a great place to go for dinner. It’s cheap affordable and best of all it’s a restaurant run by VCC culinary students.

I’ve always heard great things about dining in culinary schools, so it was time to go!

It was pretty hard navigating our way into the restaurant, we walked around the whole building until we realized it wasn’t on the main floor, it’s was on the 2nd floor.

The location of the dinning room was quite random, but when you walk inside, you enter this very homey elegant dining setting.

For dinner, a 3 course set menu is $24. You get your choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. The choices were SO delicious sounding that it took us a while to figure out what we wanted. Our plan of attack was to share everything so we get a sense of a majority of the menu.

We started off with a coke for myself and a pina colada for CandiedZen. Her Pina Colada could have use a bit more pineapple, but over all still decent.

Before our items came to the table, the gave us a small tasting of bruchetta , cream cheese, smoked salmon and balsamic.

This was so delicious! Anything with cream cheese and smoked salmon are mouth watering.

Next was the bread and butter!

For one of our appetizers, we got the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. On the sides, it came with a shallot cabbage coleslaw and mango.

This was a very interesting take on fried chicken. We both kinda expected there to be a drumstick in there. Everything tasted delicious. No complaints.

Next appetizer was the Wild Mushroom Risotto, with saffron butter, balsamico and a parmesan crisp. This was well made and one of the best risottos I have ever had. CandiedZen agreed as well because she usually hates risotto…but she loved this dish!

On to our mains… We got the Duck breast with confit, truffle gnocchi, root vegetables and bell pepper essence. THe duck was prepared nicely and the outside was crispy and salt to complement the oily meaty inners.

Next main was the roasted lamb sirloin with bacon fond potatoes, grilled asparagus and other vegetables. We liked how the lamb was rolled up and in the center was some nice aromatic herbs.

Before our desserts came, they have us another small tasting. it had walnuts, Chestnut, cream fraiche, cranberries and raisins. The chestnut we found didn’t work out too well with this.

For dessert we got the Orange Creme Brulee, with pistachio biscotti, grand marnier soaked orange.

Very good Brulee and it was more of a custard, which was nice!

Our last dessert was the Hazelnut chocolate cake with caramel ice cream, chocolate dacquoise. It was also good, but at the point we were STUFFED! All the components of this dish worked together really well.

All the waiters, bartenders, and cooks are part of the culinary school. It is required for their program to work at JJ’s Restaurant. In order for the program to prepare them for the restaurant environment, they must do this. Our waiter was very friendly and super nice!

Words of Wisdom:

Should get reservations for dinner since it’s a small place and can get busy
Good 3 course meal for $24
Lunch is also super affordable

We rate JJ’s Restaurant:

Address:

250 W Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Well Tea House

January 28, 2011

Since I am on co-op, I’m basically using any lunch time that I have to go out to eat food downtown. Since I am usually in Burnaby during regular semesters…I obviously had to go eat as much as I could.

What better way to enjoy a lunch by going to a bubble tea place!

The interior in Well Tea house is very hip and colorful. This place really attracts international students and the universities near by.

FinanceGirl had the Sweet and Sour Pork ($7.95). She swears by it that it’s the best that she’s had. Since it’s a set lunch thing, it comes with a bowl of rice and 3 little side dishes.

I had the peppery beef slices ($7.95) for my lunch. It was very peppery and I liked it. Some people may not like it. It also came with a bowl of rice and the three side dishes. I also got a Milk Tea ($4.75).

Theres a lot of food, so it’s pretty filling. I was really stuffed!

We Rate Well Tea House:

Website: www.welltea.ca

Address:

551 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Yume Japanese Restaurant

January 27, 2011

I work close to Yume Japanese Restaurant, so I decided to give it a try for lunch. It was one of the better looking Japanese Restaurants on the block.

The interior had lots of tables and a very high ceiling which made the restaurant look big. Most the of the tables are in 2’s and 4’s. So it’s best to go in groups no larger than 4 during peak hours. I was just by myself during lunch and finding a seat for 1 was super easy.

They have lots of specials that are under $10, so it’s quite affordable.

