Vancouver Review: Eating My Way Through Vancouver

In keeping with the last two posts about eating, I figured I’d better round out the trilogy with my last food post: eating my way through Vancouver.


It was no secret that during my visit to Canada I was more than prepared, after a year of lackluster Honduran food, to eat all the things. My lifelong love affair with food was kicked into overdrive during my 3.5 weeks in Canada, especially in Vancouver. This city was made for eating!


So sit down and grab a snack – this one is going to be lengthy and delicious!


Here’s how I ate my way through the city:


1. A & W


The first chain restaurant I went to was the A&W in the Vancouver Airport as soon as I arrived. I used to work at the factory that made these burgers, and they’re about the only fast-food burgers I feel okay about eating. You don’t want to know what’s in the rest of them!

mama burger, get in me immediately!

2. Bella Gelateria


Astute readers picked up clues along the way and finally figured out that my second full time job when I was saving to move to Roatan was assistant manager at this (now) world-famous gelato shop. The master gelato maker and owner, James Coleridge, won the International Gelato Festival in Florence while I was working at the shop and our pleasantly busy little store turned into a media frenzy with lineups out the door and down the block. Great for business, bad for someone on their second 8-hour shift of the day! But now that I live in the Caribbean, I can finally enjoy artisan gelato again 🙂

with james (left) and salvatore (center) – they made my favorite CHOCOLATE BACON gelato for me upon my return! love these guys!

sorbettos – peruvian lime & strawberry, and raspberry

this is now considered a ‘small’ bella lineup!

3.  Harambe Ethiopian Restaurant


Ethiopian food is my second favorite after Japanese food. After discovering this restaurant years ago, apparently I went a lot because the owner recognized me and asked me where I had been the last year and why hadn’t I come to eat there?? So awesome. I always get the yebeg tibs (lamb stew).. and it was so good, I went twice on this trip.

with one of my divemasters from roatan! we had a 24 hour meetup in vancouver.

ummm the green tinge is from the bar lights, not the food!!

combo platter for 2

yebeg tibs with a side of ayeb (cheese)

4. Sushi Zero One


I wrote about this gem in my Ten Things to Do in Vancouver, BC If You’re Kind of Broke but Really Awesome post. It is by far my favorite sushi restaurant in the city. Cheap prices, authentic Japanese food, great sushi. Win!

my friend jen with our plates of sushi… i have a salmon roll, oshinko roll, and umekyu roll.

cold udon with mountain yam, okra and natto…YUM!

5. Tandoori Palace


Found this little Indian/Pakistani place in the heart of my adopted neighborhood, Commercial Drive. I had a saag gosht (lamb in spinach sauce) with naan and black pepper pappadums. I’d like to say I shared this meal in the photo, but I ate the whole fucking thing. Yep. It was awesome, and the I got it all for take-out for under $16 including tax and tip! This could have easily fed two, I’m just a pig.

6.  Maruko Ramen Noodle House


In my never-ending quest to eat at every single ramen-ya in Vancouver, I found this place that had popped up while I was gone. I loved the interior (see photo) – quintessentially Japanese minimalist meets kawaii cute meets downtown Vancouver sleek.


I thought it was fantastic (and way more authentically Japanese) that you can choose the size of ramen, as well as having ‘combos’. I had a shoyu ramen with black garlic oil, in a combo with a cha-sui (pork belly) rice bowl. I was pleasantly surprised with how good they both were! The rice bowl had a little too much mayo for my taste but the pork was ridiculously tender and I was stoked to see preserved vegetables on the side – ummm, I think these are Chinese, I’ve only ever had them in Chinese soup, but they are good and balanced the fatty pork out well. The ramen noodles had the right amount of bite and the black garlic oil was heavenly and gave it some serious umami! I got the ramen combo and a tea for under $14 including tax and tip. Solid choice in my books.

7.  Motomachi Shokudo


My forever favorite restaurant in Vancouver – when I lived in the city I ate here minimum 3x a month. I LOVE THIS RAMEN. In everywhere I’ve tried in the city, this has come closest in taste to the ramen I had in Japan. The servers don’t even ask my order anymore – nama shoyu ramen with ‘flavor oil’ (it’s a burnt green onion oil) and a cold green tea. Under $13 including tax and tip. Bliss. I’m actually having a hard time writing about it right now and feel like I would rob a grandma just to get a steaming bowl of it right now. FYI it’s nearly +50C in Roatan right now. That’s how much I love this ramen.

8. Belgian Fries


For some reason I decided that my last meal in Canada needed to be poutine. I guess that was the most Canadian food I could think of. My faithful best friend trotted out to Belgian Fries on Commercial Drive with me, and as a holistic nutritionist, she was appropriately aghast when this monstrosity arrived at the table:

This is ‘The Diplomat’ – vanilla cake, vanilla custard, vanilla buttercream and puff pastry. And I didn’t mind paying $8 for it one bit.

13. Meat & Bread

One of the first places I hit upon my return to Vancouver. I love this restaurant – they are famous for their porchetta sandwiches. I like to tell people the porchetta will change their life. Once I took my dad’s friend John here for the first time and he liked it so much he got up after we ate, ordered a second one, and then demolished that as well. It’s that good. The salsa verde is perfectly spiced, they make their bread in-house, the pork cracklings are crispy and crunchy. I like mine with mustard. I do have to say though, the quality at their second location on Pender St. has gone down. Next time I go back it will be the Cambie St. location only for me.

They make porchetta in-house every day, and then there are three other sandwiches (including a veggie option) and a soup and a salad that change daily. I rarely stray from the porchetta, but they all look amazing. I usually go here with my friend Jenna (who is one of my most faithful readers! Hi Jenna!) and I often get the lowdown from her on the other sandwiches… they look pretty damn good.

I was too excited about eating it for a photo, but here is what it looked like before I ate it all like a hungry caveman:

They also have a Cashew, Caramel, Nougat & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bar at the Pender St. one and a Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich at the Cambie St. one. I can tell you from extensive field research that both are excellent choices.

mango basil salad roll, veggie skewers, veggie spring roll, rice noodles with green onion and peanuts and a small cucumber and carrot salad.

sometimes i forget my hair wasn’t always the giant frizzy mess it is in honduras.

17. Pho Number One

If for some strange reason you’re in the West End and don’t feel like ramen, you can get your other Asian noodle soup on over at Pho Number One. Number one might be a bit of a stretch, but this is just like every other decent pho shop in Vancouver – tiny, a little dirty, limited English, delicious. I have no idea what I ordered, when I go to a pho shop I just order whichever one looks like it has the most different kinds of beef in it, and lots of the rare stuff! The broth at this place could have used some more flavor, but the noodles and beef were good. Paired with a rich coconut bubble tea, I barely finished this meal.

Do yourself a favor and pronounce it properly – it’s not “foh”, it’s “fuh” 🙂

18. Three Jewels

Finally, after the meat-fest you’ve just witnessed above, would you believe I moved to Vancouver in 2008 a vegan? And for the 5 years that I lived there, I never once cooked meat at home – I kept a vegan kitchen and ate meat only when I went out to eat. So give me a good vegan/vegetarian restaurant any day, and I’m happy as a (safe from human consumption) clam.

Three Jewels is a place that I have no idea how they stay open, it’s never busy. I went the first week it opened, right before I moved to Roatan and loved it. They have great bubble tea and vegan spins on all the regular Vietnamese menu items. I always go for spring rolls on vermicelli. Most importantly, they have vegetarian fish sauce that’s actually good!

And finally, the most Canadian meal I ate the entire trip: