SNAPSHOTS | YVR 2021 | DAY 4

Our last day in Vancouver was going to be short and sweet since we were flying home in the afternoon. Since it was a Sunday, our first plan of action was to grab brunch! As we made our way down W 4th Ave, it was funny to see two kinds of people: those waiting in line for spin class, and those in line for brunch. 

Our brunch destination was Jam Cafe, a popular Vancouver staple that originated in Victoria. Long lines are a common sight, but we came early enough that we got seated right away at one of their communal tables.

Portions are known to be generous so I went for a half serving of their pork belly benny ($16.00). This was a thick cut of fried pork belly served on an English muffin with red onion jam, a poached egg, house hollandaise, chives, and chimichurri. The pork belly was well-seasoned, with a nice crust and rendered skin. It was super rich and fatty so I'm glad I only went with the half portion.

All bennies come with a side of fruit, shredded hashbrowns, and a roasted tomato. Love the hashbrowns here! They're griddled to a perfect crisp.

 

LT went safe (ie. boring) and chose the old town breakfast ($17.00). Two eggs any style, with hashbrowns, toast, and your choice of meat. She chose the sausage which actually came out in patty form. I'm assuming this means the sausage is made in-house. No complaints, just everything executed really well.

 

 

MH chose one of their sweet options, the apple cinnamon waffle ($18.50) with sauteed apples, cinnamon, and maple butter. It also comes with a side of fruit salad. It looked amazing and I stand by the opinion that waffles > pancakes. Change my mind. 

 

 

After we finished eating, we walked down the block over to Their There. A very hip and cool coffee shop. We were greeted with a short line that snakes through the retail portion of their shop.

 

Their There offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches alongside their coffee/tea menu, but I was here for one thing, and one thing only. Doughnuts! They serve two different kinds: mochi doughnuts and crullers.

I'm kicking myself for not trying a mochi doughnut as well, but I went for their breakfast pancake cruller ($3.75). Maple bacon glaze, a pat of vanilla buttercream, and maple flakes. The cruller was light and airy, but the flavour was quite subtle. I do think I prefer the crullers from Rosewood Foods more.

I believe this was a cereal milk macchiato, one of their feature drinks that LT ordered. Super strong and bitter. Couldn't really taste the cereal milk. Then again, I'm not a coffee drinker so I'm not sensitive to flavour notes and the like.

 

One last stop before heading to the airport. Back at Beaucoup Bakery. I really needed more of their pastries in my life. I bought a box full of their croissants and scrolls to take home. Plus a chocolate chip cookie for good measure. Their cookie is a bit too crispy for my liking (I prefer crispy and chewy) but still good.

 

Obviously we were still stuffed, but we needed to take advantage of my lounge credits at the airport. At YVR, we were entitled to a meal at Stanley Park Taphouse. We just got two appetizers to nibble on. Boneless chicken bites ($14.99) in honey garlic and their avocado dip & chips ($12.99). Meh. Nothing special. The chips came in such a massive pile that they felt never ending. Perhaps we would feel different if we weren't so full.

8 months later (lol)... that concludes our trip to Vancouver! Our next vacation can't come soon enough! 

 

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | YVR 2021 | DAY 3

Our last full day in Vancouver was pretty jam-packed. When you're in the city for only a few days, every second counts. And despite it being rainy all day, it was probably my favourite, food-wise. 

 

The day started with a trip to Beaucoup Bakery for a coffee and pastry. I've always wanted to visit this place but it's always been out of the way. Although it's close to two major hubs, Kitsilano and South Granville, there's not much else surrounding it. 

 

The shop is quite small and narrow but there are so many goodies lined up in their display. Pastries galore! Croissants, scones, scrolls, cookies, and tarts.  

 

We shared a ham and cheese scroll ($6.00), a gargantuan pastry with ham and gruyere cheese rolled in croissant dough. Have you seen anything more beautiful? They brush the scroll with a bit of maple syrup after it's baked, so there's a slight sweetness to balance the savoury ingredients. The outside layers are crispy and flaky, but as you work yourself towards the center of the round, the dough becomes soft and cheesy. Almost like a cinnamon roll where the center is the best part. So good!

 

After a short trip, we found ourselves in line at Saku. Saku is a Japanese tonkatsu restaurant situated on Robson Street. It's a very popular spot so we made sure to get there right when they opened. To make things as efficient as possible, they took our order in line. That meant our food was pretty much ready as soon as we were seated.

