Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)

[Feedbag]

FINALLY got to Go Fish on one of the last sunny days of the year.

The halibut lived up to the raves, the chips, ehh, not so much.

The salmon burger wasn't that great either, imo, and the sesame

oil drenched cole slaw didn't move me. Glad to have tried it, though,

and will be back for the exalted soups.

[On a side note re fish, why is Longliner at GI still selling Chilean

sea bass? It's my favoritest fish of all time but I thought I wasn't

allowed to buy it, let alone mongers being allowed to sell it?? I

would have asked them, but the lines were three deep so I passed.]

Horrible horrible sushi at a place in Port Moody called Nagano.

Suffice to say I felt like I'd injested a quart of WD-40 after. Blech!

Hons, for the first time. Excruciatingly boring, I can't even remember

what we had. Must. Have. Szechuan. Or Hunan....

[Ling]

^Hon's is the McDonald's of Chinese food.

[fud]

^

But faster! I've never ordered something elsewhere where they take your order and return in under 1 minute with your bowl of food ;p

[Bubbalicious]

I feel like such a loser. I was lurking around in one of the other areas of eGullet, feeling a little bit like a tourist, and I noticed that there was only one other person 'browsing this forum'. It's Friday night. Started to write/type this at around one thirty a.m. I returned to 'Vancouver' and saw that I was the ONLY person in that forum. I do have social things I could be doing though. But I am sort of recuperating from this past week and a half, and want to spend one day having done nothing but a little laundry and order take-out.

Been living pretty decadently of late. So if I may I am going to attempt another report on five or six (or more) outings. Memory's a little fuzzy so the actual days reported may or may not be correct.

Last week (I think it was Tuesday) a friend and I went to Lolita's after work. We arrived just before midnight and took some seats at the bar. This was the second time that I was there and my friend's first. The experience we had couldn't be more different from the first time I was there. For the first hour and a half they played some old-school beastie boys hip hop at a super-loud volume. Love loud music but not grating-white-boys-screeching when I've just finished running my ass off for seven hours. After the music and the greeting we received, if we hadn't been meeting some others from work, we woulda bolted outta there.

I ordered a coupla red wine sangrias and we were underwhelmed. Didn't finish them, leaving half of the sangria in the glass. Then we had to wave down the bartender to get another drink. Both of us had a mango marg. Really good.

It took too long for our server and bartender to notice that we needed fresh drinks though. Once we had ordered and received our food noone checked to make sure that we were enjoying what we had ordered. Annoying.

We shared a few dishes, the best being the corn chowder. Really fantastic. Not too creamy, with extremely fresh vegetables and sweet, perfectly-cooked new potatoes. Served with a too-small slice of really good cornbread.

When our friends arrived, we moved to a table and then the service got a little better. Seems our server guessed that we were 'industry' and stepped up the charm. Told us that what we had at the bar was not eligible for the industry discount, but everything else was. Lame. Blatantly ignoring us at the bar, and then treating us like gold later on.

We had a few more dishes and the best thing that came to the table was the tequila. We sampled a few different kinds and all decided that if we were to go back it would be for the tequila and margs and not for the food.

Also went to Nu last week one night after work. It was Monday and they were 'enjoying' a relatively slow night. All the staff seemed relieved to have a slower night. I could definitely relate. When you're cruising along at a hundred clicks an hour most of the time it's nice to slip into the slow lane once in a while.

Food was all mostly fantastic, especially the desserts. We had the beef tartare, gnocchi, scallop ceviche, duck confit, chicken wings and the olives. ( I can be super-precise with this 'cause I kept the bill. ) We ordered four plates to start with and they all came out at once.

I wish they would have staggered the arrival of the plates a bit more. The plates all arrived with no regard for how the flavours would mix. Granted, we should have held back and known to start with the ceviche, but I am a huge fan of the olives and started with five or six. Then moved on to the ceviche and didn't taste a whole lot. Nu's ceviche is very mild in flavour with no chillies. I'm sure it's delicious, but after the intensity of the olives, all we got was the texture of the scallops, no flavours.

