Kentan

If you happen to find yourself in Lake Cowichan, the Galloping Moon Gallery makes a great coffee with beans from Illy. It's on the main drag of town just before the tourist info centre. The owner used to sell and service espresso machines, so he knows his stuff. Interesting guy to chat with as well - apparently Dutch, Swiss, and Germans absolutely love the area and have been big real estate buyers of late.

Wow - I got a blast from the past walking downtown today. The Elephant & Castle pub has returned to Vancouver with a new location in the Marine Building, on the corner of Burrard and W. Hastings. According to the E&C website, their last downtown location in Pacific Centre closed 10 years ago. Elephant & Castle - downtown Vancouver No idea what the 'new' Elephant & Castle will be like, but the idea of having a beer in the Marine Bldg really appeals to me. Burrard St north seems to really be livening up in the evening - first with the Cactus Club flagship and now this. I'm sure much of it is in anticipation of the opening of the convention centre next year.

I'm not waylman, and haven't tried it yet. But they have their menu online at: http://www.medinacafe.com/. ← Thanks Vancouver - we tried to get into Cafe Medina today at 1:30 but it would have been at least a 45 minute wait! Methinks there are not enough great brunch places in that part of town.

What do they have on offer waylman? What did you try?

Andrew Morrison, as usual, has the scoop:http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/th...k-happenings15/

For anyone who's tired of the current selection of Greek places in town - exciting news! Andrew Morrison of Urban Diner reports that a modern Greek resto called Piato will be opening up in September on W. 4th where India Grill used to be: Piato coming to W. 4th I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but West 4th is definitely now the "it" location for great new restaurants in Vancouver.

A NYC waiter and author of the Waiter Rant blog talks about the different types of tippers in this excerpt from the Globe and Mail. Unlike Andrew Morrison, he seems to have decided to stay anonymous for now. Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter The original blog: Waiter Rant Here's the list of tipper types:

MacKinnon's Bakery on South Granville has a sign up saying they'll be moving. I'm glad they're not closing outright, but it's still a shock since they've been in the same location for the past 82 years. First Notte's Bon Ton moves off Granville and now this! Ok, I guess that was a while ago...

Sorry to hear that tips are subsidizing restaurants' bottom line even in Vancouver. I'd hoped that was only the case for service charges that are automatically added on.Good news from the UK, though. The Independent's article really seems to have hit a nerve. It looks like there might be some new legislation soon - MPs from all parties have signed a Commons motion calling on the Government to change the law to ensure that waiters receive all tips in addition to the minimum wage: More restaurants exposed for their tipping practices Top chefs are joining the campaign: Tipping: top chefs turn up the heat There was even a protest outside a restaurant in Canary Wharf: Protesters confront diners at London restaurant

There was a fascinating article in The Independent today about how restaurant management often skims off the lion's share of tips and service charges: Tipping - The unpalatable truth Incredible! Does anyone know if this kind of thing is common in Vancouver restaurants? Are there similar loopholes that allow restaurants here to pay below minimum wage?

The sign on their door says they're closed for renovations until Sept. 1st.

This link may prove useful for future meetups: http://translink.bc.ca/ ← Ha! Thanks Vancouver - I was going to say the same thing. With 5 cars, that trip is consuming a lot more gas than coffee! Although gas is still cheaper per litre.

I drove by there a few days ago and it looks like it's pretty close to opening. I live between the two, but closer to this new one. I'm looking forward to checking it out. ← It's opening on Monday - here's the article from the Sun. They've been training staff in the Granville store for the past few weeks - many of them are from Ireland for some reason!Apparently that space was a Buy-Low Foods prior to Long & McQuade taking it over.

Thanks Neil - I think this is the one I was looking for, although there's no explanation of how the ratings are calculated: Hot Spot Restaurants 1 - Boneta Restaurant 2 - Italian Kitchen 3 - Sanafir 4 - Chambar 5 - glowbal 6 - Goldfish Pacific Kitchen 7 - Yew 8 - Cobre 9 - COAST 10 - Azia

I went out for dinner at Chambar over the weekend (amazing as usual - haven't yet had a bad meal there) and booked it through opentable.com. They sent out a feedback form to me today, and after filling it out they provide you with a list of the restaurants most frequently booked through their site. Here's the list: Chambar The Cannery Seafood House Watermark on Kits Beach The Boathouse - Port Moody Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House Blue Water Cafe Goldfish Pacific Kitchen Italian Kitchen Boathouse English Bay Quails' Gate Estate Winery (Kelowna) So who thinks these represent the most difficult restaurants to get a reservation for (ie. most popular) in BC? Of course, there are only 163 BC restaurants listed on their site, but I would guess that the busier (and yes, more upscale) restaurants would be the ones using this service. I would have thought that West would be on the list - perhaps it's an older demographic that doesn't book online as much? And I'm sure Vij's would be near the top of this list if they took reservations.

I stopped by Cafe Medina yesterday to see how things were progressing on the breakfast front. One of the staff said that they have been building a kitchen in the back from scratch, so it's quite a time consuming process. Although they want to be ready to go next week, he said that it'll probably be more like 2-3 weeks from now. To console myself I had the coffee + fruit + waffle with the pistachio white chocolate topping. Man, that was a great waffle! Amazingly tasty and chewy. Someone else posted that they're called Gaufre de Liège (Liège Waffles). The article below says that these are the original Belgian waffles, whereas the thicker, larger and crispier variety are "Gaufre de Bruxelles" (Brussels Waffles). Gaufre de Liège or de Bruxelles The coffee from 49th Parallel Roasters was awesome too. Can't wait for brekkie!

Kei's Bakery on Burrard St. is temporarily closed for renovations. Sigh. Now where am I going to get my Mt Matcha buns??

Café Medina - the Belgian waffle place next to Chambar - will be introducing a breakfast & lunch menu in "early June" according to the sign in their window. Any new breakfast joint created by the Chambar folks is bound to be good.

It looks like Meinhardt on Granville is branching out to become a mini grocery store empire. I noticed a sign today saying that a new 15,000 sq. ft location will be opening up at Arbutus & 16th next to the Ridge Theatre. I seem to vaguely remember there used to be a grocery store in that block a number of years ago, so it'll be good for that neighbourhood to have one there again. The nearest one at the moment is the Safeway a couple of blocks south on Arbutus. I did a little searching and it looks like Meinhardt isn't stopping with one new store. Calgary's Mount Royal District will be getting their own Meinhardt's in a couple of years. They'll also be coming out with their own line of condiments and sweets: Meinhardt's long range planning

Ok - so I did a taste test between the Moore's Bakery HCBs and those from MacKinnon's, my local bakery on Granville St, which has been around for 82 years. Moore's - Definitely the sweeter of the two, due to the light glaze on top, and chock full of raisin goodness. MacKinnon's - Not as many raisins, closer to a savoury bun than a sweet bun. The cross on top was much more well-defined than the Moore's version. With the MacKinnon's HCB you could clearly taste the nutmeg and cinnamon in the mix - very much a traditional spiced bun. I could hardly taste the spices in the Moore's HCB. For me it's a toss-up. They were both very good and gone in about 5 minutes. As a sweet pastry, I prefer Moore's. But I think MacKinnon's is closer to my perception of a traditional HCB, though recipes do vary widely. Now it's time to start on my Moore's apple strudel!

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodle House on the northwest corner of Kingsway & Nelson (just east of Metrotown) has some of the best noodles in town. I second Flowbee's recommendation of Abdul's BBQ - Abdul is a man who knows his shawarma. Crystal Mall Food Court in general has very good food for not much money. Gets crazy busy around lunchtime (11:45-1:30). Kura is a surprisingly good Japanese place about a block west of Willingdon on the south side of Kingsway. Right next door is Saffron, an Indian restaurant that does a great lunch buffet.

Ha! I read that article too! I should have tried some of the high cocoa content milk choco when I was last at Monde, but I was too besotted with the Zotter sale. Eatrustic, that Coppeneur milk choco sounds amazing! Now I'll have to drag myself out to Monde again.

Yeah, I've found that with Caffe Artigiano too - great cappucinos, but the drip coffee is so incredibly bitter & acidic that I can't finish a cup. And I like my coffee strong! I haven't tried the coffee at 49th Parallel, their offshoot on W 4th Ave, but does anyone know how it compares to Artigiano? ← 49th Parallel is owned by the Piccolo family, who started Artigiano and then sold it a couple of years back. I find the 49th Parallel roasts pretty similar to Artigiano's, although not quite as bitter.

The new Save-on-Foods at the corner of Cambie and 7th looks like it'll be opening soonish since they've started the hiring process. I wonder if all those grocery stores will survive - there's also a Whole Foods coming in addition to Safeway, Capers, and Choices.

A couple of new branches of the Vancouver mini coffee chains have opened downtown in the last couple of months. JJ Bean has opened in Yaletown at the corner of Homer & Davie - it's a bit of a small space, but they have a cool little upstairs nook area which works well. Kind of like a Yaletown apt I guess. And Caffe Artigiano now has a location on Granville St near Dunsmuir. I actually wish that the locations were switched - I'm more often on Granville St and I'm a big fan of JJ Bean's roasts. I've tried Artigiano a number of times but their roasts just don't work for me. It's like they're too bitter or something. Anyone else find this?