It's crazy to me that this trip was already 6 months ago now. Time flies. It's a good thing I write notes on my phone or else I would forget everything about what we did and ate on this trip. Side effects of turning geriatric I guess.
I'm still somewhat cautious when it comes to COVID, so in regards to travelling, I'm taking baby steps.
Vancouver seemed like the most obvious choice for my first trip, especially since I could see MH again! It was a short and sweet trip, but very much needed.
After a year and a half, it almost felt foreign to be on an airplane again. I missed this view so much!
When we landed, we grabbed our rental car and dropped off our luggage at MH's place. Unfortunately, MH just got called in for an emergency so we were on our own for the first few hours.
We were staying with MH in Kitsilano so lunch was relatively close by at Ramen Danbo. Ramen Danbo hails from Fukuoka and specializes in tonkotsu ramen. The restaurant is small and there was already a short line before they even opened! Thankfully we just made the cut and got two seats at the ramen counter.
LT and I both got their classic ramen ($10.95) and added a soft-boiled egg ($2.00). At Danbo, you can also customize your ramen: noodle thickness, firmness, thickness of broth, richness (amount of lard), and karadare (amount of umami spicy sauce). I opted for the thick noodles but went with all the default options for the rest.
I found the broth really flavourful. Rich, but not overly so. The chashu was also great. Thin but super tender and fatty. The eggs were perfectly jammy and would definitely recommend adding it to your bowl. I will say that the portion size is on the smaller side, but I think it was the perfect amount for lunch.
Next stop, dessert! I had been following La Bise Bakery on Instagram for a while and had pre-ordered some treats the day before. La Bise operates out of a commissary kitchen, only a few minutes away from Ramen Danbo.
I had ordered 3 doughnuts and 4 canelés. Flavours change from time to time, but I do notice there are a few mainstays. For doughnuts, I ordered Baileys chocolate, custard cream, and raspberry jam. For caneles, I got the passionfruit curd, traditional plain, salted caramel, and chocolate hazelnut.
The doughnuts were pillowy soft and dusted with a bit of granulated sugar. I tried the custard cream and they were very generous with the filling. Delicious! The canelé were nicely caramelized with a good crunchy outside, but I did find the interior to be a bit dense. I also liked how the toppings were piped all the way through and not just sitting on the top.
A short drive away, we decided to check out Granville Island. It had started raining at this point (boo!) but there was still a surprising amount of people out and about.
Cute wall art.
After checking out a few shops around the island, we headed to the public market next. The market can be a bit overwhelming, but in the best way possible.
The only item we picked up were these maple syrup glazed salmon nuggets from Longliner's Seafood. The salmon was a bit dry, but the flavour was sweet and smoky.
We left Granville Island shortly after and went to pick up MH since she was finished with work.
For dinner, we headed out to try Moltan Roll Bar + Sake, also in Kitsilano. It was a bit of a fail on my part since we didn't make reservations and they were fully booked for the night. I didn't really have a plan B so we decided to just order some takeout. We were quoted 20 minutes but it took closer to 45.
Our spread. I suffer from a condition called big eyes, small stomach.
Moltan has become known for their elaborate and over-the-top sashimi platters. We went for the deluxe sashimi ($50.00) which is the smallest of their three platters. It was honestly the perfect amount since it came with 3 pieces each of tuna, salmon, hamachi, sockeye, and amaebi. It also comes with a portion of spicy tuna sashimi which were cubed up and tossed in a spicy sauce. The fish was decently fresh and the slices were pretty thick. Only gripe was that the amaebi was a bit slimy.
From the aburi pressed sushi section, we chose the salmon oshi ($15.00) and the unagi sushi ($15.00). The salmon oshi was topped with spicy mayo, garlic mayo, and ikura while the unagi oshi was dressed with mayo, sesame oil, and garlic flakes. We found the rice was hard which meant the pieces fell apart quite easily. The flavour was okay but it was hard to get over the rice.
We also ordered the chirashi bomb roll ($12.00) with tuna, salmon, masago, tamago, shiso, cucumber, sesame oil, and spicy sauce. We didn't realize but it tasted quite similar to the spicy tuna sashimi since the same spicy sauce was used here.
You wouldn't think to order pasta at a sushi restaurant but I was intrigued! The creamy truffle tiger linguine ($18.00) is a cream base pasta with truffle paste, tiger prawns, baby scallops, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Really rich and creamy. A few bites was enough to satisfy.
We could have called it a night there but we decided to take a walk in the literal rain to Rain or Shine Ice Cream. We arrived at a good time since we managed to get a table and avoid the long line that came in after us. I chose one of their seasonal flavours which was breakfast in bed (kids scoop $3.75). JJ Bean espresso with a caramel swirl and caramelized white chocolate covered cinnamon toast crunch. I was a bit disappointed in this flavour because the cereal pieces were soggy and the texture was a bit icy. A good concept but it needed better execution.
And that concludes our first day in Vancouver!
- CT
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