The Mill Marine Bistro
1199 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

I might be overstating this but I try not to drink alcohol outside of home as the secondary effects hit me quite hard. In a way it is a gamble when you choose to go out for drinks and you have been booked all day for an event the following day… But, when you gather with friends to celebrate a wedding or to congratulate a couple who will be having a baby soon, you will take your chances. (But, just to be clear, I do NOT condone drinking and driving in any way. I knew I was going to be drinking that night so I chose to take transit). So, yes, it was such event and the chosen place was The Mill Marine Bistro in Coal Harbour.

Before I continue, I don’t particularly like this place for several reasons. However, we have been gathering here previously and people seemed to like it. So, in cases like this, who am I to argue? Besides, the last time we gathered together was before I started blogging and that gave me a reason to go. Now, while I do have a lot of things I did not like about The Mill, the view is not one of them (sorry for the partial double negative). How so? Well, it is right next to the seawall between Canada Place and Stanley Park with view to the mountains. Since it faces north, by the afternoon, the sun won’t hit you directly, yet there is still sunlight. To give you a “better” description, this is what you would see by 6:00 p.m. on mid/late September.

The Mill would be the red tents you see below, which are set when weather permits. The “nearby” green area is Stanley Park and the north shore mountains in the background.

We were originally scheduled to meet at around 5:30 p.m. In my case, my original plan was to be in the area (it was the same day I went to Cafe Medina) and do a silly test (a la Mythbuster confirm/busted): Is it really true there are more sushi spots than Starbucks in Vancouver? My perimeter was Burrard Street to the south-east, Burrard Inlet to the north-east, Denman to the north-west and Beach Avenue/Pacific Street to the south-west side. In other words: Vancouver West End. However, while walking about 1/3 of the area, I was starting to get tired so rather than force myself, I just went home for a break. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and arrived late. How late? How about a minute or two after the drinks and some food arrived at the table?

Pulled pork sandwich. Half of the sandwich was “cut” when this picture was taken.

“Original Mill Nachos” with guacamole and sour cream.

I only had nachos with the different toppings and I will have to say it is average at best. It felt it was cut flour tortilla in a pile with some melted cheese (which wasn’t really that noticeable) and then japaleño peppers, guacamole, sour cream and salsa drop on top of it. Tastewise it is as you would expect it: nothing wrong – heck, even something you can do at home – but nothing memorable either, except the price: $16 for the platter plus $4 for the guacamole and ~$1.50 for the sour cream for a grand total of ~$21 per platter. It would be “large” for one person; however, it would be “regular” if shared between two. In our case, for a party of seven we ended up ordering three of these plates. I did not taste the sandwich but, from what I was told, it was “good”. But, again, considering I make my own pulled pork… I did not take a picture of the pitcher – after all, a pitcher of beer looks about the same regardless of where you order it from. But, if memory serves me right, it was a pale ale. If that is true, I will have to say they were serving one with a really low alcohol content because I was able to drink about 2.5 pints yet still not feeling tipsy, whereas at home and eating a regular meal, I am done with a glass of wine or a single pint.

One thing I must admit about The Mill and it is the fact it is quite good for meeting other people, specially when the weather is “good”. Unlike enclosed places where it can be really noisy, this is open air. That, unfortunately, creates a really funny side effect: You will be “exposed” to whatever is outside. In this case, one of my friends “ran” into a spider silk thread and/or “felt” something going through his neck and so on. I am mostly used to things like that so it did not really bother me at all. But, of course, if the weather is “bad”, you would just go inside, though, we have always sat outside. But, on the note of being “exposed”, while we were there, we did meet an interesting “cast” of characters…

I am not sure if it was a stunt but it was funny nevertheless.

By around 8:30 p.m., one of those odd Vancouver issues started to be apparent: that of a no-fun city. While the concept of fun might be dependant on the person, I myself am not of the clubbing crowd. However, having some night life does not hurt anybody. The “problem” here is that they were starting to take down those umbrellas at that time. Sure, it was dark already and, short of a freaky rain, there was no reason not to take them down. It just felt it was a cue they were starting to prepare to close. I do understand there is the possibility of by-laws they are not allow to remain open until later, considering the nearby area is mostly residential, just that, well, it felt weird.