All the other dishes were very good. Service was fun and informative as well. We sat out on the patio, on the painted wood pub chairs, but tried the toad stool perches on the way out. Wow. Uncomfortable. Wouldn't want to sit in one of those for more than a second.

On Monday Sonja and I decided to meet for lunch. We were going to try Salade de Fruits on Seventh near Granville, but it was closed. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Now I know and so do you. Ouisi was the second choice, but on the way we decided to go into West. Good move. We both had the tasting menu ( fifty-nine dollars I think, wish I had kept the check), with an extra course of gnocchi. Everything was absolutley perfect.

Started with an amuse-bouche of marinated/pickled? eggplant with tomato water and a dried slice of sun-gold tomato. Gorgeous. Then a couple of blinis with smoked salmon, dungeness crab and salmon roe. Beautiful. Next course was a salad with organic heirloom beets, warm goat cheese and lovely little chunks of candied walnuts. Such a fantastic combination of textures, temperatures and flavours. The whole salad could've fit in your fist, but I don't think that I could've handled any more of it. The lovely thing about the portion sizes and the dishes themselves was that each left us wanting just one or two more bites, but also made us slightly giddy with anticipation for the next course. Mmmmmm. Then the gnocchi and the halibut to follow. Gnocchi was served with just slightly warmed chanterelles, parmesan I think/can't exactly remember, and truffle oil. Judicious use of truffle oil too. Just a hint, slightly in the background, not overpowering anything else in the dish.

We could have stopped there, and really should have. The main course of halibut was very good, but didn't blow us away as the other dishes had.

It was very hard to go into work that day. Wanted to spend the rest of the simply reminiscing about my lunch.

The next morning I attended a Burgundy tasting with the Vancouver Sommelier Guild. Whites and reds from 1978 to 2002. Loved the whites. Could have skipped the reds. I think that my palate is too Kraft Mac and Cheese to really love great Pinots. I can appreciate the complexity of Pinots, but would be happier with a beer.

Couldn't go home after that so I called a friend and asked him to come out for lunch. We decided on Diva at the Met.

I arrived first and was content to read the wine menu. I didn't want to order a full bottle, but I thought that we might have a half bottle of Veuve Clicquot with our meals. Quickly decided against it. They want ninety dollars for one. A half bottle. Scary. The wine mark-ups are three to four hundred percent. I had heard from quite a few people that lunches are busier than dinners at Diva and I can now understand why. I couldn't bear paying over sixty dollars with tax and tip for a twelve dollar bottle of BC Chard. I am completely comfortable paying 100 percent more for a product, after all, we do this on almost everything we eat or wear, but the prices on Diva's wines made me feel as if I were being taken advantage of. Like I was a rube for sitting down in this room and expecting to pay a fair price for wine. Very happy I didn't make the mistake of going for dinner where wine is a necessity.

The menu was slightly disappointing as well. We were expecting the choices to be a little less pedestrian. I decided on the tasting menu, adding a small order of penne with braised beef. A former co-worker who cooks at Diva sent out a complimentary first course of seared scallops. Well-cooked, but the accompanying sauce and foam was way too salty. Just past the point of bearable.

Many of the other dishes had similar problems as well. The peas and the carrots in the pasta sauce seemed to have been dried before being added. It was as if ninety percent of all the dishes were perfect and then two elements which were a little off were added, bringing the dish just past the point of greatness.

I will definitely go back though as the burger with short rib and foie is on my Try-Before-I-Die list. I'll just enjoy it with a beer. Or a glass of tap water.

That night a friend from work and I went to Bin 941. Sublime. Started with a reasonably-priced bottle of Moet (ninety dollars, for a full bottle) and then moved on to my favorite Riesling. Shared the mussels with coconut milk, and then shared the duck and the ahi tuna, then finished with the cheesecake. God I love that place. All drinks and dishes affably served by their lovely staff.

Nursed a bitter hangover on Wednesday morning lacked all inclination to prepare myself something at home. Pulled into work an hour early so that I could eat the staff meal, but was called into service as soon as I had my uniform on as the organizer of the group I was serving wanted to set up the room. (Could that last sentence ran on any longer?) One of the ironies of the food relocation technician's life. Surrounded by food and not able to eat any of it though we may have not eaten for many hours.

