A bit over a year ago, when Tim Horton’s announced their English muffins, I jumped into the opportunity of comparing their sandwich against McDonald’s. In a funny reversal on things that have happened, recently, McDonald’s announced the return of my once-upon-a-time favourite: their buttermilk biscuits (OK, not really, more details in a moment). So, now that McD’s are back into this game, why not a second heads up battle? And, repeating what I wrote on that post over a year ago… (And borrowing that line from Iron Chef:) Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Now, a couple of things before I go into my thoughts…

1. Unlike my first post, this time, I was a bit in a rush. SORRY!!! Usually, I do take my time taking pictures and what not. In fact, in my first “battle”, I took the sandwiches home, plated them, etc. etc. This time? Nope. It was a gray, raining morning and I was HUNGRY. I was in no mood of getting this back home and plate them and what not. As a result, I ended up going to Timmy’s, order one and then go to the nearest McD’s and get theirs. No fancy plating and, alas, crappy lightning. >_<
2. Before everybody jumps in, the McD’s biscuits (I will omit the word buttermilk from here on) is not a new item. As mentioned in my previous post, it was one of my favourites eons ago but they discontinued it for some odd reason. Now, it is not that it was removed completely from their menu. You could sort-of order it. How? Their Big Breakfast! See, in that one, you get eggs, sausage, biscuit and a hash brown. There were some catches, though: The egg was in the scrambled form, unlike the folded version or the “poached” version (from the Egg McMuffin), and, of course, it might be trickier to get bacon (you can always order it “on the side”).
3. To their PR people… For god’s sake, did you need to flood my email with this announcement? How many emails I got? 4!!! *shakes fist* At least I didn’t do what I did with certain other local Vancouver PR company: after pissing me off with their almost everyday announcement and choosing not to exclude my address from further spamming, I set up a server side filter where all emails from their domain would be send back to one of their email addresses.

However, on the positive side of this announcement: on February 9th and 10th, 2011, they are giving these free. So, if you want to try them, just go to your closest McD’s. Now, putting all these aside…

I will start off with Timmy’s. In a way, it has pretty much stayed quite “similar” to what I have tasted since it was originally released, except for one minor detail: It seems their “biscuit” is more in-line to bread than a biscuit. How so? I recall these used to crumble somewhat easily but, nowadays, it is closer to bread. Is it necessarily bad? In a way, it depends how you like yours. In this application, I didn’t mind it that much but, if you are a purist or have some (higher?) expectations, you might not let it go so easily. Here is the reason why I liked: It maintained its integrity and, as a result, the overall sandwich didn’t “break” down while I was eating it.

Moving past the biscuit, the egg didn’t have that non-egg taste I mentioned last time. This time, it was just that custard feeling to it. The sausage had a light pork taste but you had to try really hard. Not necessarily complaining here. Overall combined you have an interesting package of soft (egg), lightly crispy/crusty texture of the bread and some savouriness from the sausage.

As for McD’s, let’s start with the “key” component, the biscuit. First, buttermilk? Hmmmm… Maybe? But, past that, here lies the main difference compared to Timmy’s: this one was crumblier. In fact, you could “separate” the crusty portion from the crumblier portion, as if they were two distinct pieces. But, it had a slight odd secondary effect. Depending on how you hold your sandwich, there is a light chance part of the biscuit will “stick” to the contents of the sandwich. If I were to eat it by itself with jam or fruit preserve, there might be a slight chance it will break down. So, depending on your preference, this might or might not work.

As for the rest, once again, given it is a chain and standardization is key, it was pretty much the same as last time. The eggs felt overcooked and lacked a bit of taste; the sausage had more pork taste compared to Timmy’s. Well, McD’s is good at what they do…

So, overall, which one is better? It boils down to which one you prefer. Both works fine. However, there is one loser in the end: At over 500 calories each, my waist for eating one of each… >_<

Brenda’s French Soul Food
652 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA

So, now into the final stretch of the trip! (Well, sort of!). So, after our Vancouver food blogger dinner at Incanto with TS/JS, Mijune and Sherman, we were making some final plans in San Francisco. However, despite they were good sports in some things I wanted to do, on this last half day before our flight back to Vancouver, I was a bit selfish and went to do some things by myself, agreeing on meeting before our flight. But, in the usual family Chinese way, “breakfast first”!

Actually, we didn’t have a real breakfast plan considering Sherman and I already had dim sum in Dol Ho (and our initial plan was Yank Sing). So, instead, we agreed to meet and go from there. At first, we wanted to give Dottie’s another chance (the original attempt failed and we ended up going to Taylor Street Coffee Shop) and when we arrived, another 1 hour queue. Seriously??? ARGH!!! So, we started wandering around, going back and forth, including some places closer to Union Square. However, all of those had extremely safe breakfast menu (read: omelette, pancake, hash, sausage, bacon, etc.; basically the same stuff you would be able to get at Denny’s). Then we went to the opposite way and ran into more interesting options, including pho for breakfast (interestingly, with a help wanted sign… In Spanish?!). When we were walking near Polk Street, Sherman’s previous experience in San Fran kicked in: Brenda’s French Soul Food which he had visited previously but was still good for a revisit. Considering this wasn’t the “usual suspect” dishes, I was more than eager to give it a try!

Upon arriving, we were lucky we were able to get a table relatively close to the windows. See, part of the reason Sherman wanted a revisit was because he thought his previous visit pictures weren’t good (he was seated in a somewhat dark place last time) so having some natural light was a bonus. Once seated, the usual question kicked in… What to order? Well, there were some usual suspect as usual as well but, at the same time, there were some interesting options, starting off with…

Beignet, that French fried dough (or, can we say… Doughnut???), which, in the US, is associated with New Orleans. Here, we decided to order their Beignet Flight to share, i.e., one of each, starting with the savoury one in the form of…

Crawfish – Spiced with cayenne, scallions and cheddar. I will have to admit this one caught me a bit off guard. I was expecting something seafood-y but, instead, I got this kick from the cayenne (But in a good way). Then, I was tasting the savoury taste of the crawfish. Cheese? Scallions? Didn’t care, it was the balance of heat, savoury and sweet (slightly from the dough) that made it. Absolutely no complains here.