At this point, you might think, so far there is not wrong, right? Well, similar to Cafe Medina in yesterday’s post, not so, there were issues of its own, the main one being that of service. So, let me ask this: how long should it take to serve a glass of water? How about a pitcher of beer? In our case, every time we asked for something, it easily took over 10 minutes to arrive. I don’t think they were understaffed: while we were there, at least three different servers were taking care of us and I saw at least two or others outside overlooking a different area. I mean, this is no Chinese restaurant where it is understaffed and grumpy but sometimes oddly fast. From what I saw in the outdoor area, it was staffed accordingly. For the most part, if they were not interrupting us and provided things we needed promptly, I wouldn’t have had any issues. But, when we finally decided to settle, some of us were not necessarily happy we were slapped a 16% gratuity because our party was greater than six (though I must give kudos to the waitress who delivered the bill because she did mention the gratuity charge was already included in the bill). No, I personally do not mind paying tips, it is the fact that in this case, it did not feel they deserved it because of the time it took to delivery anything.

The other “issue” is that of price, something I seldom bring up. Earlier this year, I went with friend to Cactus Club and we ate a lot of food and had some drinks. On average, each one of us spent $35 but they were well spent $$$ as the food was quite good. Here, I do not think there was that much value as the bill for the seven and a half of us (the one and half being the to-be mother – of course, no alcohol for her) was ~$223 ($194 before gratuity charges). Now, one of our friends had to leave early and, as a result, his portion was slightlyt smaller than the rest of us. What does that mean? On average, it would be around $35 per person but never felt the food was at par to that of Cactus Club. Regardless, it is a good place to meet, just be prepared to bring $$$. And, to quote Sherman of Sherman’s Food Adventures, you might need to end up going to MickeyD’s for a filet-o-fish afterwards… Oh, one more thing. Just to prove I was not tipsy or outright drunk, I took these pictures after we went our ways. I doubt I would have been able to take these if I was in such condition… Enjoy!

I guess I am starting to make this into a trend, hehehehe. As part of the on-going summer (food-related) events in Vancouver, yesterday, I went to the Pacific National Exhibition for an event called CityTv’s Taste of the City. And what is this event? Organized by CityTV, one of the local television system, it is all about food, as the name suggests. In this case, over 20 restaurants would showcase some of their dishes and the samples would cost between $1 to $4.

I must admit I have some type of hesitation about these events, hesitation I mentioned when I blogged about EAT! Vancouver earlier this year. While at first $1 to $4 sounds cheap, it sort of depends on the portion it will be given to you, not to mention how much you would be able to eat anyway. Fortunately, unlike EAT! Vancouver, there are no food exhibitors (OK, actually there was one, but they were part of the organizing group) so no gong-show or long queues for free samples. However, that did not stop people from lining up some of the vendors.

Did I mention something about long queues to *one* tent/vendor?

Lots of people, alright!

Just like in EAT! Vancouver, rather than paying at the tents, you need to buy tickets. Here, $10 gives you 20 tickets. (You could also buy 10 tickets for $5). Unfortunately, that creates an odd problem: What if you just want to sample something that “costs” 8 tickets? What would you do with the remaining two tickets??? Hmmmmm….

Now all that aside, to the food! Here are the pictures of dishes I did not order but, instead, grabbed it from people walking by with their loot! ^_^

Tacos from Doña Cata, previously blogged here.

Some Indian food, not sure if this was from Maurya.

Tempura from Toyotomi. On the note of Japanese food, there was also Sushi Zero One.

Crab cakes and ahi tuna with caesar salad. Two of the best deals (4 and 5 tickets each). However, the lines for this stand was ridiculous so I skipped this one completely.

And, now, to the dishes I did order.

Hot dog from Big Dawgz. Actually, it was half a dog but they had tons of toppings. Unfortunately, being only half a dog, there was only that much you could put. In my case, I added some pepperoni, sautéed mushroom and cherry tomato. And, of course, mustard! The dog was not too different from what you would be able to get in a regular hot dog stand. Well, probably with the exception the first bite of the dog had a bit more bite but, otherwise, not that different. However, just like Japadog, toppings matter and in this case, the ones I added were quite good, if I can say so myself! ^_^ The shake, on the other hand, was a real winner. Unlike mango lassi from a lot of Indian restaurants, where the taste is quite homogeneous (regardless of which restaurant – here in Vancouver or in the US), here, it had a hint of acidity, which I considered quite good and interesting. Could it be they used real mangoes? Hmmmmmm…

Here is what I considered the best deal of the day, white spring salmon with cranberry coleslaw. This was for 8 tickets. As you see, it was not a small plate, it was almost a regular size serving in some restaurants. While the salmon was lighter than the regular salmon, it was still good (some lemon juice would have helped, though) and the coleslaw was tart while maintaining a bit of its crunchiness.

