City Temple of Shanghai
3755 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

“Anybody interested in some XLB?” That was what Sherman wrote in an email. I am not sure but, there are times where I wonder if that question should be asked anymore… Well, actually, this was, as I was in “maybe” mode. Why? Me, don’t want to tag along for food? Well, it just happens the day Sherman suggested we went for xiao long bao was the day I went with TNG to Squamish! In the end, we chose to come back to Vancouver and, for TNG to meet fellow food bloggers in action, in this case, in addition to Sherman, there were also Elaine, Matt and Degan. The place for XLB? A small mom-n-pop, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Main Street called City Temple of Shanghai.

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Tagged as:
Chinese,
Dumplings,
Vancouver
Montana’s Cookhouse
Several locations across Canada
1046 – 2929 Barnet Highway (location visited)
Coquitlam, BC

After that hike in Diez Vistas, DVP couldn’t join me for dinner as she had to attend something unexpected. Alas, me “stranded” in the middle of nowhere and starting to get hungry (despite eating several handfuls of cashews before the last portion of the trail). So, while driving out of Buntzen Lake, I chose to drive through Coquitlam Centre rather than the “easier” route of Port Moody. Why? I have absolutely no idea… Could it be because I came driving that way? When I hit that mall, I remembered there was a Montana’s Cookhouse, as well as Chada Thai, I chose the former for one reason: Meat! I mean, I was darn hungry and all I could think of was meat… NOW!!!

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Tagged as:
BBQ,
Beef,
Chain Restaurant,
Chicken,
Coquitlam
Crème de la Crumb
466 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Whenever there are high notes and/or excitement when a new place opens, I approach it with certain skepticism. More often than not, it is hype; others, the “free” food factor. However, as I mentioned in my Bella Gelateria post, there are people I trust, like Mijune and Sherman. When Mijune wrote about Crème de la Crumb in her Granville Foodie Tour post, I knew I had to visit it, despite sweets are not my first option and a lot of what is sold here are pastries…

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Tagged as:
Downtown,
Pastry,
Sandwich,
Vancouver
A couple of weeks ago, I had a really great week because… Well, a lot of things happened, all of them in a good way. Needless to say, me and my camera = some pictures!

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Tagged as:
Sandwich,
Vancouver
Al Basha
3143 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

My dislike for Richmond is quite well know. Crazy drivers, small parking spaces, badly design parking locations, the list goes on and on. However, that isn’t the only part of Metro Vancouver I do not frequent. Vancouver West Side is another of such areas in town, despite there is no particular reason. Probably because of those houses I don’t think I will never have enough moola to purchase? Or, perhaps because there is that sense of “falsehood”. Probably because most of the restaurants are the type where there is more hype to be seen rather than what it is served on the plate? Or because, well, I have had a bad track there? Regardless of the reason, after my visit to the area on Greek Day, I found out there were actually small interesting shops. One of them happened to be Al Basha and I made a mental note to return “soon” and that is what I did…

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Tagged as:
Chicken,
Middle Eastern,
Vancouver,
West Side
Euro Deli & Market
3665 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

I apologize if I offend anybody for using this word: Nazi. Unfortunately, that term has taking its own twist and turns, specially with a certain episode of Seinfeld which immortalized the phrase “Soup Nazi”, in reference to . (The funny thing is that, while I have watch snipplets of it, I haven’t watched the full episode! Yeah, shame on me…). So what does “Soup Nazi” has to do with Vancouver? Well, let me remind everybody of Salam of Le Charcuterie, the self proclaimed “Sandwich Nazi”. Jokes aside, when I went there last summer (wow, it sounds like it was a LONG time ago!), he mentioned he used to own a second location that he eventually sold. That location became Euro Deli & Market.

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Tagged as:
Sandwich,
Vancouver
Giovane
1038 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC

For some reason, embedded in my head is that concept that most hotel restaurants are… Well, disappointed. Of course, given that I travel on a budget, the hotels I end up staying aren’t necessarily a five star hotel; instead, they are usually your regular hotel chains, i.e., Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, et al. And, then again, even if they have fancy locations, I seldom end up staying in those. After all, why should I? If travelling on business, it is my customer’s money, not to mention I spend the whole day at the customer’s site; if it is leisure, chances are I am only there to sleep and some basic necessities.
But, even when I stay in the “fancier” locations of those hotel chains, more often than not, the food has been average at best. But, then again, Fairmont is a luxury hotel chain so comparing them to the other chains might be akin to comparing apples to oranges. With that in mind, I went to Giovane, the “cafeteria” located in the recently opened Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and little sibling to Oru, the main restaurant in the hotel. Hey, I wasn’t in mood to fork big bucks to Oru, given the mixed feedback!

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Tagged as:
Eggs,
Hotel,
Italian,
Sandwich,
Soup,
Vancouver