The second one was the chocolate – Filled with molten Ghirardelli chocolate – which I hope would have served to transition from savoury to sweet (by being something “bitter”). Alas, that felt short: Instead of something bitter, it was borderline a bit too sweet. Milk chocolate? This would have worked well for dessert; didn’t work for me as a (breakfast?!) appetizer.

Grannysmith apple – Oozing with cinnamon honey butter. Didn’t care much for the honey butter (don’t think I tasted it), as the acidity of the apples, again, contrasted with the fried dough. I would have preferred it as a “dessert” but, still, as a breakfast (?) appetizer, it wasn’t offensive as the chocolate one.

The odd ball was the “plain” beignet: By the time we got it, it just felt as a plain piece of fried dough lacking the qualities of the other beignets. I guess we should have started from that one to have a baseline rather than the other way around…. :S

Sherman’s dish, grits and shrimp. I really appreciate Sherman ordered this as this is that quintessential Southern breakfast dish. The fact it was served with shrimp made it even better. And for breakfast??? Yoohooo!!! The grits had a consistency somewhat similar to that of a smooth congee (thought a bit heavier compared to the rice in the congee). But, unlike congee, it was savoury (OK, savour-ier) thanks to the cheese added to it. But, wait… That shrimp/tomato sauce! Yes, that added another level of savouriness to it. The shrimp? Again, that was the topping. The fault of this dish? Too heavy… (Belch!).

As for myself, I had the crawfish and andouille pot pie. You know what? When I ordered this, one thing came to my head: Am I ordering breakfast, brunch or an actual lunch??? I mean, pot pie for breakfast??? Anyway… The pastry on the top was both soft, fluffy and crusty at the same time. I was able to separate a part leaving a more crumbly part at the bottom. That lower half served to soak some of the sauce/gravy form the crawfish and andouille. But wait, when they said crawfish and andoille, they meant it. It wasn’t just two or three pieces of it and then filled with starch (i.e. potatoes) and vegetables. Sure, there was some but it wasn’t predominant by any means. The one thing I only wished was that the andouille was spicier but, otherwise, yes, it indeed made it for me.

I will have to admit that I left the restaurant extremely full. As for the food itself, needless to say, it was heavy in terms of breakfast and would have easily be considered lunch! Was it good? Well, I am tempted to cook some of the dishes by myself one of these days, starting with the grits so that should tell something! Now, did I mention some of these dishes were even cheaper than the ones we had at Taylor Street Coffee Shop? Even if prices were at par, I liked what was served and, if you overlooked its location, the final product was well executed. Too bad we didn’t come here first…

Taylor Street Coffee Shop
375 Taylor Street
San Francisco, CA

Ah, San Fran, San Fran… After FoodBuzz Street Food Fare Welcome Reception, Sherman, JS/TS and Mijune, each one of us called it a night. However, since we didn’t necessarily planned to attend all FoodBuzz events for the morning, we decided to tag along for some other activities. In my case, Sherman and I agreed to meet for breakfast and go from there, which included looking for some good eats outside of the San Francisco area. But, that is jumping ahead so, for this post, breakfast.

Here is a bit of a curve ball: while the hotel did offer continental breakfast, how exciting that would have been as blogging material? I guess not much. So, we decided to look for nearby options and option #1 had a somewhat ridiculous queue… At 8:00 a.m.! How bad it was? Imagine a breakfast version of Stepho’s… 1 hour queue? For breakfast??? While walking around, Sherman mentioned Taylor Street Coffee Shop (TSCS) as an option. Sure, why not!

Since the hotel was in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco but still really close to Union Square, one would think nearby restaurants would follow the “trendiness” of the shops near Union Square. Well, actually, a lot of them were; however, TSCS was anything but. If you see in the picture above, you could easily surmise this is a dive. And, when we walked in, those thoughts were partially confirmed. Nothing fancy and that would work fine for me!

After perusing the menu, we observed the “usual suspects”: eggs, ham/bacon/sausage, hash, pancakes/French toast, omelette and so on. And then there were lunch type items like sandwiches and burgers. Given the time of the time, we focused solely on breakfast dishes, which included:

Sherman ordered toast while I ordered sourdough. It was your usual slices of breads so, from that perspective, not much to comment about. Actually… Given this type of shop, I thought the toast was a bit past the burn point (or at least past certain point). As for the sourdough… No, sorry, it was barely any of that sourdough characteristic. In fact, it tasted borderline white sliced bread! >_< I mean, this is San Francisco, you would think their sourdough would be “better”! Anyway, these are just slices of bread so moving on…

Dish #1 was the Meat Lover’s Special which has a “Ham Steak, bacon (3), breakfast sausage (3), two eggs and toast”. For an additional $1.50, the breakfast sausages were switched for two links of chicken apple sausage. The eggs were ordered sunny side up and the only “flaw” would be the fact it was slightly overcooked, i.e., part of the egg yolk was “hard” already. The ham was a bit salty but I guess that’s expected. As for the sausage: Well, I thought it had a bit too much earthy taste. Again, depending on how you like yours… Finally, the one part that disappointed from that dish: the bacon. From the looks, you could say it was quite well cooked which, by itself, it is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem was that it was extremely salty! C’mon people, do you have to make it so salty?!

For dish #2, we went to the other end of the spectrum: we ended up ordering a dish that, in a way, I thought didn’t necessarily fit the dive type description of the restaurant considering the ingredients included. Here, their Sailor’s Hash – “Seasoned hash browns topped with eggs scrambled in garlic butter, shrimp, Dungeness crab, jalapeño and bacon. Covered with cheese, scampi shrimp, smoked salmon“. Yup, you read it right: It has salmon, it has shrimp, it has Dungeness crab!