They even have little pots of tea too. Since I drink a lot of tea, it’s perfect. Did you know this pot is from Daiso? Now you know!

I started off with the Negitoro and Tofu Salad ($4.99). I love Negitoro rolls, so I thought this would not be bad at all.

Since the tofu is hot and the negitoro was directly on top, I really didn’t enjoy the hot temperate of it since it is raw toro. The salad dressing was just a citrus sauce but it didn’t really do much for this dish.

Since I wanted some meat in my meal, I got the Salmon and tuna sashimi ($9.99). It had 3 pieces of salmon and 3 pieces of tuna. I thought the salmon sashimi was really good, but I found the tuna sashimi to be more disappointing. The tuna was a little bit icy, so it didn’t thaw all the was through, also there was strange connective tissue inside.

This was the damage to my wallet. Totally shouldn’t have gotten sashimi. Specials should have been the way to go.

Words of Wisdom:

Steps away from Granville Skytrain
Street Pay Parking
Most items under $10

We Rate Yume Japanese Restaurant:

Website: www.yumejp.com

Address:

602 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Dessert

Starbucks offers Peppermint Mocha’s all year round!

January 24, 2011

THIS IS THE BEST INFORMATION I HAVE EVEN GIVEN YOU. This may be interesting to some … or maybe not.

I went to Starbucks a few steps away from work and started talking to the cashier about holiday drinks. Since there is obviously no more holidays promotions promoting the drinks…I thought why not just ask them if they can make me something.

To my surprise, they had enough ingredients left to make me a carmel brulee latte!

It also turn out, they make Peppermint Mocha’s all year round!

I’m excited! Are you excited?! Seriously, what is cooler than having a holiday drink in the summer?

In the event you may think I am lying, go to Seymour and Dunsmuir street Starbucks to order yourself one!

In Downtown

Kimbob E Ramyun

January 21, 2011

Since I go to SFU, this is essentially a few steps away from the Downtown campus. It’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s Korean.

This restaurants has mostly students that come to eat since SFU, BCIT, and a lot of international schools are less than a block away. Most of the tables are in 2’s and 4’s.

FYI, the store is self serve, so you must go up and order, grab utensils and get water yourself.

When I first came here a few years and at first…..I was like …what the hell is written on the board.

Translations:

Ramyun = Ramen
Kimbob = Korean Sushi
O Deng = Fish Cake in Soup
dukbokki = Spicy Rice cake
Rapbokki = Spicy Rice Cake with noodles
udong = udon
bibimbob = white rice topped with various vegetables

I had the Kimbob and Ramen combo ($6.45). You get a bowl of spicy ramen noodles, it’s essentially instant noodles, they use shin brand ramen noodles to make it. You also get 2 rolls of their Kimbob and a small dish of kimchi.

You don’t need soy sauce for the kimbob since it’s not supposed to be eaten with it.

Did you know, it is debated where the origins of sushi came from. Koreans believe it originated from Korea, and Japanese believed it originated there. With their history, it seems like they both have beef with each other. Plus, the war didn’t help it either.

Words of Wisdom:

quick and cheap food
authentic korean street food

We Rate Kimbob E Ramyun:

Address:

423 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Meat & Bread (Visit #2)

January 20, 2011

First day at work Downtown, so I decided to have my first lunch at Meat & Bread. I’ve been here before and I really loved their Porchetta sandwich. This time I was eager for their grilled cheese. It was an awfully busy day….the line up was HUGE! Their Porchetta sandwich was basically flying out the door. As I was waiting, I just watched them make the sandwiches.

They even have a new salt rub they are selling.

I started off with the Veal broth ($4). The broth was really good, lots of vegetables and lentils inside. It was quite expensive for a small bowl of soup.

Next was the Grilled Cheese ($7). It had 2 dollops of their Sambal and Mustard sauce.

The Grilled Cheese was crunch on the outside and the gooey center of cheese and onion just made it soooo good.

This was the bill. It was a delicious meal and a tad on the expensive side, but you can still get lunch for around $10.