Went to the Keg on Thurlow after work with a current and a former coworker. Perfectly prepared filet wrapped with bacon and served with grilled tomatoes wrapped with white onion.

Then Friday I accompanied Sonja to the Where Magazine Restaurant Awards at Blue Water. A fun hob-nobbing party with all the industry bigwigs. They were serving a perfect afternoon cocktail. Ketel One vodka, fresh lime, lemon and orange juices with a bit of Cointreau. It sounds so simple and obvious but it was magnificent.

There were also tables laid out with tons of nibblies and sushi rolls. Didn't eat much. Too busy drinking. Then there were the award presentations which really killed the mood of the party.

Finished off my week of decadence with a beer and free calamari at the 900 West Lounge at the Hotel Vancouver. I had read in the Straight a couple of years ago that they had a free 'buffet' in the early evening. I was expecting quite a bit more than a chafing-dish of deep-fried calamari. Oh well. The calamari was quite good. And the room is perfect. I almost never desire wealth, but on that afternoon I did. But then again, I am quite happy almost all of the time, love my job and have good friends. So in many ways I am wealthy. Just not monetarily.

Edited October 1, 2005 by Bubbalicious (log)

[Ling]

Wednesday lunch:

The Deli at the UBC SUB. Had my first Jamaican beef patty--ugh, meat-flavoured paste encased in pastry. Ate the pastry, scrapped out the filling. I'll stick to the samosas and the date bars from now on.

Friday dinner:

Gym Crush boy and I were late for our 8:30pm reservation at Nu, but I had called and was happy to see that our table was still available when we arrived 20 minutes late. And what a nice table it was--secluded, with a prime view of False Creek at night. Edwin gave us a few cocktails to start--I believe it was the 1578, which is composed of Cockspur Barbados amber rum, Nu crabapple reduction, crushed allspice, cinnamon, lime and lemon juice, according to the website. Our server, Claire, was attentive and very pleasant. We ate the fried oysters with beer, cheese-filled crackers with bacon, the roasted marrow with apple and mint salad, and the duck confit with foie gras pull-apart, the pork belly with pears. I had also ordered the lamb cheeks, but that dish must have proved especially popular that night, as we received lamb collar with radish instead (after being politely informed of the change). No matter--the lamb was our favourite dish of the evening. We were also given a dish of the dungeness crab gratin. I drank the Joie Gewurtz/Muscat (delicious! One of my favourite whites) and the Blue Mountain Gamay. (My date's allergic to alcohol, so he drank...orange juice I downed both our cocktails earlier too, although he insisted on putting my empty glass in front of him so he wouldn't feel emasculated. ) We were presented with glasses of tawny port, a lemon tart, and a chocolate mousse and finished with coffee and tea. It was a fun evening, and I can't say enough about the service. Pictures will be uploaded in a few days.

Saturday

The plan was to have my birthday dinner with my family tonight, but I had to rush an assignment so we got take-out coconut beef curry from Deer Garden in Richmond.

Edited October 2, 2005 by Ling (log)

[BCinBC]

Then there was Wednesday's Hungarian-food extravaganza with the usual suspects at Budapest Restaurant and Pastry Shop on Main Street.

...

And for the main event?  *Play opening bars of theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey*  Lo and behold, I give you Mt. Schnitzel.

←

You dirty bums, you wait until I'm out of town and then go get this?!? I demand a revisit!

[Mooshmouse]

And for the main event?  *Play opening bars of theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey*  Lo and behold, I give you Mt. Schnitzel.

←

You dirty bums, you wait until I'm out of town and then go get this?!? I demand a revisit!

←

Honest, Brian, we had a commemorative bite of schnitzel in your honour. Mind you, we have little sympathy as you weren't exactly suffering in the south of France.

Fear not. We shall scale the lofty heights of Mt. Schnitzel again one day soon.

[chocomoo]

Saturday dinner

The Eatery with my grandma & sister. My parents were out for a 50th wedding anniversary of friends, & my sister & I were craving chicken wings, so we took our grandma to the Eatery (& nope, it's not her first time there! )Saturday's their chicken specials night. Sadly, they had run out of wings... Don't get the bbq wings - wayyyyy oversauced. Anyway, our server suggested the chicken karrage, which was also on special that night. GREAT suggestion! They use the same batter for the wings & karrage, so our Eatery wings craving was more than satisfied. The chicken karrage that I've had in the past has always been little nuggets of dark meat, but these actually pieces of chicken instead of little bits. Plus they were battered quite lightly, which is a big plus. My grandma liked this the best. I realized that it's kinda the Japanese equivalent of Taiwanese deep-fried chicken nuggets ("yan su ji" in Mandarin, "yeem so gai" in Cantonese). We didn't get okonomiyaki though, because we wouldn't have been able to finish even half of it.

We also got tuna tempura (yummy but not crispy enough), & the Tezuka sushi platter, which consisted of assorted nigiri, a tuna crunch roll (tuna sashimi w/tempura bits), california roll, & sweet little suji roll (tempura prawn, asparagus, agge, & flying fish roe). I really like the addition of tempura bits & agge in the sushi - adds a different kind of crunch.

Sunday dinner

Late dinner (10:15!) after watching Dalecarlians, a Swedish film, as part of the film festival. We attempted to watch a Shin Sung-Il is Lost (about schoolkids who're taught eating a sin by a bunch of hypocritical teachers), but I wrote down the wrong venue... LUCKILY, I got a refund for my ticket (my friend has a volunteer pass).

Back to dinner - so we went to Vera's burger shack as it was close by & I was craving a good burger. My friend just got fries as she wasn't that hungry. The fries were quite good - nice & crispy on the outside, really hot on the inside, good potato flavour. I haven't had good skinny fries in a while. I got the 4-cheese burger with fried onions (hey, I pretty much skipped dinner so I was allowed more calories for my burger, right?). I don't normally liike blue cheese, but I like blue cheese dressing, so I thought I was ready for the blue cheese in the burger. I thought wrong. I did, however, eat most of the blue cheese. The provolone & cheddar flavours sorta blended together for me, so the only distinct cheese flavours I could taste were the feta & blue cheeses. All in all, a really good burger - I haven't had a burger in months!!

Tuesday dinner

Guu (Thurlow) with my sister & cousin & her husband before the Death Cab for Cutie concert (AMAZING!!). Some of the dishes we had were the salmon sashimi with garlic & sesame oil (this was my favourite dish - it's on their regular menu & I've never tried it), grilled chicken skin (NOT good - it was fatty, parts of the skin weren't grilled, & ...rancid?? I always think this is a horrible-sounding word in English - it always sounds too harsh, like the food is rotten), yaki udon (nice, chewy noodles), grilled tuna belly (overcooked for my taste), some kind of shrimp gratin (ok), & tako yaki. Service at this location is always harried, and when they moved us from our larger table to a tiny 2 top (a party had reservations at 7:30, we didn't), they forgot our tea. AND THEN, my sister's stool BROKE . My sister is FAR from heavy, & she had only been sitting on the stool for like 10 seconds... The legs of the stool literally fell off! My sister wasn't hurt, just highly embarassed. After that we just kinda perched on the stools. Thank God my pregnant cousin had a sturdier chair to sit in...

[ja_rtw]

Dinner @ Aqua Riva - It was very busy for a Sunday night ! There was a table of 40 beside us, and the service was excellent - Professional, friendly, and she gave us an extra dessert We went for the "West Coast Feast" - 3 courses for $27 deal, seafood chowder to start - tasty, with big chunks of salmon. The duck spring rolls were unexciting though, they had a strange aftertaste. Entrees included roasted wild salmon, with spinach & feta polenta - it was a bit dry, but the butter basil sauce was tasty. The pork loin with fig chutney was also reportedly dry. Best part of the meal were the desserts, a double chocolate mousse cake was suitably rich & sweet, and an apple rhubarb crumble crisp was tasty.