And, I will have to admit that dish was as promised: the flower salmon, the shrimp and some strands of crab. The hash was actually quite good and the egg/cheese combination provided a nice, hearty (not to mention artery clogging) breakfast. However, the part that would, in theory, make it sound out made me have mixed feelings: The salmon provided some contrast but the shrimp and, more importantly, the crab wasn’t really noticeable. In fact, if I were eating it blindfolded, I won’t have noticed it!

At this point, one would say TSCS delivers what it promises. And, I will have to admit that’s true. However, there is one major factor that would prevent me from consider it as an option next time I am in San Francisco: Price. See, for the location, I wasn’t expecting to be paying $10+ for these dishes! (Though willing to give them some allowances considering it is in the Tenderloin). OK, probably the Sailor’s Hash considering the ingredients used but, then again, this is a dive! OK, let’s assume I would be willing to fork the $$$. If that’s the case, I still won’t return. Why being so harsh? That’s because, on our last day in San Francisco, we went to a place that I thought was way superior to this and at the same/lower price… As a result, no coming back for me.

Update: And here is Sherman’s post of Taylor Street Coffee Shop!

Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe
3292 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

Following the trend from yesterday’s post, I met with Anita after my long road trip to do some catch up. However, this time, instead of dinner, it was for brunch. Her request was something like a pancake or waffle; however, that would have almost automatically meant something sweet. But, then again, I am not a sweets person so I had to find a compromise. Granted, we could have gone to IHOP or Denny’s and me end up ordering an omelette. No, I wanted something different. That’s why I decided to drive to Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe for pannekoeks. Sure, they are neither pancake nor waffle but, hey, it is “close enough”!

However, there was another reason why I chose this place: while a pannekoek is similar to a pancake, i.e., sweet, it can also be savoury. In other words, there will be something for me as well! When we arrived by noon, it was a bit packed already but we managed to find a two seater in the far back. After going back and forth in the menu, we ended up ordering…

Anita went for their banana version, which also has some cinnamon. I had a piece and I will have to admit it wasn’t that bad, i.e., it wasn’t as sweet as it could have been. The banana was cooked through and, as a result, somewhat soft and even sweeter than what you would normally find naturally. Was it good? I won’t deny it wasn’t; however, I would consider doing an Elvis instead.

As for myself, I went for the #26, aka, Boeren Pannekoek or “farmer’s” Pannekoek. It contains ham, bacon, smoke sausage, hash brown, two fried eggs and Hollandaise sauce on top of a plain pannekoek. For the meaty portion, I will make reference below, as they were ordered as side as well. For the rest, actually they were quite decent but not extraordinary. But, it provided a contrast to the pannekoek, which I will call “good” in that sense. The oddity, though, was the Hollandaise. It wasn’t that creamy, rich or buttery. Instead, it tasted like… Chicken broth? Won’t make too much fuzz about it, again, it is just a side sauce.

As mentioned above, a side of bacon, ham and sausage was ordered. Now, why would I order it again? Well, it was because it was Anita who ordered it, probably to contrast the sweetness of her pannekoek. As for the meast, well, one thing for certain: they were sliced thin and nothing out of the extraordinary. In addition, I went the opposite way, i.e., order something “sweet” in the form of a side of fruits. It is regular fruits, not much to say about.

Overall, it was OK. I don’t think it blew my mind off but it was decent for what it is. Of course, that brings a better question: how does it compare to De Dutch? I will have to say this place is better, though not necessarily by much. However, there are some enticing points, specifically that of different savoury options. In the end, not necessarily a place I am in a hurry to come back but good to know what they have to offer.

Renaissance Cafe
1746 Pacific Ave
Tacoma, WA

Back when I was in University, I never had to go through one of those stereotypical late night assignments ending at wee hours of the day and, as a result, the next morning going around for a substantial breakfast. (That does not apply even if you change it to a night out drink). Let’s just say I have my own way on having things done but there was one thing I did have with a certain frequency: After finishing class past 11:00 p.m. (yup, call it crazy!), I went to a mini-mart where they made some killer Cuban sandwich. Alas, last time I checked that place was gone (then again, it has been eons ago). So, when I was in Tacoma, on my last day, I wanted to check some local spots where students would frequent (University of Washington at Tacoma was a couple of blocks away from the hotel) for the same purpose and that’s how I ended up going to Renaissance Cafe. Now, not late night eats but early ones instead.

Upon walking in, you could tell the place had certain character, as in this is not your run off the mill breakfast spot. Instead, I will have to say there was certain charm in it. Not sure if it was due to the owner either (as he was quite involved with the customers). If I were back in my University years, I could envision myself sipping some tea… Fortunately (?), while my University years were good to me, I also had my share of bad experiences and I am not certain they are some I am willing to go back and re-live.

As for the food, given it was breakfast time, I ended up going for exactly that. For the most part, everything looked like something you could get anywhere, until I laid my eyes on something that made me smirk: The Chicken and the Egg – Unable to resolve the age old question of which came first, Philosophers find solace in knowing that here at least neither came first. They come at the same time in a uniquely delicious scramble. Now, the name of dish wasn’t particularly attractive but the story behind it: so, in your opinion, which one was first, chicken or the egg? (Technically is the chicken but we can argue some other time). So, rather than answer that, how about throwing the two of them together!

Alas, while the concept was interesting, the end result was a bit strange. The first thing I noticed was the lack of seasoning. It desperately needed something – I ended up adding some hot sauce and that worked really well. The other detail I would have preferred was the type of chicken: in this case, it seems it was using what appears to be chicken breast. While that might be something most people prefer, that is not my case, as I am more of a dark meat person. Again, the hot sauce partially salvaged the situation.

I am not necessarily a toast person and I am sure some people will look at those toast and wonder what happened. Yes, they were toasted to almost burnt but, actually, it had an almost perfect texture. Add some butter and the jam… Ah, nothing beats something this simple.

