Bodega on Main paella a winner

Following a tip from my friend who'd been to Bodega on Main before, before, I went to try the paella. As we were first-timers our server suggested the Paella Mixta, which is the "normal" one.

TIP: Some prices are WRONG on the online menu (as of Sat-Mar-19).

TIP: Lots of gluten-free items!

Pisto Andaluz ($6) stewed peppers, tomatoes, squash, onions

Boooring. Get something more interesting.

Piquillo Con Bacalao ($12 for 2 pieces)

Special of the day.
Salted cod wrapped in piquillo pepper and with a sweet sauce.
Sweet sauce juxtaposed with the slightly salty cod nicely... but $6 per piece? Argh.

2016-Mar-18 Bodega on Main - Piquillo Con Bacalao

Paella Mixta ($28)

Winner! Just price for portion is a great deal -- You get a plate that's like 2-3 mains worth.
Lots of really flavourful rice (though on the salty side).
Tender calamari, not hard-rubbery.
Two HUGE prawns. Even the smaller prawns aren't wimpy shrimps.
Lots of mussels and clams.
Sadly, you have to dig up chicken and sausage like rare treasure.
If you are daunted by the prices of everything else for tiny tapas plates, just order this and nothing else. Not only will the price fill you up, but averaging $14 per person as a main, this is a steal for what you get -- and at $28 per order, it's already $2 more than just a few months ago.
Just for this fab deal, Bodega gets maximum marks even with OK service and a too-busy room.

2016-Mar-18 Bodega on Main - paella mixta

Bombon de higos ($7 for four) figs filled with almonds, mascarpone, and dipped in chocolate

Four large figs. They use whole figs which are obviously not of exactly the same size, but of whatever size they grew on the tree.
Quite a heavy dessert because of the chocolate as well as the generous amount of almonds stuffed inside. Best for four persons, each person getting one fig.
Overall sounded more interesting than it was tasty. Light sweetness from the fig, strong chocolate presence, and the rest was just a heavy filling feeling from the dense nuts. I recommend you to have had only a light dinner before going for this dessert. Or maybe they'll let you have a half portion.
Came very quickly to the table, and chilled, so I suspect these are pre-made and sitting in the fridge ready for deployment.

2016-Mar-18 Bodega on Main = bombon de higos (inside)

Super-busy first-come-first-served room that was almost full on a Friday night even at 5:30 PM! Some pretty hot servers.
Music is loud but the ambient conversation is what makes hearing your dining companion across the already smallish table from you almost impossible.

Would be nice if they labelled the washrooms as such. Three non-descript doors opposite the open kitchen are unisex bathrooms.

TIP: Starting 2016-Feb-1, every Monday 15% of food sales are donated to Rethink Breast Cancer.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en...

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 9

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin...

Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

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