foodtruck Archives

In Downtown

Mogu Japanese Street Eats: Japanese Inspired Sandwiches

November 13, 2012

Mogu Japanese Street Eat is one of the new food trucks that debuted in Vancouver. They are on the corner of Howe and Dunamuir and sells Japanese inspired burgers.

I came with @smoovegroove to grab lunch and see how their sandwiches were.

They feature 3 different sandwiches with an option to order chicken karaage or drinks.

I ordered the Sandwich combo ($12) that comes with your choice of sandwich, a mini sweet and spicy chicken karaage and choice of drink.

The green tea was non-sweetened and straight up green tea. I loved it.

Mini Sweet and Spicy Chicken Karaage (唐揚げ甘辛ソースがけ) is marinated deep-fried chicken in a house made sweet chili sauce. It was so good! The chicken was so moist that the juice squirted out when I bit into it. Really good!!

Pork Miso Katsu Sandwich (味噌カツサンド) has breaded deep-fried pork cutlet, red miso sauce, and Asian hot mustard coleslaw on a soft bun. The katsu was very large, so it sticks out of the bun. I wasn’t a fan of the miso cause since it was a bit salty and sweet. The katsu was also dry.

Overall, the green tea and the chicken karaage was awesome but the sandwiches would use a little bit of work. I will definitely come back for some more karaage!

We Rate Mogu Japanese Street Eats:

Location:
610 Howe street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.eatmogu.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=610+Howe+street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=610+Howe+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6Z+2H7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Downtown

Feastro the Rolling Bistro: Rolling Around Downtown Vancouver

October 23, 2012

Feastro the Rolling Bistro has rolled its way over to the Art Gallery. They serve up local fresh seafood with their menu items. I was excited about this place since I heard much about it when they were near the Convention Centre.

Everything looked good, so I really have no idea what to choose. The fish and chips seemed good, so I ordered that.

I also splattered some vinegar onto my fish before digging in.

Fish and Chips ($13) has Red Snapper coated in a light panko breading, served with fresh-cut fries,our tangy red wine vinaigrette coleslaw and truck made tartar sauce. You definitely get a lot of food for the price. The taste of the snapper was ok, but nothing too impressive.

On the bottom, you have fries that are really awesome and crunchy! Then the coleslaw was OK too.

Overall, I found the items on the menu to be a bit pricey compared to other food carts that are around. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, except for their super crunchy crispy fries.

We Rate Feastro the Rolling Bistro:

Location:
Howe St x Robson near Art Gallery

Website:
http://www.feastro.ca/

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In Food Tour

The Juice Truck: Juice On the Go

October 21, 2012

The Juice Truck is located in Gastown and serves up delicious cups of juices, smoothies and other drinks. M and I were passing by and decided to have a post-lunch snack.

The juices are quite expensive, but are very filling. I was quite surprised I couldn’t finish it all.

The Almost Chocolate has a banana blended with medjool dates, almond butter, raw cacao, raw maca & soy milk. M liked the combination of the chocolate and bananas!

The Avocado Pineapple ($7) has avocado blended with pineapple, coconut water, lime, vanilla & agave. It was a good combination of ingredients! Healthy too. My only complaint is that it wasn’t cold enough.

Overall, the flavour combinations are pretty cool. The drink will really fill you up for lunch, so you don’t need to worry too much about getting hungry after.

We Rate The Juice Truck:

Address:
200 Abbott Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thejuicetruck.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=200+Abbott+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=200+Abbott+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2K8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Downtown

Guanaco Truck: Guanacombo Dining Package Review

August 27, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Guanacombo Dining Package” and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I tried to keep the review as unbiased as I could.

Guanaco Truck and VANEATS.ca have teamed up to create the “Guanacombo” Dining Package for only $9. I came downtown with Alvin to check this deal out. I’ve never been to Guanaco Truck, so I was pretty excited. Guanaco Truck serves authentic Salvadoran food.

Their truck explains their name and how to pronounce it. It’s good to note how to pronounce the name because I told people I was going to the Guantanamo Truck. I know, I am horrible and I was embarassed! Remember, it’s [gwah-nah-koh].