So, sure, the food wasn’t the greatest but, then again, I can envision me coming here not necessarily for the food but for something else that can’t be described. And, given the location and its possible target public (students, as well as customers visiting the nearby location attractions), I can’t help imagining other customers dropping by. So, it is a case where charm beats food…

To those who do not know yet, last Friday was   the opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. During the next two weeks, in addition to my regular food/restaurant blog posts, I will try to do photo essays of the city, specially of the Downtown Vancouver/Yaletown area and probably some of the other installations across town. Sorry, no Cypress or Whistler… I mean, you can watch the sport events themselves in TV and news you might not necessarily see the rest that Vancouver has to offer. And that brings the topic of this post…

In the last week or so, I have been receiving emails asking for suggestions on places to eat, things they have to try, restaurant they should visit and so on. And it goes all ways, some for cheap, something they should spare no expense and so on. The commonality of the request is the Downtown/Yaletown area of town. I tried my best answering those emails but, as explained in my response, in my opinion, Yaletown is full of expensive restaurants where the focus is not always in good food. Instead, I suggested expand a little bit more. Based on the couple of emails I have replied, I thought I should compile what I have written and put it in a post.

Update: The topic of price gouging has popped up in the comments section. I thought I should include some links here, as a caveat emptor for out of town customers. I love Vancouver but despise that restaurant owners is taking advantage of the Olympics to obtain additional revenues.

• An article in The Globe and Mail from Alexandra Gill, the newspaper’s food critic.
• A site maintaining a naughty or nice list of restaurants.
• An article (and video) from CTV.

Now, although I am an auditor by trade, at one time, I was also a network admin. One of the things you “learn” in this field is the concept of laziness. Specifically, if you had to put the effort on doing something, make it good enough so it can be reused at a later time. What this has to do with this post? Well, I could start with some suggestions already provided by fellow food bloggers.

Melody Fury (of Gourmet Fury) has been asking us Vancouver local food bloggers for suggestions on different best eats and has compiled as series of posts for Serious Eats.

Top 10 Grab and Go
Top 10 Ethnic Specialties
Top 10 Breakfast and Lunch
Top 10 Dessert Destinations
Top 10 Sips and Bites
Top 10 of City’s Best

Likewise, Michelle (of Cheap Eats 2010), has written some posts on restaurants in the area as well.

It is possible I will repeating some of those suggestions so bare with me, OK?

One more thing before we continue…! Depending on your accommodations or if you will be renting a car, the best way to move around town will be public transit. There are people who say the local transit system sucks but, believe me, it is not as bad as it sounds. Putting politics aside, if you know you will be travelling around, I highly suggest you get a Faresaver booklet, if not a 2010 Game Transit Pass (specially if you will be for a long period of time in town – I should have purchased one myself! >_< ). If you are only in Vancouver, a one zone pass/ticket will work fine. If you will be going to North/West Vancouver, Burnaby or Richmond, you will need a two zone pass/ticket (and some of the suggestions are not in Downtown Vancouver!). So, without further ado…

Things/Food types you should try:

• Poutine: If there is a Canadian dish in some straigh sense of the word, I think this should be it. This fries plus cheese curds plus gravy concoction might sound gross but, believe me, it tastes better than it sounds.
• Timbits: If you are Canadian, feel free to skip this one, you know what to expect. For non-Canadians, it is not the fact you should try these donut holes. Rather is that you should go there, order a double double and a pack of 20 timbits. Don’t ask, just do it.
• Seafood: Pacific Northwest is known for seafood so, if you can, give it a try. From Ocean Wise program down to Fish and Chips, you should be able to find something.
• Dim sum: I am skeptical about this but will take it anyway: Traveller’s magazine Conde Nast said Vancouver has the best Chinese food in the world. While dim sum served here is more on the Cantonese style (more often than not, with some flare and, to quote fellow blogger Sherman “more modern”), it is a good starting point. Aside from the usual pork and shrimp dumplings check if they have xiao long bao.
• Sushi: Similar to what is being said about Chinese food, it is also said that, outside of Japan, Vancouver has really good sushi. Once, again, I have doubts about this. Sure, a lot of sushi places; the problem is that there are a lot of run off the mill, mass produced sushi ones and the task is to separate the good ones from the bad ones without blowing a hole in your pocket.
• Izakaya: This is one of the current trends in Vancouver. Though the concept is similar to that of a small bar serving snacks, it has turned around into establishment serving both food and alcohol, often with more emphasis on food.
• Beers and wines: Despite what Stephen Colbert says about us Canadians being (maple) syrup suckers, not much maple syrup is produced in here in BC. However, there are microbreweries and local wineries. After all, the Okanagan Valley is sometimes referred to the Napa of the North. If you are a wine enthusiast, try the ice wine produced here in BC. On that note, if you are looking for wines, make sure they have VQA stamp (Vintners Quality Alliance), the entity that regulates wines in Canada.

Having said all that, the question now is, given that much time, which places should you go? This list is long and, despite some of them I have not visited myself, I trust the opinion given by fellow bloggers and I think it is worth mentioning (even on instances I have visited myself!). Of course, since budget is always an issue, I will add notes to indicate how cheap/expensive that place might be. So, without further ado and in no specific order, places you might want to visit if you are in the Downtown/Yaletown/Gastown area of Vancouver…

• Market by Jean-Georges: My blog post here. A celebrity chef restaurant in the Shangri-La hotel in Downtown Vancouver. If the Prix Fixe Olympic menu is too high ($95), you can always try lunch ($29).
• Le Crocodile: While not as “celebrity” as the previous one, if you want to splurge in classic French restaurant, this might be the place. Just check what Jessica (of Yum-o-Rama), Gigi (of Ho Yummy) and ET and Christina (of Doesn’t Tazte Like Chicken) have to say!
• Guu: One of the best known izakaya in Vancouver, it is better to go in a small group to be able to share several dishes. Out of their locations, I have visited the one in Gastown but, as for the other ones, you can check Gigi’s thoughts on its Thurlow location and Sherman’s (of Sherman’s Food Adventures) thoughts of its Robson location.
• Kingyo: Another izakaya. I have been there for lunch and, while good, for the better stuff, you should go for dinner. The same principle as Guu applies here: It is better to go in a small party. For thoughts about their afterhours fare, check Mijune’s thoughts.
• Hapa Izakaya: Out of all the izakaya, I have the feeling this is the most westernized. It is not that it is bad but it is not that good. However, I am aware some people like it. Just ask Victoria (of Victoria’s Food Secrets)!