I also had some grilled steak with a salad (which has goat cheese), also for 8 tickets. However, obviously, it was not as a better deal as the salmon. It was just OK I will have to say. The goat cheese was quite good – creamy and pungent which balances with the salad. Hmmmmmmm….

Finally, some dessert in the form of Hazelnut ganache (3 tickets). Small portion but quite decent, nonetheless. The interesting part was the yellow-syrup: it was mango, which gave an interesting contrast between sweet, acidic and bitter. Yummmmm!

Finally, for one ticket, a small snack pack, here the “cran-blueberry” crunch.

Also, in the main stand there were cooking presentation from some of the restaurants with the presenters of the different CityTV’s local shows: Dawn Chubai, Riaz Meghji, Michel McDermott, Kyle Donaldson (from Breakfast Television and Lunch Television, the later two), Erica Sigurdson, Graham Clark and Paul Bae (from The List – absent, though, was Charlie Demers who was on a trip/gig out of town). Despite the bunch from The List were the comedians, the real act was that of Michelle and Kyle. Sorry, there are some lines I can’t repeat here (as this is supposed to be a PG site)! One thing that I should mention is that the local celebrities were quite approachable. In fact, a lot of people wanted autographs and pictures from them and they were more than happy to do so – A real class act.

Overall, I must say I enjoyed this event more than I thought I would, probably because one show was noticeably absent: the gong show. And, unlike EAT! Vancouver, there was no entry fee and the dishes here were better proportioned (and I am not talking about the ones I sample but the ones I observed). Unfortunately, have to wait for one year for next time… -_-;;;

Edit/Update: Jenny of My Secret Garden blogged about this event as well. Check it here.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, it was Canada Day. And, as expected, there were events related to this celebration across Metro Vancouver. In my case, I went to the “main” celebration location: Canada Place.

However… Instead going to Canada Place directly, I chose to go to Granville Island first. I have written about this place before (check here) and have an idea of what to expect. But why go to Granville Island first? No actual reason! ^_^;;;

One event that has been running this week is the International Jazz Festival. Oddly, it is “running” also in Downtown Vancouver, which I could go after work. But, alas, I haven’t had the chance…

While I was walking around, I noticed a small queue for sample fish. Since the queue was short… (It seems certain blogger’s impatience is starting to influence me), I managed to get a piece pretty soon.

The fish was halibut which, in my mind is a bland fish. The salsa was quite good, though.

However, that small piece was no lunch so, soon after, I went to the Granville Market to find something. In the end, I settled for fish and chips, specifically the one with the longest line. In this case, Celine’s Fish & Chip

My order: the sample platter, described as cod, fried oysters, breaded prawns & calamari with fries and onion rings. However, I found it disappointing: several items were listed as plural but it had only a piece (prawn and oyster). Oddly, I was given two pieces of fish… It wasn’t that good; however, what “killed” it was that thickness of the batter and everything being excessively oily. I guess because it was really busy took its toll.

Some busking (?) activities.

After that, I went to Canada Place. However, I had a small “accident”: on my way out, I stumbled and felt down. Nothing serious, just a small scratch on the knee. Ouch… Anyway, after waiting for over 10 minutes for the bus, I arrived at Canada Place.

This is the display from the Department of National Defence. The plushies are from the families of the DND members.

One thing you have to admit is that members of the military and enforcement, in this case, the RCMP, are quite “cheerful”, compared to my experience with the military forces from certain other countries south of Canada…

One of the several stages, this one in particular with Stanley Park in the background.

If there is something that describes Canada quite well is multi-culturalism. How about a band on stage with Indian and Irish dancers, somebody playing the fiddle? This is from a band called Delhi 2 Dublin.

Somebody will have to explain this to me: Why are these lemonades leave the lemon whole and use a syrup to prepare the “freshly squeezed” lemonade instead?

Hmmmmmm…. Corn on the cob!

