This is a nice little French cafe tucked away in a residential district. It has the usual pastries and a full line of gourmet coffees, including a French twist on most of them. They also make delicious sandwiches.
The Rosemary Chicken sandwich Included roasted chicken, smoked rosemary aioli, roasted cherry tomato, pickled onion, arugula, and (a bit too much) olive tapenade. It was some of the most tender chicken I’ve ever tasted. I was a little disappointed that they only have brioche bread since they have a French bakery theme. You would think that they would have baguettes.
The pastries look amazing, but I didn’t try one.
There’s a lovely outside eating area opposite the playground, as well as some pleasant indoor seating and a really nice atmosphere.
This is an interesting concept, sort of a Korean fast food place. It’s actually sit-down dining downstairs, or you can go upstairs if you’re ordering for takeout.
I had the Kimbap, which is a Korean form of sushi similar to a sushi roll that might have pickled vegetables in it, plus whatever other ingredient you want. I had the bulgogi beef, and it was very good and quite filling. One would be a complete lunch.
I also tried the Tteokbokki, which is an unusual dish that is technically rice cakes, but I would compare it to a bowl with sliced-up hot dogs, gnocchi, and melted cheese in a slightly spicy and slightly sweet broth
There are many, many noodle and hot pot places on Robson within a few blocks of each other, and quite a few of them rate five stars. Your preference will depend upon subtleties about noodle thickness and texture and broth flavors, but there is always, always a line in front of Ramen Danbo. A lot of it is probably due to hype or fame, but I have to admit that I think it does edge out the others in several ways.
I think the noodles themself are more flavorful and more delicate. And I have to say the pork was extremely tender and flavorful. The egg was perfectly prepared, and the broth was perfectly seasoned to my desired spiciness level.
They also do a great job searing their gyozas.
Because of its overwhelming popularity, they have perfected the ordering process so that you can fill out a form while you’re in line, which greatly reduces your wait time. It’s easy to get in and out of here in 30 min, and I’m sure that is their goal. As a result, the dining experience might not exactly be relaxing, but if your focus is on the best quality bowl of noodles that you can get, I think it is worth the wait.
I’ve been looking for a good pub in Vancouver for a while, and I’ve tried quite a few that were OK, but this one is by far my favorite.
The menu is somewhat limited and doesn’t really have much in the way of Irish food on it, but that’s OK. I don’t like much in the way of Irish food. What it does have is amazing smash burgers. They’re grilled with mustard on them, which creates a really amazing savory flavor. The bacon cheeseburger smash burger is just the right size, and I love that you can upgrade the side from fries to some crispy tater tots. I’ve had trouble finding those in most of the pubs around here.
The indoor vibe is classic Irish pub, and there’s also a sidewalk patio.
The bar service was terrific, and they’ve got all of the things you’d expect for an Irish pub, including excellent Guinness on tap and real Irish coffee made with Tullamore Dew.
Forget Din Tai Fung. These are the best dumplings in all of Vancouver. You also have to overlook the fact that it’s in a decrepit 1960s mall upstairs in a nearly abandoned food court, but the place has amazing food and it’s spotlessly clean. The owner is a lovely gentleman who brings your food to your table.
The best approach is to order the rainbow sampler of all nine different flavors. I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite. They were all among the best dumplings I have ever had.
Kinara serves delicious Indian food in a pleasant atmosphere with good service and an excellent menu. I particularly enjoy an Indian thali for lunch.
I selected the butter chicken, and it was wonderful. It came with Daal Makhni, Chana Masala, Vegetarian pakora, Rice and Naan. Spice level was perfect without having to specify. The Masala Chai was also excellent.
The donairs at this place are really generous. They’ve got tons of ingredients that make them super flavorful, and they’re very flexible as far as allowing you to mix and match different meats or vegetarian items. I had a combination of chicken and lamb, and it was spiced up just perfectly. Super hot, nicely pressed to get a little bit of a crust on the outside of the wrapper. This is definitely my go-to donair place in the neighborhood.
This downtown bar with a bit of a speakeasy vibe is certainly a happening place at happy hour. I was there on a Wednesday night, and the music was cranking from a live performer. The place was packed to the point where I ended up standing at the bar. I guess even the bar seats require a reservation.
There’s a lot of creative cocktail making going on here, and I enjoyed the drinks, but both of the drinks that I tried seemed simpler in actuality than their complex descriptions implied that they would be. Certainly, the Kelpie was well-named because it was like drinking ground-up nori. If you don’t like seaweed, you would not like this drink. The other drink I had was the Run Wild, which turned out to be an excellent espresso martini, but again not as complex as the ingredients might imply. It was perfectly assembled, though, and the float of cream on top of it was sublime.
During happy hour they were passing around various small bites, including their chili chicken and a truffle flatbread. Both were quite tasty and appreciated. The bartending was precise, but the volume level in the place precluded any form of socializing, so I can’t comment on the friendliness of the servers.
This place has a great atmosphere. There is a long bar with terrific artwork and fanciful trees above it, plus high top and booth seating, and an expansive outdoor patio.
I went at lunch, which has a fairly short menu but hits a lot of favorites. There’s a Mexican slant to many of the dishes, but it is definitely not an entirely Mexican restaurant.
I had the nachos, fully loaded, which was very much like ones that I would make at home. I also tried the chicken wings in two different styles: one tossed in salt and pepper and the other tossed in a habanero mustard sauce. The habanero mustard sauce was particularly interesting.
The margaritas are good, and the service was friendly.
Touk it’s an exciting new restaurant from Chef Chanthy Yen, winner of Top Chef Canada Season 11.
I’d never had Cambodian cuisine before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We opted for the equivalent of an eight-course tasting menu so that we could try as many things as possible. What was really nice about this experience, though, was that they allowed many substitutions so that we could swap in some things that particularly appealed to us for some things we were less interested in.
The highlight of the first course was the milk bread, Pan au Lait, which was served with an amazing butter. The fancified egg rolls were pretty good, but I felt that the scallops, which were served in garlic butter on their own shells, were a bit disappointing.
The second course stand out was an Incredible Prawn dish, They were grilled and tossed in sweet red curry. The tuna crudo was less interesting.
The main course consisted of an excellent salmon with custard and coconut. But the surprise standout of the entire meal was the Fraser Valley Tomahawk, a Frenched pork chop with Cambodian mole, browned butter & watercress salad. It was an amazingly complex mole, delicious with both the pork and the watercress. I should have saved some of the bread to mop up the extra sauce.
Two desserts were included. We chose the Guava cake, which included earl grey tea flavors and a burnt marshmallow ganache. We also had the egg coffee, which was cold egg foam with a wonderful coffee gelato at its heart.
Service was friendly, efficient, and precise.
The only negative is that the restaurant was very popular at night and is comprised of mostly very hard surfaces, so the noise level was excessive. In fact, when I got home, I discovered that my watch had given me a hearing damage warning because sound levels had exceeded 90dB.
I’ll probably go back for many lunches, but I don’t know if I’ll go back for dinner on a busy night.