I think I can keep on and on about izakaya but I think I can defer the other izakaya places to Melody, who did a crawl of such places… Brave girl I must say.

• Cactus Club Cafe: One of the many local chain restaurants where one of selling points is the view of girls in skimpy dresses. However, unlike other similar restaurants (which shall be left unnamed), the food here is actually good. Though the dishes are expensive on the expensive side, some of them are worth it. Check specially those “inspired” by Rob Feenie, a local celebrity chef.
• La Belle Patate: I mentioned poutine at the very beginning and it is something you can find in pretty much any restaurant that serves french fries. However, for a more “authentic” version, go to this place. Although I blogged about it, I think Mijune did a better job by actually doing a vlog! Check it here.
• Japadog, The DogFather and DougieDog: If you want hot dog, these are the places to go. Pretty much every blogger has written about Japadog and, for the most part, they liked it. As for the other two places, check my posts here and here.
• Raincity Grill: They have something for every budget, from $10 fish and chip lunch (from their take out window, my post here), to brunches (Victoria’s thoughts) to fine dining dinner (and Sherman’s thoughts).
• Provence Marinaside: I was asked a couple of times about brunch and, in addition of Raincity Grill, this is another suggestion. I haven’t been there myself by I will defer thoughts to, once again, Victoria and Sherman.
• Cafe Medina and Chambar: Located next to each other, the former offers breakfast and brunch (also well known for its waffles) while the later offers late night. I don’t like either one for personal reasons but I am sure there are people who will appreciate them, like Jessica (for Cafe Medina) and Joyce (of Vanfoodies, for Chambar)
• Ganache Patisserie: If you are up for sweets, this is one of the best locations in the Downtown area. Just ask Elaine (of Parker Pages)!
• The Irish Heather: I have only been to their Long Table Series, a dinner in a communal table, which requires reservation (sometimes there are cancellations so you might as well give them a last minute call). If you can score one, you can get a meal for cheap with beer for ~$15! I organized a food bloggers gathering there in the past (check here, with links to other bloggers posts) and Mijune (of Follow Me Foodie) did a “tw-EAT-up“.
• Kirin: A couple of weeks ago, traveller magazine Conde Nast Traveler wrote Vancouver has the best Chinese food in the world. I have issues with that statement but, still, if you are in Downtown Vancouver and want Chinese, specifically, dim sum, this might be the best place to go (though it did not really “wow” me – feel free to call it different standards). For different thoughts, check with Jenny (of My Secret Eden), hehehehe.
• Joe Fortes: Pretentious, over-rehearsed service and expensive, this is one of the best known seafood restaurants in Downtown. I did not necessarily like it but I am sure it has its crowd.
• H-Mart: OK, this is not the name of a restaurant but the name of a Korean supermarket. However, their food court serves quite good (and cheap!) Korean and Japanese food. Check Degan’s (of Ethnic Eats) thoughts about this place.
• Update! In addition to H-Mart, in the same block, there are a couple of small restaurants that might be worth for you to visit, specially if you are looking for cheap eats. They include GyuDonYa (soon to be open, as of Feb 14th), Kushi Box (just opened, thoughts from Gigi, here!), Beard Papa’s and Viet Sub (thoughts from Tana of Cheap Appetite, here)

By no means this list is inclusive – there are a lot of other good eats and trying to list them all will take me forever. Furthermore, Downtown Vancouver is not necessarily the best place for good eats. If you are willing to go around town (accessible by transit), here are some places you might want to consider:

• Vij’s/Rangoli: I haven’t been myself but it is said to be one of the best Indian food in town (modernized, thouhg). Since Vij’s does not take reservations, there seems to be always a line and despite being considered fine dining, Rangoli’s might be the backup plan (they have the same owners). Some thoughts of Vij’s by fellow blogger Jenny and Sherman.
• Thomas Haas: A lot of people believe the best pastries in Vancouver are done in either Ganache Patisserie (mentioned above) or Thomas Haas (and some people squeeze Kreation Artisan Cake in that mix as well, check Mijune’s post). In addition to me, Mijune believes it is good as well! (Note, they have two locations, one in Vancouver West Side and another in North Vancouver).
• DB Bistro Moderne: Another celebrity chef “run” restaurant located in Vancouver West Side. I haven’t been there myself but you can check Sherman’s post, here. It is not cheap so you might want to check also for some deals from Let’s Go for Dinner.
• Salade de Fruits Cafe: A French restaurant located in the Centre Culturel Francophone de Vancouver (remember, Canada is bilingual!). Overall decent prices and, as for the food itself, here are Polly’s (of Deeelish!) thoughts.
• Commercial Drive: Once again, not a restaurant per se but an area of Vancouver. If you are taking Skytrain, get off at Broadway Skytrain station and walk north (the direction of the mountains). There, you can find several type of restaurants, from African (Harambe, my thoughts here), Pastries (Fratelli Bakery, Jessica’s comments here), sandwiches (La Grotta del Formaggio, you can get cheese here, as well! Sherman’s thoughts about their sandwiches here) or even Salvadorean (Rinconcito Salvadoreño, my thoughts here). This is a really multi-cultural neighbourhood and chances are you will find something that will fit your bill.
• Three Lions Cafe: If you are British, this might be the place for you to go. And fellow blogger Tre (of Noshwell) seems to agree (check here)!
• Granville Island: Similar to Commercial Drive, Granville Island is an area but, this time, a market. When you have a market, good eats are expected; however, one of the bests in the area is Go Fish (as the name suggests, fish and chips). Check Sherman’s thoughts.
• Shanghai River and Shanghai Wonderful: If you are in Richmond (say, for the O Zone for skating events), these might be good places for Chinese. Notice the Shanghai part of the name; that means, if you are there for dim sum, you must order xiao long bao (a soup filled dumplings). For thoughts about Shanghai River, Mijune wrote three different posts (check here with appropriate links to the other two) and, for Shanghai Wonderful, check Jessica’s thoughts here.
• Yaohan Centre and Aberdeen Mall: Two malls located in Richmond, next to Aberdeen Skytrain Station, again, not that far from the O Zone. I am certain that most of you think “food court food sucks”. While that is true for the most part, these are not any food court. Instead, these are mostly Asian style; think a hawker centre.
• Main Street: For the third time, another area, rather than a specific restaurant. Similar to Commercial Drive, mentioned previously, you can find a bit of everything, from Chinese (dim sum) with Sun Sui Wah (though, a lot of bloggers, including the Foodosophy team, believe it has declined), Hawker’s Delight (for really cheap eats, once again, Foodosophy team’s thoughts) and some bagels rom Solly’s Bakery (again, thoughts from the Noshwell team, this time, Case)
• Chinatown: Vancouver’s Chinatown is one of the largest historical Chinatowns. Just east of BC place, it might look run down to some people (not surprising, considering that it is next to the infamous Vancouver Downtown Eastside). If you choose to venture, really good eats can be found in Phnom Penh (go for their chicken wings and butter beef, as per Foodosophy team’s suggestion)

