Foodie Weekend Trip: Vancouver B.C
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Photograph by: Kristy Neang @lotusfleurxo
One of my goals for 2019 is to travel more. Even if it’s just for a day or a weekend. It’s a nice little treat to do for yourself or with a group of friends. Roadtrips are a great way to explore new places and discover amazing food spots. I want to be able to showcase places you can go to spontaneously or if you want to plan in advance! You don’t always have to catch a flight overseas or to the other side of the country to find good food! I’m going to be kicking off this new weekend/day trip post with our latest trip this past weekend to Vancouver, B.C!
Once we actually got to the city and checked into our hotel at Coast Coal Harbour, we needed some food! A lot of my friends recommend that while in Vancouver, you definitely need to get dim sum! We ended up at a place called Kirin. This place is not like your traditional dim sum restaurant. No carts being pushing around like what you’re used to seeing. You order from a menu and they bring it to your table. At first, I was a little turned off by it because I enjoy being able to pick out what I want when I see the cart come by. It’s the experience of it all. It was a little tricky ordering off of the menu. I don’t know the names of everything I eat. I just point to what looks good and they put on my table. It’s that simple. The ones I’m normally familiar with are chicken feet, shrimp ball, shumai, or bbq pork. Reading the descriptions on the menu didn’t really help much and it actually made it a little be more difficult in the choosing what we wanted to eat. I’m more of a visual person.
Once we finally ordered, the food did not disappoint! Everything tasted really fresh and not oily. I was impressed for sure. I think I overate but I’m not upset about it. The chicken feet were plump and juicy. I even order what they called “shrimp in mayonnaise sauce,” which where we come from is called “honey walnut shrimp.” This dish didn’t have walnuts in it but the sauce itself was not your typical thick cream sauce. It had a nice citrus tang and was not overpowering. I usually feel heavy after eating this dish back at home but at Kirin, I could eat the whole plate and not have that feeling of heaviness. I wish we would’ve tried more Chinese places but I am certainly glad we got to squeeze a dim sum restaurant in while we were there in our limited amount of time.
We didn’t go to many places on our first day because we were so exhausted from our drive but we managed to get some desserts from Laduree to keep us happy! The last time I was in a Laduree cafe was when I was in Paris, France a couple years ago, so when I saw this while we were walking, I knew I had to go in. French macarons are one of my favorite pastries of all time. It probably has to do with the fact these are bite size and come in an assortment of flavors from your traditional chocolate to fun flavors like strawberry candy marshamallow. If you are in the area or ever get a chance to go visit any of the Laduree locations, I would highly suggest coming for more than just pastries to go. They have a seated area where you can order small plates, have lunch, or enjoy some coffee and take in the beautiful decor!
Photos by: Kristy Neang @lotusfleurxo
Continuing on our food adventure, we ended up having brunch a a really cool spot not too far from our hotel called Homer St Cafe & Bar. This was actually not our first choice. We originally decided we wanted to go to Medina Cafe but the wait was 1 hour and 45 mins. Since we were starving and couldn’t wait, we pulled out our phones to tried and find the closest restaurant near by and that’s how we stumbled upon this gem. This place is gorgeous and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. Very rustic feeling with the wooden benches and tables. (Definitely gave me Joanna Gaines vibes) The brunch menu offers 2 different kinds of meals; dishes with eggs and dishes without! Eggs Benedict seemed the like best choice so we opted for the one with shredded harissa chicken and the other with braised greens and avocado. The dish itself was light and not heavy whatsoever. They didn’t use an english muffin but a biscuit which allowed you to get a piece of everything into one bite without having to use your fork to saw out the bread. I like a simple breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, I love pancakes and waffles with all the toppings. But something about a simple straight forward meal makes me happy too.
Photos By: Kristy Neang @lotusfleurxo
Photos By: Kristy Neang @lotusfleurxo
Even after having breakfast, I still had a bit of room for something else. I remember passing by Japadog on our way to brunch and thought I needed to make sure I try that place out. Finding a good hot dog is hard to come by. For me, a delicious hot dog has to have a great bun, beef frank, sauerkraut, grainy mustard, and relish. I don’t venture too far from that. Japadog gives you a Japanese twist on an American classic. You’ll pretty much find anything that can be found in sushi roll or Japanese dish in hot dog form. We ended up getting the Kobe Beef with teriyaki sauce, mayo and seaweed and the Ebi Tempura ‘hot dog’ which is a fried shrimp tempura on a bed of rice with sweet sauce. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the shrimp and the flavors didn’t pop in my mouth. It almost tasted bland because of the rice and tempura batter. The Kobe beef was definitely better. You get more of the hot dog taste in that one. Besides hot dogs, they also serve takoyaki and fries. I would have to say their fries are so good! They are simply just fried and and you can choose whatever seasoning you’d like to add like butter and shoyu, black pepper, or aonori (seaweed flakes) I’m happy I got to try this place at least once. I certainly would come back and try a different hot combination for sure.!
One of the very last spots we had to check out was at Snowy Village. I know there are locations around the state but I’m glad we got to try one while we were here. If you’re not family with it, Snowy Village serves the popular Korean Bingsoo, which is a shaved iced desserts. Its not your typical shaved ice dessert though. You can’t just crank something out with your hand ice machine at home. The consistency of the dessert is literally like snow. Imagine the first snow fall of winter and you go outside and you see the flurries and flakes. That’s pretty much what you get when you put this in your mouth! They mix the shaved ice with what I think condense milk that gives it a light sweetness it and it is amazing! The have so many different combinations to choose from and it took us a while but we decided to go with the season watermelon one. This came in a watermelon! It was so fresh and so good I don’t even know how else to describe it. They added some nuts that gave give a little crunchy texture and the watermelon balls were perfect. (So excited for watermelon to be back in season) This was such a sweet way to end our trip!
Overall, the first trip to Vancouver was a success. We definitely lucked out with the weather and the places we ate at were not that bad either. With only a 2.5 hour drive to Canada from Seattle, I certainly think it is worth it. While exploring, I forgot we were even in a different country but that’s the fun part! I will definitely be going back and will plan on extending my stay for more than just a day and a half. If I can, I’d like to stay at least another day or 2. I look forward to finding more food joints and hole in the walls to check out! Until next time Vancouver!