South American fusion-type tapas is how I would describe this type of restaurant. Sort of like Mexican food with a twist and more expensive. We actually drove by this place every morning for weeks in Gastown without ever really noticing it. You walk into a rather unassuming hallway and go up the steps to an open brick-lined space with a brightly polished copper-topped bar.
We tried two of their most popular dishes -the pulled duck tacos and the mexican prawns – both worthy tasters. As for the scallop ceviche – it was okay however I prefer the more traditional ceviche which has more of a kick. The cornbread was warm and moist.
The cocktail list is also latin-inspired with many tequila (of course) based cocktails which are apparently the cocktails of the moment. I had a paloma which is a grapefruit and tequila cocktail – somehow it didn’t really do it for me. I personally preferred my partner’s mojito which had lots of mint and wasn’t too sweet. The service was good and our waiter happened to be the sommelier of the place and suggested some fun wines to drink with dinner.
Make reservations because this place gets busy quickly. This would be a good place for a casual date or dinner with friends – in fact, there was a stagette party at one of the larger tables. Although the food was good, it is more upscale – meaning pricier and smaller portions – so be warned, don’t expect your typical mexican joint with heaps of tortilla chips, salsas and fajitas….
Cobre
Gastown, 52 Powell St, Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 699-2396
www.cobrerestaurant.com
Cost: $84 for 3 dishes plus cornbread, 2 cocktails and 2 glasses of wine
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Head over to Commercial drive if you need your fix of tasty vegetarian/vegan cuisine. Don’t expect a chic restaurant – this is more of a cafeteria-style affair with a dessert/bakery display case out front and a hot table with a lot of dishes that have an indian or asian bent to them with many lentil or rice-based dishes. The salads also look enticing piled high with wholesome goodness. I didn’t get to try it this time but the veggie burger is supposed to be one of the best and the pakora burger sounded interesting. There are also an array of appetizers and since we headed here after a less than stellar meal at Latin Quarter – we really only had room to try a few of them. The best were the pakoras and the tikki (a delicious patty of curried potatoes and veg – almost like a samosa patty with a thin crispy outer layer as opposed to the thick crust of a samosa). The chick pea samosa was somewhat dry filled with chickpeas and rice. Many of the samosas come in either a baked or fried version – so choose depending on your level of wholesome goodness that day – although fried is usually tastier.
If you feel like a treat instead – check out the piles of cookies – carob pecan, hemp sunflower, bee pollen chocolate chip (I made that one up although there is a bee pollen cookie) and the list goes on. In the dessert case, there are also many types of squares, halva bars and cakes. I tried the bliss ball which is a semi-hard ball of very sweet chocolatey goodness. Of course, all these desserts, are veggie/organic/whole wheat, etc. so many of them are on the drier side of things.
Many fresh juice concoctions are available or alternatively, you can get them to pull you an espresso. There is also self-service water with glasses at one end of the restaurant. Most of the tables are inside with a few tables out on the Drive. This is a self-service restaurant so go up to the counter, check out the food while you wait in line and when your food is ready – they call you up to come get it.
Sweet Cherubim Bakery and Restaurant
www.sweetcherubim.com
1105 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
Hours: 10am – 10pm Mon to Sat, 11am to 10pm Sunday – Note that although they close at 10pm after about 9:30pm all food is take-out as they close sharply at 10pm.
Email: info@sweetcherubim.com
Telephone: 604 253-0969 Fax: 604 630-7246
Cost: Most of the appetizers are $2-4, main dishes $5-10 and various desserts from $2-6. The menu is available on-line.
Would I go back: yes, although beans/lentils tend to make me gassy…
→ No CommentsTags: Commercial Drive·pakora·tikki·vegan
There is a reason why this spanish tapas place isn’t busy. The only good thing about this place was that you didn’t have to wait in line for a table by the window and the service was fast and friendly.
The food was overpriced and every dish we had (grilled eggplant and tomato, sausage flambe, latin quarter shrimp, and calamari) was disappointing. The seafood was not super fresh and overcooked, the eggplant was underdone and the sausage was overcooked. The best thing was that the sausage came to the table in a flaming pig. Mediocre food is okay for reasonable/cheap prices but the prices here are not even close to what the food is worth…
http://www.latinquarterrestaurant.ca/latinquarter/Welcome.html
1305 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC V5L
www.latinquarterrestaurant.ca
Cost: expensive for blah food
→ No CommentsTags: Commercial Drive·sangria·Tapas
Hit up this place at about 3pm today (Sunday) for some shade and nourishment while helping A move. It is your typical inexpensive strip-mall sushi place – with one exception: huge portions.
