Eating My Way Through Vancouver

Why hello again! Remember me? My little corner of the internet’s been quiet for a while now. But I’m back… and ready to (finally) share my tasteful experience in Vancouver! If you want to check out my other thoughts on Vancouver, BC, check out this post, this post, and this post. Oh, and this one too!

The Sandbar

This was lunch on Granville Island. It was yummy, but not spectacular. I had the fish burger/sandwich (I don’t remember what it was called) and was happy with it. The restaurant itself is nice, too; it reminded me of a restaurant here in Seattle called Ray’s Boathouse.

Tacofino

Wow. That’s my review of this restaurant in a nutshell. It’s located in Gastown, and we were lucky enough to find it our second night there. The front entrance is on a sketchy side street, but we happened upon the back entrance, a cheerily lit patio filled with people enjoying themselves, in an (also kind of sketchy) alley.

We decided to share a bunch of tacos, that way we could try as many as possible. To start, we ordered a walking taco. None of us knew what this was, but it sounded good. The description just said that it has beef, chorizo and cheese. So we were surprised when the waitress came out with a bag of fritos chips on a plate. Turns out, the walking taco is just a bag of fritos cut open with some meat and cheese tossed in: genius! This was an instant favorite for my whole family (we are actually attempting to recreate them tonight– can’t wait!). Highly recommend. We also ordered nachos to share. Which were also delicious.

The walking taco.

Nachos.

Nachos from a different angle.

Next came the tacos. I have to get this one off my chest, because I’ve been dying to share it with you: Squash and Cauliflower Tostada. My favorite by far, and my mom’s, too. It was such an amazing mix of crunchy and soft and garden and cheese flavors. I think there was magic in it, too. This is also a “highly recommend”. The fish taco was also good, but not mind-blowing like the squash one. The chorizo taco was really good too. My sister had a steak taco, and she enjoyed it, except that she hadn’t realized there were peppers on it. We aren’t spicy people, and she spent the next few minutes chugging water and picking out all the remaining peppers.

Fish and Steak Tacos… The squash and the chorizo ones were gone too quickly to take photos.

To top it off, I also had a really refreshing mango and mint mocktail with dinner.

Soft Peaks

That night just got better and better. After an awesome dinner at Tacofino, we walked across the street to this ice cream shop. Now, normally I am not a soft-serve kind of girl. I prefer my ice cream hard and in all sorts of wonderful flavors. But this place had some of the best ice cream– and certainly the best soft serve– I’ve ever had. And that’s saying something. What made it so great was its distinctness. The ice cream was just that– cold cream. Not sweetened. Which sounds pretty bland and gross. But on top of this cold cream were sauces (like caramel, hot fudge, honey or syrup) and toppings (cereal flakes, matcha powder, crushed candy bars, chocolate powder, coconut or honey comb). What made this ice cream so yummy was its lack of sweetness. It had so much flavor because the cream itself didn’t overpower the natural flavors of the toppings.

Honeycomb.

I had the Rocky Mountain (coconut flakes) with chocolate syrup the first time, and the Honeycomb Peak the next two (yes, two!) times. Both were fantastic, but I think I have to say that the honeycomb was my favorite: the honey on top made every bite sweet, and when you get to the actual honeycomb, it just melts in your mouth.

Rocky Mountain.

Chouchou

The crepe truck! It stands right on a corner of the main street in Gaston, and it’s run by a talkative Frenchwoman. She will happily chat as she pours the batter of your crepe onto her stove, especially if you ask her about France or the names of her creations (all her crepes are named after particular people in her life). Her little truck is adorable and fits her perfectly. We stopped by for lunch one day to grab a quick bite to eat before we continued on a bike ride. The crepes were filling and fresh; the gooey cheese and warm ham mixed with the apples on mine was like a little taste of autumn– the apples with the cheese reminded me of apple pies after a warm dinner in November.

Incendio

Claiming the best pizza in… something (your life? Gastown? Vancouver?) is pretty bold. And don’t get me wrong– its a fine little Italian restaurant; it just wasn’t the best. The pizza was good and the pasta was good, but it didn’t really make a huge impression on me. It was just… Italian food.

Bao Down

Get it? ‘Cus they serve bhan mis! This little shop was a surprise. I wasn’t super hungry when I went in, but I enjoyed the food quite a lot anyway. I’m no expert on bhan mi sandwiches (that was the first time I’d ever had them), but they were really yummy and had so many options, many of which were unconventional (I think). The restaurant has a small front and is on the end of Gastown, but it was a nice interior that fit the feel of the restaurant, and the food was good.

Cartems Donuterie

I almost forgot! The day of the World Cup final, we went out to donuts! I’m not a big donut person (just like I’m not a soft serve kind of girl), but this place was good. They had all sorts of yummy-looking flavors, and the design of the place was pretty cool. This one was just up a few blocks from Gastown, towards the center of Vancouver.

Well… that about finishes up the food portion of the trip. I may have one more short post in the series, but we’ll see. I don’t know if it’s just me, but summer’s been crazy busy! Hardly a break. Next week, though, my sister, mom and I are heading to the Oregon coast for some relaxing and hopefully some blogging! I plan on you hearing from me again soon!