Al-Watan Tandoori
6084 Fraser Street
Vancouver, BC
I am not sure about my fellow food bloggers but, more often than not, when people find out I food blog, the usual tendency is to ask for restaurant suggestions. Of course, the issue is that, what might be good for me, might not be good for the rest. So, rather, I give them a general blanket list of places with some caveats. For example, a week or so, I was asked for non-Japanese seafood lunch restaurant in Downtown Vancouver within a certain budget. Unfortunately, the only place I could think of were Joe Forte’s and Coast, so I mentioned it with warnings (i.e., Joe Forte’s being predictive, Coast being expensive and slow – among other things). What it is really odd is for non-blogger to check with me if I want to go to a restaurant. What? You want me to tag along, spend countless minutes taking pictures of the food while it gets cold? Well, that’s what happened when EC drop me a note for exactly that, as she wanted to visit Al-Watan Tandoori in Frasier Street…
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Tagged as:
Beef,
Chicken,
Curry,
Indian,
Lamb,
Vancouver
Arturo’s Mexico to Go
775 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC
Last week, in my Fresh Local Wild post, I made a comment saying Arturo’s Mexico to Go, specifically they should create a Twitter account to notify when they are open/closed. While that hasn’t been address as of the day of this post, I was advised Arturo’s is now back in business so, finally, I was able to drop by!
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Tagged as:
Downtown,
Food Cart,
Mexican,
Street Food,
Vancouver
Dajia
836 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
Three weeks ago, I wrote about Taiko on Denman and made reference to the amount of sushi restaurants in the are, with an over-emphasis on the cheap/affordable side. While we can blame restaurant owners in this dog-eat-dog type situation, at the same time, that is driven by customer demand. One of such restaurants in the area is Momo Sushi where I mention I didn’t really like it; however, I know of co-workers who flock to this place for their large servings. Oh, well, if quantity serves as an incentive…
Also mentioned in my Taiko on Denman post, I made reference to the shifting look of Robson and Denman with shops coming and going. One of the places that “died” down was Denman Rooster’s, a place that I thought was a perennial fixture; however, it was replaced by Pomegranate Lounge which, I will have to admit, the food was quite decent. Alas, with the popularity of nearby izakaya, it didn’t last (for weeks, I noticed it was closed) and it has been replaced by, you can guess it, another Japanese restaurant. Don’t we have enough already in the area? Sure but, still, I need to give it a try before jumping into conclusions…
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Tagged as:
Chicken,
Japanese,
Seafood,
Sushi,
Vancouver
Honey Hole Sandwiches
703 E Pike Street
Seattle, WA
One of the “interesting” features that is seldom mentioned is that of Vancouver being *really* close to the US. Border crossing queue aside, you should be able to go to the US from Vancouver in around an hour (or less). Once there, two or so hours later, you hit Seattle, another major US city. Sure, you could go from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan or Hamilton, Ontario to Buffalo, New York in about the same time but, c’mon, there is no comparison here. So, on Thanksgiving, I chose to do a day trip “just because”. While timing worked great, weatherwise, it ended up being awash: It was miserable and detracted me from some outdoor activities. Well, I was on that side of the border so… Let’s go to eat!!! Originally I had two places in mind: Latin food in the form of La Isla or more “regular fare” in the form of Honey Hole Sandwiches. The later was chosen because, well, it was an odd combination of timing and circumstance. Does not matter how or why, what matters is that I was there and it was time to eat!
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Tagged as:
Pork,
Sandwich,
Seattle
Chronic Tacos
382 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
Here I go again, to another taco shop. Somehow it has become such a popular dish there is a need to open yet-another-location. OK, OK, Chronic Tacos an American import is not necessarily new(est) kid on the block, not to mention they sell other tex-mex fare (like burrito) but, lately, I think I have seen one too many places selling tacos popping here and there (namely, Cartel Taco and Arturo’s Mexican To Go). Of course, while some taco shop are “traditional” (as in La Taqueria and Doña Cata) others add that dread “fusion” twist, like Roaming Dragon and Cartel Taco, Chronic Tacos does not hide one fact: it is not necessarily meant to be authentic Mexican fare, rather the Californian iteration, based on the original version. With that in mind…
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Tagged as:
Fish,
Mexican,
Pork,
Seafood,
Vancouver
Japas Bistro
552 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC
I have mentioned previously that a perk of food blogging is that you get to met new people. Whether he/she is a new blogger or somebody who has just started, or even readers – sometimes it is different from dining with people you have met previously. Of course, to get to have a good meeting, a small dinner is better than a larger one but I digress. Anyway, in this case, I got to meet Elaine (or, as I have been referring to as Elaine2 to avoid confusions with Elaine of Parker Pages), who writes O My Sweet Tooth!. And, given I am meeting another food blogger, that usual “discussion” is guaranteed to ensue: Where? When? Etc. etc. After some emails going back and forth, we decided to go to Japas Bistro.
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Tagged as:
Cambie,
Izakaya,
Japanese,
Vancouver
Fresh Local Wild
795 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
Before I go to today’s post, an open message to the owners of Arturo’s Mexico to Go: You guys . I have been trying to go to the location listed in your site for last two weeks for lunch and, every single time, you are NOT there. From the grapevine, I have heard something happened to your truck. If that’s the case, c’mon guys, how difficult is to set up a Twitter account, linked from your site telling us if you are open or closed? *Shakes fist!!!!*
OK, back to today’s post. Given my work location in the West End, I have tried almost every single food cart so far, with the exception of Poke’m, which, as per their site, is currently upgrading their cart for the impending rainy Vancouver fall and the before mentioned Arturo’s Mexican to Go. Of course, there are still others but I haven’t visited yet, for example, PanDa Fresh Bakery, because they are slightly outside of my range for lunch on work days. Eventually… So, when I heard yet another food cart/truck – Fresh Local Wild – was about to open, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a try. Their call to fame? All our food is sustainable and responsibly harvested – Ocean Wise. To me, it is whether it taste good or not…
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Tagged as:
Downtown,
Seafood,
Street Food,
Vancouver