Words of Wisdom:

Best to go early to ensure nothing is sold out
Porchetta is the most popular
The sauces are a must try

We rate Meat & Bread:

Check out their website: http://meatandbread.ca/

In Downtown

Market By Jean-Georges (Visit #2)

January 6, 2011

MedicalGiraffe and I had our first meal of 2010 at Market By Jean-Georges. They have amazing set lunch/brunch sets for $32. You get 2 dishes and a dessert!

I went here in August and I loved it, so it wasn’t too difficult making a choice to revisit.

We sat in a different area of the restaurant and it looked super nice! Very modern.

We got our fix of bread and butter and awaited our dishes to arrive!

MedicalGiraffe ordered the Beef Carpaccio Pizza ($16). It has mushrooms, arugula, parmesan, and beef carpaccio on top of crispy pizza dough. I had this last time too and it’s a great appetizer especially for sharing.

I had the Dungeness Crab Cake ($16) as the appetizer. It comes with pink grapefruit, avocados and ginger. The different ingredients may seem very strange at first, but they worked well together. WHen you try the sauce on it own… it is sour…super sour, but when you grab a bit of the crab cake, avocados, and grapefruit IT IS AMAZING.

MedicalGiraffe ordered the Slowly Cooked Atlantic Char ($25) and it comes with mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and truffle vinaigrette. the arctic char was perfectly cooked and full of flavour. All the items on the plate meshed well together.

I ordered the Alberta AAA Hanger Steak ($21) and it came with gingered Mushrooms, sauteed broccoli Rabe and a soy – Caramel Sauce.

I had it medium rare and when it arrive at the table, you know its medium rare by looking at it. I really liked the presentation of the steak sliced up because the color from the inside really pops up and makes your super hungry. The steak was cooked perfectly and the cut of meat looked really good.

The only problem I found with the dish was that the mushrooms underneath the steak was a tad bit salty of my liking.

Lastly, we both had the Chocolate Pudding, which is composed of whipped cream, crystallized violets, chocolate pudding and chocolate cake. This is my all time favorite dessert…and I will probably always order this. The light whipped cream on top really balances out the heavy rich pudding beneath. The hidden chocolate cake in the middle is a plus!

MedicalGiraffe enjoyed this dessert for the first few bites and then found it a bit bland afterwards.

The total of the bill came out to be $71.68. Not bad considering we could have paid way more if it was not a set meal. This is why I love coming here for Brunch and Lunch times!

Words of Wisdom:

Parking on the streets
Having the bunch or lunch set menu and really save $$$ if you want to try out Market
Great for dates or a get together

We Rate The Market:

Check out The Market’s Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/vancouver/shangrila/dining/restaurant/market

Address:

1128 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC

In Brunch

Twisted Fork Bistro

November 25, 2010

The Twisted Fork Bistro is THE place to go for brunch. It is claimed to be the best brunch place in town. I am always skeptical when people tell me it’s the best. Twisted Fork Bistro opens at 10am, but there are people lining up at 9am to be the first seating. CanuckGirl and I got there at 10:45ish and we were only waited 15 mins to get a table. Unfortunately, for the groups that were over 5 people…had to wait well over 45 mins for a table.

If you are one of the unlucky ones waiting outside in the FREEZING cold, you can take a look at their menu to anticipate what you want to order! Sometimes this may not be the best idea because it may make you hungrier …and hungrier….and then you may want to kill someone.

The interior of the Twister Fork Bistro is quite narrow and hard to accomodate since well….you can see for yourself.

Their menu is on one page and brunch is only $11!

There is a reason this place is called Twisted Fork Bistro…the forks on their menu is TWISTED!

I ordered Grapefruit Juice ($3.50).

The Croque Monsieur is a ham and cheese sandwich battered and fried. This Croque Monsieur has brioche, gruyere, and ham. It is served with fresh green and a house tomato sauce. I found the sandwich to be quite big for breakfast. A bit heavy as well. You must dunk the Croque Monsieur with the house tomato sauce!

