Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

My friend treated me to lunch and All About Pho was her choice. It was the first time for both of us, and for me it was also the first time basically since Covid was a big deal that I'd gone out for lunch. I'm tempted to say the price for portion is terrible, but sadly this is what you can expect nowadays, so it is probably hovering around average. My order of regular sized Vegetarian Pho was definitely not a filling meal except that it had a lot of soup. 41. Grilled shrimp & grilled chicken on vermicelli / Bún tôm gà nướng ($15.50) Slides 1 & 2 This was my friend's order and she was very happy with the chicken and the plate overall, enough to want to come back. I'm currently on a no-shellfish low-meat diet because of my gout, so I declined to give it a taste. 62. Vegetarian Phở - served with rice noodle, bean sprout, basil, lemon & pepper, tofu, vegetarian ham,  baby corn, veggie, carrot ($12.50 Large: $13.50) Slides 3 & 4 Where's my baby corn? F...

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...

Bright clean place that looks suspiciously like a Freshii outlet. Decent-to-good food at a rather good price for mains. Price for portion is actually rather good and they aren't skimpy with ingredients like the chicken in my chicken curry. 46. Basil Garden Chicken Curry (with choice of Vermicelli or Rice; $12) This was a pretty big bowl for what you get. Obviously the curry soup is a part of what you get but they weren't skimpy with the chicken. Sweet potato made this a bit more interesting and gave the soup a slight sweetness. Not especially hot-spicy. Chicken pieces looked dry, unfortunately, but of course there's curry soup all around. Otherwise pretty decent bad and the price for portion is rather good. 1. Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($12.50 - about $1.60 per wing) Came piping hot, juicy, crispy on the outside. But it was also the last item of our order to come, despite being an appetizer. Overall pretty decent. I think I would have liked the butter and/o...

Basil Garden Pho has been open just 4 months but the family has been in the restaurant business since the 90's. The unassuming exterior opens into a bright, clean, modern, newly renovated space close to Renfrew Skytrain Station just a couple blocks down the street. Weekday lunch is usually so busy that they are not able to take reservations, although larger groups could try an 11.30am or 11.45am reservation. Evenings and weekends are calmer, presumably because the nearby college and commercial buildings are less populated. DISCLOSURE: I was there for a complimentary tasting so. We got a chance to try some of their popular dishes, some "special menu" items, and some test kitchen items. At the moment the "special menu" is basically available when the owner Philip is there to cook it but in maybe a month or less the menu will be updated and hopefully those items won't be do elusive. They are also short on desserts at the moment and have experiment...

With just ONE vegetarian main, it's hard to go veggie at Hoi An Cafe. Fortunately, the one dish you can order is pretty decent. It's a simple, bright place. The layout means it's hard to put a really big group of 10+ together at the same table without a lot of advance warning, so if you really have that big a group AND you insist they all sit together, request it specifically ahead of time. Overall, price for portion is good, good enough to be worth bonus points. Food presentation is also quite nice and taste is decent. I insisted on going veggie, so mine is not a typical food experience at Hoi An Cafe. #24 Hu tieu chay kho ($9.50) Combination vegetables (tofu and beansprouts) with thin rice noodle in soup or homemade special sauce. Pretty boring, EXCEPT that they have that wonderfully tasty fried garlic sprinkled all over it. Presentation also quite nice. Two options: Soup, or tossed in sauce. I got the latter. Be sure to mix it properly before eating as all ...

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 ...

Impromptu late dinner-snack and we ended up at Miss Saigon. Because on that block of Kingsway on a Tuesday, it was the only game in town for eats. Anyway, even without Miss Saigon's grand opening special discount , portion for price is good (always worth bonus points). It's a bright, clean, place with friendly service. Green Papaya Salad ($6.75) green papaya, herbs, home made beef jerky, and sweet soy sauce The mysterious "herbs" look like caramelized spring onion, cilantro, and peanuts. Overall sort of almost bland tasting except for the brilliant use of beef jerky, which was tasty and sweet. They oughta make a bánh mì out of that jerky. Use the provided sweet soy sauce, but not too much. Maybe 1-2 tablespoons max.

Went with some friends to try Bo 7 Mon (beef 7 ways) at Song Huong, one of the few places that have this menu item. My friend had piqued my interest with it, and after she sent me the ChowTimes blog post on Beef 7 Ways (from 2009!) I was really intrigued, especially by the use of bananas. Location is at the edge of quiet 'burbs, and for those on transit, there is a number 7 bus right outside! If you are using Google Maps to plot your bus route, pay attention! The stop is called Nanaimo & 1st, not Nanaimo and Graveley as Google Maps might lead you to believe . The restaurant is big, seating spacing very generous and tables generally large for larger groups. Interesting trellis of plastic plants, and one big TV covering a clock they apparently didn't bother to move after installing the TV. Hmm. Anyway, on to the food! All we had was Beef 7 Ways. We had two orders split between six persons. I should have realized that after 7 years since ChowTimes posted about Bo 7...