Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

My friend surprised me by taking me out for lunch and he randomly picked Lunch Lady -- apparently a place with quite the interesting story of being discovered by TV in Vietnam. We were in there about half an hour after it opened and it was pretty packed. Parking isn't that easy to find either. I'm supposed to avoid shellfish, so I missed out on the daily special soup noodles and went with a server recommendation for a no-shellfish lunch. I could have gone with a vegan option but it seemed every other word was tofu so I went with their version of ham-and-eggs. Even though it had beef and I'm supposed to avoid red meat too... Extra fries for $4? Extra bread for $3? This place is not cheap. BÒ NÉ ($18) Marinated filet of beef, 2 fried free range eggs, sautéed onions, house-made pâté, laughing cow cheese, french fries on a sizzling skillet, bánh mì. Extra Bánh mì +$3, extra Fries +$4 Basic and satisfying. Nothing too fancy here but things don't have to be fancy to be de...

A good friend of mine treated me to Bistro Wagon Rouge for my birthday this week. Lucky lucky! Lots of interesting neighbours nearby including The Pie Shoppe. Our waiter was really good at describing/selling the menu items, so you'll want to be careful actually not to get too carried away by ad copy. Complimentary Bread A nice retro touch you don't see much anymore. Warm, and butter softened for convenience. Really handy if you order moules frites (mussels and fries) to get at the tasty soup. House Burger ($18) Touted as the best in Vancouver so obviously I had to try it. Composition is nothing too adventurous. Sweet caramelized onions were a nice touch. Fries were great - hot and and fresh, very crispy on the outside. Could have used something more sour as a dip to balance the heaviness of the meal though. When they asked how I wanted my burger I went with medium rare and you can see from the pictures it did come out basically so though the center looks q...

Walked in on an unrushed sunny Wednesday afternoon. My first time, so maybe I shouldn't have ordered a new seasonal special, but too late now. With that in mind, this review is mostly about one particular pizza, so don't judge the entire menu by it, especially the less adventurous items. Bombay Cauliflower ($17.65) mango chutney, fior-di-latte, marinated curry cauliflower, diced mango, red onion, jalapeno, mint yogurt, cilantro, lime wedge. Rated "spicy", but except for when I plucked off a jalapeno slice and put that in my mouth on its own, I didn't find this spicy at all. Dripping wet with sauce, from mango and/or chutney. Way too wet. Tasted like mango-flavoured syrup. That dominated everything, sadly. Other than a composition which wasted all the ingredients except mango chutney, the pizza crust seemed really good and not seared with large black burnt patches or bubbles at the bottom either, which can sometimes happen with Neapolitan pizza. Price f...

Been a long time since I went to Kishimoto on Commercial, long enough to have forgotten what I had there. There's still a perpetual lineup so try to get there shortly before opening if possible. Sauteed Mushrooms (daily special; $11) hon-shimeji, king oyster, maitake, shiitake, and crimini sauteed in tamari butter First bites strangely delicious. When it was down to the tiny bits, butteriness was of course faint. Maybe try to eat this in large bites using a spoon instead of having to finish with boring small bits on the plate. Mamenoki Roll ($10.95) edamame, carrot, asparagus, cornflakes, wrapped in avocado I was intrigued by this because of the cornflakes, which I'd hoped would give a good crunch. Sadly, it barely registered. Overall quite bland tasting. for once I used some soy on a sushi roll. Salmon Oshisushi ($13.95) wild salmon, jalapeno, creamy sauce, cracked black pepper, torch seared Watch out for that jalapeno slice on top because it pac...

The Pita Pit next to Uncle Fatih's at Commercial Drive Skytrain Station always looks empty when I'm going by, but not this past Wednesday evening before the Improv Against Humanity show at the Rio Theatre. That always made me hesitant to try it, but I was glad I did. Nice clean space inside, and a clean but "hidden" washroom -- ask the staff where it is. They probably keep it incognito to avoid a steady stream of non-paying customers coming to use it. The menu makes it really easy to get vegetarian and vegan options here. And if you think more veggies = healthy, then this place is a winner. TIP: Our order also came with a free $1-off coupon. It has two sizes: $1 off a smoothie, and $1 off a pita, and you can use both sides at the same time. This means I could repeat my order for a less-than-$10 lunch! Or, you can wait for your friend to order first and use their coupon... Spicy Black Bean Famous Pita ($6.99 Petita size, $8.49 Regular size) Vegan Choice o...

Not many seats at Mr. Red Cafe (East Hastings location) so expect a lineup if you get there around 6.30pm or after. No reservations for Friday or weekend evenings. Not sure what all the fuss is about here because 0/4 at our table was impressed by the food. Maybe we happened to order the duds, but some items were from Yelpers I know who rated the dishes 4/5! #3. Green papaya salad with beef jerky, nut in sweet and sour fishsauce ($6.50) Tasted boring and sort of on the bland side -- maybe because there wasn't enough beef jerky to go around? Token amount of beef jerky which was tough and slightly sweet. #8. Spicy fried chicken wings with honey and butter sauces ($6.50) There's butter? Crispy, with some parts very crispy. Slightly spicy-hot. Pretty tasty! Basically the only thing we ordered tonight that was tasty at all. Almost $1 per wing at $6.50 for 7 wings. #17. Hanoinian grilled pork balls and pork belly served with vermicelli, mixed herbs and ...

Back to Siddhartha's Indian Kitchen! It was a pretty spontaneous whim on the part of my friend. Luckily I had my previous blog post on Siddhartha's to remind me of what I had had before. Vegetable Pakora ($6.50) Nothing special tasting here. Price feels sort of high for what you get. Smoked Eggplant Curry ($12.50) Dish name says "smoked eggplant" but description says roasted eggplant with smoky TEXTURE. What is a "smoky texture"? Pulpy. No thin curry here. Salty. Where's my smoky aroma, flavour, or "texture"? "Naan instead" ($2) Asked for garlic butter naan instead of roti, which normally comes with curry (roti + rice). Told her if it couldn't be done, just give us an order of garlic butter naan. No buttery aroma or taste, and definitely no garlic. Hmm. My guess is they forgot to change it to garlic butter naan and just gave us regular boring naan. Mango Lemonade ($3) Description said mango mousse...