CanuckGirl ordered the eggs benny! It had brioche, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. Served with baked beans and sauteed spinach. You can even choose our choice of filler – chorizo, ham, bacon, chicken, smoked salmon, avocado, tomato or prosciutto. CanuckGirl chose the prosciutto filled. She was amazed with it because they were not skimpy on the prosciutto!

The brioche made the eggs benny taste like heaven. No more typical english muffin!

Words of Wisdom:

Long lineups for brunch
Best to go in 2’s or 3’s to avoid 30+ min waits
Eggs Benny is a must!

We rate Twisted Fork Bistro:

Check out their website: http://www.twistedforkbistro.ca/

In Downtown

Chau Kitchen & Bar

November 22, 2010

I have always seen Chau Kitchen & Bar while passing by Robson. I thought it was probably an expensive Chinese restaurant from the look of the exterior. In reality, it is an inexpensive Pho place! After hearing an earful from TaiwaneseGirl ranting about the cheap food at Chau…she had to take me for a really late lunch. Like many University students, we like to forget to eat until dinner time.

The water came and I was delighted to see my fellow friend cucumber in the cup! Cucumber water tastes really good.

Their menu is simple, but since I didn’t really know what was on the menu.. nor have a favorite vietnamese dish…I had to ask the waitress.

TaiwaneseGirl knew right away what she wanted, she go the Fraser Valley Pho Bo ($ 10). it has rare beef slices, meat balls, and brisket. The soup stock is clear and the ingredients look fresh! Even thought, $10 for a bowl of pho is a few dollars more than the usual places, but you are paying for quality over quantity. The bean sprouts and basil even look really nice.

I got the 17 spice beef short ribs and beef la lot rolls ($10.50) with vermicelli, bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, daikon, and peanuts. This is was really good and simple tasting! The beef rolls were wrapped in seaweed and hidden inside in a piece of daikon. The textures of that roll worked together so the beed did not over power the roll.

There’s not too many higher end pho places in Vancouver, but its starting to be a trend. Other pho places, you don’t really now how dirty or how long your food has been sitting around….or if they reuse the garnishes for other dishes. WIth Chau Kitchen, you can expect the freshest ingredients

We rate Chau Kitchen & Bar:

Check out their website: http://www.chaukitchenandbar.com/

In Downtown

Gyoza King

November 21, 2010

It was a super cold Wednesday evening when InsecureGirl and I were SUPER HUNGRY after long classes and meetings at SFU. I told her to decide where we should go. After she did a lot of stalking on Urbanspoon, she stumbled upon Go Haggis’s Review on Gyoza King. Looking at the pictures, it made her super excited and more hungry than ever.

Gyoza King is located on Robson Street specializing in Gyoza’s and traditional Japanese dishes.

From the outside, it looks like a large restaurant, but it is pretty small from the inside. It seats I would says about 50 people. When we went, it was about 11pm and it was not empty at all. People would come in for the gyoza’s, tapas and drinks. InsecureGirl really liked the interior decor and said it was pretty clean. I really had no idea what she was saying because the floor looked dirty.

I have this thing about hand drawn daily specials. I think it’s super cool and you don’t need to hire any designers! Reminded me of other Japanese places like Hapa Izakaya and Guu. Gyoza King also had a list of top 5 items on their menu this week. If you are super indecisive like we are, it’s a good guide to see whats good for the week.

Mmmmm Tea.

Gyu Tataki ($6.50) is seared beef slices in ponzu sauce. It is topped off with green onions, and radish. It was really delicious and the acidity of the ponzu sauce made it very enjoyable.

Ebi Mayo ($6.50) has tiger prawns with a type of mayo sauce. Compared to places like Guu…Gyoza King’s version has smaller shrimp. The taste of the mayo went well with the tiger prawns.

Pork and Vegetables Gyoza (6 for $4.95) was a must because this place is called Gyoza King. I found them to be quite average. Maybe I am use to the flavours of dumplings because I eat so much at home. When you add the ponzu sauce (in the small black tea pot on the table) to the dumplings, it makes them so much better!

This udon was quite interesting. It had pureed radishes, beef slices, and seaweed in ponzu sauce. InsecureGirl was really skeptical about the pureed radishes and now it all fit with the dish. After mixing it around, it added more texture and soaked up the ponzu sauce.

