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...

Hunnybee is a pretty busy little brunch place with rather limited seating. There's seating outside, but the tables are on the low side and given the neighbourhood I wouldn't really recommend the counter. Price for portion is good! And that's hard to find these days. It's diner style so you order at the counter and pay first, and the credit card machine prompts you to tip first, which is sort of weird as you end up with really not much service except they bring the stuff to your table. So if that irks you, look around the interface for how to skip it, especially as the first tip option is 15%. Shakshuka ($12) red pepper & tomato stew, two poached eggs, lentils, labneh, toast Tasty, and given the portion and price, it's a win. Spicing might be slightly on the tame side, however. Lacking in some of the more traditional aspects, chief of which is not being in a skillet. This means it can get cold really fast, so dig in right away. Based on the presentat...

Caught up with a dear friend over Sunday brunch and Burdock and Co. was her pick. Busy busy busy but they take reservations! Table spacing is tight AND the tables are light and not bolted to the floor, so don't bulldoze your way around. Didn't get a non-alcoholic drink menu right away so ask about it. Coffee and tea available of course but also a small selection of Fentimans . Risotto ($17) biodynamic aged rice , sunchoke, walnut Looks deceptively simple and therefore can look initially disappointing. Even if you overlook the biodynamic aged rice portion of the item, it is actually surprisingly tasty thanks to the flavourful oil. Portion may seem small compared to whatever your dining companion is getting but it's not very watery so it works out to be a decently filling portion. Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock Not overly sweet, interesting flavour, and strangely very little aftertaste. My friend had the rather hearty-sized looking chickpea tagine tha...

I was initially going for a Dine Out Vancouver 2019 brunch on Sunday, but my friend and I instead detoured to Breakfast Table. A smallish but apparently popular place, it still had a line-up at almost 2 PM, but it was quite short and the wait time was maybe around 15 minutes. You can leave your name and number with them and get notified by a text message when your table is ready -- Handy! Apple Cinnamon Roti - $6 feature of the day Roti wrapping cinnamon-dusted apples. While the roti is nicely done as roti go, it is not special or flavoured so this is actually a very boring dish and not especially tasty. What you see is what you get and adding maple syrup still won't elevate it into anything special. Nothing really wrong or bad here except that there are more interesting things to order at the Breakfast Table. Recommend you pass. NEXT JEN gluten free vanilla bean waffle - $9.75; organic ground millet, brown rice, coconut milk, house made coconut yogurt whip, mapl...

You may have seen this week's Georgia Straight article on Avocado Toast and be inspired to get Avocado Toast if you happen to be at Tour de Feast. STOP. Yelp reviews do seem to point out the toast (and for fair reason since the dish is quite tasty) BUT it's NOT the same thing the Georgia Straight is talking about. At Tour de Feast, it's more like a toast composition with some avocado on the side. You also get a bigger place that a slice of toast with green mush on top. Worth getting? Yeah, *maybe* even at the $14.50 price point. But if you are hoping for avocado styled onto toast like the picture in the Georgia Straight article... Nope. Avocado Toast ($14.50) choice of bacon strips or sausage, and crisps or salad The avocado tucked in the side looks like an afterthought to make this "Avocado Toast". Looks plain and overpriced, so you will probably surprised that this is actually really quite tasty -- probably in all the easily overlooked parts like...

White Spot's offerings for vegetarians are slim, but what they do have is actually really decent. It's a bit pricier than fast food burgers, but if you compare them, the extra bucks are well worth the extra quality. Plus all those free fries you get are very filling. I'd stumbled into trying various portobello burgers (at Meet in Gastown and a really nice one at Caliburger so far) so I was glad the veggie burger option at White Spot was also a portobello. Pot of "Premium" Tea ($3.25) Instead of asking what I wanted they suggested one. Not sure if this is the new trend as I experienced the same at a Starbucks recently. Sriracha Portobello Veggie Burger ($13.99) Our chargrilled veggie burger with Sriracha goat cheese, sauteed Portobello mushrooms, pickled onions, tomatoes, lettuce & mayo. Comes with Endless Fries and choice of Cesar Salad, The Spot's Salad, or Creamy Coleslaw) I do not remember being asked which side I wanted. Just came with t...