I will have to abruptly stop here because there are still a lot of places to check/visit. For example, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, etc. If I kept on going, I wouldn’t finish writing this until after the Olympics! So, instead, just give these places a try. Or, if you find an interesting one you want to share, let me know!

Fraser Park Restaurant
4663 Byrne Road
Burnaby, BC

A lot of times, accessibility to a restaurant is an issue. If it is near main roads or near transit, chances are people will go there rather than a place located in the middle of nowhere – literally. One day, I was running some errands in Market Crossing, a mall in South Burnaby, almost New Westminster when hunger stroke. Sure, there is White Spot and some other restaurants but they weren’t that inspiring. That’s when I remember a post from Karl (of The Friday Lunch) of a cafe nearby: Fraser Park Restaurant.

Now nearby might be a somewhat wacky description: It was ~1Km away from Market Crossing in a sort of industrial area, basically middle of nowhere. That brings the question: what the hell is a restaurant doing there? I guess if there is a need, there will be business. The oddity was that, on the day I went, most of the patrons could easily be one those you could find in any restaurant in Metro Vancouver. Interesting…

After queueing up to make my order, I encounter one issue. All the tables were taken, including several sits in a semi-communal table.Oh, well, that means sitting outside which have the advantage of having natural light (with the caveat it might be cold). Fortunately, one sit opened and decided to stay inside. Although lightning would be an issue, at least, there was music inside; that lunch in the form of a live band (amateur band?). And now that brings the food…

The restaurant has a mix of breakfast items (pancakes? french toast?) and some sandwiches. However, knowing the German background of this restaurant, I went for something on that side of the world: schnitzels. OK, this is not 100% German but close enough for me. And the one item that had schnitzel is their sandwich which includes an option of salad or soup.

The soup ended up being beans, corn and tomato. Wacky combination but it worked! It was savoury had a savoury start but then the sweetness of the corn kicked in. The beans served as a filler and, at the same time, thickened the soup. The tomato provided a slight hint of acidity that rounded up the soup. To a certain extent, I finished to soup first and almost forgot I was there for the schnitzel! And that brings…

The sandwich itself. There were two pieces of breaded pork cutlet and some lettuce and tomato to go along. The cutlet was crispy, though slightly dry. Now, it wasn’t necessarily bad because it is a thin piece of meat, cooked well, after all. What matters is that it kept some of that pork goodness taste.

While the cutlet was good, the other parts could have been better. The lettuce was barely noticeable, almost a token for greens. Something similar with the tomato. The bread was soft and generic; the fact it was oily outside was, well, unnecessary. Still, these faults did not hamper the main part of the sandwich.

During the meal, the chef walked out and started to play with the band, something I thought was funny in its own way. More importantly was the customers. As mentioned above, they could be from almost anywhere from town but is the fact they take this trip just to have some breakfast and lunch (Fraser Park is only open until 2:00 p.m.) means something. And, from that perspective, I am good with it. Would I come back? If it wasn’t because it is in the middle of nowhere, I would for breakfast…

OK, here is something I am not afraid of admiting: I used to like to eat breakfast sandwiches in McDonald’s. Specifically, I liked the folded egg with sausage in a biscuit (just in case – the American definition of biscuit). However, they phased that one in favour of the Egg McMuffin. Not that it is not good, I just preferred the other version. In a way, it was a good thing, as ever since, I stopped going and started to prepare breakfast myself. Enter Tim Hortons Breakfast Sandwich. For the most part, it was almost example the same as that breakfast sandwich I used to like; however, because I changed my diet, rather than jumping directly to have it every single day, I would have it once in a while, specially when I am in Vancouver International prior to a flight. Since comparing a discontinued product (or, at least, not available here, as far as I could see) is unfair, I thought it would be a good thing. That is… Until Tim Hortons released their new breakfast sandwich: instead of using a biscuit, it was made of an English muffin. So I couldn’t help it… The battle of Breakfast Sandwiches… (And borrowing that line from Iron Chef:) Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

I am no food stylists, nor I will try to make it look as good as shown in ads!

Tim Hortons Breakfast Sandwich with Sausage in English Muffin	McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin with Egg sandwich
CDN $1.99 (current promo)/CDN $2.59	CDN $2.49
410 calories	440 calories
Options: no sausage (the basic version), or bacon	Options: You can pretty much add whatever you want in the menu to it

The initial challenge was to find a place where there will be a Tim Hortons and a McDonald’s side by side. That place ended up being the Save-On-Foods in Metrotown. However, I still had to drive home which meant, by the time I got home, there will be a compromise on what will be consumed. So, caveat emptor!