Japanese-style duck breast with sweet soy ($9.50) came with a small salad, lemon and some fried onions. The duck was #1 on the top 5 things to have at the restaurant. The duck was well cut and thin.

It seemed like InsecureGirl and I had a lot of ponzu sauce in our meal. If you don’t know what ponzu sauce is, it’s a citrus soy sauce. It’s probably one of my favorite soy sauce for all foods. With all the Izakaya restaurants on Robson, they are all starting to seem very similar to them all. What you can say about Gyoza King is that if you have late night cravings at 1am….you can get your fix!

Words of Wisdom:

They serve Asahi Black – Black Lager
Open till late – 2am
Call ahead of time to see if the restaurant is busy
Look at the specials and the Top 5 items of the week
Looking for sushi? They don’t serve sushi

We Rate Gyoza King:

Check out their website: http://www.jpcanada.com/info/gyoza_k/

In Dessert

Bella Gelateria

November 14, 2010

Bella Gelateria is located under the Fairmont Pan Pacific. I always go to La Casa Gelato to get my fix of gelato, but I find that their quality has gone down. On my search for gelato, why not check out the most talked about gelato place in Vancouver.

Their interior is really nice, but all the gelato is all covered up, so no visuals of what they look like. I asked what was their most popular flavour but they said most of them are pretty even.

All the different kinds were very nice and flavourful. You can tell they really put the best ingredients in their gelato. Even with the small batches they make, you know they try to have the freshest quality for their customers. After trying a whole bunch of flavours, I made my decision on Black Sesame! I would have to thank Our Food Adventure for helping me make the decision. I must agree it tasted SO much like the black sesame desserts in the Chinese restaurants. I just sat there eating this and thinking about my sister sitting in a Chinese restaurant eating and unraveling black sesame rolls.

What I didn’t like was how the cone began leaking, so I had to us a napkin to prevent it from leaking through the tiny hole.

They have some seats in the restaurant to just chill.

Near the seating area of Bella Gelateria, there is a display case with Gelato Cakes, and gelato desserts. If you are looking for something different besides gelato in a cone/cup, such a gelato cake for your best buddy…you can order one!

We rate Bella Gelateria:

Check out their website: http://www.bellagelateria.com/

In Cafe

Meat & Bread

November 13, 2010

Meat & Bread is a new lunch spot that opened up on Hastings right across the road from Nuba. When I first heard the name, I thought to myself, Meat & Bread…how good can it really be? As they say, its the simple things in life that makes you happy. They open only for lunch from 11am to 5pm.

Meat & Bread has a very small menu. 4 types of sandwiches. Just to note, MeatPaper is a magazine…not a food item. I really thought it was chunks of meat on paper. Mustard, Salt and Sambal are jars of their homemade sauces. When I took this picture it was about 2pm…after that everything but the porchetta was sold out.

What I love about Meat & Bread is their long table where it can be very interactive with other customers…. peering over your shoulder to see what someone else is eating or saying about the food.

CanuckGirl and I got the Porchetta sandwich ($8). You are probably wondering what porchetta is….well it’s a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast. The body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted. It’s so delicious. The fatty layers and skin gave this sandwich a nice texture.

A negative comment about this sandwich was that i found cartilage amongst the meat. CanuckGirl didn’t have that problem at all. I must have just been unlucky.

The two sauces on the parchment paper are Sambal and mustard sauce. They are house made and can be bought for $7. Luckily, you can use as much as you want on your sandwich! Sambal is a chilli sauce…and well i’m sure you know what mustard is. FYI, this mustard is better than any mustard made by Heinz!

TaiwaneseGirl got the Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich ($3). This is not any normal ice cream sandwich. I really couldn’t help watch TaiwaneseGirl eat this because she thought it was a normal ice cream sandwich…until she could taste something salty and made this really weird face. She initially thought it was ham. I thought this was very creative, but didn’t particularly wow me.