Epicurean Caffe Bistro is a smallish and brunch-popular place with pretty tight seating (but nevertheless they take brunch reservations). Despite being really busy, I didn't feel rushed and was actually pretty surprised they gave us plenty of time to sort out our orders in between our endless yapping. Pizza Buongiorno ($13.95) thin crust pizza baked with two sunny side eggs, pancetta, mozzarella & fresh arugula It can come with a gluten-free crust, but they get pre-made crusts that they roll out and bake, and the gluten-free one being more expensive is smaller. I was highly encouraged to get the regular crust as it was bigger and tastes better. I should have gone with the gluten-free one to see if I got the same amount of stuff on the pizza. Turned out to be pretty salty despite what *looks* like a light portion of pancetta/bacon. Crust very thin, biscuit-crispy on the edges, and leathery to cut through even with the standard issue steak knife at every table. Probabl...

I'd been to Dynasty Seafood Restaurant earlier this year (and you can see Vanbrosia's excellent review and pictures) and didn't think I'd be back quite so soon, but just this weekend a friend from China told me about "steamed buns with runny egg", that was apparently a staple of dim sum. I don't go to dim sum very often, so I'd honestly never heard of it. In my mind, I thought it might be like xiao long bao, but with some tasty soft-boiled egg inside, or something like that. Another friend was regaling me with tales of how you have to carefully nibble it instead of chomping down and having all that tasty yolk explode everywhere. Sounded like great fun! So we resolved to and Dynasty Seafood Restaurant got picked. Turned out "Steamed Bun with Egg Yolk" wasn't quite as interesting as I imagined. It's a smallish steamed bun, each about half the size of a tennis ball. The "egg yolk" part looked like oily melted cheddar a...

Last time I was at the Coal Harbour Cactus Club  was in December, and I remember not being impressed, but I also didn't have any Rob Feenie specials either. I vowed to only order "RF" marked menu items, so when I got dragged over there for brunch today, that's how I read the menu. Location is great except you probably don't want to linger outside too long during the day because the exhaust from the float planes does drift up. Patio seating is very good on a sunny day. If you are early enough for brunch, you can ask to retreat further in under more shade if the sun gets too much. Don't be put off by no-reservations-for-brunch as the location is big enough for there to be ample seating. Larger groups should definitely try a reservation, and I did see a couple of parties of 8-10 with outdoor sunny seating. BBQ Duck Clubhouse ($17.75) peking duck, roasted chicken, prosciutto di modena, pecan fruit bread. Created by chef Rob Feenie. Not the worst sandwic...

Bao Down is a small little place that has seating upstairs (and no table service -- so don't just go upstairs and wait forever for some to come up and take your order). If it's your first time, definitely have a peek upstairs at the wall art of ninja pigs. Yeah: Ninja. Pigs. The concept of Bao Down  is easier to explain with pictures. If you've seen that type of bun before, you'll know it immediately. If not, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. Price is... pricey if you look at the steamed bao individually. Your experience will be better if you commit to a meal. Huh? Okay, let me explain. With each steamed bao you are getting basically half the amount of bread and a third the amount of filling of a burger, at about half the price of a gourmet burger. You could also compare it to tacos, in which case one of these bao is priced at about two to three times the price of a soft-shelled taco, with the same amount of filling but more carbs (bread / bun). Ei...

CrepeVine was another "curious cuisine" recommendation by my local friend while I was in Berkeley in 2015-April . It's a fairly large place but pretty much dead quiet in the morning. According to the server, they are typically not busy till the 11:30 AM+ lunch rush, except Fri-Sun mornings. Gluten free option. Tons of crepe and sandwich options, but it looked like the same core ingredients organized in different combinations. They also have salads and pasta. So many choices, so little time, and so little space in my stomach for food. Alas. Nobody lives forever so I went with a dessert crepe for breakfast, plus chai. Chai ($3.25) Sort of weak but ok. Santorini Sweet Crepe ($7.95) walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, coconut, cinnamon, and mascarpone; served with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream Nothing weird about the crepe despite having asked for the gluten free option. Honestly I didn't think they used mascarpone here (isn't it supposed to be cr...