Dinner @ ShiruBay - They've changed their ebi chili mayos it was disappointing for me, the batter is a puffy dense fritter like thing instead of a tempura coating. Other than that, the black cod with miso was one of my favourite dishes, succulent, juicy, flavourful. Mussels with a ginger white wine sauce on special were nicely plump and tasty. Their dungeness crab sushi is nicely presented, but always falls apart when I try to dip it into the soya sauce! Also had chicken karagge (pretty standard, but good), matcha cheesecake (probably the best i've had in vancouver), and the caramelized bananas - i didnt really like how it's served in the blackened banana peel.

Wanted to try out the menu at George for the Taste of Yaletown event, but they decided that it 'didn't work with the room' and we would have to go up to Brix for their TOY menu instead. We had some drinks (love the glasses, but it's pricey cocktails !) , and headed over to Brown's instead. Great value, $20 for 3 courses - Went for the sesame crusted ahi tuna salad, halibut served with a creamy dill sauce, and the key lime pie. Everything was quite good ! Stole a baby back rib off of my friend, and found it satisfactory. This place reminds me of a smaller Cactus Club, I'll be back for a good casual meal.

[Vancouver Lee]

Dinner last Saturday night was at the Hamilton Street Grill . Appies were a tomoato and bocconcini salad for me and the roasted tomato soup for Mrs. VL. Neil was in his usual fine form and produced a perfect hanger steak for me and a terrific tenderloin for my better half. No room for the GBP, unfortunately.

Lunch today was the Cactus Club for a lunch date with my wife. Chicken ceasar salad for her, pesto chicken and cranberry quesadilas for me, and we spilt an order of cheese toasts.

*******************************************

I must also tell you about a truly adventurous Vancouver resident I know who recently embarked on a quest to earn 1,000,000 Aeroplan miles within the next 60 days. During this period, he will be essentially living on airplanes and while he's there he is going to try and sample every available meal option (including the 17 "special order" meals such as "lacto-ovo vegetarian", "Muslim" and the ever-popular "bland/soft" meals that Air Canada makes available).

I have started a thread about this in Adventures in Eating forum, but given that this fellow is a local, I thought I'd post something here. He has started a blog to record his progress that is available here:

http://gcmr2005.blogspot.com/

Edited October 6, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[sanrensho]

Their dungeness crab sushi is nicely presented, but always falls apart when I try to dip it into the soya sauce!

The solution to this is to do what the Chinese do with dim sum. Dip your chopsticks in the soy sauce and dab on the sushi. Repeat as necessary. Most people (myself included) often end up putting too much soy sauce on their sushi anyway, so this is a good trick with fall-apart sushi containing ikura, tobiko, etc.

[Andrew Morrison]

Made an introductory, pre-game visit to Lolita's for tequila and beer early last night. I can see what the fuss is about. Awesome menu. Will return soon for a proper recce and write-up.

I'm writing a column on the return of hockey as seen through the prism of the new Earl's Paramount location at Hornby and Smithe. 16 flat screens and a massive projection screen above the bar!

Currently fiddlnig with the opening paras:

There are elements of surreality to days long looked-forward to. Whether it’s your wedding, your vacation, or the day you graduate, anticipated and momentous dates get seared into your mental calendar like so many D-Days. Hardly a moment passes without considering how you‘ll hit the beach. At night, imaginary scenarios play out behind troubled R.E.M., and fears dance with hopes for what the day will bring. I’ve had two so far this year. July 15th was the due date of my second son (I certainly fumbled through many wee hours running a myriad of scenarios with that one). The second was a date I had anticipated even longer. October 5th had stood on my horizon like some millenarian End, as the day we’d all ascend or descend to a glorious Rapture or fall headlong into the faceless jaws of pain in perpetuity. The absence of hockey can do strange things to a Canucks fan.

Since the deal was struck between the players and owners back in July, I had mulled over what to do on October 5th (the home opener that would see my other boys playing Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes). The first daydream saw me weeping as Neil Young sang the anthem dressed as a moose, another saw me at the game picking a fight with someone smaller than me (hard to imagine), while another saw me collapsing in euphoric arrest as the puck dropped for the first time in 485 days. It was clear I had to be careful. Other visions were equally obtuse, but it wasn’t until I dropped $300 on a pre-season game the previous week that I decided buying tickets was a thoroughly bad idea (that and the fact the first home game had sold out in seconds). I was resigned to watch the game in a bar or a restaurant, and after exhaustive negotiations with friends as to the most appropriate place to ring in the Canadian New Year, we settled on the new Earl’s Paramount at Smithe and Hornby.

