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Vancouver Review: Food Cart Fest

August 26, 2013 by Rika 14 Comments

I’m back in Vancouver, BC and making the most of my last week and a bit in Canada. Today I hit up the 2nd Annual Vancouver Food Cart Fest  (are you surprised I went to something all about food?) which was a great way to spend a Sunday. For anyone looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon in the summer, go check this out.


It’s located between the Cambie Street Bridge and Olympic Village, over at 215 West 1st Avenue. My friend and I walked over from Commercial Drive, but it’s not a bad walk from the Main Street Skytrain station and there’s lots of buses that go near there if you’re on transit.


There is a $2 admission fee to get in, but it’s not very well organized and you don’t get a stamp or anything after you pay and you just walk by a couple guys with counting clickers. We paid and didn’t realize this until after. Normally I would encourage everyone to be honest and pay anyway even though I think you could probably just sidle on by… but the food truck food is so overpriced that I think it’s justified to skip the $2 if you can’t afford it. Just don’t be a jerk and make a mess or use the portapotties if you don’t pay.


Onto the food!!


One of my best friends and my partner in crime for the day, Adrienne, and I made one lap of the 15-20 carts before deciding that we were having dessert first and stepped right up to brown paper packages, a gourmet ice-cream sandwich stall. 







We shelled out $5 for this bad boy:






We also invested in a hibiscus limeade from the World of Drinks stand (which we initially read as “World of Drunks” so immediately headed that way… imagine our surprise.) Cold drink in hand, we made another lap to try to decide what we wanted to eat.



We checked out the DJ, who was spinning some old funk 45s… we forgot to get his name, but he was awesome. Everyone was grooving while hiding from the hot sun in the seating/table areas!




Had a look at some uplifting graffiti…

Found dudes serving with Hello Kitty glasses on (for those who don’t yet know, I fucking love Hello Kitty):





Adrienne eventually settled on a BC salmon sandwich from Kaboom Box which I missed a photo of because I was waiting in line at Mangal Kiss for a lamb kebab. Unfortunately after waiting in line for 10 minutes I found out they were out. (Thanks for the heads up guys.) I headed over to Soho Road and ordered a lamb naan kebab there for $9. 





I didn’t have to wait in line to order, but it took them almost 15 minutes to turn out this:



It was delicious, but pretty small. Not worth $9 and definitely not worth a 15 minute wait. But we were at the food cart fest, so when in Rome…


While we were eating we found these two wandering around helping everyone in the heat:





We decided our little sandwiches didn’t cut it, and took off in search of some sweet potato fries we saw everyone with. Finally we ended up at Feastro, where we feasted on these for $4.75:

We also went for their blended watermelon lemonade ($3.75) because we were dying of heatstroke.

why yes, we did take the exact same photo of each other.

After our fry fix, we debated one more dessert…


But we decided we’d spent enough and eaten enough. However, The Pie Hole still wins for best name at Food Cart Fest.


We took in some views off the seawall and called it a day.

because why wouldn’t you go on a swing you found on your walk home?





FINAL VERDICT: The Vancouver Food Cart Fest is a decent way to cure a Sunday hangover. Good tunes, good eats, good location, good people watching. A little pricey for those on a budget – I spent $19.95 including the $2 admission, my lamb kebab, and half of the ice cream sandwich, hibiscus limeade, sweet potato fries and watermelon lemonade. I could have definitely got lunch for cheaper, but it was a fun afternoon with my amiga and a nice treat. The Vancouver Food Cart Fest runs on Sundays in the summer from noon to 5pm… go early. You’ll have to battle the lines, but won’t risk the disappointment of the carts running out of your fave dish.


(Special thanks to Adrienne for some of the photos above. Also for putting up with me stopping 15 times on the way home to pick blackberries.)



Guys, make sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter … there’s lots of extras posted on those that don’t make it onto the blog. Plus it makes rainbows happen. So there’s that.


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Related

Filed Under: Canada, Friends, Life, Vancouver BC Tagged With: Delicious, Food, Food Cart Fest, Sunny Days, Things to do in Vancouver, Vancouver

Previous Post: « Hi from Canada, eh?
Next Post: Vancouver Review: Hiking Lynn Canyon »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. The Epic Duo says

    August 30, 2013 at 5:29 am

    omg i miss the food trucks in canada! I'd so shelled out 20 bucks for the peanut butter cups any day! Too bad, we never ventured to BC and we lived there for so long! The closest we have here to a food truck in costa rica is a guy who pushes a cart from town to town and sells ice cream…

    Thanks for making me think about pb sandwiches lol

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 30, 2013 at 8:49 pm

      hahaha i've gotten so many comments on peanut butter cups! i'm eating tons here. mmmmmm, an ice cream cart in costa rica sounds divine!

      Reply
  2. Angela says

    August 28, 2013 at 9:14 am

    I want to eat at a food truck! No such thing here in Holland. This festival seems like a great way to spend a sunday and I would go just for the sweet potato fries. Is there anything better?

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 28, 2013 at 5:31 pm

      WHAT!? How does Holland not have food trucks? I've never been there, but I picture it being so cool and trendy and everyone outside on their bikes, I think food trucks would fit perfectly. Maybe you should start one 🙂

      Reply
  3. cquek says

    August 28, 2013 at 4:55 am

    food festival i wish to be there and enjoy the fun

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 28, 2013 at 5:29 pm

      It was really fun!

      Reply
  4. Steph (@ 20 Years Hence) says

    August 28, 2013 at 2:36 am

    Aaaaahhhh! This post has me in agonies because there is practically nothing I love more than a delicious food truck! Don't get me wrong: Asia has amazing street food, but there really is something special about North American food trucks (I love how creative the food can be!). Nashville was just starting to get a food truck scene up and running in the year before we left and it was one of the few things that made it hard to bid that city goodbye. Our last summer there we went to a similar food truck extravaganza, but they just charged a flat fee and you got a certain number of tickets you could use at the various carts which I think helped streamline things since there was then minimal ordering and no waiting for people to pay.

    That said, those prices nearly made my eyes bleed and I am becoming increasingly terrified of returning to the west!

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 28, 2013 at 5:30 pm

      Haha I love how your posts of Asian street food have me in agony and my food truck post has you in agony. Grass is always greener 🙂 The food truck scene is getting really big here, but I think they're getting a little too big for their britches are the prices are pretty high for a truck that doesn't pay rent. I think the idea of the fee/tickets is a way better idea! That's what we thought was going on when we paid the entrance fee…dammit!

      Reply
  5. Jacquie @ MFW says

    August 27, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    Wow, I am starving this is definitely not the time to be reading your post! Loved it though, x
    http://mustforwanderlust.blogspot.ca

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 28, 2013 at 5:31 pm

      I know, I hate reading delicious posts when I'm hungry 🙂

      Reply
  6. Jay says

    August 26, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    I would easily shell out $5 for a peanut butter ice cream sandwich… maybe even more.

    Also, I'm a little angry that I looked at a photo of sweet potato fries. These are the things I try to forget about when they're not available to me 😉

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 27, 2013 at 6:14 pm

      It was totally worth it, soooo delicious! And yeah, I'm stocking up on sweet potato fries now that I know I won't be getting any once I head home to Roatan!

      Reply
  7. Colleen Brynn says

    August 26, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    Ah food festivals. The one time I lament my stomach being finite… That, and when I eat Indian food.

    Reply
    • CubicleThrowdown says

      August 27, 2013 at 6:14 pm

      Mine seems to have no end 🙂 It's hard on my wallet.

      Reply

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i’m rika!

hiya! i'm a canadian paralegal-turned-scuba diving instructor-turned EFL teacher-turned digital nomad. i left my cubicle in 2012 and haven't looked back since. i'm a serial expat, but right now i'm back in canada on hiatus for a while. welcome to the place where i say things.

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