On Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Smoking Gun Coffee Roasters, which is one of the higher ranked coffee shops in the Vancouver area (pretty significant feat given they’re 1.5 hours away from Vancouver). We then checked out and made the drive back west towards Vancouver. Our check in time was later in the day so first we traveled into North Vancouver. I wanted to check out one of the suspension bridges and D had found a free one (instead of the more popular and bigger Castellano bridge). We ended up at the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, where I walked across the bridge (D was not a fan so snapped a pic of me) and then we did a short hike. So peaceful.
Afterward we drove into North Vancouver and over to The Shipyards and Lonsdale Quay Market where you have a nice view of the city and water.
Since we still had some time to kill before we could check into our downtown hotel, we ended up goin to The Amazing Brentwood shopping mall in nearby Brentwood to grab a late lunch. I have always wanted to try Japadog since my relatives had talked about it over 20 years ago. This mall food court actually had some good stuff in it including Japadog as well as Soon coffee.
A short walk to another part of the shopping establishment brought us over to Small Victory Bakery. This place is also known for their coffee but since we already had some, we elected to pick up some sweet treats (a cookie and mini croissants).
After a frustratingly long drive into and within the city (due to multiple construction projects and road closures and one way streets), we arrived at our hotel (greeted by an unhoused person shooting up right outside our parking lot). I feel like the internet pictures and hotel web site (we stayed at The Burrard Hotel) were a little misleading in how the actual hotel was but it was all right in the end and they had parking, which was very helpful in the city.
For dinner, we drove into the South Main neighborhood (south of the city) to try SUYO Modern Peruvian. I had never (at least to my knowledge) had Peruvian food so was interested to see what it entailed. One of the dishes we had was very similar to a Chinese stir fry and even came with rice as well. Overall the drinks and meal were tasty.
Wednesday was D’s birthday. In the morning we walked over to Jam Cafe, which is a local chain known for their brunch options as well as alcoholic drinks. On the way we passed by BC Place, a big stadium housing entertainment and sporting events. Breakfast was quite tasty and I had trouble deciding on what to get but ultimately decided on a biscuit with fried chicken and hash browns.
Originally we wanted to check out the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden but it was closed for some reason. After briefly walking through chinatown, we made our way over to the Gastown district, known for its nightlight and shops. There is also a historic steam clock that we saw (lots of people were taking their social media pictures/videos in front of it). We stopped in a few shops just browsing.
We continued to make our way west along the waterfront over to Canada Place and the Convention Center. From here you can view the waterfront and north Vancouver (opposite of where we had been the day before). We contemplated visiting the Christmas Market but with the admission fee decided it wasn’t really worth it for us. Along the way we walked to and into the Marine Building, which is known for its art deco style.
A little mid-morning pick me up of coffee from Pallet Coffee Roasters and then our next stop was the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. Very cool.
Across from the gallery is the CF Pacific Centre shopping mall, which houses many high end fashion house stores and other ones. We walked through and browsed at a few things as well. As we left, I was getting tired after walking all morning and covering many miles (I believe we walked anywhere from like 6-10 miles while in Vancouver). It was already early afternoon and we ended up driving over to Raisu for a little bit of a later lunch. This place actually had a fairly extensive menu that I would have liked to explore more but we both settled on some udon dishes (Kobe Shabu Shabu Udon for her and Pork Cutlet Currey Udon for me).
The giant bowl sizes were fun. We then returned to the hotel to chill until dinner. Even though we were pretty walked out from the day, we decided to walk back to the waterfront for our dinner at Miku. They had 2 set menus and we decided on the Waterfront Kaiseki menu.
Of course we had to try some of their delicious cocktails. It was here (or maybe it was SOYU) that I learned that Michelin also recognizes restaurants that have good cocktail menus.
Thursday was our last day in Vancouver but our flight wasn’t until late in the evening. We walked over to Kafka Coffee for some breakfast sandwiches and coffee.
Afterward we went back to the hotel, packed up, checked out and then drove through Stanley Park. This park is located just north-northwest of the city. While we just drove around the entire park, I could see the many benefits of this place. Multiple areas that you could picnic but more importantly you could run, bike, hike, walk in nature so close to the city. D’s final birthday meal was lunch at The Botanist, so we parked at the Convention Center and walked over to the restaurant which was located within the Fairmont Hotel. We started the meal by sharing a handcut tagliatelle with mushrooms that was quite tasty. D then had the black pepper crusted salmon while I had the flank steak. Both dishes were quite good. Also our cocktails were good as well
D wanted to pick up something from Kit & Ace back in the Gastown district and then we went to Revolver cafe to try their espresso flight (it was just okay) along with a chocolate chocolate cookie (not bad). I wasn’t feeling great but we drove into Richmond and saw a little bit of the Asian area before heading to the airport and flying back to LA.
Overall it was an informative and interesting trip. I’m glad we were able to check out the Chilliwack and Fraser Valley area, not something I normally would have done.
Now trying to figure out where to next.
-StewsCat
StewsCat 