Gotta Eat

When you're in Vancouver (visiting or otherwise), where are the must-eats you always go? A friend of mine is visiting and she asked me for some pointers from a local. I have my own list, but what's yours?

16 comments:

Naomi said...

If they have transportation, I highly recommend the Roadhouse Restaurant, which is just across from Shannon Falls, along the Sea-to-Sky. Fabulous drive up ('specially in a Boxster), good affordable food (breakfast until 3pm!), and then you can go wading in the stream at the bottom of the Falls afterward. I went last weekend, just to make sure I had some before leaving.

Ben said...

Awesome suggestions. What about "local favourites" that you can enjoy more often? My faves include really casual joints like

- The Keg (or Gotham's, if you wanna get fancy)
- Hon's Won-Ton (yeah, I dunno why)
- Anton's (huge amounts of pasta)
- Milestone's or Cactus Club (for regular fare)
- Sushi Garden (awesomest value sushi)
- Mui Garden (Malay curry beef brisket)
- Congee Noodle House (for their congee)
- Desert (falafels and latkas)
- Wrap Zone (haven't been for a while)
- India Oven (on 4th)
- Original Tandoori K King (yummy Indian)

Anything else? What are your faves?

S said...

Cloud Nine (revolving restaurant on the 42nd floor)
Empire Landmark Hotel & Conference Center
1400 Robson Street

This is my cheater-bum way of "showing people my town" =)

Kaide Sushi (best sushi option)
1375 Richard Street
http://kaidesushi.com/kaide/

Kettle of Fish (best backup plan)
900 Pacific Street, at Hornby
http://www.akettleoffish.com/kettle.html

Seasons in the Park
33rd Avenue at Cambie Street,
Queen Elizabeth Park
http://www.sequoiarestaurants.com/seasons_main.html

And if it's a very special friend/family, Lumiere.
http://www.lumiere.ca

There's the new Sequoia Grill at Ferguson Point in Stanley Park. I haven't been there yet, but it's owned by the same company that owns Seasons in the Park, so it can't be too bad. =)
http://www.sequoiarestaurants.com/sequoia_grill_main.html

-- S.

Naomi said...

Okay, you guys are all starting to go high-end there! So I'm back to lower the standard:

Martini's (Italian - *huge* portions) - 151 Broadway West, Vancouver, 604-873-0021

Raga Restaurant (Indian) - 1177 W Broadway, Vancouver, 604-733-1127

Zin! (contemporary, chic) - 1277 Robson, Vancouver, 604-408-1700

Tropika (on Cambie or on Robson; Malay)

Zefferelli's (Italian) - on Robson somewhere.

Ben said...

Thanks for all the suggestions, people; keep 'em comin'!

My friend specifically asked me about the local favourites that we'd go to regularly. She's travelling with her family, so I think I'll offer her some of the high-end faves you guys have chosen, but I'm (personally) more interested also in the favourites that I somehow missed out when I lived there. (When discussing this with another ex-Vancouverite, Non-Sense, she was rattling off names of places I hadn't even heard of. Clearly, I'm missing out!)

What about a favourite dim sum place? I used to like Miramar (Arbutus & 41st), but I guess nobody else did, and they closed down already. So where's good for dim sum now?

What about a decent Chinese restaurant (if they should so desire)? Korean fare? Anything else that's fabulous about Vancouver?

Anonymous said...

When I'm back home, I always make a stop off at Kiyo Sushi, a Japanese restaurant on Shell and Cambie in Richmond. It's my favourite Japanese restaurant because the food is great and the prices are reasonable. They're owned and operated by Japanese people and the chefs are definitely Japanese. I've seen a Japanese wedding reception held there as well, so it can't be all that bad. Ask Van and Simon.. they went there the last time they were back.

Anonymous said...

Here's a list of Japanese restaurants that I would
go to:
-Sushi house
(Kingsway, close to Edmonds burnaby - great sushi takeout)

-Kiyo Sushi
Yup... see above =)

-Seto Sushi
Close to landsdowne in richmond
(a little pricy tho.)

