Thierry Patisserie

Sometimes I like to treat myself to something a little bit fancy. It was on one of those days that I ended up at Thierry Patisserie. If you are a fan of pastry and chocolates, you have probably heard of Chef Thierry. He was the pastry chef at Cin Cin and west and the opening of his cafe on Alberni and Thurlow was highly anticipated by pastry lovers, of which I am one. It took me a while to get there, but the anticipation did make the occasion special.

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant

Joyeaux Cafe & Restaurant, from the outside, looks like one of those places that serves everything but doesn't seem to focus on anything. Going from what you can read when you pass the outside you can get: breakfast, lunch, snacks, salad bar, dinner, all day breakfast and authentic Vietnamese. I am a bit wary of the serve everything under the sun places as but, I heard this was the closest soup restaurant and I was looking for some pho.

Benkei Noodle Shop (Thurlow)

Ramen is one of my new obsessions and with Big M coming downtown for a lunch date, I thought it would be a great idea to try out Benkei Noodle Shop on Thurlow. It looks like they have 3 locations and the one on Thurlow is the closest ramen to my office.

Urban Grill & Urban Sushi

One of the first things I did when our office moved was to find a new sushi joint. There is certainly no shortage by my office. According to Urbanspoon, there are 53 downtown sushi restaurants. How do you start? I went to the closest one. That would be Urban Grill and Urban Sushi on Granville St.

Mario's Coffee Express

We have been in our new office building for just over two weeks now and Mario's Coffee Express is fast becoming a favorite, quick lunch spot with my coworkers. Tucked into a building on Howe and Dunsmuir St, it would be easy to miss except for the signs outside claiming "the best coffee in town". Every time I see this type of sign I want to run into the restaurant and re-enact the scene from Elf. Awesome. I have yet to do that, but I did stop in for a "famous grilled sandwich" (no video clip available)

Tomahawk Restaurant

Can you believe that I have lived in Vancouver for 16 years and I have never been to the Tomahawk Restaurant in North Vancouver? I went through the broke years, the vegan years, the no cars years and then finally, thanks to the amazing Sarah, I made it to the legendary Tomahawk.

Gyudon Ya

Gyudon Ya is a Japanese fast food restaurant on the corner of Robson and Richards. For all you old-skool Vancouverites, it is the Cafe Sil Vous Plait location. (I miss their cornbread.) They used to be very recognizable from their giant orange canopy outside the restaurant but I guess they decided to tone it down and now the signage is red. They serve one thing, Gyudon-a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce.