Seasons in the Park – Picturesque Views from QE Park

The highest spot in Vancouver is Queen Elizabeth Park located in an area appropriately called Little Mountain.  It’s actually named for Queen Eliabeth II’s mother, the Queen Mother (not to be confused with Queen Elizabeth I) and is a popular tourist spot due to the expansive views of the city and their famous sunken gardens.

The Boathouse (Richmond) – Lobster Fest

The Boathouse has a number of different locations but we usually head over to the Boathouse in New Westminster because it’s nearby.  On this early March night, however, we decided to go on a journey to the Richmond location.  I’ve known of this place before but I also knew that getting there (even with Google Maps) can be a bit tricky.  As it turned out, we did have a bit of trouble finding the place but eventually arrived at our destination after some liberal interpretations of traffic bylaws (but that’s not too unusual for driving in Richmond).

West Restaurant – Sunday Brunch

Back in December, we were really trying to avoid the local malls because we knew they would be packed full of shoppers.  Fortunately, Vancouver has lots of shopping areas besides germ-riddled malls… such as Granville Street.  I’ve never really noticed West Restaurant nestled amongst the other stores before as the exterior is a bit understated.

Cardero’s Restaurant – Dine Out Vancouver 2013

Okay, so when I said that Diva at the Met was going to be out last Dine Out of the year, I kinda stretched the truth.  You see, even though Dine Out Vancouver 2013 officially ended on Feb 3rd, the Sequoia group of restaurants (which includes Cardero’s in Coal Harbour) extended their $28 dinner menu until Feb 10th.

Diva at the Met – Dine Out Vancouver 2013

For our last Dine Out adventure this year, we picked Diva at the Met because we had a very enjoyable time during our last visit (see our Dine Out 2012 post here).

We were fortunately seated next to the open-concept kitchen which allowed us to see them plating all of the dishes.  Service, as usual, was top notch with frequent water refills and attentive servers.  Actually, our primary waiter kind of reminded me of a secret service agent dressed up in his dark suit.

C Restaurant – Dine Out Vancouver 2013

The great thing about Dine Out (for both restaurants and customers) is that you get a chance to try out a number of places that you might not normally try out.

The Oakwood Canadian Bistro – Dine Out Vancouver 2013

Well, it looks like it’s that time of year again…  That time when restaurants get unusually busy with diners looking to get a good deal on their favourite restaurant or to try out that chic spot that they’ve been dying to visit.  This year, there seems to be more special events than ever but the big draw is always the $18, $28, and $38 tasting menus.

Hart House – Passion for Pork

Unbeknownst to us, we arrived to the Hart House a day before the Passion for Pork Week was supposed to start in September.  As fate would have it, they started their special pork-rific menu early and we were able to try out one of their dishes.

The Teahouse – Summertime Lunch

We decided to have a day of feasting this summer.  I know, you’re probably thinking, “How is that different from any other day?”  Well, we decided to start off at The Teahouse.  We had very fond memories of our last visit to The Teahouse when we had some of the best mussels we’ve experienced in Vancouver so we always knew that we wanted to come back for a revisit.

Edible Canada at the Market – A Tribute to Canadian Bacon

If you’ve been reading some of my previous posts, you’ll probably get the idea that I like bacon (and chocolate)… so it really shouldn’t be much of a surprise that when I heard about the Tribute to Canadian Bacon at the Edible Canada take out window, I had to try it out when we visited Granville Island recently.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant – Granville Island Staycation

We decided to make like the many tourists in Vancouver and visit Granville Island for our version of a staycation.  One of our favourite restaurants to visit in Granville Island is The Sandbar located only a short walk away from the Market.

The Hart House – Father’s Day Brunch

During the last Dine Out, we had a pretty great time at the Hart House so we decided to come back here for Father’s Day Brunch.  As it turns out, there was also a wedding going on here… it was a little awkward walking through the wedding party but we got over that pretty quickly.