-Guu with Garlic
Japanese Tapas.... Robson & Bidwell

-Hapa Izakaya
More japanese Tapas - on Robson and Broughton


--

While richmond sushi may be the best all u can eat sushi that I've had, the quality is no where close to the better "regular" restaurants around town.

3m

S said...

NK:

Heh, we don't go out much regularly, but when we do, we tend to pull out all the stops =)

--------------------
Chinese:

Sun Sui Wah
http://www.sunsuiwah.com/e-about-1.html

Kirin Restaurant
http://www.kirinrestaurant.com/english/home.htm

Bo Kong (for the vegetarian friends)
http://www.vegdining.com/GetRest.cfm?rk=CAN-BC-RIC-BOKON

Fortune Restaurant (at Oakridge)

Shanghai Palace (8012 Granville St. at 70 Ave?)

Yes, we're boring. =)

--------------------
http://www.vancouveruserguide.com/neighborhoods/yaletown.html

I'm convinced that Yaletown is just one gigantasmic Food Court - high end, cheap eats, it's all there. You can take the little ferry thingie from Granville Island, but remember that they stop running at 8pm =) I usually get rabbit food from Hyrise Produce (1155 Pacific Blvd) where it's $1.00/100g. They have the freshest vegetables EVER. One of their small containers is about $6-7 depending on what you put in it; $8 if you get lots of heavy stuff like tomatoes or mashed potatoes, or you really pack it in.

Ce said...

I love:
Baci's (SW corner of Hastings & Boundary) - yum yum italian owned and operated restaurant. Entertainment coupon too!

I have to try:
La Regalade (2232 Marine Drive, W. Van) - supposedly the best value/price french restaurant in gvrd, with reasonable prices. Lots of reviews on the 'net if you search.

Ben said...

Sakae Japanese Restaurant 745 Thurlow St (@ Alberni) ... yummy sushi. it's a bit higher end in Vanc standards, but definitely worth it if you're used to SF sushi prices

Lumiere is on my list too for awesome French food

Ce said...

i meant SE corner of Hastings and Boundary

Ben said...

Oops, I should mention that above comment was received via IM; wasn't actually MY recommendations. I've not been to either Sakae or Lumiere.

Thoughts said...

Now that I'm back from Van...here are the places I like to go...and I'm sure I'm missing a whole lot.

1. Stepho's
2. Sushi Garden
3. Guu
4. Yoshuku-Ya
5. Sun Sui Wah
6. Landmark
7. Tropika
8. Lumiere
9. Don't know name (The Pho place on Main and 16th)
10. Ling Tao (I think - near Victoria and Kingsway)
11. Glowbal
12. Earls
13. Goldstone

There are many more but can't think of them right now.

Kevin Cheng said...

I don't go often enough so I forget all the new fancy places I've tried (some are not that expensive).

However, Guu is always good for non traditional Japanese. I like the Metrotown/Eaton Center dim sum place and go there most visits. I'm also a big fan of Pho Hoa which has branches as far down as Austin.

That's all I remember right now. For some reason, I love The Keg's sauteed mushrooms though their steaks are simply par. While I agree that Earl's etc are "everyday" kind of places - I feel that's close to recommending TGIFridays. There really are places that are worth going to that aren't any more expensive.

hougee said...

everything at guu is great.. but their kimchi fried rice is the best

and when you go to sun sui wah.. make sure you order that topioca/redbean desert with the "bolo bao" crust

check isami in bby for wicked sushi

subeez for wicked garlic fries

dv8 for burgers

check the spot right across from richmond public market for congee, cheung fen and chinese donuts... i swear they have the best congee ever... especially the ostrich congee

and of course cheesecake etc for the best cheesecake in the world :P

Ben said...

Just a sort of follow-up comment here: this particular post still gets a lot of visitors from random readers! Mostly, they are searching for the Top Gun Sushi Restaurant, looking for the location in New Westminster. I didn't know they had one over there, but I hope they're able to find what they're looking for!