I will start off with Tim Hortons. The muffin was lightly toasted and was cut to order. Now, there was a funny incident when I was ordering it: they were about to run out! It seems they underestimated the demand for this sandwich! Now, I am not sure how you guys like yours but, in my case, I prefer it chewy to the initial bite and this one accomplished it. The egg was obviously pre-cooked but, somehow, I like it. Probably because it has an almost soft tofu/custard texture. Now, it had some strange, almost un-egg non-egg taste to it and couldn’t really pinpoint what it was… The sausage had a really light pork taste, which was a good thing because it did not conflicted with the egg, despite that odd flavour I mentioned.

Of course, since the actual “cooking” in McDonald’s is behind the scenes, I can’t tell if the muffin were just cut. However, one thing is pretty evident: it is almost charred. I am not sure if this works for me. Toast, yes; muffin… only slightly toasted. The notable item of the McMuffin would be the egg: You can at least tell it came from an egg! Now, what I wonder is the size of the egg, though, as it barely covered the whole sandwich and it was almost flat; unlike the ones I have had in the past where it was slightly “higher”. The sausage was seared and had a stronger meat taste than that of Timmy’s. However, it was also a good thing because the egg in this sandwich by itself wasn’t as flavourful.

At this point, some might argue: But, wait, you can’t do a straight comparison because of the way the eggs are cooked! Well, actually… I remember a couple of weeks ago when Raidar (of Eating is the Hard Part) in a post made reference to a beast of sandwich in McDonald’s: Basically, you can request to add anything to a sandwich. So, if you wanted to, you can take a Quarter Pounder as a base, add a grilled chicken breast, a fried chicken breast, the fish filet (of the filet-o-fish) and so on. In this case, I asked to have a sausage McMuffin with the folded egg…

In this case, it was an epic fail. It was far from the folded egg/omelette I used to love couple of years ago. It did not have that custard texture. In fact, it tasted almost like an overdone fried egg.

So, is there one that is better than the other? Well, if it was for me, I think I will go for Timmy’s. I know that cracked egg from the McMuffin is better but it is that custardy texture that won me. However, if nutrition is an issue, either version sans bacon or sausage are good options.

Three Lions Cafe
1 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

If you have noticed the trend of the posts this week, there was that chance that it would have been Asian after Asian after Asian post. While I could have (I have a post in the queue for Honolulu Cafe), I would rather switch and shuffle them around before anybody “complains”, hehehe. Again, during the end year break, I did something I seldom have the chance to do: go out for breakfast. I normally eat breakfast at home but this day, I woke up “late”. After going through the usual routine , it was already 10:00 a.m., which is way past my normal breakfast time and way too early for lunch. And while I have no particular love for brunch, I guess, by that time of the day, there is not much you can do (other than starve until lunchtime). While I could have gone anywhere open (keyword here: open!), I wanted something more particular. That was the reason I went to The Three Lions Cafe.

Located exactly where Broadway switch from East/West, the area where The Three Lions Cafe is located is interesting for the lack of a better word. It is in a process of gentrification (for good or for bad), if you cross the street, you can see differences. Not “colorful” as Downtown Eastside, not too quiet as the suburbs, but it has its own quirks. Not a place I would necessarily like to live but the question now is whether a place I would go for a bite.

Now, here is the reason I was interested in driving to this area (which, although centric, has its own quirks, parking being one of them): It is an English pub. As I have mentioned in several previous instances, I have a really low alcohol tolerance so chances I won’t go there by myself after hours (not even to watch a football game). Even if I go in a group, I might not be as merry as others. However, for the food, now, that is a different story. And, at around 11:00 a.m., there was one thing I should have ordered… An English Breakfast. But, before that…

I was offered this as an amuse-bouche. I must mention that, at that moment, I haven’t produced my camera yet (though me carrying it in my bag could have given hints) and the waiter had another similar plate whom he gave to another customer. So, I do not think it was an attempt to sway me. But, as for the amuse-bouche itself, I was just told it was a “bread”. Of course, it amused me (no pun intended) a little bit, as it is not a single bite item but a regular piece of bread. It could have been complimentary bread and I won’t have noticed any difference. That was until I tore a piece. It had a crumbly texture, in lines of a biscuit and had an interesting lemon-y hint. I thought I saw some herbs in it, which, unfortunately, I couldn’t tell exactly which one it was. A departure of the regular bread and an appreciated token.

As for drinks, I went for Earl Grey. Of course, being an English pub, I would expect some particularities when ordering tea. From an ordering perspective, I thought they should have included a slice of lemon. But, oh, well… As for myself, I drink the tea straight – no sugar, lemon, cream, milk, etc. However, I do appreciate the orange-y hint of Earl Grey.

Oh, yeah, this is their Traditional English Breakfast! According to their menu, it has Lincolnshire sausage, Wiltshire bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, two eggs, hash browns and toast. For the egg, I initially thought of sunny-side up but then changed my mind to poached. As for the toast, I asked for brown.

Starting with the beans, since they aren’t really focused in the previous picture, it is quite similar to your canned pork-n-beans I used to eat while growing up. However, unlike those from a can, or at least those sold in Panama, it had a slightly sweeter taste than what I am used to and more tomato taste. The consistency, though, not that different. I must mention I am biased here as I like to eat these no problem at all. And just to the left of it, the Wiltshire bacon. To me, it looks like a thinly slice of back bacon so I am not sure if I missed anything from their description. Taste-wise… Well, almost the same as back bacon! So not much to talk about.

As mentioned, I asked the eggs to be poached. I will have to say they did quite a good job here: The egg yolk was still soft, while the white was hardened a bit. When I pierced it over the bread, the yellow gooey yolk started to ooze out. The mushroom gave some savoury tones but, otherwise, it was there as a token. The potatoes were good, though I am not sure if I would call it a hash – home fries, may be. In the case of the potatoes, it had a slight crunchy exterior, not oily in any way, followed by the soft starchy goodness of it. While I could see the salt crystals, I would have preferred it to be more seasoned with herbs or something similar.