I was still full from my lunch and, instead, went for something more “unique”. Here, maple taffee. Maple syrup never tasted soooo goooood! ^_^;;;

As mentioned yesterday, I am proud to be Canadian. However, I will deny almost anything when it comes to people like this…

I left way before the end of festivities, including a parade and the fireworks later that night. I was quite tired, specially considering I kept bumping into people (did I say it was packed?). But, regardless, it was fun! And tomorrow, back to the “normal” schedule. ^_^

About two weeks ago, I mentioned I would have limited Internet access for a week or so – Yes, I was travelling, again. When I arrived at my destination, I found out I did have access. Oh, well… So, I quickly removed that sticky post and the rest is history. Why do I bring this up?

In the past, I have blogged about the food eaten during my flights and this time won’t be any different. Almost, that is… The difference this time? Previously I have flown mostly Air Canada and United (which code share their flights). However, this time, my destination required me to fly Continental and they serve food… For free! (However, compared to Air Canada, their entertainment system sucks). So, here it is, the infamous airplane food…

Before I continue, I must mention I did not know they would serve food (for free!). Air Canada would usually sell sandwiches for a fee (usually $6 or $7). As a result, I had breakfast before my initial flight – something I usually do as most of my flights are relatively early in the morning. However, for my second leg, due to a really short overlay (barely 30 minutes), I did not have a chance to buy something to eat and had to rely on, sigh, airplane food… Anyway, I had the option between chicken sandwich and beef wrap and I chose the later. Along with the wrap, there was a salad and a brownie:

Before anybody says anything, yes, the salad looks horrible, no excuses. The wrap was hot (temperature-wise), to the point it could easily burn somebody. It had some leathery chunks, which I assume would be the beef. Otherwise, it was bland. As for the brownie, it had a strange moist texture, which makes me believe it a lot of odd chemicals must have been used. Not sure if it is a good or bad thing to mention that the best part of the meal was the can of pop/soda to wash it down (usually would have asked for ice water; however, the brownie left my mouth too dry for just a small glass).

Overall, the food was barely edible which reinforce the phrase “you get what you paid for”. Sure, it filled the tummy but that was about it. Oddly enough, in my return flight, I chose not to have dinner before my flight (due to time) and only pretzels were served. Hmmmmm…..

What? You are still here? Well, since you took the trouble (or using RSS)… Good things come to those who wait, hehehehe. In my post above, I did not mention *where* I went. So, here is a preview of the food at my destination, hehehehehe. Old readers might have a gist of where it was, if not, wait for tomorrow! ^_^

Yes, that’s a McDonald’s, or rather, a McCafé

Click on the picture above for a larger version – will open in a new window. For reference purposes, the coin on the top is a toonie, which has a 28mm diamter (around 1.10 inch).

See you tomorrow! ^_^

To all my Canadian readers (or anybody who has spent considerable time in Canada), there is nothing for you today – sorry about that, see you tomorrow…. ^_^;;; (Of course, you could still read it, just caveat emptor!). As for the rest of the world, my apologies. In the past, I have made references to Tim Hortons, but I did not elaborate. That’s because I made the (wrong) assumption everybody ought to know what Timmy is about. I guess I should have known… So, for today, an overview of this Canadian icon.

First, Timmy’s started as a Canadian coffee shop that also serves goodies, namely, donuts. It is named Tim Hortons (originally Tim Horton’s) because one of the original partners was hockey player Tim Horton. (The other partner is called Ron Joyce, funny enough, is/was a cop. Donuts? Cops? …) Of course, its menu has expanded to include lunch items and so. For example:

Chicken noodle soup with a chicken salad sandwich – it also comes with a drink.

Chili, with a country bun, a honey cruller donut and a cup of stepped tea. Yes, depending on the time of the day and location, you might be served in china rather than disposable containers!

And, then, there are breakfast items like:

Breakfast sandwich with sausage, hash brown and a cup of steeped tea.

As for its “original”, basic items:

Whole wheat bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

A dozen of donuts.

Now, while I drink coffee, I do not consider myself a coffee drinker so I will apologize for not snapping a picture of those. Now, I know it would be silly as you would only see the cup. However, there are two points I would like to make: (1) it is Timmy’s “core” business and (2) Timmy’s contribution to the English language. What? Yup, so, next time you hear the expression “double-double”, which means a coffee with two cream and two sugar, it originated from Timmy’s!

As for the food itself, well, comments go from bad, acceptable, good and so on, which is expected from almost any large chain. As for myself, again, I don’t drink much coffee, but, everytime I bring some goodies from Timmy’s to my colleagues, everybody seems to be happy about it.