The service was ridiculously fast – we had all our food within about 7 minutes. It was pretty much break time for them, and the servers were about 16 years old, so I won’t comment on the service other than to say they were efficient.
The food? It was on par with Samurai sushi – except some of the rolls we had – the Alaska roll, the Awesome Roll, the Unagi Roll – were a bit heavy on the Japanese mayonnaise. The sashimi was ok – nothing special, although the portions were gigantic. I wish I could be more elaborate about the food, but there wasn’t anything here that was particularly amazing. You’ve all had those big slices of salmon sashimi that you have to chew through a bit and don’t have tons of flavour? That’s what they have here. You’ve had rolls with too much avocado and mayonnaise that have a sweet taste and are so fatty they almost slide down your throat? That’s what they have here. You’ve had unagi that is tasty from the teriyaki-style sauce and so fatty it’s almost too oily – just has that flavour that reminds you, “yes, this is eel that I’m eating”? That’s what their unagi is like. As for the starters, the gyoza were crispy enough, without lots of flavour – and the gomae was fine – it was cold, almost tasteless spinach in a sesame-miso sauce.
Nobody is going to come to Burnaby for strip-mall sushi looking to replicate Hiro Sushi, Sushi Kaji, or even Tojo’s, but if I was in the neighborhood, especially with friends, and had a serious hunger on for some fish, I wouldn’t hesitate to come here for a minute. It will be cheap, fast, and nobody will leave with an empty stomach.
Sushi Town (Burnaby)
5935 Hastings St, Burnaby, BC
Tel:(604) 294-6155
→ No CommentsTags: Asian·Burnaby·Japanese·Sushi·Sushi Town
Who knew that a French Bistro – and a busy one at that so make reservations – would end up in an unassuming corner of 15th and the Kingsway. Les Faux Bourgeois definitely met our expectations even with all the hype. Set in a retro 60s type of decor – think teak-like wood panelling and old-timey brass sconces with long benches – this East Van restaurant is buzzing. It was packed at 6:30pm on a Sunday and deservedly so.
The food is comfort french food – served in generous portions and at a reasonable price. We started with appetizers of the Mt Pleasant picnic (plate of charcuterie), tarte flambee alsacienne (think french-style pizza but more interesting), and the pate de campagne. We shared the 3 appetizers among 4 people but really we could have shared just one. In particular, the charcuterie plate ad the pate de campagne were quite large. The tarte flambee alsacienne was much smaller although piled high with deliciousness caramelized onions and meat. As for mains, in order of preference, the lamb cheeks with apricot and couscous (tender chunks of lamb topped with apricot and served with couscous), steak frites (hangar steak done appropriately rare with a pile of fries and a side of aioli), pork tenderloin with spicy sausage and mashed potatoes (the daily special which basically sold out by 7pm) and finally the duck confit with potatoes ( the duck was tender enough but I felt the whole thing was underseasoned). We would have tried dessert but we were too full.
There is a reasonable wine list with several wines by the glass and many bottles in the $30-50 range. Several beers are also available on tap and by the bottle. If you want to try a french aperitif that we like – get a glass of Lillet blanc on the rocks garnished with orange is a nice way to start off the meal.
Service was excellent. It is refreshing to be offered table water right off the bat rather than always being upsold to sparkling or bottled watter. Water glasses were replenished often and the bread basket was kept full the entire meal. Food arrived at the table promptly – this is a restaurant that knows how to turn over tables.
Les Faux Bourgeois
www.lesfauxbourgeois.com
663 15th Avenue East
Vancouver BC
V5T 2R6
tel:604.873.9733
Cost: reasonable – $150 for dinner for 4 with 3 appetizers, 4 mains and 3 drinks
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Sunday night, late – Just been in Halifax all weekend and needed some food with flavour to give my screaming tastebuds some satisfaction.
This place is new, just opened. It’s 9:15 – we call, they say they usually close around 10 but would be happy to seat us if we show up. We’re there by 9:30 – and the place is pretty empty except for a few wine-drinkers at the bar. We sit by the large, airy open window (love it) and review the menus.
