Great Wall Mongolian BBQ
717 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
I have bashed at times the all-you-can-eat concept a little bit too much at times. You have to admit it: How much “quality” you can provide when you charge a fix price and there is almost no limit as to how much a diner can eat? OK, sure, hotel buffets charge an arm and a leg and the food can be quite good. But, then, they have mastered it to a certain extent. For the rest, it is a matter of balance things out: calculate based on the average case scenario (though leaning towards the worst case scenario) and hoping most of the customers won’t consume as much.
With that in mind, PO and I went one day to Great Wall Mongolian BBQ (name of the restaurant) for Mongolian BBQ (type of cuisine). The twist in this case is that you fill up a bowl with different meats, vegetables and noodles. Add some sauce and it is then cooked for you on a large griddle. What’s so funny about this? Because Mongolian BBQ (the cuisine), despite the pamphlet they provide explaining their cuisine, is neither Mongolian nor it is “BBQ”! Anyway, we were up for it…
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Tagged as:
BBQ,
Lunch,
Taiwanese,
Vancouver,
West End
White Tower
1359 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC
If you are looking for Greek food in Vancouver, you can pretty much go anywhere. Probably you might have favourites but, if you go around town, there will be one every dozen or so blocks. In the case of Downtown Vancouver, for most people, there is even a “default”: Stepho’s, a restaurant that, in a way, has mastered the art of generating enough volume of customers to make it possible for them to lower there prices to an almost ridiculous level – to an extent that people are willing to queue up just for a plate of Greek food. But, then again, there is Takis Taverna a couple of doors from Stepho’s. If you move to Denman, there is Olympia Pizza and Pasta and Maria’s Taverna. After walking so many times in Robson, I thought there might not be any… That was until a day, PO and I were looking for something quick in the area and we ended up going to a place I believe has been there forever: White Tower.
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Tagged as:
Chicken,
Downtown,
Greek,
Italian,
Lunch,
Pasta,
Vancouver,
West End
The Dish
1068 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
There are times when we “lament” restaurants do not do homestyle cooking. But, then again, why should it? I mean, if you can cook it at home, chances are, you might not want to get it in a restaurant! However, that is assuming you belong to that culture… For us Chinese, it is the issue of where you were born (or your parents were born) but, overall, you can find Cantonese and more recently Shanghai, Taiwan and Beijing. Some regions… Well, that might be more difficult. But, how about Western style home cooking? Given that “meat-and-potatoes” stereotype, I guess it would be “easier” to tackle that concept. And that’s more or less what is served at The Dish (plus, given we are in Vancouver, the concept of being “good” food).
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Tagged as:
Lunch,
Vancouver,
West End
Checkers Bar & Grill
1755 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
OK, OK, the World Cup is over but I still have posts in the queue from those days… Sorry? ^_^;;; So, similar to my posts to Fogg N’ Suds and Dover Arms Pub, PO and I chose to go to pubs to watch the games – except that day there was no game. Despite that, PO was fine to visit a pub just for kicks (or drinks). At first, we were planning to go to some pubs in English Bay but, guess what? When we arrived, despite it had a sandwich board outside and the doors weren’t locked, there was absolutely nobody there! We took a peek around and there was absolutely nobody. So, without further hesitation, we just turned around and look for the closest pub and, among the several ones, we ended up going to Checkers Bar & Grill.
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Tagged as:
pub,
Sandwich,
West End
Donair Dude
1172 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
Last week, I wrote this tweet:
Just noticed/realized something: There are a lot of shawarma shops open/opening soon in the West End! Boom of Middle Eastern food?
Years ago, when I was living in the West End, I remember only a handful of such Middle Eastern eateries. There was Falafel King (with a second location in Davie) and Mediterranean Grill. Now, there are a couple of Babylon Cafe locations, Donair King, Sammy’s Hot Wing (which, could fall into the category of being there a long time as well), etc. etc. So, when FOODgrl wrote about yet-another such shops – Donair Dude – I was wondering… Was there anything that would make them stand out from the rest? Yes there was…
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Tagged as:
Lunch,
Middle Eastern,
Vancouver,
West End
Dover Arms Pub
961 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC
Following my post on Wednesday on Fogg N’ Suds, on another day, PO and I were out for lunch and, once again, we chose to go to a place were you could watch the football games. Of course, in the West End, that translated into a pub. Instead of going to a place in Robson, we chose to Denman and that resulted in Dover Arms Pub, an English theme restaurant/pub. With such a large exterior location, I can’t help wonder myself why it has taken me so long to visit it!
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Tagged as:
Lunch,
Pork,
pub,
Vancouver,
West End
Fogg N’ Suds
10720 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC
1323 Robson Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC
Unless you are living under the rock, or probably an American or Canadian without any too much connection outside of North-America, the Football World Cup is currently going on in South Africa. Yes, football, as in that sports that you actually use your feet to kick a ball 90% of the time, unlike *ahem* American football. Go ahead, we can have a discussion about naming conventions and what not but, unlike, NBA, NFL, MLB or even NHL, where the “championship” is local (read: North-American minus Mexico), the FIFA World Cup is a global event. It is a simple sport and, if you want to play, you only need a team and some open space. Hell, at times you can even “improvise” a ball and some sticks to mark the goal. Rules are quite simple and, unlike the before mentioned sports, what is called on the field sticks. No instant replay, no fancy technology. (Sorry, England, you got your Wimbley Goal 30+ years ago…).
Now, putting all those issues aside, given the time difference and, in part due broadcasting, one of the games were scheduled around noon our time, which means going for lunch to watch the game! Going to a fancy type restaurant for lunch to watch a game sounds a really bad idea so, instead, PO and I went to more adequate places to watch the football games: a pub. In this case, we went to Fogg N’ Suds, located in the same block as Hon’s in Robson. In fact, it is right in front of Dea Bak Bon Ga on the second story!
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Tagged as:
Burgers,
Downtown,
pub,
Vancouver,
West End
