Brioche
401 W Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC
When something bad happens, it is possible it is “bad” on the spot; instead, it is sometimes a matter of what you make out of it. Last week, Mijune (of Follow Me Foodie) invited me and Anita (of La Petite Foodie) to watch Did You Hear About the Morgans? (It was an OK movie for some kicks). As a token of appreciation, I thought I should bring some goodies before we head up to the theatre. So, I tasked myself to go to Finch’s, since I recently wrote about it and Mijune wanted to give it a try. Alas, despite all the good planning (start work early so I can be there at around 4:30 p.m., as Finch’s closes at 5:00 p.m.), it failed. The reason? They ran out of baguettes and the kitchen was closed. When the cashier noticed my disappointment, she suggested Brioche, a couple of blocks down. Not wanting to disappoint anybody, I went for this Plan B…
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Tagged as:
Downtown,
Sandwich,
Vancouver
Pepper Roast
1985 Powell Street
Vancouver, BC
You have to admit it: Once in a while, you want food that is bad for you but you can’t help it because it tastes good. A really good example of that type of food is fried food. Dropping a morsels in hot oil where it then starts to bubble, wait for some minutes (more or less depending on what is being prepared) and there you go. A metamorphosis of a simple piece of morsel into some delicious… Yet bad for your health, with all that oil and who-knows-what. In that attempt to make things “healthier”, somebody invented Shake n’ Bake and, well, the rest is history… Or so they say. The question for me has always been: would any restaurant dare to “oven fry” their chicken rather than throw them in hot oil? I guess the owners from Pepper Roast did…
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Tagged as:
Chicken,
Lunch,
Vancouver
Roxy Burger
910 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
Last week, I blogged about the Santa Claus Parade. Of course, being an event that occurs around noon means I would either eat before or after it. In this case, it was before. The question was… Where? While Granville Street is known as the Entertainment District, at noon, right now, it is almost a bare street. Sure, there are your pubs but it lacked that “ambiance” associated to this area. While doing a quick walk, I remembered a place I meant to go: Roxy Burger. Well, that resolves the dilemma!
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Downtown,
Vancouver
La Belle Patate
1215 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
Once again, a poutine post! Earlier this year, I had poutine for the first time (you can check it here) and on summer I had poutine again (you can check it here). While I seldom have it, at least I now know what to expect and, as a result, know what I want in it. One day, while walking on Davie Street, I notice a shop being setup – which space was occupied formerly by a Chinese restaurant. So far so good… But, on another day, I noticed they had their menu outside: It was mostly poutine (plus smoked meats and other side items)! And, with that French name “La Belle Patate”, most likely it would be from Quebec. That meant I had to come once they were open!
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Tagged as:
Canadian,
Lunch,
Vancouver,
West End
This is a topic that I know it will not win me any friends; in fact, there are chances I will garner more enemies. However, as they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer… A couple of months ago, there was the announcement BC will implement a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) replacing the current Goods and Sales Tax (GST) and Provincial Sales Tax (PST). The current GST and PST rates are 5% and 7% and the HST will be 12%. While it sounds like the tax we end up paying is the same, reality is there will be some shifts, i.e., where previously there were no taxes (or not at the same rate), there now will and vice-versa. This being a food blog, I will touch specifically on the topic of restaurants. (And, thanks to shokutsu of Foodosophy to bring this first to my attention).
When implemented in July 1st, 2010 (oddly, in Canada Day), when you go out to eat, your bill will have a 12% tax rather than 5%. Yes, whereas currently you are currently only GST taxed, now you will be hit by an additional 7%. Because of this, there has been a site set up against this issue called , leaded by Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Local commentator Bill Tieleman has also written about this. Now, I must mention that some parties are not necessarily against the HST; rather the way it will be implemented, i.e., a straight jump from 5% to 12%. Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinion and mine is…
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Tagged as:
Random
eh! Restaurant
1050 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
Had you walked the two blocks in Alberni Street between Burrard and Bute last year and compare it to this year, you won’t believe the shift it has occured. Where it used to host a series of stores, it has now shifted to restaurants. Coast, Italian Kitchen, Saltlik (which was closed and now re-opened as Townhall) and Market by Jean-Georges . However, at the same time, some places closed, like the food fair in the corner of Alberni and Thurlow and Kaplan’s Star Deli have closed. However, there was one place – eh! Restaurant – that I have walked by a couple dozen times already and did not pay to much attention but suddenly became really curious for other reasons – name aside, that is, eh.
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Tagged as:
BBQ,
Downtown,
Lamb,
Lunch,
Vancouver
Triple Coconut Tree Restaurant
4124 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC
There are areas in Metro Vancouver that I do not visit often due to several reasons – Vancouver West Side and Kitsilano “just because”, Coquitlam and Surrey due to it being “far”, Richmond because of their crazy drivers and so on. There is an area that I have not blogged much about for absolutely no reason, other than probably laziness: North Burnaby. So, during that week where an arctic front was hitting Vancouver and I was looking something to warm myself and, rather than go to the usual places for a bowl of noodles/ramen/pho, I decided to go to North Burnaby. The place I ended up going? Triple Coconut Tree Restaurant.
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Tagged as:
Burnaby,
Pho,
Vietnamese
Harmonized Sales Tax and Restaurants
by KimHo on December 19, 2009 · 9 comments under: British Columbia,Comments
This is a topic that I know it will not win me any friends; in fact, there are chances I will garner more enemies. However, as they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer… A couple of months ago, there was the announcement BC will implement a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) replacing the current Goods and Sales Tax (GST) and Provincial Sales Tax (PST). The current GST and PST rates are 5% and 7% and the HST will be 12%. While it sounds like the tax we end up paying is the same, reality is there will be some shifts, i.e., where previously there were no taxes (or not at the same rate), there now will and vice-versa. This being a food blog, I will touch specifically on the topic of restaurants. (And, thanks to shokutsu of Foodosophy to bring this first to my attention).
When implemented in July 1st, 2010 (oddly, in Canada Day), when you go out to eat, your bill will have a 12% tax rather than 5%. Yes, whereas currently you are currently only GST taxed, now you will be hit by an additional 7%. Because of this, there has been a site set up against this issue called, leaded by Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Local commentator Bill Tieleman has also written about this. Now, I must mention that some parties are not necessarily against the HST; rather the way it will be implemented, i.e., a straight jump from 5% to 12%. Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinion and mine is…
Read more…!
Tagged as: Random