So, this is my overview of Tim Hortons. Hopefully, now my non-Canadian readers will now also know what it is about. And, yes, if you find one, give it a try! (No, I am not being paid to say this!).

Ebi-Ten
4500 Kingsway
388 Robson Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

I seldom snack and, if I do, it tends to be either fruits I can find in my fridge or some cashews/peanuts I have hanging around. Of course, I can do this if I am at home. When I am outside and hunger strikes, almost anything is fair game! However, given the variety of restaurants/ethnic supermarkets here in Vancouver, why would you try to settle for something you can get every other day, almost any time? So, in this case, I took a big detour and stopped by Ebi-Ten.

Located near Vancouver Public Library main location in Robson, Ebi-Ten offers dishes most people associate with Japanese cuisine, like maki/rolls and, now, ramen. Although rolls can be eaten as a snack almost any time, I was not there for that.

If not maki/rolls or noddles, why would I then bothered to go all the way down there for? How about takoyaki?

What is takoyaki? I will just copy-n-paste from Wikipedia: Takoyaki (literally fried or baked octopus) is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings), originating from Osaka.

That purplish item is the octopus!

How was it? Fortunately, since it was made to order, I was still hot. It had a slight crunch outside but, once you go pass it, the texture changes to that of a fluffy batter. The okonomiyaki sauce made it sweet and the mayo gave it a creamy texture. Fortunately (or unfortunately), it was a bit too sweet for my liking.

Overall, it was good for a change. As for the other dishes in Ebi-Ten, I can’t say for certain. I have been there several times and, in every single one of them, I ordered takoyaki. YMMV? ^_^

A couple of months ago, I was in Baltimore due to work reasons… And, yes, as you can guess, I was there once again! Unlike my last visit, this time, I had a better idea of my surroundings and what would be my “walking distance” limit; so, that gave me a better opportunity to plan my meals. Just like last time, I will start with my breakfasts…

Unfortunately, breakfasts is not that much of a surprise. How so? The places I visited last time were blogged here and… I went to those places… Again… I have to admit it, in the morning, I had to rush to my customer’s place so there is not that much of an opportunity. So, here again, the places I went:

Au Bon Pain

Just like last time, I went for something light, either porridge (no pictures taken) or just some yoghurt and boiled eggs. Nothing extraordinary for breakfast but, let me assure you, the sandwiches there are killer!

Rosina Gourmet

On the days I wanted something “slightly heavier”, I came here, Rosina Gourmet. Again, their sandwiches are killer. Their breakfast sandwiches would be a notch up from MickeyD’s breakfast sandwiches but, alas, they aren’t that cheap…

Finally, on one of the nights, I stopped and grabbed a snack on my way back to the hotel. So, here is the basic question (to those of us in Canada): How does Tim Horton’s donuts compare to other donut shops? I had the ones from Krispy Kreme once and found it extremely heavy (not that the ones from Timmy’s are light either). So, how does Dunkin Donuts stand?

I was close to say a donut is a donut is a donut other than at the last moment I found it too sweet, to the point I couldn’t finish it. But, otherwise, it was similar to the ones in Timmy’s. Again, not a fan of donuts so I would rather not make a judgement here… ^_^

For a change, a post about snack…

English can be a really funny language. Nouns like crisps, pudding, et al, have different meanings depending on which side of the pond you are. Hmmmm….

I might have seen Raincoast Crisps in the past; the first time it actually caught my attention was in my trip to Kelowna. For some unknown reason, I did not purchase a pack while I was there; instead, when I saw them in a local shop, I did not hesitate to grab one (or two in this case! $6 each).

It was not until I looked closely at the box that I realized this was produced locally here in BC! As seen in the picture above, the company is Lesley Stowe Fine Food.

So how was it? The answer will be “depends”… Out of the two, the original one was… too basic (for the lack of a better word/phrase); however, the rosemary/raisin/pecan (RRP, for short here) was really good! While the original one did not have anything distinct, the RRP had an interesting balance of sweet and crunchy. In fact, they should have borrowed Pringle’s catchphrase: “Once you pop, you can’t stop”! Needless to say, I will get some more, though next time, I will try to get the other flavours, Cranberry Hazelnut and Fig and Olive. And, of course, rather than eating them straight, get some cheeses to go along! ^_^