Supping in Vancouver

Miku Restaurant
1055 West Hastings Street,
Vancouver, BC.
Ph: (604) -568-3900 or  Reserve Online

Miku Restaurant on Urbanspoon

After enjoying an excellent lunch at Minami, the sister restaurant  to Miku that recently opened in Yaletown, I arranged to meet a friend at  Miku for a sort of follow up lunch. The aburi style of saba and salmon that I enjoyed so much at Minami was introduced first at Miku. My friend was late so I enjoyed a glass of Three Blancs wine while I waited. Although the menu only listed it as from Okanagan Falls, I believe it is the blend of Pinot Blanc, Gewürtztraminer and Muscat from the Tangled Vines Estate Winery, one I have yet to visit. Anyway the wine was a perfect summer sipper, light and fruity, just to my taste.

Minami Restaurant
1118 Mainland Street, Yaletown.
Ph: (604) 685-8080 or Reserve Online

Minami on Urbanspoon

We were strolling down Mainland Street on our way back from the Vancouver Public Library and on impulse, decided to drop in to Minami Restaurant for lunch. It opened in June in the space that was previously occupied by Goldfish Restaurant, where I had enjoyed some great meals in recent years; (Goldfish Pacific Restaurant and Goldfish Restaurant Reprise). Minami is the new sister restaurant to Miku on West Hastings. I was so impressed with this lunch at Minami, that I plan to visit Miku for lunch next week.

Glancing over the menu we noted the aburi sushi. Aburi refers to the lightly seared / partly raw fish topping on the sushi rice. This is a specialty of the restaurant. We decided to try the Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi and Aburi Saba Oshi Sushi.

The first is pressed local salmon with jalapeno pepper and miku sauce. The second is house cured mackerel served with  miku miso sauce. The picture top-right on this page is a close up on the two types. Both were tender and bursting with flavour. We both loved each type but my favorite was the Saba. Exactly what miku sauce is I don't know. Perhaps I will find out when I go there for lunch.

lamb with white gazpachoIt had been months that I and a friend had been trying to get to an underground dining dinner at NFA with Steve (of steve@dineinvancouver.ca) but my travel schedule and Steve's seating availability didn't mesh. So when he let me know he had one last space open for a Friday night I decided to accept and despite some minor trepidation, just go on my own.

As it turned out I was glad that I took this opportunity. The other guests that were there that evening were congenial and fun and I had a great time.  Two of the groups had come because one or two of their members had previously enjoyed a meal with NFA. One couple and myself were newbies. Everybody there was a "foodie" to some degree, and there were lots of recommendations for good dining flying around the table. 

Rangoli
1488 West 11th Avenue,
Vancouver
Ph: (604) 736-5711

With an out-of-town visitor who loves Indian cuisine and with tickets to see High Society at the Stanley Theatre, my obvious choice of restaurant was Vijs. But they don't take reservations and there was no way we could get there early enough to get a table, so instead we dropped in next door  to Rangoli, the baby sibling restaurant that also sells packaged and refrigerated ready-to-eat Indian food, from recipes initially developed in Vijs kitchen.

We decided to share an appetizer, a curry and a vegetarian dish to get an overall perspective on the food. Our appetizer choice was  the cauliflower, spinach,onion and potato pakoras with daal. Spicy but not excessively so - I enjoyed them.

bacon and leek quiche at CacheCaché Bistro and Lounge
1269 Hamilton Street,
Vancouver
Ph: (604) 558-1269 or Reserve Online

Caché Bistro & Lounge on Urbanspoon

pan seared scallopsI have dined twice at Caché in the past couple of months month and both times enjoyed both the excellent food and the good service.

On my first visit before going to se a play, we tried the special menu - choice of appetizer, main course and then dessert.

the foie gras parfaitHawksworth Restaurant
801 West Georgia St.,
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604) 673 - 7000 or Reserve Online

Hawksworth on Urbanspoon

slow cooked short ribsBefore going to see La Cage aux Folles at the Vancouver Playhouse, I was invited to dinner at Hawksworth. Although it had been on my "must visit" list for a while, this was my first opportunity to dine here and I was looking forward to it.

We both decided on appetizers and an entree, self-righteously planning on not having dessert. Although that plan did not last much past our first look at the dessert menu. 

tuna tartare specialSage Bistro at UBC
6331 Crescent Road,Vancouver.
Ph: 604 822-0968

Sage Bistro on Urbanspoon

It has been ages, probably several years, since I had lunch at Sage Bistro. Before I chose to redeploy myself from university professor to  on-line media professional, Sage Bistro was the place of choice for on-campus lunch meetings.

UBC greensI was delighted to be invited to join a friend for lunch at Sage prior to attending a talk and curious to see whether the food was as good as I remembered. Luckily it was. 

For starters my friend chose the salad of UBC mixed greens with white balsamic vinaigrette from their Fall menu. Our server recounted the specials for the day, among which was a tuna tartare with sweet and sour gelée with coriander and sesame oil.

Read Island and Sawmill Beach oystersCork and Fin
221 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604) 569-2215 or Reserve online at OpenTable

Cork & Fin on Urbanspoon

lobster saladHappy hour oysters? When a fellow oyster-loving friend invited us to join her for the happy hour oyster special at Cork and Fin in Gastown, how could we resist? Three of us enjoyed a brisk walk across town and arrived at the restaurant at six, still in time for happy hour (5:30 to 6:30).

Cibo Trattoria
900 Seymour Street,
Vancouver, BC
Ph: (604)  602-9570  or Reserve online at OpenTable

Cibo Trattoria & Uva Wine Bar on Urbanspoon

I met a foodie friend for supper at Cibo before going to see the wonderful Tosca Cafe at the Vancouver Playhouse.  The food was really great but the lighting was poor and unfortunately my food photos don't reflect how good the food  was.

irresistible focacciaThe first hint of the food quality was that the in-house baked focaccia was so perfect that we ate all four pieces of it within minutes of taking the first bite. And this was despite my resolution not to have bread because we had ordered two of the bruschetta selections and I thought that would be more than enough bread for one meal.

chicken livers in MarsalaLa Buca
4025 MacDonald Street
Vancouver
Ph: (604) 730.6988

La Buca on Urbanspoon

potato, truffle and marscapone ravioliLa Buca is a little gem of a Italian restaurant in the neighborhood of Arbutus Ridge. Although I have been a fan of Andrey Durbach's food since way back when he had Etoile on Hornby Street, I somehow had not yet got to La Buca for dinner. Tasting some of the delicious hors d'oeuvres that he prepared for a  Blackbird Theatre fundraiser earlier in the summer reminded me of this and so prior to seeing a show out at the Frederick Wood theatre at UBC, I made a reservation for an early dinner.

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