Bette's Oceanview Diner  is a bright, clean, retro-looking diner with retro fixtures. While waiting for your food, things to look for include "Bette's First Dollar", a Seeburg Wall-O-Matic , and free postcards. It's a very popular place -- I was there 7:30 AM on a Friday morning and it was already almost at capacity. They are also dangerously close to smelling like a tourist trap with their cookbooks and souvenir mugs . Even so, prices are not bad. Special breakfasts come in at more than $10, but there's lots under $10. House blend coffee $2.75 in a rather thick mug (so there's less than you think) but it's apparently endless so the possibly long wait for your breakfast isn't completely boring. Bring a newspaper or something and sip on your coffee. I had been recommended their Tuna Melt by friends who used to live in San Francisco, but my schedule on my 2015-April trip to San Francisco / Berkeley didn't let me linger till 11 AM to order ...

Dynasty Seafood Restaurant features free parking (if you let them know you parked downstairs) and 15% off their dim sum menu if you are out by 11.30 AM. Since they open at 10 AM, you have to be organized and eat eat eat to be gone from the table by that time. Still, on top of dim sum being sort of cheap to begin with when dining in groups, 15% is welcome. Like most Chinese restaurants, service is shoddy compared to always-smiling-flirty-girl-check-on-your-meal downtown-Vancouver service. Congee initially came without bowls, for instance. Also, items typically come in fours and the person with the scissors (which she wouldn't leave at the table) lagged behind so our party of 5 had to do some messy cutting of our own with chopsticks. On the other hand, they seemed responsive if you do flag someone down to ask for something. Also, I don't recall that we were kept waiting long for pots of (strong) tea, which isn't always the case at many Chinese restaurants. Dim Sum her...

I'm always interested in curious foods, so it's no surprise the Asian fusion menu at The Union caught my eye--especially what seemed to be a creative fusion brunch (i.e., more than just omelettes and eggs benedict). The location is in a sketchy part of town, but on the Sunday morning we showed up for brunch right at 10 AM when they opened, the street was very quiet with most of the action just one street over with their busy grocery markets. There's a bit of street parking for cars as well as a bike lane. The neighboring stores are all revitalized and new-ish looking, compared to the rest of the Chinatown neighbourhood. Long communal tables and a mix of short benches and single-seater stools make up the dining space in The Union. This being Vancouver, don't count on the seating arrangement to necessarily encourage conversation with neighbours you don't know. Oddities include soy sauce in what look like cough syrup bottles, and a sign that boasts "pr...

Spacious restaurant, tons of beer, not too busy on a Sunday afternoon. I don't drink beer, so someone else can review that. The house-made patty was what caught my eye and being veggie-curious and starting to be meat-guilty, I gave it a go. Garden Burger ($13 +$1 mushrooms +$2 soup of the day) House-made nut & veggie patty, citrus aioli, onions, lettuce and tomato As burgers go, the height and size of this one is on the larger side. Tall enough that you will probably not be able to fit it in your mouth. Often veggie patties are fake-meat soy or some bean thing, so this one sounded promising with the use of nuts. A bit thin, but texture was good with the grilled crust. Sadly, the patty (and everything, including my mushroom add-on) was overpowered by the curry used. Which makes it more like a curry vegetarian burger. It's still a reasonably tasty burger overall, but don't count on nuts or veggies from your patty to make any contribution. Nicely grilled bun complete...