The Guanacombo Dining package comes with Pasteles, Yuca Fritas, Pupusas, Bebidas, and Curtido. It makes for a very filling lunch!

The line ups around noon were ok, but it did take a bit of time for the food to be ready. Everything is freshly made, so I am willing to wait a bit longer.

Bebidas is Spanish for drink. You can choose from

Horchata: beverage made of morro seeds, ground cocoa, cinnamon, sesame seeds, nutmeg, tigernuts and vanilla
Tarmarindo: chilled beverage made from the tropical tamarind fruit
Cebada: chilled beverage made from flavoured barley, coloured with crushed seeds

I chose the Horchata and it was ok, but at the end all the seeds settled to the bottom and created a bit of a paste. You may want to stir it up once in a while.

Time to dig in to the other items of this meal. The Yuca Fritas are made of deep-fried cassava root. They are really crunchy and taste nothing like regular fries. Definitely something to try.

Pasteles are deep-fried corn pocket stuffed with beef, cheese, and vegetables. I really liked it! Yummy flavours and it goes well with the sauce that accompanies this meal.

The pupausas come in 4 different flavours:

Revueltas, seasoned pork with vegetables, cheese and savoury refried black beans
Queso Y Frijoles, savoury refried black beans, and a mixture of fresh and aged cheeses
Ayote, savoury refried black beans, cheese and zucchini
Pollo, seasoned chicken with vegetables, cheese and savoury refried black beans

I chose the Pollo Pupausas since I really love chicken. The chicken was well seasoned and pairs nicely with the ooey gooey cheese.

Fresh Tomato Sauce comes with the meal and it’s great to dip the pasteles and pupusas into it.

Curtido is pickled slaw. It was alright, but nothing too amazing.

I personally enjoyed this meal since I don’t often eat food like this. It’s great exploring different types of cuisines. The downside is that some items are a bit oily. My favorite items were the pasteles and pupusas.

The menu is a tad confusing, but don’t worry, most people struggle with pronouncing the menu items.

You save about $4 with buying the Guanacombo dining package from VANEATS.ca. The package is available now on their site. If you are looking for something different for lunch, give Guanaco Truck a try.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Pasteles and pupusas taste awesome
Lines can get a bit long around 1pm

We Rate Guanaco Truck:

Address:
Seymour St & Robson St (Outside H Mart)
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/guanacotruck/

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In Downtown

Holy Perogy: Perogy on Wheels in Downtown Vancouver

July 11, 2012

Holy Perogy is a new Food Truck that has hit the streets of Downtown Vancouver. They sells perogies of course. Since Jen and I were going on a little Vancouver food cart adventure, we decided to stop at Holy Perogy since it was new and different that some of the other food trucks out there. Holy Perogy is located outside the library.

Their truck has a cute perogy mascot too. Sometimes I wonder if they have a name. hehe.

Their menu is quite small, but has enough flavours to entice your taste buds.

Smoked Salmon Perogies ($10) contain bits of smoked salmon, cream cheese and potato filling. It’s topped with cream cheese and fried onions. The topping was supposed to have capers, but it wasn’t on there for some reason.

It tasted alright, but the salmon flavour needs to stand out a bit more. Perhaps even have bits of smoked salmon as a topping? It was a pretty expensive box of perogies compared to what you could buy at the grocery store said Jen. The quality was ok as some of them were falling apart. Perhaps we went on an off day.

Overall, it was a good experience, but kinda disappointing. Nonetheless, you do get a good amount of perogies to get full for lunchtime. With the variety of different food trucks in Vancouver, you might as well try it once.

Words of Wisdom:

A bit expensive for perogies
Easy to share
Good for perogy lovers

We Rate Holy Perogy:

Address:
700 Homer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.holyperogy.com/

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In Downtown

Pig on the Street: Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

May 15, 2012

Word on the Street is that Pig on The Street is finally open! Pig on the Street is one of the newest food trucks opening this Summer in Downtown Vancouver. They are located at the library new Mom’s Grilled Truck and Tacofino.

Instead of the usual truck-style, they have converted and old Volkswagon into a kitchen. It seems a bit crazy, but it seems to be working. Pig on the Street sells wraps with BACON..and pastries with BACON. I came here with StarbucksAddict for lunch to check out this food truck.

As you wait for your order, you are given a little wooden piggy with a pig-related pun. In this case, we got “Ham Solo” that references Han Solo from StarWars. Super creative and better than a boring number system.

Since it was a sunny bright day, we decided to eat our lunch outside on the steps of the Art Gallery. Everyone else was doing it, so it doesn’t seem too weird at all.

Cheddar and bacon twisty bread ($2) was pretty awesome. Theres a strip of bacon hidden inside. The ratio between the bread, cheddar and bacon was perfect! So addictive!

Southern Piggy ($8.95) has double smoked bacon, bourbon BBQ sauce, grilled peppers, corn, cheddar, chipotle mayo and greens.

Piggy Blues ($8.95) has double smoked bacon, grilled mushrooms, creamy blue cheese, caramelized onion mayo, greens.

The bacon was nice and thick and meshed really well with the mushrooms and blue cheese. I usually dislike blue cheese, but it wasn’t too pungent. If you are a bacon lover, you’ll definitely love these sandwiches.

Pig on the Street does face a bit of competition with other food trucks like Tacofino and Mom’s Grilled Cheese. Since there is such a large concentration of businesses around, I don’t think it would hurt their business at all. When I walked into the area, I just loved how there are so many options to choose from. You can come down with your coworkers and not be limited to just one truck.

Overall, I really enjoyed Pig on the Street! The food wasn’t too greasy and the ingredients really shine through. Plus, bacon is awesome. For the vegetarians, they do have meatless wraps too. Even though they have a small truck, they pack some serious flavour in the food! Don’t let their small size fool you!

Words of Wisdom:

Popular items can sell out super fast, so get here early
Under $10
Not too long of a wait
BACON!

We Rate Pig on the Street:

Location:
Howe and Robson (near Art Gallery)

Website:
http://www.pigonthestreet.com/

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In Food Carts

The Juice Truck + Beta 5: Hot Chocolate Festival

January 26, 2012

The Juice Truck is participating in the Hot Chocolate Festival thats happening till February 14th, 2012. They have teamed up with Beta 5 chocolates to make some amazing creations. All proceeds raised goes towards food services programs of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.

Even though Juice Truck is known for their juice, the hot chocolate is out of this world.

Flo and I went to the Street Food City thats part of Dine Out Vancouver and saw they had this available! We were getting cold outside and it seemed like something delicious to drink.

The Hot Chocolate ($5.50) has 63% dark Beta5 Chocolate stick stirred into hot almond milk, served with smoked sugar marshmallow. I love how interactive this drink is! You stir for about 2 minutes, but it is totally worth the wait. Perfect consistency and really smooth. Definitely recommended!

They have other flavours too listed below for the duration of the festival:

“JAPAN” – Matcha and White Chocolate Stick stirred into hot water.
Served with: Yuzu Marshmallow
Available January 14 – January 20
“INDIA” – 45% Milk Chocolate stirred into almond milk
Served with: Chai-spiced Marshmallow
Available: January 21 – January 27
“MEXICO” – 72% Dark Chocolate Stick stirred into rice milk.
Served with: Cinnamon-Vanilla Marshmallow
Available: January 28 – February 3
“CANADA” – 63% Dark Chocolate Stick stirred into hot milk.
Served with: Smoked Sugar Marshmallow
Available: February 4 – February 14

Overall, good quality hot chocolate. As I said before, I generally hate hot chocolate but this is an exception. It is still a tad expensive for just a drink, but the money goes towards a good cause.

Location:
200 Abbott Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thejuicetruck.ca/

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In BBQ

Raging Bull Mesquite Grill Food Truck: Open for Breakfast and Lunch

January 3, 2012

A new food truck has popped up on Granville St & Dunsmuir St called Raging Bull Mesquite Grill.

They only use prime cut sirloin and organic chicken. Its smoked with mesquite wood. They are open quite early at 8am and sell breakfast!

Here is a look at their menu. They only have a few items available, but caters to vegetarians too. This is a first time I’ve seen a food cart offering breakfast.

Chicken Fajita Wrap ($7.50) has salsa, spanish rice, beans, corn, cheese, chipotle sauce rolled up in a soft tortilla shell.

