The EXchange Hotel in Vancouver

[Cam14]

We just cancelled our hotel near YVR and booked the EXchange so we could be downtown the day we disembark (May 17).  Has anyone stayed there recently?  Any restaurant recommendations?  Thanks!  

[Cruisepucks]

We stayed at the EXchange 2 years ago and loved it. Great breakfast in their restaurant. It’s an easy walk to Canada Place, downhill from the hotel but as you are staying post cruise, it is a slight uphill. It is also easy to get on the Sky train from the hotel to travel to the airport.

I can’t recommend any restaurants in the area as we had dinner in Kitsilano but hopefully someone local will chime in re restaurants. 

[martincath]

46 minutes ago, Cam14 said:

...  Any restaurant recommendations? 

Any chance you narrow down (dis)liked foods/genres, budget, how far you're willing to walk, whether you care more about a view than the best food, and some idea of what sort of restos you can access easily at home? 'cos from that hotel there are literally hundreds of restos that I'd personally consider an easy walk away, running the gamut from swankadelic to cheap & cheerful and covering at least a dozen ethnic varieties.

 

Without anything else to narrow down the field, for a single dinner in Vancouver I'd be inclined to point you to somewhere that's almost impossible to find anywhere else, and while not cheap it's at a very good pricepoint for the quality (but it would involve a bus or a ~$15 cab ride): Salmon'n'Bannock, our only Indigenous resto. Even if you're a Steak'n'Taters kinda person, they can feed you (try the Bison pot roast!), but if you enjoy game meats and interesting (cooked) fish that's where they really shine.

[Cam14]

We are easy to please and are happy to have reserved a hotel downtown.   My sister can't eat seafood (I love it).  We would like to be within walking distance of the hotel, as it looks like a wonderful area to explore. Not too expensive, as we will have just gotten off of a cruise.  Thanks so much!

[Cam14]

I would add that we are not very heavy eaters, and recommendations for a restaurant/bar for appetizers and drinks would be great.  Thanks again!

[martincath]

23 hours ago, Cam14 said:

I would add that we are not very heavy eaters, and recommendations for a restaurant/bar for appetizers and drinks would be great.  Thanks again!

Then I'll keep it simple with mostly some bar/pub reccos - best patio for views of the North Shore mountains on a sunny day is at Tap & Barrel's convention centre branch; the whole T&B chain offers better-than-it-has-to-be-at-the-price pub grub, a wide range of local beers and wines (including several custom made for them, cannot get anywhere else).

 

Rogue (closest is inside Waterfront Station, really nice old space, many nooks and crannies) is the pub arm of Steamworks brewing - almost identical menus but I find that Rogue consistently does the same food slightly better than Steamworks (who are literally across the carpark - main difference is that Steamworks sells their own beers whereas Rogue sells a whole bunch of different PNW breweries' products, so depending whether you feel like trying several different beer styles made by the same brewer, or several different brewers takes on the same beer style, you have both options available just yards apart!)

 

Moose's Down Under is one of the best value boozers downtown - not at all fancy, but unless you are an Aussie or frequent their expat bars while at home it should be a different enough menu to be interesting, and it has a genuinely fun, friendly vibe. It's in a basement, with the street level sign only about waist height, easy to walk past if you're looking up, and just around the corner for you.

 

Broad menus in all of these, being Vancouver the average pub menu includes a few Asian dishes as well as burgers, fish & chips etc., and for everyone not your Sis at least a couple of different cooked fish dishes plus some sushi and something in the shrimp/mussel/crab area.

 

Lastly, a low key but long-lasting Vietnamese cafe is just up the street, Joyeaux - they're rarely bigged up by local foodie types these days, but they survived Covid and continue to just keep doing their thing (their website is almost hilariously old school, no social media budget for these guys!) which includes one of the best-value breakfasts in downtown in case your hotel rate doesn't supply brekkie.

 

A wee map with all of these and your hotel here - even if you walked around all five reccos you'd rack up barely more than a mile)

[CynCyn]

On 4/30/2024 at 1:24 PM, martincath said:

Any chance you narrow down (dis)liked foods/genres, budget, how far you're willing to walk, whether you care more about a view than the best food, and some idea of what sort of restos you can access easily at home? 'cos from that hotel there are literally hundreds of restos that I'd personally consider an easy walk away, running the gamut from swankadelic to cheap & cheerful and covering at least a dozen ethnic varieties.

 

Without anything else to narrow down the field, for a single dinner in Vancouver I'd be inclined to point you to somewhere that's almost impossible to find anywhere else, and while not cheap it's at a very good pricepoint for the quality (but it would involve a bus or a ~$15 cab ride): Salmon'n'Bannock, our only Indigenous resto. Even if you're a Steak'n'Taters kinda person, they can feed you (try the Bison pot roast!), but if you enjoy game meats and interesting (cooked) fish that's where they really shine.

I have learned I can never go wrong with your recs! Any tips on transportation to Salmon’n’Bannock? Will be in YVR for a day after debarkation.  It will be a Tuesday if that matters.

Edited May 1 by CynCyn

[martincath]

10 minutes ago, CynCyn said:

I have learned I can never go wrong with your recs! Any tips on transportation to Salmon’n’Bannock? Will be in YVR for a day after debarkation.  It will be a Sunday if that matters.

Really depends where you are in town - Taxi (or rideshares, we have Uber, Lyft, and local Kabu running these days) are the obvious 'point to point' options. Google Maps is hands-down the best option for figuring out transit from wherever you are sightseeing/your hotel, all of our transit routing is fully enabled in it (indeed, it even powers Translinks trip plans on the website now), but wherever you start you'll need to transfer onto the 9 if you don't want to walk (the 99 Express bus also runs along Broadway, but very limited stops). If you don't have free data from your phone provider, you can make use of realtime mapping on the city's free network - it broadcasts as #VanWiFi all over the place - with any WiFi capable device.

 

Slight annoyance - Broadway has a few really big holes right now (subway station construction - interesting to peer down them before they get covered!), with restricted lanes and even chunks of sidewalk missing for the work, so if you plan to walk from SkyTrain at Broadway-City Hall station or a bus stop on Cambie/Granville, you'll need to cross the street now and again (or just walk along the next parallel streets - 8th or 10th - until you reach the right block - between Spruce and Alder). Cabs and rideshares will probably have to drop around the corner on Spruce, there's a lot of No Stopping zones on Broadway and I think the block with S&B is still restricted.

 

Granville Island is only big tourist site nearby that you might be walking from - but be aware that the hills are pretty steep if you walk from GI to S&B. I would take Alder rather than Spruce as Choklit Park interrupts Spruce just north of 7th, and while you can walk up the stairs this view can be very confusing for visitors!

 

 

[kcmo74]

@martincath being the resident Vancouver expert, what would be your recommendation for seafood restaurants in the Yaletown/Granville Island area? I saw a mention for GoFish the other day, but looking for seafood beyond fish and chips (shrimp, lobster, crab, etc). Thanks in advance!

[martincath]

1 hour ago, kcmo74 said:

@martincath being the resident Vancouver expert, what would be your recommendation for seafood restaurants in the Yaletown/Granville Island area? I saw a mention for GoFish the other day, but looking for seafood beyond fish and chips (shrimp, lobster, crab, etc). Thanks in advance!

On GI, seafoody but a little swankier, I'd go to the Vancouver Fish Company; while the menu tightened up during Covid, it's still fairly broad. If you'd be fine with casual but want a wider menu than GoFish and indoor seating, Tony's might deliver - most stuff still comes out of the fryer, but  a way bigger menu with much more shellfish.

 

In Yaletown you have a plethora of options including the best seafood resto in the city in Blue Water Cafe (if you want to have a splurge seafood dinner, but not everyone would be happy with a sushi/sashimi menu, BWC is the place to go); if everyone would be on board with an all-Japanese, no menu, definitely some raw fish, Omakase experience you can visit one of our Michelin starred joints, Okeya; Rodneys Oyster House sells a fair whack of not-oyster dishes too; and while it's not a seafood joint as such, I have a soft spot for the Flying Pig which offers several shellfish and fish dishes at a good value pricepoint especially during 'Appy Hours' daily.

[kcmo74]

23 hours ago, martincath said:

On GI, seafoody but a little swankier, I'd go to the Vancouver Fish Company; while the menu tightened up during Covid, it's still fairly broad. If you'd be fine with casual but want a wider menu than GoFish and indoor seating, Tony's might deliver - most stuff still comes out of the fryer, but  a way bigger menu with much more shellfish.

 

In Yaletown you have a plethora of options including the best seafood resto in the city in Blue Water Cafe (if you want to have a splurge seafood dinner, but not everyone would be happy with a sushi/sashimi menu, BWC is the place to go); if everyone would be on board with an all-Japanese, no menu, definitely some raw fish, Omakase experience you can visit one of our Michelin starred joints, Okeya; Rodneys Oyster House sells a fair whack of not-oyster dishes too; and while it's not a seafood joint as such, I have a soft spot for the Flying Pig which offers several shellfish and fish dishes at a good value pricepoint especially during 'Appy Hours' daily.

Thank you for the great response and multiple recommendations. One other question, if you don't mind. I have noticed a plethora of bakeries in both the GI/Yaletown area and near Canada Place when scouting Google maps. I am a passionate baker and used to travel the US training new bakery managers for a specialty grocery chain. If you are a baked good fan are there any of the bakeries in this area that I just can't miss or are heads above their peers? 

[martincath]

3 hours ago, kcmo74 said:

Thank you for the great response and multiple recommendations. One other question, if you don't mind. I have noticed a plethora of bakeries in both the GI/Yaletown area and near Canada Place when scouting Google maps. I am a passionate baker and used to travel the US training new bakery managers for a specialty grocery chain. If you are a baked good fan are there any of the bakeries in this area that I just can't miss or are heads above their peers? 

Sorry, as a diabetic I rarely buy baked treats so I'm a poor resource to compare and contrast bakeries, except the odd niche item (for example if I'm here on my birthday rather than in Portland, my annual donut cheat is a Swiss Bakery Frissant - basically the same concept as Dominique Ansel's Cronuts that were all the rage back in the day, croissant dough fried up with rotating fillings & glazes). I've tried a few of the downtown & GI bakeries now and again, but not often or widely enough to give a fair comparative critique that X or Y is best.

 

A few other tidbits for you though: if you're a traditional jelly donut person, Lee's in the Public Market on GI are genuinely great... but not so great as to be worth queuing more than a few minutes for, they've been overhyped for several years now ever since Seth Rogen name-dropped them. If you're going to be on GI anyway you may as well see what the queue looks like (they have their own 'holding pen' outside the market on Johnston St where folks are asked to wait until waved in through the window, as the queues were wreaking havoc with the interior flow!)

 

Another local fave on the baked goods front, which may be of interest because it's different from the typical Western fare, is New Town Bakery (in Chinatown) - their apple tarts are the 'world famous' thing that most tourists who hear about the place go for, and they are very nice (not a tart in the traditional sense at all, more of a bun shape with fully enclosed filling in the middle - sort of what a McDonalds apple pie wishes it could be!) but everyone I know who is from, or lived in, China feels they do savoury better - the filled steamed buns and the pineapple buns are the best things they make (don't go for lunch - the dim sum is meh and some baked goods have already sold out by then, and it's a cash only joint).

 

Lastly, when it comes to Canada's contribution to baked goods, Butter Tarts should not be missed. They're more of an Ontario thing, but they're a bit like pizza in that even a bad one is still pretty good, and a six-pack from a supermarket bakery is plenty good enough to let you see if the concept works for your palate - if they're not your thing, no need to spend the big bucks hunting down artisanal versions all over town! Nanaimo bars aren't baked (a classic refrigerator 'bake'), but they're probably BCs most famous contribution to the world of sweet treats - again, try a supermarket bakery for a basic version but GI has a wacky artisanal shop these days (Northern Bar) that sells teeny squares for triple the price with some fancy flavours added. If you're Costco members you can often find giant packages of both of these in the bakery oif the downtown Expo Blvd branch!

