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Fav places to eat in Vancouver, BC

Cali Viajera
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Heidi13

Heidi13

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6 hours ago, dog said:

What about seafood near the cruise terminal? Any restaurant recommendations?

 

Lift Bar & Grill has some great seafood. It is on the waterfront by the Bayshore, about 1 mile West of Canada Place.

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dolfan1980

dolfan1980

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On 3/23/2022 at 1:39 AM, dog said:

What about seafood near the cruise terminal? Any restaurant recommendations?

Joe Fortes is my go-to for seafood in Vancouver, Social is also a nice spot.  Both are walkable from the Cruise Terminal, though not super close.

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xlxo

xlxo

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Lots of great suggestions!  Vancouver has lots of great dining opportunities and is a mecca for ethnic foods.  Some additional highlights to check out.

May I ask where is your hotel located?  We may be able to provide targeted suggestions with short walking distance from your hotel.

Edited by xlxo
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martincath Holiday Sharing Rare

martincath

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On 4/30/2022 at 6:19 PM, Cali Viajera said:

We are staying at the Metropolitan Hotel.

Grrrr - I posted a detailed set of reccos, with links to the restos, in response to this last week but it seems to have disappeared! I'll repeat it after today's answer below...

17 hours ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

I’m looking for some places downtown that are a little more affordable or good value. Sushi, poke, Chinese, and pub fare and maybe a brunch place. Hubby doesn’t eat seafood, and I love it. 

An Izakaya will check off most of those boxes for you, especially on the more budget dish end of things like noodle bowls. Most locals have their own favourite among the various indies and chains, Kingyo usually appearing at least top 3, but you're not going to go wrong visiting any of the Hapa or Guu branches (whichever is nearest your hotel/where you are touring at mealtime) either. In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, Izakaya are sort-of 'Japanese Tapas Pubs' - a bunch of stuff you'd find in a Western pub like chicken wings, sausages, pork chops; sushi; noodles in various forms; yakitori/skewers and so on, in either small portions or big share plates for family-style consumption.

 

Any of our western style pubs will do you a bit more seafood than in most parts - even Fish & Chips here leans toward salmon and halibut being as common as cod. Speaking of F&C, if hubby eats 'regular cooked fish' and just avoids 'weird stuff with too many legs and/or shells' you'll generally get decent quality anywhere, but without getting well outside the core the only really solid, remotely-close-to-classic-British-seaside-casual-but-perfectly-cooked F&C is found by Granville Island - there's a wee shack, Go Fish, on 1st Avenue (so if you ware waling to the island, turn left before you reach it - if you take a water taxi, you need to leave the island and take the first right). Gets hella busy though!

 

Chinese, downtown, value, quality - all of those are found in Chinatown BBQ, a super-casual, super-old-school actually-rather-new place on Pender. Do try the curry brisket unless you really dislike all things remotely spicy!

 

Brunch - my fave remains, as it has since they opened, Medina. If there's one single good thing to come out of Covid, it's the fact that they finally had to start taking resos! Have the waffles with lavender chocolate sauce on the side (unless you're allergic - even then, if it's more of an 'annoying hives' rather than 'throat-closing death' allergy, I'd seriously consider snorting benadryl and still having it!)

 

Phenomenal bang for your buck, a wide menu that lets DH avoid seafood, and if not unique then still pretty rare - Phnom Penh in Chinatown, a 40+ year old rampant success story that literally still has queues outside the door every day. As a couple, you want to order the chicken wings (Canh Ga Lan Bot - large, trust me!), Butter Beef (Marinated Thit Bo - basically thinly sliced raw steak, like carpaccio, but with more interesting flavours...), and Beef on Rice (Com Bo Luc Lac Them Hot Ga - the 2 bucks extra for the fried egg version is worth every penny, golden yolk oozing out just makes this *chef's kiss*); then depending on how much tummy room remains, more wings or whatever else you like.

 

@Cali ViajeraPhnom Penh and Medina both fit your requested 'restos worth returning to'; on the fancier end of the spectrum Barbara offers a rather unique experience - it's a teeny place, Chef does basically all the food with one other staff member handling service & drinks. Very tight menu, tasting only, but each course has a choice of Veggie, Seafoody, Meaty options - a handful of items stay year-round like Arctic Char (which is inland farmed for superlative sustainability) but otherwise it's a constantly changing seasonal selection. For the price it's pretty darn good value, though not cheap and not big portions. Very much about the ridiculously artistic precision - sit at the kitchen side, watch Chef Henessy plate your dishes with tweezers pedantically applying teeny radish slices, and have a chat with him as he does.

 

Lastly, since you're in the Met you should seriously consider Hawksworth in the Hotel Georgia right on your block. The rooftop terrace is also a topnotch evening drinks option - I believe it was voted best patio in the city last year. If Hawksworth looks too swanky or you can't get a reso, Nightingale is their more casual sibling, which offers a much wider menu and solid Happy Hour discounts. The Fried Chicken is especially fantastic, and we've never had a less-than-great pizza or pasta dish there either.