And then, the sausage and the tomato. I won’t comment much about the tomato, given it is not in season, but the fact it was grilled took away some of its raw taste and sweetened it a little bit. As for the sausage… Well, I did not find any highlights to it. While I could “feel” some pork chunkiness in the sausage, I did not find it was seasoned enough. Sure, I could taste some slight herby/peppery tones but I had to concentrate a bit too much to “taste” it. Of course, there is also another possible reason: see the grill marks? Assuming it was grilled from the very get go, it wasn’t really exposed to as much fat as other cooking methods (not that the sausage did not have fat to begin with). Since fat == flavour… On that note, I noticed that the overall dish did not have a pool of fat after I finished!

I will have to mention that I did run into one disappointment that I did not notice until halfway through the meal. If you have checked their site on-line you will easily notice what/why: where is the black pudding? When I made my order, I am sure I mentioned “black pudding” but, somehow, that got lost. As a result, I wasn’t able to taste that “unique” dish. But, that shouldn’t be that much of an issue because, while some of the parts were under-seasoned, I quite liked what was produced and chances are I will come back. Heck, I could/want to eat this every morning! Oh, wait, probably not, unless I can scheduled quad-bypass every other week… ^_^;;

Hello, New Jersey! Yes, my business trip required me to travel to the US again, this time to its Garden State: New Jersey (EWR being the code of Newark Liberty International Airport). Since I am flying to the East Coast, there are your usual caveats: If you want to arrive “early” (as in late-afternoon, early night), you have to leave early from Vancouver. In my case, I usually try to catch the flights between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. In a way, that is a semi-sweet spot: It allows me to sleep almost normal hours and, depending on the destination, by the time I hit the hotel, it is dinner time.

Since I was at the airport at around 6:15 a.m. and the security check queue wasn’t that bad, I had plenty of time. In the past (depending on the gate), I would end up going to Tim Horton’s and get their breakfast sandwich. However, this time, I was in a different area – the “new” wing and it had a new assortment of food options. The bad? Too early and they weren’t open yet… So, I back traced and the one that caught my attention was Legends, aka, White Spot. Too early for burgers but, at least, it gives me the chance to finally try their breakfast!

OK, let me take that back. There wasn’t a full menu, something that can be expected given this is the airport, where you might not see that many customers. That is fine, provided what you produce is something good. With that in mind, I ordered the BC Sunny: Crispy bacon, melted Canadian cheddar, red ripe tomato on top of a fresh fried egg with our famous Triple “O” sauce on our toasted signature bun. Served with hashbrowns.

I must admit I had a mental gap. Instead of the hashbrowns (which looks more like home fries), I should have gone for fruits. Oh, well… Anyway, the sandwich itself was meh. The bun – basically the same burger bun – didn’t have that toasted feel it could have had; but, in addition to that, it had an odd texture, as if it had a bit too much air in it and too fluffy. That might work fine in a burger but I wasn’t eating a burger! I felt it would have been better had they used almost any other type of bread (Except probably white sliced bread). Not going to over emphasize on this small detail. As for the rest, there wasn’t even anything remotely that wanted to stand out. Then again, how much should I expect for a $7 breakfast? Oh, wait, Timmy’s breakfast sandwich is below $5. Darn!

After I arrived to New Jersey, I had to drive to the hotel. My final destination was somewhere near Interstate 287 and Highway 22. One big caveat: If we ever end up in the same car and I am the one driving, panic!!! While I have a decent sense of direction while standing on my two feet, when I am in a vehicle, forget about it. Of course, in the dark, driving on unknown roads at over 60 Km/h does not really help things. In my case, I got lost just after I left EWR and ended up driving circles in Newark and the nearby industrial areas. If it wasn’t for my iPhone GPS, I am not sure if I would have arrived to the hotel! Anyway, I got there eventually had my dinner (which will be the topic of the second post today) and to bed it was…

When I am on business trips, I usually ask my client if they have a preferred hotel. I was given several ones and the rest was left up to me. The one I ended up picking was based on location (not that it matter that much, there were several hotels in the area), cost (since I staying for a long period of time, $10 difference starts to add up!) and… breakfast! Don’t get me wrong, I did not make this one as a key criteria but, since I did not know the area, and to travel to my customer’s site required me to go through highways, I played safe and made sure I had something to start the day. As for the food itself, I am grateful they had options like hot oatmeal (plain), fruits (which might be stretching it as some fruits were bad) and yoghurt. They had hot items like sausages and scrambled eggs but, boy, they were nasty! It is one of those cases that in the name of cheapness, I wished there was a Bon’s Off nearby… No, I did not take picture of that because there was a decent amount of people in the mornings and it was an open area.

Now, to my last day… On my flight back from Newark to Vancouver, something similar happened: I arrived relatively early and had the opportunity to eat something before boarding. Once past security check, choices were limited to a stand and… TGI Friday’s. How “low” I have to fall for a meal… Again, breakfast it was and, out of the four breakfast options, I chose this:

A “Western omelette sandwich”: Ham, onions, green peppers and Cheddar cheese folded with two eggs, folded into bread and served with hash browns. To drink I asked for tea but, to no avail: they don’t serve that. I ended up ordering orange “juice” which tasted more like orange coloured flavoured water. No, it wasn’t Tropicana or Oasis… As for the sandwich, c’mon, white sliced bread? I ended up separating the sandwich into its components, i.e., bread on one side, the omelette on the other side. There was nothing spectacular with that omelette instead, too many criticism points. For instance, thinly sliced black forest as ham? I guess that would be functional but…

In the end, breakfast during this trip was a major disappointment. However, I shouldn’t be complaining as, in some cases, they were “free”. So, as it is said, you indeed get what you paid for…

Because I have a small queue of posts thanks to this trip, there will be two posts per day this week to “clear” it. For the second post, come back to check by noon!