There was no more soda left, so all I got was a beer ($6). At 2pm, this was probably not a great idea since I glow like a light bulb. The Thirsty Beaver was alright, but not an outstanding beer. I prefer my asian beers.

After finishing up at Meat & Bread, we were still not full. I wanted to go back to get another sandwich, but everything else was sold out. Pretty disappointed because I wanted to try the grilled cheese. I guess I will have to wait another day.

Words of Wisdom:

Best to go early to ensure nothing is sold out
The sauces are a must try

We rate Meat & Bread:

Check out their website: http://meatandbread.ca/

In Downtown

La Taqueria Taco Shop

November 12, 2010

La Taqueria is located near Vancouver Film School and Simon Fraser University Vancouver Campus. La Taqueria Taco Shop offers up authentic Mexican tacos from authentic traditional recipes. All the ingredients used in the tacos are local, organic, and sustainable.

TaiwaneseGirl, CanuckGirl and I were in Downtown and decided we should try it out since we wanted a small snack.

The restaurant is fairly small and can seat about 16 or so people at one time. Most of the items are small snack items, so you won’t really get too full unless you decided to eat everything from the menu…which will cost you a fair bit.

The menu has 12 different types of tacos. The menu had 2 categories : meat or veggies.

The meat ones are $2.50 or 4 for $9.50.

The Veggie ones are $2.00 or 4 for $7.00.

The first taco was the Carnitas. It has pork confit, onions, parsley, and pickled onions.

The next one was the Asada Taco. It has grilled AAA flank beef with onions and parsley.

This is the La Cachete Taco. It has braised beef cheeks with the onions and parsley.

Say hello to De Lengua! It has braised beef tongue.

They also have several sauces you can add to your tacos! The red Habanero sauce is HOT! If TaiwaneseGirl says its hot..probably best to listen to her. I thought I could handle it, but i took so much sauce my mouth started burning. I didn’t have a drink..so the only thing I could think of was to bite into the lime. It was probably a bad idea…since it made the pain more intense. Luckily, La Taqueria had jugs of water on the side!

Overall, the ingredients they used were good, but what we didn’t like the most was how messy it was to eat the tacos. The juices from the tacos keep running, so we would have to wrap the tacos in napkins to prevent the oil from getting on our phones or pants.

Words of Wisdom:

Tacos are small, very drippy
Staff is very nice and willing to help
Limited amounts of seats, hard for large groups

We rate La Taqueria:

Check out their website: www.lataqueria.ca

In Dessert

Kimono Koi Crepes

November 8, 2010

Kimono Koi Crepes is not hard to find at all. It is the bright pink street cart located outside of City Centre Skytrain. They serve up savory and sweet crepes.

Here is their menu separated by cold, savory, and sweet. The prices range from $5 – $6.75.

Look at them make crepes.

I ordered the strawberry delight ($5.75), which is categorized as a sweet crepe. It contains strawberry, nutella, strawberry syrup, whipped cream and almond flakes. The presentation of the crepe was well executed and looked m.ore appealing than the other crepe places. It was kinda hard to eat without some of the whipped cream ending up on my face. Since I didn’t have a mirror with me, I had to reply on the reflections of buildings to make sure I didn’t end up sporting a whipped creme mustache for Movember.

The almond flakes really worked well for this crepe. I didn’t really think much of it, but as I kept eating, I wanted more of the almond flakes. It added more texture to the crepe.

Words of Wisdom:

Follow the on twitter @kimonokoicrepes if there are changes to menu or times
You can’t go wrong with a sweet crepe

We rate Kimono Koi Crepes:

Check out their website: http://www.kimonokoicrepes.com/

In Downtown

Fresh Local Wild

November 7, 2010

Fresh Local Wild is a new food cart that opened up a few months ago in Downtown on Granville and Robson. I am a big fan of seafood and if it is Ocean Wise, that is a big plus! Their name basically sums up the types of seafood that they serve….fresh….local…and wild.

The men of Fresh Local Wild are really amazing guys and very approachable. Since it was raining, I didn’t want to walk elsewhere to eat, so I stood there like a loner eating, but these guys were very talkative and kept me company!