Story out Thursday in the WE.

Hockey's back, baby.

[*Deborah*]

Lunch today: Thursday special chicken curry at Beatty Street Bar & Grill with my parents. I have been eating this dish for lunch approximately 45 Thursdays per annum for the past 10 years. It's not the best chicken curry in the world, or the most authentic, but it is a good lunch. Served on basmati with mango chutney and tzatziki/raita-type stuff, and a papadum. Warms you up on a day like this!

Dinner last night: early supper at The Smoking Dog as it is close by Barbara-Jo's, where I had a Riedel glass showing/wine tasting class (and yes, the right shape of glass really does make a differrence in how the wine tastes!). My mother began with the Paté Maison, served with cornichons and frisée, and my dad and I had the $25 prix-fixe menu, so he started with the Lentil Soup and I had the Carrot Soup. Everything was good. I luuurve carrot soup. For mains, my mother had the chicken breast (which I did not note preparation, other than it was roasted), and my dad and I had the Veal Loin, which was just succulent, really nicely prepared. At this point I took off for my class, but my dad had the poached pear in a red (or was it Port?) wine reduction, and my mother later raved about the profiteroles she had; they kindly brought me home the orange-scented crème brulée that came with my menu, and it was very good indeed (eaten while watching the end of the 2nd period ). We had a lovely bottle of Brunello di Montalcino. Some time I hope we will go to this restaurant when we are not pressed for time in any way.

Tuesday night, my mother and I went to Lickerish on Davie for dinner. It has been a whirlwind couple of days, so I don't remember all the particulars...she began with Lamb Satay that she liked very much, and I had deep-fried wontons with beef which were tasty. We had a bottle of Wirra Wirra MacLaren Valley Cab-Shiraz-Merlot which was nice and tasty. For mains, I had angel hair pasta with wild mushrooms, and my mother had some other pasta that I can't remember . For dessert she had a piece of Chocolate Eruption Cake, which is not a "lava" cake but a chocolate cake with chunks of white chocolate cheesecake in it...very rich and pretty good, I had a bite or two to help her out and a Monte Cristo coffee.

Edited October 6, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Mooshmouse]

...I had a bite or two to help her out

←

Such a benevolent, self-sacrificing daughter you are.

[Little Frog]

I do not eat out all that often as cooking is my favourite way to unwind after a long day at work... I end up missing it if I dine out too much!

Anyway, here are a few recent and very enjoyable dinners:

Habibi's: Went there with two friends and had a mezze-style dinner: fattouche salad, labne, shankleesh, foule, warek enaab and batingen blaban, with a very forgettable Pinot Noir. I wish we had sticked to water and Arabic coffee, but oh well.

Everything was good, even though the foule (black fava beans) was a little on the dry side. Nothing that a bit of tahini cannot fix. The shankleesh (spiced cheese dish) and batingen blaban (grilled eggplant) were outstanding.

A very pleasant casual dinner. I was happy to see that the change in ownership did not affect the quality of the food.

However, I really would like to see a good non-vegetarian Lebanese restaurant here in Vancouver. Most of my favourite dishes (arayess, kebbe, habra nayye) are meat-based...

Cioppino's

I went there with my mother on the last day of her two-week stay in Vancouver. She ordered the terrine de foie gras and the ribeye. I had the stuffed courgette flowers and the crab risotto.

What can I say about Cioppino's that has not been said before? We had a wonderful meal. The flavours and textures were extremely well-balanced, be it the delicate and subtle dishes I was served or the earthier, more robust ones my mother chose.

The overall quality was amazing and my mom declared afterwards that she did not want to fly back to France because she had much better food in Vancouver!

I did not make a note of the wines we had, as Celestino chose for us. But I will not forget anytime soon the wonderful bouquet of the Italian white he paired with my risotto. The pear notes were unbelievable

Schooner (Tofino, BC)

Another great dinner with my mother

We first shared some appetizers/small plates: The oysters were the best I had had in a long time and the nut-crusted goat cheese salad was redolent with flavour (note to self: try to replicate the Cabernet Sauvignon-poached Anjou pear at home!).

I then had the "Simply Halibut" and my mom had the crab/shrimp/Brie stuffed halibut. Both dishes were very well executed and the fish extremely fresh.

We both enjoyed the polished yet welcoming atmosphere and the professional yet unpretentious service. I will definitely be back next time I stay in Tofino.

[appreciator]

However, I really would like to see a good non-vegetarian Lebanese restaurant here in Vancouver. Most of my favourite dishes (arayess, kebbe, habra nayye) are meat-based...

You might want to try Mona's. The food is pretty good and on weekend nights they have a belly dancer.

[transfattyacid]

However, I really would like to see a good non-vegetarian Lebanese restaurant here in Vancouver. Most of my favourite dishes (arayess, kebbe, habra nayye) are meat-based...

You might want to try Mona's. The food is pretty good and on weekend nights they have a belly dancer.

←

Mona`s looks cool, must try it soon, thanks for the link.

Have you been sarah ?

Whats the food like ?

Whats the belly dancer like ?

Inquiring minds need to know.

[Mooshmouse]

You might want to try Mona's.  The food is pretty good and on weekend nights they have a belly dancer.

←

Mona`s looks cool, must try it soon, thanks for the link.

Have you been sarah ?

Whats the food like ?

Whats the belly dancer like ?

Inquiring minds need to know.

←

Though I'm not Sarah, I hope you don't mind if I chime in.

A fairly large group of us (around 15 people, give or take) went to Mona's for Ian's birthday a couple of years ago. Had a great table reserved right by the stage/dance floor. Lots of ethnic Lebanese people there which I suppose speaks well for the calibre of the food and the entertainment. There was live music as well as a belly dancer and loads of other people on the dance floor, us included after a number of drinks were consumed.

The food was, as Sarah mentioned, quite good and the portions were extremely generous; there certainly weren't any complaints from our table. One of my favourite things at Mona's was a lemony garlic sauce served as an accompaniment to our main dishes. Unbelievably good. A Google search yielded this recipe which shows that it's simply lemon juice, oil, a little salt and a whole truckload of garlic all blended together. 'Twas a good thing that all of us at the table liked it... we were slathering it on our food and our collective aroma would've been intolerable for any poor non-garlic lovers in our midst.

And you can't forget about the psychic who offers readings on the weekends.

In short, go and try it out. If worse comes to worse, you can always sweat the garlic off on the dance floor.

[appreciator]

^ well... I have to admit that I haven't been to Mona's when they've featured a belly dancer... was just told that it was good. You'll have to take Moosh's word for it

The food, particularly the appetizers/mezze are extremely tasty. Some of the best homous I've ever had... and I have to tell you that I make a damn fine version myself. As for entrees, I'd go for the lamb. I had a chicken dish which, though tasty enough, would have been better had it been lamb. I know that probably doesn't make sense but the sauce that was served with it was too strong for the chicken.

One small issue... be sure to check your bill. I've mentioned this before, and though ii ws probably just a one time mistake, we were "accidentally charged" a service charge on our party of 4.

Service was charming however, so I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Cheers!

[transfattyacid]

Thanks both of you.

I think we`ll have to go some time soon , i had a look round the menus on their website it all sounds very tasty.

and Sarah , yes i understand about the lamb should be chicken thang.

[Little Frog]

Glad to hear that several people had positive experiences at Mona's. Maybe I caught them on two bad days?

I went there twice two years ago and I was not impressed with the food at all. Apallingly bland is probably the best way to describe it

I must admit that I am picky when it comes to Lebanese cuisine. I spent quite a bit of time in Beirut betwen 1997 and 2000 and I was also introduced to excellent Lebanese restaurants when I lived in Paris.