The wrap was pretty large and had very unique flavours inside. I loved the grilled chicken, it had lots of mesquite flavour and it really was the star. Certain ingredients in the wrap were warm and then some other were really cold. The cold salsa annoyed me and made the wrap get colder faster.

Overall the wrap was alright with some good unique flavours!

Words of Wisdom:

Offers Breakfast
Under $10
Delicious mesquite smoked meats

We Rate Raging Bull Mesquite Grill:

Location:

Granville St & Dunsmuir St (Outside Shoppers Drug Mart)

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In Downtown

Tacofino Blue Food Truck: It’s all about the Burrito

November 9, 2011

I saw that there was another Tacofino truck near Burrard, but it had a different name “Tacofino Blue”. When I got there I just laughed because it was actually blue. I spent the whole morning trying to figure out how this one would be different than their other location. There is a big big difference between the two trucks – BURRITOS!

They still have a few tacos at this location, but you never know when they will be there or not. They don’t specialize in tacos here.

Their main menu has mostly Burritos. If you are feeling like Burritos, come here instead of their orange truck.

The burrito at first may seem a bit on the small side for about $10, but it has quite a bit of weight to it.

Chicken Burrito ($10) has slow cooked chicken with refried black beans, seasoned basmati rice, sour cream, chipotle mayo, salsa fresca and shredded cabbage rolled in a warm 12” flour tortilla. I really loved all the sauces and the flavours mixed together in this burrito. I was stuffed, so the $10 price tag was worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

Burrito are really filling
Tuna Ta Taco + Pork Gringa + Jarritos = Best meal!!
Really busy during lunch
Can get messy
Closest Skytrain: Burrard

We Rate Tacofino Blue:

Location: Burrard x Dunsmiur

Website: www.tacofino.com

Twitter: @TacoFinoCantina

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TacoFino-Vancouver/157314964322202

In Downtown

Osa Tako Hero Takoyaki Food Cart: Best Takoyaki Ever

October 27, 2011

A new food cart has popped up at the other end of Pacific Center! I was just walking by and I just had to stop dead in my tracks to try this place out.

Osa Tako Hero specilizes in authentic Takoyaki. Their whole cart is theme like an cartoon RPG game. I was actually quite surprise and confused at the same time.

Their takoyaki is made of octopus (tako), a secret batter, green tea, cabbage, carrot, onion and seaweed. All their ingredients are fresh.

I took me a long time to figure out how to read the menu since the RPG theme made it so confusing. All you need to do is read the “hero magic scroll” and follow the steps!

Choose how many balls you want (5,7 or 10)
Choose your sauce ( takoyaki sauce +mayo or spicy takoyaki +mayo)
Choose your toppings ( Curry powder, shredded cheese, seaweed, maple syrup, or bonito flakes

Spicy takoyaki sauce + Curry Powder (10 – $5.99) I really had no idea what I was thinking when I made these 2 flavour combination. It didn’t taste bad, but I think it would have just been better with the traditional mayo and the bonito flakes instead.

I love how they make the takoyaki!!!!! It was nice and soft on the inside with a large piece of octopus on the inside. The octopus tastes really fresh!! It literally blew my mind! SO much better than the ones at the Richmond Night Market. If you are a takoyaki fan, you must try this food cart out!!

Overall, very impressed by the taste and quality. Best I’ve ever had!

Words of Wisdom:

Very well made!
Good Price! Under $10
A large selection of toppings!
stick with the normal teriyaki and mayo sauces with bonito flakes
Best takoyaki I’ve ever had!

We Rate Osa Tako Hero:
Location:
Howe & W. Pender – in front of Pacific Center Mall entrance

Website:
http://www.osatakohero.com/

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Vancouver

In Downtown

Mangal Kiss Mid East BBQ Truck: It’s like Nuba on A Truck

October 26, 2011

Since so many Food Carts are continually popping up Downtown, I thought it would be a great idea to check out more of them! Since there are so many near my work place that are new, I needed to go try them before the Vancouver rain ruins the beautiful sunny days.

