Vancouver: Life is Too Short for Bad Coffee - Day 3

For our last day in Vancouver, we decided to take it easy and do some shopping to bring back to family and friends, but of course, gotta visit at least one breakfast/brunch spot and just so happens there's a place in Vancouver that's known for their waffles and brunch.

Before that Amanda (who's still our driver and guide for the last day) brought us to Urban Fare, which is sorta like a... Dean & Deluca to me. It's essentially a market in the city but it is extremely pricey. I think I saw Breyer's ice cream going for $8!! It's like... 2 for $5 here haha. Nevertheless, we still went because you can buy some speciality items from Canada that you can't find it other markets.

Urban Fare! Modern looking place.

Of course every high end/specialty market has a crazy deli section and Urban Fare is no different. I wish they offered samples :P

So I ended up buying these Rogers' Chocolate Bar. The reason they are so special is that the the one in purple wrapper is actually Ice Wine Chocolate Truffle. Ice wine! I've actually had it once before (thanks Michael), and it's awesome. Nice semi sweet chocolate with hints of ice wine. You're not gonna get drunk off these but the taste is there.

There's also a cafe inside the market. Again, nice modern decor with wood accents.

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After Urban Fare, we decided to go to our brunch spot only to find out that we had about an 1 hour wait. I guess it's a good thing since that's a sign of popularity but man I was crazy hungry since it was around noon by the time we got there. I was also surprised to find out that this place had 4.5 stars on Yelp with 180+ reviews!

Café Medina

556 Beatty St

Vancouver, BC V6B 2L3

The front with the line.

Hmmm I wonder what I should get from here... maybe some coffee and waffles? :P

So true, so true.

So the whole time I was thinking of those big fluffy pancakes, but nope, theirs is more like the size of... a slightly bigger cookie. They make it before hand then lets it sit on the rack and toast it when the orders come.

Finally seated and the menu! Price is reasonable!

Of course HAD to get coffee so I went for the dark chocolate mocha. I actually like it a lot, especially since mocha is usually too sweet. The dark chocolate is a nice touch! Barista is hella good too at pouring.

Diana's milk chocolate lavender mocha. It's creamy and you can really taste the lavender.

White chocolate pistachio mocha. Yes they do specialize in mochas and this is really rich as well.

Vanilla latte. I like how they serve it in a clear glass so you can see the layer of steamed milk.

Mimosa, always a good choice for brunch.

Finally! The waffles! For each order of the waffles, you get one sauce so we went for three to share: milk chocolate lavender, fig orange marmalade, and the raspberry caramel.

The waffles are a little small but I guess they found that magic formula to have that perfect crispy & fluffy texture.

The caramel was definitely my favorite since the raspberry adds a little bit of tartness to the caramel. The milk chocolate lavender is interesting and the chocolate is extremely rich. I'm still not that big of a fan of lavender though. As for the fig orange marmalade, imagine a perfect orange marmalade with just a slight hint of fig.

As for the main dish, I went for the Fricasse, which is braised short rib that comes with 2 fried eggs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula, and smoked applewood cheddar. The short rib was full of flavor, making it a perfect choice if you're looking for a savory dish for your brunch. The eggs were over easy and I loved it when the yolk broke in half and runs all over the ribs, potatoes, and onions. It also comes with this huge grilled rosemary Foccacia bread that's perfect for soaking up all the remaining sauces!

My favorite was the Tagine though. It's rare to not see a benedict of some sort on a brunch menu but this is the closest thing that comes to it because of the 2 poached eggs it comes with. Besides a hollandaise sauce, there's an addicting spicy tomato stew with Mediterranean spices, and comes with merguez sausage, sundried black olives, and cilantro. It has just enough kick to make you keep eating. The sausage is not overly fatty and the olives and cilantro completes the Mediterranean flavor of the dish.

For the Foccaia bread with Tangine, it also comes with this great hummus with mint leaves that makes it refreshing.

The Paella is their take on the traditional Spanish dish. Comes with a baked egg, curried orzo, Hungarian chorizo, zucchini, red pepper, roasted corn, grano padano, watercress, tomatoes, and avocado. Yea, that's a party in your mouth for sure!

Canard Confit. We were totally expecting a duck leg confit, but it's actually sandwiches with shredded duck confit, sour cherry compote, brie, and anjou pears between pecan craisin sourdough. Watercress and caramelized pecans are on the side. It's a little disappointing since we were expecting a juicy fatty duck. The sandwich is still really tasty and I especially enjoyed the sour compote. Definitely makes you pucker a little.

I can definitely see why Cafe Medina is so popular in Vancouver. It's something that we don't even have in LA. The menu is just different enough to draw your interest but also familiar enough that you don't feel like you are adventuring too much out of your comfort zone. Great spot!

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Now... I still haven't had a true milk tea yet in Vancouver even though Tea Spot in Crystal Mall was pretty good. Lots of people recommended Pearl Castle so right before we headed towards the airport, we made a quick stop!

Pearl Castle

3779 Sexsmith Rd Ste 1128

Richmond, BC V6X 3Z9

Pearl Castle. Best way to describe it is that it is similar to Tea Station. They serve drinks with a full menu.

Connie and Diana's drink. Totally forgot what they ordered haha.

Amanda's green tea and I went with oolong milk tea with boba, or "bubbles" as they call it in Canada (weirdos :P). Of course got it with half sugar.

Milk tea was really good actually but the boba needed work. A lot of work. It was too bland and not "Q" enough.

After Pearl Castle we went straight for the airport and after taking a bunch of pictures at the drop-off zone, Connie & I finally boarded and said our goodbyes to Canada, but not before Amanda secretly stuffing these into my backpack...

St. Germaine's pineapple bun and sweet evaporated milk bun! Totally saved me on the flight since I was STARVING. Thanks Amanda!

Next time though, definitely making a stop in Whistler for some fresh pow! I saw sooo many people with their snowboards at the airport and all over Vancouver. Time to save up!

Vancouver: Raw Canvas on Hamilton Street - Day 1

After Chinatown, we went to downtown, hoping to find some shops open but for some reason almost everything closes around 7pm on a Friday. Not the best since we had no idea where to go and not having 3G in Canada meant that we couldn't go on our phones. I think that was the first time I was reminded I'm actually out of the country :P

Arrived in Gastown which reminded me off Gaslamp is San Diego.

Saw this cool steam-engine powered clock. Only one of the few in the world.

Steam coming out from the top.

Since there wasn't much besides restaurants and a few bars in Gastown, we decided to check out Yaletown in downtown Vancouver, specifically Hamilton Street. The street is lined with restaurants for the whole length of the street and we decided to check out this wine bar we stumbled upon.

Raw Canvas

1046 Hamilton St

Vancouver, BC V6B

www.raw-canvas.com

Outside of Raw Canvas. Very small place.

Not a big place with a few big communal tables, small tables near the entrance, and few seats at the bar area.

Now the reason the place is small and why it is called Raw Canvas is because it is actually a wine bar and artist studio combined. On the menu, you can actually buy canvas & paint, head over to the back and let your creativity flow, maybe after you've had a glass or two. Very cool idea.

Lots of people. There are people to help you out if you don't know what you are doing but I saw several paintings that were quite good!

Of course for me, wine is the main focus here :]

The wine/drinks menu.

For the first glass, opted for the Emiliana Eco Balance 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. A lot more fruity than your typical cab! Quite smooth as well.

Here's Diana posing very very happily with her customized drink made by the bartender. Lots of fruit juices went into this vodka mixed drink haha. Forgot to take a picture of the white Connie had... oh well.

We also ordered a sampler plate to go with our wines. It came with (from left to right): Piave Vecchio cheese, dried apricot, Parrano gouda, organic walnuts, elk & juniper salami, and fig & walnut wine spread. It also came with a bowl of baguettes.

For $15, it's pretty expensive for a sampler, but the Piave Vecchio, elk & juniper salami, and the fig & walnut wine spread were definitely good eats. I'm now a fan of Piave, which is a kinda of hard cheese with a very nutty flavor. Elk salami was surprisingly good. Not much gaminess and not as fatty as typical salami. The sweet fig spread is just as good as it sounds.

Went for the Trio 2008, which is a syrah and tempranillo blend from Spain. Being a syrah, it definitely packs a more intense aroma and you can taste a hint of spice from tempranillo grapes.

Diana's second drink: another customized drink from the bartender. Don't remember what was in there but again, very fruity.

Where we called home for the next two nights (and Michael for one night). I love Priceline haha.

For the first day, we ended up going all over downtown, from one end of it (our hotel) to the edge (Gastown and Chinatown). Favorite ended up being Yaletown with Hamilton Street since it was the liveliest part of DT and with all the restaurants there, definitely seems like the place to be.

NYNY 2009: Le Pain Quotidien

Right after Penelope, we headed towards Central Park for the MET but we had a to wait for Mikol's friend to get us into the MET for free so we decided to stop at Le Pain Quotidien for a cup of coffee since all of us was hella tired from the flight still. I know there's a bunch here in LA also, but this is actually my first time in one haha.

Le Pain Quotidien
1131 Madison Avenue
(between 84th St & 85th St)
New York, NY 10028

 

A shot of the logo & cafe.

They use day old bread as their menu holder!

Since I wasn't really hungry I just ordered a mochacinno, which I find that it doesn't exist in LA haha. I think I just like the foam on top.

Mikol opted for a chocolate croissant. Their chocolate croissant is actually really good. Flaky, doesn't taste too buttery.

While we were waiting for out coffee, Mikol saw someone with hardboiled egg and so he ordered it haha. I gotta say, the dude can eat. Nothing special really... except for the bread. Can't beat artisan bread made fresh every morning.

The best part about eating their bread is the spread and jams you can use. They have apricot and strawberry preserves, as well as a chocolate spread they call Noir. The spreads were orgasmic. I loved the strawberry preserves. I would've bought some home but after I saw the price tag, I think I'll just stick with my Fresh&Easy preserves hahaha.