But even if I had had no previous exposure to Lebanese cuisine, I would have found the food at Mona's unimpressive at best. It definitely lacks the complex, layered, intense flavours that I expect.

I would recommend it for an entertaining evening of bellydancing, certainly not for the food.

Habibi's on the other hand does an excellent job with some of the tastiest and most traditional mezze dishes, but why oh why a strictly vegetarian menu?!?

Edited October 7, 2005 by Little Frog (log)

[makanmakan]

Tuesday dinner

Guu (Thurlow) with my sister & cousin & her husband before the Death Cab for Cutie concert (AMAZING!!).  Some of the dishes we had were the salmon sashimi with garlic & sesame oil (this was my favourite dish - it's on their regular menu & I've never tried it), grilled chicken skin (NOT good - it was fatty, parts of the skin weren't grilled, & ...rancid??  I always think this is a horrible-sounding word in English - it always sounds too harsh, like the food is rotten), yaki udon (nice, chewy noodles), grilled tuna belly (overcooked for my taste), some kind of shrimp gratin (ok), & tako yaki.  Service at this location is always harried, and when they moved us from our larger table to a tiny 2 top (a party had reservations at 7:30, we didn't), they forgot our tea.  AND THEN, my sister's stool BROKE  .  My sister is FAR from heavy, & she had only been sitting on the stool for like 10 seconds...  The legs of the stool literally fell off!  My sister wasn't hurt, just highly embarassed.    After that we just kinda perched on the stools.  Thank God my pregnant cousin had a sturdier chair to sit in...

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hey, we did almost the same thing on monday night!! except we did guu with garlic then we headed to see death cab! we had the tuna yukke (chopped up tuna sashimi with sesame oil and tamari), ebi yuba (shrimp wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried goodness), some sort of mushroom rice with salmon roe on top, beef tongue robata, grilled makerel, duck salad, chicken wings, prawn tempura with sweet chili sauce, and more (of which i can't remember!). oh, and lots of sake!!

tuesday was lunchtime at kiwi pie company. i eat there way too much as it is next door to me. they now have a "two toonie" tuesday special and soup as well. the soups are very tasty indeed. so far, they've had seafood chowder, cream of tomato with black olive, and lately it was carrot ginger. i had the butter chicken pie and a salad with the star anise dressing...yumm!

last night was curry dinner at home before venturing to the port and chocolate tasting. oh yes, gorging on chocolate and sipping port. t'is was a great evening for chocolate fans, there's a new chocolate in town. "michel cluizel" from france has chocolates of anywhere from 45% to 99% cocoa. a very cool thing that they do is that they have a line of plantation chocolates which sees a line from each plantation anywhere from papua new guinea to venezuela. they have a box set of 72% chocolates, from 7 different plantations. got to taste 3 of 7 and they all have distinct flavours depending on soil, what was grown before, etc. the one from papua new guinea (who'd have thought!) had a tobacco and red currant flavour. i believe you can get them from urban fare, choices, meinhardt's, and whole foods. another cool thing about this chocolate is that there's no filler of soy lecithin in it. just pure chocolate goodness favourite libations were the penfolds grandfather port, the broadbent "rainwater" madeira, and the bonny doon framboise. then went to infuze for tea to calm our upset tummies. i had the turkish ginger and he had the moroccan mint.

[Ling]

^Thanks for the tip on the Michel Cluizel chocolates. I've been looking for them for awhile in Vancouver. I saw them in Seattle, but the mark-up was kind of high.

[Vancouver]

Glad to hear that several people had positive experiences at Mona's. Maybe I caught them on two bad days?

I agree with you here. I've only been there once, and found the food quite bland compared to Lebanese food I've had elsewhere. The complexity was not there. I have not yet tried Habibi's and upon this recommendation now will!

Cheers!

[Lori in PA]

Hmmm, last three places?

1. Double Cheeseburger from McDonalds -- like eating a handful of salted grease.

2. Dairy Queen -- hot fudge sundae

3. PA Turnpike service plaza -- Roy Rodgers chicken strips and a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato.

(I need a life. Or, at least more money.)

Lori, who is actually very blessed in her life, but not with much money