Mangal Kiss has some delicious middle eastern food. When I looked at their menu, I had no idea what it was, but I keep hearing its good.

Perhaps I have bad eyes, but it took me a while to figure out how to read the menu. They sell shishliks, which is like a wrap. Then you choose what Salatim or sauces you want inside. I just let them put anything into my shishliks.

I got the Chicken Shishlik ($7) which has hummus, tahini, purple cabbage, beets, pickled turnips, pickles, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, radish and tabbouleh wrapped in Taftoon, an iranian flat bread. It is packed full of vegetables and a skewer of chicken.

The flavours went together so well and it reminded me of the flavours of Nuba, but in a wrap. I do love vegetable, so I didn’t mind that it has so many vegetables. The chicken was quite small compared to the size of the wrap, but I think it worked well overall since you get a lot of taste from the vegetables and sauces.

This wrap isn’t small either. It’s pretty large!

Mediterranean Tomato Basil Soup (With shishliks it’s extra $4). One of those good things to have on a nice cold chilly Fall day. It tasted good but it was not as good as Mom’s Grilled Cheese Truck’s soup.

Overall, pretty good food here. You will get full. I was stuffed! If you like exotic eats, go check them out! With the OccupyVancouver happening at the Art Gallery, they have had a 70% drop in business. Don’t let those protesters get in the way of experiencing yummy yummy food. Support local businesses and give Mangal Kiss BBQ Truck a try!

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing flavours
Under $10
Close to City Center, Burrard or Granville Skytrain

We Rate Mangal Kiss Mideast BBQ Truck:

Location:

Behind Vancouver Art Gallery

Twitter:

@mangalkiss

In Downtown

Mom’s Grilled Cheese Food Truck: Nom Nom Nom Omigosh!

October 25, 2011

Mom’s Grilled Cheese Truck has been catching A LOT of buzz since it just opened a week or so ago! They specialize in GRILLED CHEESE! Nothing gets more delicious than that. Remember when you were a kid, grilled cheese was that ooey gooey snack that you craved so much?

When I arrived a little past noon, the line up was HUGE! It spread at least to that lamp post! Even it was a cold day, the people faced the cold to get grilled cheese! We actually waited 30 mins before we got our food. It was ok considering there were SO many people in front of us. Best to come with a friend to wait out the line. OR just go early or late to avoid the long line ups.

Then menu has a few specialities, build-it-yourself type of options, dessert, sides and drinks. Their desserts looks so good as well! The Fat Elvis has peanut butter and banana on grilled white bread. Even though the specialties are limited, you have endless combinations with the sandwich you want to build.

Sometimes they even have daily specials on their Facebook and twitter, so best to like and follow them.

Pop Shoppe Pop ($1.75) looks super retro, but I’ve heard it tastes amazing.

Roasted Tomato Soup (Cup $3.50) is the best tomato soup I have ever had. No joke about that! It’s worth it! I usually don’t like tomato soup, but this soup changed my whole perception of tomato soup. It is also topped with basil mascarpone, which is a yummy addition!

Karen’s Killer Chili ($5.50) is topped with cheddar, sour cream, and cilantro. My coworker had this as a “super deluxe add-on” to her sandwich, but I think they just gave her the full size. I don’t think she minded the mix up since she got way more than what she paid for.

As you wait for your sandwiches, you can sip on your hot soup or chili and watch “mom” hard at work grilling those sandwiches!

The Jackson 3 ($8.50) has triple cheese, triple decker grilled cheese…three pieces of sourdough surrounded by melted, Brie, Boursin and Gruyere! This was huge! When I was reading the menu, I missed the part where it said it was 3 pieces of bread. Look how big it is!

Look at that, isn’t that so pretty? The Brie, Boursin and Gruyere are melted inside so nicely with the nice crunchy sourdough bread. If you have a big stomach, totally get this!! Look how small my hand is compared to the sandwich!

If you like an extra kick to your sandwich, they have a bunch of hot sauces that you can add to your sandwich.

Your meal doesn’t just come with the sandwich! It comes with a wedge of pickle and chips! It’s was a nice surprise to see that since I originally thought I wouldn’t get full from just a sandwich. The chips were very good as well. I got super full and had foodcoma.