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...

Due to Covid I hadn't gone out at all, until my friend invited me to try Disco Cheetah -- her treat too since it was for my birthday, which was a lovely surprise! Which also means I didn't pay for the food but then neither did the restaurant so I guess it's all good. We were curious about the various things so ended up getting the "Disco Cheetah Sampler" which sounds like it has a lot of stuff, but really it's two things -- deep fried chicken and falafel. The rest is filler text. I'm really tempted to fail them outright because they tried to advertise "scallion" as a significant component of the sampler plate. And no, it wasn't a significant component of the sampler plate. Disco Cheetah Sampler ($29.99) fried chicken bites x5 pieces, whole chicken wings x3 pieces, falafel bites x5 pieces, fries, dipping sauces Also comes with a selection if dipping sauces and some pickled red radish. I'll allow a mention of the dipping sauces since th...

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...

Ended up at White Spot for a friend's birthday party. Been absolutely ages since I was at any outlet. Maybe I remember them a bit too fondly but for what I got, price felt outrageous. Even their french fries were so disappointing my mom said not to reheat them and just throw it out for the birds (no really -- she actually suggested that). Crispy Cauliflower Bites ($10.49) glazed in sweet chili sauce and served with mango herb salsa over cilantro sour cream; toasted almonds. Taste is quite decent although prone to being covered up by the various sauces and flavours on the plate. Not even remotely crispy. Avocado Beyond Burger™  ($17.49) Chargrilled 100% plant-based Beyond Meat® patty with fresh avocado, pickled onions, roasted corn, lettuce & tomato. Jalapeño ranch & edamame hummus. Comes with choice of Caesar Salad, The Spot's Salad, or Creamy Coleslay and Endless Signature Kennebec Fries. Mediocre tasting burger. Not even particularly big. At $17.49 it ...

Before I talk about what I had at Kokomo , I should make it clear that although it's basically a vegan place, I am NOT vegan. Not even really vegetarian. I do lean toward that when I make my restaurant selections, but I feel there's a completely different approach when it comes to talking about food when you have a wider choice. For vegans, there can be a beggars-can't-be-choosers bias. It's a smallish place with a curvy communal table. Overall ambiance strives to be bright and spacious despite the floor space being actually rather small. Like a diner your order at the counter. They are also available for delivery via DoorDash. All-Day Breaky Macro ($13) tofu scramble, roasted squash, spicy tempeh crumble, corn, watermelon radish, greens, brown rice, cilantro crema, hemp hearts, sesame seeds, cilantro, green onion. Basically it's a big salad on rice with "fake egg" made up of tofu. Remember there's rice! It's hidden on the bottom and ...

DISCLAIMER: I grew up eating Chinese food and my mom's wonton soup, so Chinese food is comparatively mundane for me. If it's a delicious novelty for you, then you might want to rate this restaurant higher. NOTE: This is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant that uses meat substitutes. Part of my positive tilt on how I rate them is in the quality of the fakeness of the meat. B14 Assorted Vegetables and Wonton in Soup ($12.95) Overall pretty ordinary tasting. In fact, I'm a bit inclined to give it bonus points for tasting just like my mom's home cooking. Not exactly thick with wontons since this is mixed wontons and vegetables (and it says so right in the menu name), so if you're looking for tons of wontons and just token veggies, you might want to check with the server for something else to order. The wontons are themselves quite interesting from a fake-meat point of view. They actually taste fairly close to pork. But more than that, they actually make an effort...

Still thinking vegan and there were intriguing-sounding things on the menu, so I decided to try the Chickpea sit-down restaurant (not the food cart). Interesting choice of locations as it's right next door to also-vegetarian Meet on Main. Busy starting around 6pm till maybe 8.30pm, so best bet is to squeeze in early or resign yourself to a later-night snack. Table turnaround doesn't look that bad, though, but you might be waiting outside the door as the waiting area isn't that big. Style of food is similar to that popularized by places such as Nuba and Jamjar, so nothing too weird and meat-eating friends out for Lebanese probably won't care. A good gathering place as it's vegan with gluten-free option -- this is pretty lowest-common-denominator food nowadays. ChickTea ($3.50) mint, ginger, organic sugar, and lemon Pass on this if you are are used to stronger-tasting pouch teas. If you do get it, let it steep for a long time or it will taste like hot wate...

The menu at Earls on Kingsway near Metrotown has changed since I was last there about a year ago  and I still can't get a decent meal there. Vegetarian Burger ($13) Brown rice and mushroom vegetarian patty, aged cheddar, sauteed onions, vine ripened tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, mayonnaise, and mustard on a freshly baked brioche bun. Tender bun was the only good thing here. Patty tasted like salt. It was salty. No other flavour. Total waste of time especially for $13. TIP: Unless you want your burger to taste like pickle, remove the pickle right away. TIP: Might also want to try distributing the onion more evenly inside if it's not too caked into the cheese. Pot of Tea ($3.75) Service was also fail. At the time I placed my order, I asked for the hot water in my teapot to be topped up. The server did not take my pot. Neither did they take my pot when my order came. I honestly don't remember our table being checked on until the server came to clear our dishes an...

Less than one day left to get a 40%-off SocialShopper coupon  for Salchicha's Meat Bar . As deals go it's really good value, especially when you are not locked into some sort of tasting menu with limited options. Note that the SocialShopper page talks about mango mustard chicken and build-your-own paninis, but we couldn't find either on the lunch menu. So if you really want either, call ahead. There are a few vegetarian and gluten-free options. The room is long and sort of narrow, and a very pleasant respite from the very dilapidated neighbourhood. Pretty quiet on weekday afternoons, so that's your best bet for large groups or a slow, lingering lunch with excellent company. Their made-in-house lemonade might not be ready yet so early in the day, though. Shakshouka Maraguez ($13) Slow cooked spicy tomato sauce and poached eggs with our famous made in-house spicy Maraguez sausages served with focaccia bread and tahini sauce Comes sizzling to your table. Ver...

A much better taste experience at Meet in Gastown! Last time I was at Meet in Gastown I had a Portobello Burger that didn't look very good and I mentioned it in my blog and on Yelp. Surprisingly, someone was actually reading and Meet offered me a gift card. When a restaurant offers you a gift card through Yelp, obviously they are trying to get you to revise their rating. I asked the Yelp Community Manager about that, and she said it was legit as long as there was full disclosure. So based on that, I accepted the card. I mean, how much could it possibly be? $5? The cost of the burger? Anyway, I found a friend curious about Meet and we finally went, months later and hopefully incognito. I was tempted to try the burger again to see if my experience before was a one-off, but even if it were, one bad menu item shouldn't damn a restaurant. All of the picks on this visit were by my dining partner. We tried four things: Sweet-Chili Cauliflower ($9.75) house beer-battered wi...

Back to Pourhouse ! I had a sort of lacklustre experience last time, but I still have credit on my gift card, so I found another friend to come along. This time, I went for the veggie options. I was curious to try their vegetarian burger, but other things ended up intriguing me more. Maybe on my last attempt I'll get the burger. Cauliflower Steak ($22)  Stewed Lentils, Romesco Sauce, Crispy Kale (V) Looked really promising at first, but it just tedious later. The orange-red sauce was pretty tasty though. Could have used much more of it. The cauliflower chunk was pretty plain and very firm at the base of the stem. The slight browning looked promising but there wasn't really any aroma or flavour from it. Crispy kale deep fried and obviously you can't get away from the oiliness. Fun to eat but eat it with the cauliflower to mask the oil. A lot less sauce to use than it looks because there isn't as much underneath and I basically ran out. And there were tons mor...