[kcmo74]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

Sorry, as a diabetic I rarely buy baked treats so I'm a poor resource to compare and contrast bakeries, except the odd niche item (for example if I'm here on my birthday rather than in Portland, my annual donut cheat is a Swiss Bakery Frissant - basically the same concept as Dominique Ansel's Cronuts that were all the rage back in the day, croissant dough fried up with rotating fillings & glazes). I've tried a few of the downtown & GI bakeries now and again, but not often or widely enough to give a fair comparative critique that X or Y is best.

 

A few other tidbits for you though: if you're a traditional jelly donut person, Lee's in the Public Market on GI are genuinely great... but not so great as to be worth queuing more than a few minutes for, they've been overhyped for several years now ever since Seth Rogen name-dropped them. If you're going to be on GI anyway you may as well see what the queue looks like (they have their own 'holding pen' outside the market on Johnston St where folks are asked to wait until waved in through the window, as the queues were wreaking havoc with the interior flow!)

 

Another local fave on the baked goods front, which may be of interest because it's different from the typical Western fare, is New Town Bakery (in Chinatown) - their apple tarts are the 'world famous' thing that most tourists who hear about the place go for, and they are very nice (not a tart in the traditional sense at all, more of a bun shape with fully enclosed filling in the middle - sort of what a McDonalds apple pie wishes it could be!) but everyone I know who is from, or lived in, China feels they do savoury better - the filled steamed buns and the pineapple buns are the best things they make (don't go for lunch - the dim sum is meh and some baked goods have already sold out by then, and it's a cash only joint).

 

Lastly, when it comes to Canada's contribution to baked goods, Butter Tarts should not be missed. They're more of an Ontario thing, but they're a bit like pizza in that even a bad one is still pretty good, and a six-pack from a supermarket bakery is plenty good enough to let you see if the concept works for your palate - if they're not your thing, no need to spend the big bucks hunting down artisanal versions all over town! Nanaimo bars aren't baked (a classic refrigerator 'bake'), but they're probably BCs most famous contribution to the world of sweet treats - again, try a supermarket bakery for a basic version but GI has a wacky artisanal shop these days (Northern Bar) that sells teeny squares for triple the price with some fancy flavours added. If you're Costco members you can often find giant packages of both of these in the bakery oif the downtown Expo Blvd branch!

Awesome, thanks for the insight. My wife is diabetic as well, but probably cheats far more than she should. I remembered the other thing I wanted to ask earlier but forgot, do you have a favorite poutine in the city? I saw Rodney’s has a Lobster one that sounds delicious, but didn’t know if there was a unique one somewhere, or someone that just does it better than everybody else. Thanks!

[martincath]

6 minutes ago, kcmo74 said:

Awesome, thanks for the insight. My wife is diabetic as well, but probably cheats far more than she should. I remembered the other thing I wanted to ask earlier but forgot, do you have a favorite poutine in the city? I saw Rodney’s has a Lobster one that sounds delicious, but didn’t know if there was a unique one somewhere, or someone that just does it better than everybody else. Thanks!

Poutine is one of those things that one mans 'Best Ever' is another mans 'Meh' - even if you keep it to relatively old school fries/curds/gravy bitter arguments ensue about which gravy and how thick the fries should be (although when it comes to cheese curds, fresh and squeaky has no argument as the only authentic option)!

 

If you don't already have a stance on what's best, then honestly Costco is as good as anywhere for a straightforward, no-frills poutine to introduce you to the concept; you don't even have to be a member to order it (food court in Vancouver is outside the store) and one $6 portion easily feeds 2+ people, even if you don't bother with the Polish Dog (which you should!) - two people, plenty full, for <$10? Best food deal in the city...

 

If you've already had regular poutine and want to try some weirder combos, then I think La Belle Patate has the widest menu of options (as well as flying in fresh curds from Quebec, so as authentic as it gets here too for the basics, so if you're looking for one place to try different things this would be it).

[Tin can]

On 5/1/2024 at 9:46 PM, martincath said:

Then I'll keep it simple with mostly some bar/pub reccos - best patio for views of the North Shore mountains on a sunny day is at Tap & Barrel's convention centre branch; the whole T&B chain offers better-than-it-has-to-be-at-the-price pub grub, a wide range of local beers and wines (including several custom made for them, cannot get anywhere else).

 

 

Thanks for the tips in this post. Could I ask please what are the rules in Canada regarding children in bars. We have been to the States many times and they are very strict about this which is fine.... when in Rome and all that.

 

Here in the UK this is all very relaxed so I was just wondering what to expect when we stay in Vancouver pre cruise. 

 

 

[martincath]

9 hours ago, Tin can said:

Thanks for the tips in this post. Could I ask please what are the rules in Canada regarding children in bars. We have been to the States many times and they are very strict about this which is fine.... when in Rome and all that.

 

Here in the UK this is all very relaxed so I was just wondering what to expect when we stay in Vancouver pre cruise.

We run booze rules provincially rather than country-wide here, and compared to most of the rest of Canada and the US BC is frankly insane when it comes to booze laws. Even when I moved here from Ontario I was floored by how ludicrous the rules were - and while a few of them have been relaxed since (enabling you to actually drink beer in a brewery for example, which wasn't legal until less than a decade ago!!!) licensing remains absolutely brutal. Speaking as an expat who was a CAMRA member at 18, tended bar for years, has various qualifications that require at least a basic understanding of the booze laws of multiple jurisdictions, I can say hands-down that even the most ridiculous rules of Scots law as applied to Public Houses are trivial compared to how BC operates all of its 'Sindustries'!

 

The good news on the kids angle is that there are very few bars in Vancouver, legally-speaking. The overwhelming majority operate under a Restaurant license, which means that management can choose to allow kids (during limited hours and only in certain seats) - so the short answer is that if you want to bring your kids anywhere for lunch or dinner, there's a very good chance it will be allowed... but you literally have to check with every establishment, since just because they can allow kids doesn't mean they have to or will.

 

Folks with a resto license must make a certain % of their income from food/soft drinks or else they are heavily penalized right up to potentially losing their license - so it's actually a good thing for them when kids come in because they only consume stuff that counts toward the minimum % to retain their license! But some management feel like if they let kids in it puts off the boozehounds who want to get sloppy drunk and swear at sportsball on TV - so they may be happy to see kids for lunch, but set an early cutoff for when families have to mosey on home...

 

Basically, if you're out and about rather than booking in advance the most efficient tool at your disposal is the good old Mark I Eyeball - see another family already seated, enjoying a meal? Kids are probably OK at that time (unless that fam just squeezed in under the 'last orders for kids' line). If you're booking in advance, email or call to verify what the deal is with kids. If you want a patio, then you will never be able to actually book a table on one of those (they are always 'first come, first served' to maximise utilisation) but still, check in advance on the kids policy.

 

I'm fairly certain that all T&B locations use a Restaurant-primary license, allow kids to come in with adults for lunch or dinner (IIRC 9pm is the latest legal cutoff time for Minors), and only ban them from sitting at the bar (which usually includes high-top tables near the bar - if there's a room divider separating high and low seat areas that is almost always a good indicator of the 'no kids' zone) but I don't have kids so it's honestly not a thing I pay much attention to.

[Tin can]

On 5/6/2024 at 6:42 PM, martincath said:

We run booze rules provincially rather than country-wide here, and compared to most of the rest of Canada and the US BC is frankly insane when it comes to booze laws. Even when I moved here from Ontario I was floored by how ludicrous the rules were - and while a few of them have been relaxed since (enabling you to actually drink beer in a brewery for example, which wasn't legal until less than a decade ago!!!) licensing remains absolutely brutal. Speaking as an expat who was a CAMRA member at 18, tended bar for years, has various qualifications that require at least a basic understanding of the booze laws of multiple jurisdictions, I can say hands-down that even the most ridiculous rules of Scots law as applied to Public Houses are trivial compared to how BC operates all of its 'Sindustries'!

 

The good news on the kids angle is that there are very few bars in Vancouver, legally-speaking. The overwhelming majority operate under a Restaurant license, which means that management can choose to allow kids (during limited hours and only in certain seats) - so the short answer is that if you want to bring your kids anywhere for lunch or dinner, there's a very good chance it will be allowed... but you literally have to check with every establishment, since just because they can allow kids doesn't mean they have to or will.

 

Folks with a resto license must make a certain % of their income from food/soft drinks or else they are heavily penalized right up to potentially losing their license - so it's actually a good thing for them when kids come in because they only consume stuff that counts toward the minimum % to retain their license! But some management feel like if they let kids in it puts off the boozehounds who want to get sloppy drunk and swear at sportsball on TV - so they may be happy to see kids for lunch, but set an early cutoff for when families have to mosey on home...

 

Basically, if you're out and about rather than booking in advance the most efficient tool at your disposal is the good old Mark I Eyeball - see another family already seated, enjoying a meal? Kids are probably OK at that time (unless that fam just squeezed in under the 'last orders for kids' line). If you're booking in advance, email or call to verify what the deal is with kids. If you want a patio, then you will never be able to actually book a table on one of those (they are always 'first come, first served' to maximise utilisation) but still, check in advance on the kids policy.

 

I'm fairly certain that all T&B locations use a Restaurant-primary license, allow kids to come in with adults for lunch or dinner (IIRC 9pm is the latest legal cutoff time for Minors), and only ban them from sitting at the bar (which usually includes high-top tables near the bar - if there's a room divider separating high and low seat areas that is almost always a good indicator of the 'no kids' zone) but I don't have kids so it's honestly not a thing I pay much attention to.

 

Thanks for that, very helpful. It sounds a bit complicated like the US, we are probably a bit spoilt here in the UK as there aren't any rules really regarding children in bars. A good or bad thing I guess depending on your outlook on things but I like taking my son to the pub for a couple of drinks if the weather is nice.

 

Funny you mention being a CAMRA member, I am one also. Real ale and craft beer is really big here now.

 

Thanks again for your reply.

 

 

[martincath]

16 hours ago, Tin can said:

Funny you mention being a CAMRA member, I am one also. Real ale and craft beer is really big here now.

 

Thanks again for your reply.

Bring your ID card - there are actually a handful of member discounts! The local chapter got special dispensation from CAMRA to allow pushing 'unreal' ales as there were literally none outside homebrewing when it began. Even when I first moved here in 2011, you could only drink cask ale two or three days a week (several local brewpubs did a cask one night a week, but with some overlap) and it took a couple of years for cask to be available somewhere in the city on a daily basis.

 

Yaletown Brewing was our regular when we first moved - we'd call ahead every Thursday ro preorder our first round then show up 30 mins later to start drinking because nowhere outside Victoria offers proper temperature beer cellars! They're definitely kid-friendly in the Resto side - that's where we drank because it doesn't get as many sloppy drunk fratboys and sportsball fans as in the bar proper.

 

But if you want to sample as many different good beers as possible in one place, The Alibi Room remains the spiritual home of beer lovers in Vancouver - I'm not sure what their deal is with kids, and you might want to cab it rather than walk with the kiddo as several blocks on the walk are a bit sketchy. Tap & Barrel do have a pretty wide selection, several covenient downtown locations and almost all have a big patio; Craft in theory have even more beers on tap but unless you are a huge fan of lagers forget them - when they first opened with 150 beers over 120 of them were lagers and of the rest not a single one was deemed hoppy enough to please my missus!!!

 

If you have any really specific beer styles that you like, I can try to point you to a local brewery that does them well.