There are a few interesting wines on the menu, and certainly everything on the food menu at least looks interesting. We order a glass of the Jan Kris Estate 2003 Shiraz ($8) and a Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2007 Gewurztraminer ($6) – both recommended by the waitress who obviously knows something about wine, and these are both great choices and reasonably priced given the going rates and the quality of these wines.
For food, we order a few tapas plates – things that sound so full of flavour I’ll be back to normalcy – food with fresh herbs, oils, char, vegetables that don’t have the word ‘root’ ever used in front of them – we start with the Avocado and mango salad on baby arugula, spiced pepitas and sweet onion, toasted cumin vinaigrette, and fried panella cheese ($9) – a nice, light starter that is perfect to share. A few leaves, in a light vinaigrette with nibbles of interesting grilled cheese to cut up and share between the two of us.
Next come the Chickpea fries, served with smoked paprika mayo ($7). D loves these – I just eat too many and get ‘oil belly’ – that slightly sick feeling after eating too much of something too oily – but damn they were tasty. I have no idea how they make these, but I take it that it involves chickpeas and oil to turn something usually not that palatable into a delicious, oily, decadent treat. Trust me – if you’re going to order these, just have one or two – this is one dish for sharing. Finally, the Qualicum Beach scallops on masa pancakes, with fresh cut guacamole and chive oil ($11) come out and they’re as good as can be expected. The little pancakes and guacamole make a nice accompaniment to the rather flavourless scallops. This is not a problem with Latitude’s chefs or kitchen, but rather the scallops themselves. I had just flown in from Halifax, and sorry folks, but west-coast scallops just don’t compare to those on the east coast. I had my fill of these little mollusks on the East Coast the day before and so it just wasn’t a competition. So, given the limitations of the local seafood, yes, this was a really tasty dish, that worked, was light, perfect to share with someone, and went nicely with the Gewurztraminer.
Service was very friendly, pleasant, efficient, and we were in and out of there – complete with tapas and wine in about an hour. Total bill was about $50 including tax and tip, and yes I’d go again – definitely with friends to enjoy some of the fun, light food and maybe a few more glasses of wine.
Latitude Restaurant
3250 Main Street, Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 875-6246
www.latitudeonmain.com
→ No CommentsTags: Latitude Restaurant·Main Street·Tapas·Vancouver·wine bar
Just a quick review: Out for lunch with about 10 co-workers, landed here at 12:05pm and was out, full, and happy by 12:55pm.
Banana Leaf is a local chain of Malaysian restaurants that does some truly delicious food – and this branch on Broadway is no exception.
We started the meal with Roti Canai ($5) – billed on the menu as “Flaky layered bread with curry dip, the Indian community’s greatest culinary contribution to Malaysia.” – the description doesn’t do the food justice. The roti is light, thin, soft bread (sort of like a tortilla, but delicious all on its own) that comes with a delicious red curry dipping sauce.
Someone else ordered the Vegetable Spring Rolls ($5) – billed as “Deep fried spring rolls filled with jicama roots, green bean, celery, cabbage & carrot.” While a bit larger and heavier than the nem ran that eaters at Vietnamese restaurants will be familiar with, these rolls have a delicate, crispy wrapping, and a mix of veggies inside that are full of flavour. Not much else to say – they’re spring rolls – fill them up, cook them well, and people will like them.
My main was the Char Kuey Teow – ordered ’spicy’ ($8) – Fried flat rice noodle in sweet soy sauce & chili with egg, bean sprout, shrimp, fish cake & squid. This dish (if you like fish) is one not to miss. wish perfectly-cooked soft flat rice noodles and squid, fish cake – very full of fishy flavour and spicy enough that I went through a few glasses of water in the short 10 minutes that it took to finish off this very large serving.
Service was extremely efficient, friendly, and fast. They had no problem splitting the bill up to about 10 credit cards, and it was overall a great experience. They tend to fill up fast at lunchtime, so if you’re going, it’s best to call ahead and make a reservation.
Banana Leaf (Broadway location)
820 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 731-6333
Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner
www.bananaleaf-vancouver.com
Tel: (604) 731-6333
→ No CommentsTags: Asian·Banana Leaf·Malaysian cuisine·Vancouver
