It was a beautiful sunny day and I had a craving for some ice cream.  My hubby and I ventured over toward English Bay on the hunt for a nice, cold treat.  We came across D’oro Gelato and Caffe and went in.  It’s a cute little gem of a cafe offering a variety of gelato flavors, as well as coffee and cakes.  The staff was very welcoming.  While we were browsing the flavours, we were offered our choice of samples to try.  I tried the nutella, the ferrero rocher, and the salted caramel.  I ended up choosing the salted caramel in a waffle cone and the hubby went with creme brulee in a cup.  The gelato was excellent.  It was creamy and tasty and not overly sweet.  

I’d seen Lucky’s doughnuts all over social media and I heard that they’d opened a 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters location in downtown Vancouver recently, but I didn’t know where.  My friend and I went for a walk over our lunch break and we came across the new location on Thurlow.  My friend had been there before and I was so excited to go inside to try Lucky’s Doughnuts for the first time.  It’s a super cute little coffee shop and it smelled divine.  I was starving too so I was happy to see that they offered brunch options until 2:00 p.m.  I went with the smoked salmon toast and I picked a chocolate old fashioned doughnut.  They gave me a number and my friend and I went and sat outside as it was a beautiful day.  The wait for the food was a bit longer than I expected as the meals are pretty simple, but it was busy.  The waitress brought out my meal and unfortunately handed me a set of silverware that was dirty, but I pointed it out and she quickly brought me a new, clean set.  The plate was gorgeous and delicious.  Smoked salmon with cream cheese on toast.  Simple and filling.  The doughnut was also really tasty.  I enjoyed the lunch so much I came back a week later and decided to try the avocado toast with a fried egg on top with a side of mushrooms.  Again, it’s a very simple dish, but you can’t go wrong with it.  Very good and I’ll be back.  

One of my all time favorite lunch time spots is The Poke Guy.  It is sooo good.  They offer fresh, wild (not farmed) marinated cubes of seafood.  They boast of being ocean wise and all of their packaging is compostable.  Although the eatery is small and the line-up is always ridiculously long (a sign of how great the food is), it somehow still gives off a feel good, laid-back, casual vibe reminiscent of the poke shops in Hawaii.  You start off by picking a size – the big guy or the little guy.  Then you choose a base such as brown rice, white rice or salad.   Next you choose your choice of raw fish or poke.  They have a pretty good selection that includes ahi tuna, while sockeye salmon, lomi lomi, etc.  They also carry soft tofu and more recently have also started offering ahimi ahimi which is a sustainable plant based alternative to ahi tun with the texture and flavor of the tomato.  They usually also have a feature of the day – I’ve tried several of them in the past including marinated shrimp, scallops and spicy ahi.  Yum!  Their selection of sides is abundant and fantastic – tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, coleslaw, imitation crab, mango, pineapple, jalapenos – the list goes on…  Lastly you choose your sauce and crunchy toppings.  By the end of it, you have this heaping full bowl of deliciousness.  Everything is so fresh, I just can’t get enough.  Although I can’t say I’ve tried all of the poke places in Vancouver, of the ones I have tried this one is a clear favorite for me.  

I’ve walked past the Kaboom Box food truck on Granville Street millions of times with great curiosity.  Before lunch today, I was craving some fish and chips so I decided today was the day I would give it a shot.  I walked up to the food truck and took my first close look at it.  It’s not as nice, new and flashy as some of the other food trucks I’ve seen around town  The menu looks a bit worn and faded, but still seemed interesting enough.  They market themselves as “West Coast Street Cuisine”.  I had every intention of ordering their fish and chips which looked very appealing in their photographs , but as I approached the front of the line I blurted out “oysters and chips”.  It had piqued my interest and this happens to me sometimes, haha.  My meal was ready pretty quickly.  It was a generous portion for $12.00.  It looked terrific and I was excited to dig in.  The fries were easily the highlight of the plate.  They were crispy and salted to perfection.  The fried oysters had a crispy batter, but I found them to be a bit on the greasy side.  They were good, but not amazing…I’ve had better.  The homemade tartar sauce was really delicious.  Unfortunately, the cole slaw was fairly underwhelming.  Overall, my experience  was just okay.  I don’t think I’ll be back.

I met a few girlfriends for some dinner and drinks at Parq Vancouver as we wanted to check out the new casino/hotel and its restaurants.  After walking around and checking out the gorgeous space, we settled on Honey Salt for the evening.  Our seating was “lounge style” (a couch and chairs with a table in the center) which I sometimes find difficult for when eating a meal.  Nevertheless, we made ourselves comfortable and took in the space around us.  The restaurant decor is super cute, glossy and inviting.   We ordered moscow mules and caesars all around and they were pretty good.  For dinner, I went with the grilled maple hill chicken which is served with mac and cheese.  Although it was fine, it was nothing special.  I expected more for the $25.00 price tag.  For dessert we all decided to share the society chocolate and banana cake.  This was the highlight of my meal.  It was massive!  The four of us didn’t finish it (mind you, we were stuffed from our dinner).  It was moist and fluffy and it wasn’t too sweet.  Yum!  At the end when we were ready to pay, I reminded the waitress that I would be paying for myself and the main of my friend sitting right next to me (I had told her this before we started ordering as well).  My friend was still going to be paying for her drinks.  She said that she knew and would split the meals accordingly.  She passed the bill around and I glanced at it quickly.  I saw an entry on there for my meal and the main of my friend so everything looked good.  I passed the bill over to my friends for them to take a look.  We waited for a bit for her to get the debit machine then began her rounds getting payment from our group.  When she got to me  I again referenced that mine was the shared bill.  She put through a bill and I did think it was a little low, but I went with it as she was holding the paperwork.  She ended up mixing up the bills and my friend sitting across from me ended up with the bill I was meant to pay.  My friend and I worked it out separately, but it was a bit of a nuisance that after all that it still got mixed up.   Overall the restaurant isn’t bad.  I do see potential.  Perhaps they’re still in the midst of ironing some things out as it’s still so new.  I would be open to giving them a try again in the future.