Of course, every year Dine Out comes around, I have to visit new restaurants.
Again, I really highly recommend trying it out. There’s a price point for everyone (this year’s menus has $20, $30, and $40 price points), and there’s 288 restaurants to choose from. If you’ve got any time these two weeks, or if you’ve been wanting to meet up with a friend, you should definitely make a reservation.
Hey all,
If you’re a Vancouverite, you’ll realize that when you’re looking for somewhere to grab at bite past 11PM, things get a little iffy. When I moved back from Hong Kong, I was creeped out by how early everything closed. I thought I might make a post to point out a few places I’ve personally been to when I get late night cravings! They’re in no particular order but are 24 hours.
1. Duffin’s Donuts
Location: East Van
Hours: 24 hours
Despite their name, they serve a lot more than just donuts! You can get anything from shaved ice, fried chicken, vietnamese subs, tamales and more! They operate much like a fast food joint, so you can pick up your food and go, or you can stay and take a seat to finish off your food.
2. No. 9 Restaurant
Location: Richmond
Hours: 24 hours
photo credits: http://shermansfoodadventures.com
No. 9 is famous in Richmond for being the place to go after your late night happenings to grab some food. If you’re into asian food, this is probably the perfect place for you. It’s a part of Lansdowne Mall, but has their own entrance since it is 24 hours. They have fried rice, noodles, chicken wings, asian desserts, soups, etc. Basically, anything you’d expect to find in a Chinese diner. Everything here just tastes better at night!
3. Lucy’s Eastside Diner
Location: East Van
Hours: 24 Hours
Lucy’s has an amazing breakfast menu. In fact, even if I go there for lunch, I get a breakfast option. They serve shakes, burgers (they have a burger challenge you can try your hand at!), eggs any way you like it, and basically anything else traditional diners serve. You can also spike your shake with a bit of alcohol 😉
4. Breka – Bakery and Cafe
Location: East Van, Downtown (x2)
Hours: 24 hours
Photo credits: yelp
I have only ever been to the Breka on Fraser and the one on Robson, but I know there’s a third location near Davie street. Breka serves cakes, bread, sandwiches and wraps. Of course, they also have a selection of crafted drinks, and occasionally has soup. This cafe is great for late night studying (but during finals seasons, don’t expect to find a table here), but also if you just wanted a place to sip on a drink while having late night convos with friends. If you manage to grab a seat, it’s pretty cosy and nice! Free wifi.
5. Pho Extreme Xe Lua Restaurant
Location: on Broadway
Hours: 24 hours
Photo credits: http://www.shermansfoodadventures.com
If you wanted a late night bowl of Pho, look no further. There’s a few other 24 hour pho places in Vancouver, but Xe Lua is close to more modes of transport (Canada line, busses), and is in a more popular part of town. When I came here, I ordered vermicelli, which came sprinkled with peanuts. I apologized for not having notified them of my allergy, and they were more than alright with making me a new bowl 🙂
6. Waves Coffee & Blenz (Richards street, downtown)
Location: Downtown
Hours: 24 Hours
Photo credit: Vancouver School Bus Charters
Waves was my favourite place to study (not really in school anymore since I’m technically working)! Bigger chains are less likely to kick you out of the cafe, even after you’ve been there for more than six hours. I once had a barista there ask me if I stayed overnight because I was there the night before before she ended her shift, and I came back the next morning to study again. So when she clocked in, she saw me in the corner again and couldn’t help but ask. It’s mostly a regular cafe with a few sandwiches and desserts. Waves is always bright at night, which is perfect for studying (many coffee shops are dim, and makes me sleepy). And the big bonus here is that if Waves is full, across the street is Blenz—also 24 hours. I just prefer Waves in general. Free wifi in both places, except Blenz makes you re-connect every hour or two.
Last but not least—a myriad of fast food places:
– McDonalds (Main & Terminal, Knight and 57th are the only ones I’ve been to)
– Denny’s (Your regular diner food, except overly greasy. But I mean, no one cares at 4AM)
– Church’s Chicken (The branches that are 24 hours may not have seating. So you’ll have to drive thru!)
Siegel’s Bagels is also 24 hours and I’ve always wanted to go, but it’s too out of reach for me, especially when it gets late. I’m not even going to recommend Calhoun’s because it’s always packed with students, given its proximity to UBC, but by all means, I really liked their sausage roll!
This list is not exhaustive, but I still wish there were more 24 hour options in Vancouver. Or even just later night in general. But I guess as a culture, the city decides to shut down earlier, and everyone has kind of revolved around that. And in Hong Kong, there’s a culture of keeping things opened later? Anywho, happy late night food hunting!
– Karen
Hey Vancouverites,
If you don’t live in Vancouver, this post may not be very useful to you. But I mean, if you’re going to come by for a visit, keep reading!
Yesterday my friend and I met for dinner at this wonderful little place.
There are no signs hinting at the fact that this isn’t an abandoned, sketchy alley of some sort. As you can see, I was quite hesitant to go down the stairs since I still couldn’t actually see the restaurant itself at this point.
Adjusting to the darkness inside from the gorgeous sunny day I had just ditched in favour of this this place, I was blind. I heard someone say “Hello there!” to me inside, and I responded with “Hi… I have a friend at the patio?” She told me to go straight then turn left. I did that, following the light from the back of the dark bar area I was in. Turning left, I realized I had entered an abandoned parking lot. Very confused.
But then I saw that to my right there was a little closed off area! And then I finally found my friend.
The Narrow Lounge is a neat little secret. Their decor is very unique, and their indoors and outdoors space gives off very different vibes. You can order beer by the buckets, or have they whip up a nice cocktail for you! Their food was also very good. I was starving by the time I got here and I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with potato wedges. My friend had the chicken taco (“Everything about these tacos tastes so right.”). If you’re looking for a new, neat place to eat, I’d definitely recommend at least going to The Narrow Lounge at least once!
Later on, maybe due to my complaints of being very full, my friend suggested we walked to the cinemas instead. Since the lounge was located near Main and Terminal, it meant we could have a lovely walk around False Creek to get downtown. I think it was that walk that suddenly made me think about how gorgeous Vancouver is. Walking by Science World also brought back memories to when my parents got a family pass for us when I was about 7 years old. I want to go back so bad. I don’t care that most of the things in there are designed for younger kids. I want to play with all the neat sciencey contraptions!
– Karen
Hey everyone,
So not sure if any of you Vancouverites checked out the kickoff event at Granville Island for Dine Out Vancouver 2014, but it was interesting. I mainly went because my friend and I were going out for lunch anyway, so we just decided to meet at Granville Island instead so we could catch a glimpse of the thing.
The kickoff event was basically FREE SOUP!
The sketchy sign leading me to free soup
They invited 50 chefs to come in and contribute an ingredient for the soup, ending with 50 different ingredients. However, upon closer inspection of the sigh, the 50 ingredients sometimes were quite similar to another one on the list.
I took seconds, since the line had died down a while later. The soup was interesting in taste. It had a tang to it, but there was plenty of stuff to munch on in my cup since they had so many ingredients. I distinctly tasted chorizo, but the other ingredients got lost and muddled together in taste.
While waiting in line, we were serenaded with some live music. I thought this was a neat little event to start off Dine Out!
If you’re in Vancouver, I’d seriously suggest doing Dine Out while it’s happening! It goes on till February 2nd. Restaurants that you otherwise may never think to go into is offering a set menu (well, limited choices anyway) for a fixed price. So you could be dining at Cloud 9, and instead of paying the usual $40 for an entree, you can get a 3 course meal for $28!
The starters at Whet
Entrees!
I went to Whet on Granville Island last Thursday for Dine Out, and will be going to Hapa Izakaya. When my friends and I chose Whet, we were hesitant. The menu looked so darn good, but their reviews said they had pretty bad service. We took the risk and the dinner and service turned out to be a-ok. I was surprisingly full after the meal!
– Karen
Hey everyone!
If you live in Vancouver, and have a Facebook, you may have seen an increase in pictures of food appearing on your Facebook Feed. I sure did, and it is making me crave all the delicious plates of food my friends post up!
A lot of these pictures came from friends who did Dine Out Vancouver, a festival that encourages people to go and eat at the many amazing restaurants around Vancouver. What is so great about having this festival in Vancouver is that our city is the home to many different cultures and ethnicities, which can be reflected in the food we serve. If you look through the list of participating restaurants, you are bound to find at least one you will want to visit!
Dine Out offers set menus at different restaurants, all for a fixed price of either $18, $28 or $38 depending on the restaurant. The set menu still offers a bit of flexibility, as they usually have two to three choices for each course of the meal. Reservations are easy, since you can simply do reservations online for most of the restaurants (though some require you to call them), but I highly suggest you book your reservation well in advance. We had some trouble securing a spot in the restaurants we had picked even though we tried making reservations four days in advance. This is understandable as they are busy, and the dates we wanted were all on weekends, which is when everyone else has time to eat out too.
A group of my friends and I went on the first day Dine Out was offered this year– January 18th. We decided to go to the Sandbar Seafood Restaurant located on Granville Island. We wanted seafood, and a menu that was not the most expensive, nor the least.
We all had a lot of trouble deciding what we wanted to eat, and our waitress patiently waited as we hemmed and hawed. I went with the salmon and shrimp salad for my appetizer, and the grilled salmon with rice for my main. I ended it off with a peach and apple crumble, served with gelato!
Overall, it was a good meal, and I enjoyed the ambiance of the Sandbar. It was not our first time there, since one of our mutual friends had her last birthday there, but with the set menu, it really does force you to try out something you would otherwise probably not have ordered! If I had to put a numerical rating on my meal, I’d give it a 7/10.
The menu
Warm bread that just kept coming!
My appetizer
My main course
The second time I went Dine Out this year, another one of my friend and I went to Ciao Bella Ristorante & Piano Bar down by Denman street. It was also a $28 menu restaurant, offering dishes with an Italian flair. I ordered the lobster bisque for my appetizer, grilled lamb chops for my main, and as my dessert, I got the tiramisu! My friend who went with me got their dessert of the day: zucchini chocolate cake. Props to her for being so brave and getting the zucchini cake. Turns out that you cannot taste the vegetable, but what it does is make the cake more moist! Overall rating: 7.5/10.
Lobster Bisque
The lamb main
Tiramisu
A chocolate cake with zucchini!?
So did you guys go try out a restaurant or two during Dine Out Vancouver? Let me know if you have any you recommend!
(Also, I am hopelessly trying to fit pictures onto WordPress, but I obviously am not doing it correctly! I want to place them side by side…is that too much to ask for!? Anyone know their way around positioning images on here? Much appreciated!)
-Karen
Karen K. Lee 