Waffle and Berries specializes in large waffles that are basically $4 ($3.95), plus simple toppings (around $2). If you are even thinking of going to pricey-store-rent downtown Vancouver for a waffle, then you're probably not balking at the price, which is on par with Cafe Medina and less than Jules Bistro . You get a freshly made waffle, fresh fruit, lots of whipped cream, and pleasant ambiance ( picture by qasic ). This latter is up to you to decide of course, but it's clean, bright, and feels spacious: For a small store, they have rather large tables and comfortable chairs. They aren't sandwiching you in with the seating arrangement, and your table is big enough to not be crowded by your plates and drinks. This may sound like a trivial point, but seriously, just notice how tight things feel next time you're at different diners and restaurants. They use liege waffles . Despite the picture on their sidewalk advertisement, the waffle is slightly long rather than s...

Saturday brunch is typically pretty slow at Jules Bistro, so if you're thinking of a walk-in, you probably have a good chance of it up till 1:30 pm or so. Before 1 pm or so, it will probably be empty, giving you a great chance to walk about a bit and look at the posters, paintings, and old piano on which are a collection of intriguing flasks and brandy warmers . Also be sure to check out the chandeliers with blue birds. On this last rainy Saturday, I arrived very early for my brunch reservation, and it was happily very brightly lit inside. While I was waiting, I also got to witness an aspect of running a business in Gastown: Vagrants. The large umbrellas on the patio were apparently a great place to stop for a cigarette, and one casually dressed person did just that. While he was idling for his smoke (rather too close to the door based on current smoking laws , which require a 6-meter buffer zone), an even more disreputable-looking person stopped to talk to him. That was enoug...

Bubby's Kitchen  is quite a nice restaurant featuring interesting decor and local artwork, and several paragraphs on their menu about the intriguing corner bench featuring rough-hewn wood picked locally. On a sunny day, you can expect a brightly lit room with an energetic vibe. You can expect it to be quite busy, so try to avoid the lunch rush. The menu is quite extensive and features many vegetarian items and gluten free options. Truffle Honey Chicken Burger ($14) Grilled Rossdown chicken thighs, slow roasted roma tomato & garlic relish, pickled onion, lettuce, feta cheese & roasted garlic aioli. All of our burgers, wraps & sandwiches are served with your choice of soup, salad, or fries. Upgrade to Caesar salad, Yam or Truffle fries for $1. Substitute a gluten-free bun for $1.5. As expected, the gluten-free bun was on the dry and grainy side. If you're not celiac, you're just paying to ruin your burger. Stick with the regular bun. The truffle fries were ...

If ever a storefront didn't match the interior, Avalon definitely qualifies. The signage is more suggestive of a bookstore. The interior is a colourful place with interesting artwork on the wall. It is also a tiny diner. Price for portion is fair here, and the food is properly done but nothing special. My friend got the skillet (good choice) and I tried the veggie burger (stupid choice) and split pea soup (rather like lentil soup). The veggie burger is a simple affair with lettuce and a fat slice of tomato. The savoury patty is rather tasty on its own, and too perfectly shaped for any likelihood of being made in-house. Sadly, the rest of the burger somehow smothered the taste. If you order this, open up your burger and eat the lower half with the patty as an open-faced sandwich. With the top, you can fool around with it a bit. Maybe make another sandwich with whatever else you ordered (e.g., steal some of your buddy's skillet order) or zap some of their rather nice not-to...

Living Cafe in Steveston (in Richmond) is a quaint little place this is deli on one side, dining room on another. The dining space is simple, sunny, and spacious and displays local artwork on the walls. The menu is an interesting one that supports not-easily-found diets, such as raw, paleo , superfoods , and funny good-for-you ingredients like chlorophyll and red reishi mushroom . For sugar, they use the 1:1 sugar substitute xylitol . Vegetarian and vegan diets are of course supported. They also carry a selection of Anderssen's Life Flaxrolls . The online menu is missing at least one page. Black Coffee ($3) Enriched coffee grown and cultivated by experienced artisans and mixed with their proprietary, pesticide-free, USDA certified organic Ganoderma Lucidium ("red reishi mushroom"). Tastes like coffee, but seemed a bit on the weak side. Presumably the $3 is for the mushroom content. Red reishi mushroom is supposed to be on the bitter side, so it blends nicel...