 

 

I ordered the ebi hotate katsu ($22.50) which comes with three jumbo prawns and two scallops. The breading was flaky and light with the most satisfying crunch. My only gripe was that the breading slid off the scallops pretty easily.

 

Each katsu set is also served with unlimited rice, tonjiru (pork miso soup), and shredded cabbage. I fell in love with their sesame dressing! They should totally bottle it for sale. Our server came around a few times to ask if we wanted any refills of anything but we were pretty stuffed. 

 

LT went for the rosu curry ($22.50). This was a breaded pork loin served with their signature curry over rice. Such a good comfort meal. Japanese curry will taste good on anything.

 

We had some time left on our parking meter so we decided to take a walk around. It was a good idea since we had such a heavy meal and needed to digest. Coal Harbour is so lovely, even in the rain.

Time passed fairly quickly and we found ourselves power walking back to the car before the meter was up. We planned to stay on Robson Street but decided to park over at Pacific Centre to be closer to all the shopping.

 

 

Daiso was the first shop on our list! The downtown store is a bit smaller than the old Daiso in Richmond, but there was still plenty of cute goodies. You bet I snagged a few Rilakkuma hand sanitizers.

 

Dank Mart was another cool place we found. They sell rare snacks and exotic drinks from around the world. Some items are pretty overpriced, but I would bet the import fees require such a mark up.

 

My haul! 

 

• The Dunkaroos didn't hit quite the same way as it did in childhood. They sadly replaced the cinnamon graham cookies with vanilla cookies. Basic.  
• The Muddy Bites are such a unique concept! Bite-sized waffle cones filled with chocolate. Basically the best part of an ice cream cone. I can't remember the exact price but these were going for about $10 a bag. Quite overpriced in my opinion.
• Skittles Chewies and Giant Skittles were exactly what you think they are. These are from the UK so it was interesting to see that purple was blackcurrant flavour.

 

I've been to Laduree a couple times already but I wanted to see if the macarons were as good as I remembered. Specifically the Marie Antoinette ($3.60 each), which is a tea-based flavour (black tea, citrus, rose) similar to an earl grey. Unfortunately the macarons got a bit soggy during our rainy walk.  

Last stop before heading home. Machi Machi for their Instagram-worthy drinks and backdrops. We got the fresh strawberry latte with panna cotta ($9.20). Yes, this drink is $9. Was it worth it? No, not really. But you do get to keep the cute plastic bottle it comes in. I enjoyed the creamy panna cotta but the strawberry drink was pretty weak in flavour. I asked LT, did they only blend two strawberries in this? Skip. 

 

 

Later that night, we hit up Potluck Hawker Eatery, a hip, fun eatery inspired by the street food and hawker markets of Southeast Asia.

It's not a big restaurant so we didn't anticipate how busy it would be. I think it was around a 30 minute wait for our table. 

 

We started with an order of roti canai ($9.50). Two pieces of hand-stretched pastry with a side of curry sauce to dip. The roti was flaky, although a bit on the stiffer side for me. The accompanying curry had a good kick to it.

 

I've been eyeing Potluck's chicken sando ($15.00) on social media for so long. This is fusion done right. Crispy fried chicken thigh brushed with egg yolk butter sandwiched in a milk bread bun. Loved the chili jam and the green apple slaw which was refreshing against all the rich flavours. We made it a combo with Malaysian shaker fries (+$3.00). The fries are crinkle-cut and tossed in a seasoning of galangal, toasted rice powder, fried shallots, and curry leaf. Fun to snack on. 

 

For a noodle dish, we chose the char kway teow ($19.00), wok-fried rice noodles with prawns, fish cake, Chinese sausage, egg, and bean sprouts in a sambal and house soy blend. We just asked them to omit the Chinese sausage since MH is a pescaterian. We noticed there were two different types of noodles in the dish, one that was rice and the other that was perhaps tapioca. Both of them had a good texture, soft and slightly chewy. LT loved this dish.

 

Our last item was the uni fried rice ($33.00), a special for the night. It included green sea urchin stir fried with jasmine rice and their house-made shrimp chili paste and sweet soy. It was topped off with more fresh sea urchin and ikura. Creamy with pops of salty brininess. It did not disappoint.

Another day done! And one more to go...

- CT