Their menu is simple and has the freshest and sustainable ingredients in their menu items. The items are quite expensive, but that the price you pay for sustainable ingredients…it doesn’t come cheap.

I ordered the Fried Oyster Po Boy ($10) sandwich with a soda ($2) and poutine ($3). They have a small selection of soda at the store, Lemon Lime and another flavour that changes daily. I decided to have the Lemon Lime soda and it was very flavorful and reminded me of sprite but with more lime flavour. This is something you should try.

The fried oyster Po Boy was very fresh and the oysters had so much flavour! One thing I really didn’t like about the sandwich was how it fell apart very easily. The tartar sauce and coleslaw filling inside was spewing out every time I took a bite. Maybe next time they should have less sauce. I really really enjoyed the taste of the fried oysters…perhaps one day they will make skewers of fried oysters (drools…)

The Quadra Isle Chanterelle Mushroom Poutine was overall pretty well executed. The fries were firm and slightly crunchy. Topped off with the Chanterelle mushrooms, cheese, green onions, and gravy.

To get customers to leave a mark at Fresh Local Wild, they have several markers for you to draw all over their cart. I was looking around for a spot to leave my mark and I found fellow blogger and SFU alumni Nicolb! It seemed right to leave my mark beside hers.

My experience at Fresh Local Wild was positive. After looking at a few other blogs, there seems to be a few negative reviews when they first started up their business. It seems like Josh, Andy and their crew have made improvements to their menu to keep their customers satisfied. It can only get better from here.

Words of Wisdom:

Follow them on twitter @freshlocalwild to see if their hours change
If you are an oyster lover like myself, get the Fried Oyster Po Boy
Don’t forget to chat with the guys because they are super friendly

We rate Fresh Local Wild:

Check out their website: http://www.freshlocalwild.com/

In Chinese

Poke’m

October 8, 2010

Poke’m Food Cart is spelled like Pokemon but with no “o” or “n”. Without all the hotdog carts in Downtown Vancouver, it’s time to forget sausages and go for the balls!

Poke’m has a very vibrant green cart on the corner of Robson and Hornby street. Serving up all types of balls, one would surely be amazed by their exotic sauces.

Drinks!

I got the combo ($7) so I chose the cuttlefish balls with Japanese sauce and chicken balls with Korean sauce.

I really didn’t like the Korean sauce because it had pork floss and it’s more Chinese than Korean. If they wanted it to be more Korean, they would have had Kimchi sauce or some type of Kimchi in it.

Overall, it is a smart concept to have a ball place but you can make it at home for way way cheaper! For $7 for 8 pieces of balls…. That’s almost $1 per ball!

We rate Poke’m:

In Downtown

Bonchaz Bakery Cafe

October 4, 2010

Going to school right beside BonChaz, it was obvious I had to try it out! Going to school at 8:30am and then going to work right after makes DesignGirl a very grumpy girl. To kick off a long day, I went off to BonChaz to try a few treats.

They are open pretty early, so I was really happy!! Walking in, it was obviously empty, but there were a lot of people popping in to grab a bun and hopping on the bus. I sat there for a while going on the internet and just chilling because they have free wifi.

Their menu is pretty small.

To start my day, I had a London Fog ($2.95) (Early Grey Tea Latte) and an Original BonChaz ($1.25)(Sea Salt and Butter). At first I didn’t know there was a filling to the BonChaz until I was wondering why there was a salty butter taste to it. Then I looked up at the menu and figured it out.

The next day, I took M after his class to grab a Chocolate Truffle BonChaz. ($1.75) He said it was very good and not too sweet but satisfied his sweet tooth. It came fresh from the over so it looked very pretty.

If you need to take it to go, you can find instructions to reheat AND where the origins of Bonchaz came from.

I have tried 3/5 flavours, Original, Chocolate and Green Tea. I think my favorite is the Chocolate Truffle!

BonChaz is a nice little cafe to do a bit of work and have a snack. They have pastries, sandwiches, tarts, soups, coffee, and tea. I don’t think you can find such pastries anywhere else.

We rate BonChaz: