This is a bright, sunny place that focuses on kiosk ordering and offers fluffy pancakes and chicken karaage. We didn’t try the fluffy pancakes, but the chicken karaage was okay. It’s offered in a variety of flavors, but we kind of wanted the classic style because we like a nice crunchy crust rather than it getting soggy from being over-sauced. However, even the classic style was not actually crusty the way traditional chicken karahi is. It was more of a steamed sort of a coating, kind of like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s original recipe. Not bad, but not exactly what I was looking for.
Even though this is across the street from me, I had put off trying it just because I’m not a huge noodle fan, and there are so many great noodle places on Robson anyway. Finally, some fall weather arrived, and it was time for some soup. I’m glad we tried it. I think of all the hot pot places I’ve been to, it is my favorite.
For starters, it’s really nicely decorated inside, so you feel like you’re having a real dining experience, not like part of a factory, as in Danbo Ramen. Also, I love the ability to pick from all the ingredients, and they have a really nice selection here with two kinds of scallops and lots of other seafood and, of course, wonderfully fresh vegetables.
And yes, there are many types of noodles you can add to your bowl, but I skipped those for the most part. If you use a little restraint, pricing is extremely reasonable since the broth is essentially free, and there are a lot of tasty broths to choose from. The kimchi one had lots of flavor, but it was pretty spicy. I tried their signature ma lang tang broth which comes with Szechuan chili oil, medium spicy, and it had plenty of spice as well.
There’s also a lot more than just hot pot here. We’ll need to go back and try some of their fried items and side dishes, and they have an interesting sauce bar for dipping. Plus, there are things pretty far afield from standard hot pot places, such as fettuccine alfredo.
Hot pot was offered with two complimentary drinks: iced tea and a peach lemonade. I was surprised that the peach lemonade was not overly sweet. I really liked it. I would definitely have that again. The tea had a bit too much sugar for my taste.
It’s hard to beat this pricing. Lunch for two, including drinks and dessert, came to $21.
The service is good, too, for a self-service place. One server was basically taking care of the cash register, to-go orders, and all the tables, and promptly brought us our complimentary ice cream. When we finished, it was great for putting out the fire.
If Dip N Drool is not the worst name for a restaurant in the world, I don’t know what is. That and the fact that the location has almost no visibility are not good harbingers, but the food is actually really good.
The menu is ambitious, with foods not only from India but also the rest of Asia and even Italy. However, the Indian food is the way to go. All of the sauces are sublime, and the papadums, which I don’t think are even on the menu, are perhaps the best I’ve ever had.
The lunch combos are a good deal, and the chicken tikka masala and lamb korma were both delicious. On our second visit, we explored the appetizer menu.
The Dahi Puri, crispy semolina shells filled with potatoes, chickpeas and yogurt, finished with sweet tamarind chutney and mint chutney, were the best I’ve had.
Vegetable Pakoda was also excellent. The nachos were a swing and a miss.
The chef is really doing everything he can to make this a great restaurant, and I encourage you to try it. I just hope that they can overcome the name and the location because they really deserve success.
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.
Although I’ve been to a lot of ramen places, this is the first hotpot place I’ve been to in this format where you pick your ingredients from a wall of choices and then they add the broth in the kitchen. I liked it a lot better than the way I’ve done it where there’s a hot pot on the table and a conveyor belt that delivers ingredients. This way you can really customize your order from the hundreds of things on the wall.
I was really impressed by the friendliness of the employees and the freshness of the ingredients there. Featured broth is definitely the way to go on your first visit. We tried a couple, and they were both good, but the Featured one was really stellar.
It’s not apparent online, but there are more choices than just mild and hot. You can also get medium, which is what we settled on, and it was perfect.
This place is right across the street from our apartment, so we’ll definitely be back!
This is a thirty year old restaurant that looks like the focus is on Greek food, so that’s what we had for lunch. It was just okay. The spanakopita was probably the best item we had.
The first time we went here we waited for ten minutes and no one ever showed up form the kitchen, but the second time the service was good.
They have quite a few wines by the glass at good prices, although I wish they had more Greek and Santorini wines beyond just retsina.. My Australia Pinot Grigio was good.
What a terrific find this was! And I do mean “find”! There is no apparent entrance or street level signage for this retro lounge located above the round Starbucks at the corner of Denman and Davie. You have to take the long ramp up from well down Davie Street, or climb the stairs on Denman labeled Lucky Sushi to find a way in.
Once there, you’ll find it was worth your search. It seems like back in the early 60’s everything needed to be round: apartment buildings, revolving restaurants, and spaceneedles. And so, Bayside lounge is round. It turns out to be the ideal shape. The circular bar at the center is orbited by a ring of barstools, which in turn are surrounded by cocktail table planets, the whole thing is encased in a halo of banquettes. It’s incredibly efficient, and you instantly feel transported back to 2001 A Space Odyssey.
But a lounge is nothing without great cocktails, and Bayside has pages of them, both traditional and innovative, plus changing features. Everything we tried was deftly prepared with fresh, lively ingredients.
The food is also perfect for a lounge—really beyond expectations for a lounge. We started with the four cheese dip, which was good to the last dollop, especially with the seasoned naan bread.
The ceviche was also way beyond expectations, with tender chunks of fish in a bright acidic sauce littered with crisp, freshly slivered onions and peppers.
The hamburger was also excellent, with all my favorite ingredients (which is to say everything from bacon to tomato to onion straws) and served on a bun that was up to the task. Accompanying crinkle fries were hot and crisp.
The payoff is that Happy Hour is basically all day on weekdays (noon to 6pm, and a bit later on weekends) making the food and house wines an absolute bargain.
Delightful setting for a delightful meal. Even on a cloudy day it’s great fun overlooking the beach from the second story (street level) of this stylish location.
We started with the crab and spinach dip, which was wonderfully creamy without being two rich. Then for entrees we have the ceviche–which was classically prepared with a nice hint of jalapeño to accompany the line–and the lettuce wraps. I particularly liked the couch of the peanuts and the kick of korean sauce in the wraps, and there was a half a head of iceberg lettuce to make wrapping easy.
There’s a nice cocktail list (excellent whiskey sour) and some interesting wines by the glass.
I was very impressed by this charming sushi restaurant at the quiet end of Robson Street.
The place bills itself as Ukrainian sushi, but it is in fact, well, sushi. There is a selection of Ukrainian souvenirs available to support the Ukrainian war effort, but beyond that, it’s a normal sushi restaurant with some pleasant twists.
Unlike many sushi restaurants, the selection of different types of fish is somewhat limited. Most of the dishes focus on tuna, salmon, or shrimp but they’re combined in interesting and tasty ways.
Note that the menu has been expanded from anything that I found online. It’s now much more polished and has more offerings, including not just sushi but also coffees and desserts.
The combo offerings for lunch are a particularly good deal. They include a very tasty miso soup with the interesting addition of sesame seeds and your choice of many different flavors of hot tea.
We tried both the orange and the mint teas, and they were both delicious. The two combos we tried both came with four pieces of nigiri consisting of tuna, shrimp, and salmon, and then an eight-piece roll selection. One included the BC roll which is similar to a California roll but incorporates cooked salmon.
The other was my favorite. It was a spicy salmon roll which had the interesting presentation of placing the spicy salmon mixture on top of each slice of a roll similar to a California roll. This provided a generous helping of the spicy salmon which was very nicely seasoned and just the right spice level.
The service was extremely friendly and helpful. Our leftovers were packed up in a very delightful looking to-go box, and we were even given cups to take the rest of our hot tea with us. All in all, one of the better sushi choices along Robson.
I’m a big fan of Lebanese food. We often have it for lunch. Because Yasma is only open for dinner, we lived here for a couple of years before we got around to trying it. But I’m sure glad we did.
The flavors here are at a complexity level above any Lebanese food that I’ve had elsewhere. Even the common dishes, such as hummus, baba ghanoush, and tabbouleh, all contain ingredients and spices that make them stand out and add a terrific level of complexity. For example, the tabbouleh includes not just interesting seasonings but also pomegranate seeds. It was not the only dish that was served with the addition of pomegranate. There was also a delightfully spicy sauce that seemed to be comprised of both pomegranate and harissa. The chef’s tasting menu is a terrific way to sample most of the dishes on the menu. Our favorites turned out to be most of the cold course dishes that were served in the first of three rounds. This included:
– Hummus – Baba ghanoush – Tabbouleh – A spice tray with a selection of olives
As you would expect from a high-end Lebanese restaurant, the pitas are perfectly puffed and delicate.
The hot dishes included lamb and chicken and were served on the traditional garlic sauce. The tasting menu concluded with an assortment of bite-sized pieces of baklava.
If there was one shortcoming, it was the wine list. The white wines seemed to be of a singular note, although they were offered from four different countries. Unfortunately, they were out of the French Chardonnay, so I might be inclined to bring my own bottle the next time, assuming they have a corkage fee.