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familycruzinnewbie

familycruzinnewbie

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@martincath I’m reading Anita lattes report where you guys went to Medina. We may try there, I’ll be on Newfoundland time so I may wake up early. How many waffles is in a normal serving and I’m guessing I can add sides rather that add a full breakfast (or maybe one to share). Glad I can make reservations. Phnom Penh sounds good, but that’s a lot of food, we may be bringing back leftovers. Hubby is a no on any seafood - he orders chips, dressing and gravy at the fish and chip places here. Tentatively we are staying at the YWCA for 2 nights precruise and the Sheraton Vancouver wall centre  1 night post cruise. We booked late so haven’t firmed up what we are doing other than exploring the area and Granville island, and Stanley park. Maybe find a beach. We were there in 2007 and 2008, so things have changed. 

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martincath Holiday Sharing Rare

martincath

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33 minutes ago, familycruzinnewbie said:

@martincath I’m reading Anita lattes report where you guys went to Medina. We may try there, I’ll be on Newfoundland time so I may wake up early. How many waffles is in a normal serving and I’m guessing I can add sides rather that add a full breakfast (or maybe one to share). Glad I can make reservations. Phnom Penh sounds good, but that’s a lot of food, we may be bringing back leftovers. Hubby is a no on any seafood - he orders chips, dressing and gravy at the fish and chip places here. Tentatively we are staying at the YWCA for 2 nights precruise and the Sheraton Vancouver wall centre  1 night post cruise. We booked late so haven’t firmed up what we are doing other than exploring the area and Granville island, and Stanley park. Maybe find a beach. We were there in 2007 and 2008, so things have changed. 

1 waffle per serving - but it's a whole, circular, Liege style waffle so about the size of a side-plate. Stick on some protein and you make it bit more long-term filling! If you're not big eaters, then one of the regular brekkies (I used to do the Wolf, but I think so many people chose than when sharing that now it's only available as a double-portion - the cassoulet is my standard solo these days and isn't bad from a proteins and complex carbs perspective with the beans) and one waffle should be plenty filling.

 

Poor DH though - no fish at all, for a Newfie? There must be a backstory there! I can empathize somewhat if it's a childhood 'nothing but seafood' issue, as my family were subsistence salmon fishers so that was my main protein source, year round frozen steaks and for a brief time each year poached whole, fresh fish. I haven't eaten Atlantic salmon since I left home at 18... fortunately I can compartmentalize the emotional trauma of the 'finish your salmon or else it's coming back out at breakfast time' years enough to have tried the left coast versions, and love a bit of Sockeye now ;-)

 

Lots, and I mean LOTS of shiny, new, boring, boxy glass towers since your last visit; some extensions, widening, and lots of repairs on the Seawall; Capilano have added their Cliff and Tree walks; I think UBC's Treewalk is also new since then; no more petting zoo at Stanley Park and almost all the cetaceans are now gone (I think one dolphin left?); Chinatown is even less Chinese than it used to be (although you've entirely missed the brief Germanic period when we had two operating restos) but the Sun Yat-Sen garden got spruced up to look basically identical to when it opened back for Expo '86 so that's definitely worth a visit. Granville Island lost Emily Carr college but hasn't really replaced the tenancy with anything else yet so it's weirdly quiet on that end, but still much of a muchness in the public market and other artisanal type shopping buildings.

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martincath Holiday Sharing Rare

martincath

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19 hours ago, AZQC-Cruiser said:

If you like Schehuan food without the fancy location and $$$$ menus, the Chongqing restaurant on Robson street has one of the best food ratings on all reviews at $$ level.

Unfortunately the Robson Street CQ has declined a lot since the pandemic began - that's the one I always used to get food delivered from, but I've returned to using the Commercial Drive location as I'm just inside their delivery zone too and the food is significantly more consistent. The sheer number of TripAdvisor reviews from TheBeforeTimes ensure that CQ Robson still looks good on paper, but I have stopped recommending it.

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Milhouse Excellent Advice! Rare

Milhouse

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Our experience with Chinatown BBQ (along with many others) has kind of soured since the pandemic started also.  Our last visit was about six months ago though so perhaps they may have picked it up.  And we typically order the bbq and roasted pork, not the brisket, and have been finding it a bit dry.  So we're ending up going to HK BBQ Master in Richmond instead but likely isn't practical for shorter stay tourists.

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martincath Holiday Sharing Rare

martincath

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8 hours ago, Milhouse said:

Our experience with Chinatown BBQ (along with many others) has kind of soured since the pandemic started also.  Our last visit was about six months ago though so perhaps they may have picked it up.  And we typically order the bbq and roasted pork, not the brisket, and have been finding it a bit dry.  So we're ending up going to HK BBQ Master in Richmond instead but likely isn't practical for shorter stay tourists.

Good to know - I've been more recently than that and thought it was pretty much the same as it used to be in TheBeforeTimes, but frankly after months of staying home and cooking 3 meals a day I think my critical faculties are definitely rusty. We've been trying to spread ourselves around surviving spots, few duplicate visits to confirm consistency... and the fact the brisket has all that lovely curry sauce on it would cover up slight overcooking better than the roast dishes!

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Jamiedro

Jamiedro

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There are a lot of places to eat in Vancouver. Vancouver is famous for seafood, but they were also expensive. When I have to go on vacation with my children, we will book a hotel with a kitchenette facility because, as a mother, I always prefer the best and safe for my children and husband, So I like self-cooking mostly when we are going on vacation, make their favorite foods which makes me double happy while enjoying every family vacations.

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