Vancouver BC Dining Opportunity
 

Now that the FT'ers have been so helpful with dining suggestions for the Seattle and Portland area, I have to ask about another metro we're visiting in July: Vancouver BC.

Our best type of restaurant is relatively inexpensive and informal, and something of local flavor.

Lots of salmon I am sure, but I imagine there are good choices for Thai/Asian as well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

There are so many great Thai and other Asian places that I no longer remember names.

For a "local treat" take the sea taxi from the downtown waterfront across to Lonsdale Quay Public Market. Walk through there and have a beer. Then walk up Lonsdale 3 blocks to 3rd and have dinner at Pasparos Taverna -- great Greek food. Make a reservation for the front patio area.

http://www.vancouverrestaurantguide...._van/pasparos/

I've been starting to frequent a place called "Go Fish!". It's not really a restaurant but rather kind of a "shack" on False Creek Fisherman's Wharf which is located just off of Granville Island (walking distance along a seawall). Seating is limited and is all outdoors. The menu is also a bit limited with a few varieties of fish & chips (cod/halibut/salmon), sandwiches (halibut/oysters), grilled fish, soup (yum!), daily specials, etc. (And I keep hearing about fish tacos but never sea them on the menu.) Cost is reasonable: My gf and I were just over $20 for lunch. They're only open until dusk or when they run out of stock. As word gets out, the lines are also getting longer however. The last sunny Sunday we went, it was 20 mins to order and another 20 mins to get our food.
You can also hop over to Bridges on Graville Island if Go Fish isn't your thing. They have a nice patio in the summer.

I'm not a big Thai eater but when we do go, we usually go to Thai Away Home on Commercial. Tasty and good value (can easily be sub $10 per person). It's an "order at the counter and they'll bring the food out to you" place however. There are a couple of locations (Google it.) If you go to the Commercial Drive location, there are a bunch of other restaurants up and down the block if it's not what you're looking for.

For Chinese, I'd recommend Kirin or Sun Sui Wah. Not really cheap but not totally expensive either (they're also clean which is not what you can say about a lot of Chinese restaurants). Lots of sushi places. My favourite of the moment is Toshi, located on 16th Ave? (just off of Main St). Decent variety and good quality. Typically sub $35 for gf and I.

Thanks for the advice! The Public Market will certainly be on our agenda now, and "Go Fish" sounds interesting too!

Good to know that finding a good fish/Asian place won't be a problem!

Thanks!

If you want to go where the locals normally go and don't mind a some laughter abuse from the waiters & owners, then head over to the Elbow Room Cafe located at 560 Davie Street: www.theelbowroomcafe.com. They have excellent breakfast at incredibly low prices.

For Sun Sui Wah, I would recommend going to the Richmond location as the food are much better than the Main Street branch: www.sunsuiwah.com

I checked the Elbow Room's website, that looks really cool! I think we are also going to try out that place. (With all the great places FT'ers have suggested, we are going to come back 50 lbs heavier! Luckily we have lots of hikes planned)

Thanks again!

Will be in YVR in August .. I think I try "Go Fish" and "Elbow Room".
Thanks ... ^

For those who plan on coming to the Elbow Room, be sure to walk in on an empty stomach. The portions are the size of those with a gluttonious hunger. Should you fail to finish your plate, be prepared to make a donation to the "Loving Spoon" foundation that the owners have been raising for charity.

And last of all, get there early. A 1-hour wait is normally expected during the busy hours.

Go Fish and Elbow Room it is, at the very least! Lonsdale Quay also will probably be checked out. Of course I might have to also save room for Boston Pizza, Western Canadian chain I have liked in the past (and eaten at in YVR too), though I see they are starting to appear in the Toronto area as well

Don't forget the Japanese "pub" or izakaya food craze -- like En, Guu with Garlic, or Hapa Izakaya. Ezogiku is a noodle cafe with quite a few branches in downtown Vancouver (there is one close to the Westin Grand and Hampton Inn) which are popular. Of course there is the highly touted Tojo's for sublime and expensive "omakase" style dinners of sushi, sashimi and cooked items.

"C" Restaurant is notable for its higher end seafood and rated one of Vancouver's best restaurants; and Feenie's, the casual restaurant of Rob Feenie, the chef-proprietor of Lumiere which is next door, is also highly recommended.

Banana Leaf in West Broadway is great Malaysian food and is known for its chili crab. Sala Thai in Cambie Street serve very good Thai food.

Also try Memphis Blues, Vancouver's version of Memphis style barbeque.... there is another branch in Commercial Drive.

Enjoy!!

Last time I visited SSW, my GF and I managed to eat an entire 6LB alaskan snow crab. IIRC, we had half steamed with garlic and the other half fried with salt & pepper.

Since we were both stuffed, we ended up giving the only other dish we ordered, a clay hot pot, to some bum.... who had the gall to ask for a quarter as well.

Fun town. Pretty aggressive bums (compared to SF at least).
-g

For those planning to go to the Lonsdale Quay I would highly recommend that you travel there via the Seabus which takes you directly to the spot from the Waterfront Centre. By taking the Seabus will give you the opportunity to snap beautiful pictures of the West-End skyscrapers, the Burrard Inlet, as well as the Lions Gate Bridge.

I enjoyed the Liliget Feast House. It's a First Nations restaurant...a very cool restaurant and good food too.

Another dim sum outlet that I would recommend as an alternative to the Sun Suih Wah, is the Floata also located in Richmond inside the Parker Place Mall. But I must warn that parking is extremely difficult for the mall during the weekends.
www.floata.com

Floata is the only place I've ever been to where people were queued up by the kitchen door and swarming the dim sum carts the moment they came out. I noticed last Aug when I went back there, they had switched to ordering dim sum off the menu - not as much fun.