Now, I must admit, I normally would not go to one of the poshest hotel-restaurants in Vancouver for weekend brunch, but it was for a friend’s birthday and we had a daily deal (which I bought ahead of the time and my friends paid me back for, thankfully). The deal was 2 for $30 through Travel Zoo daily deals (yes, everyone and their pet dog are taking advantage of creating daily deals from their original platforms, including the local radio station!) which made the three course brunch $15 a person at the Four Seasons’ Yew Restaurant and Bar. Highway robbery to the restaurant, if you ask me! On Sundays, they even have 50% off their bottles of wine (mind you, the mark up on the wine is a bit high, but it’s high at every restaurant, I’m sure).

It was absolutely delicious. I am still thinking of it right now and I ate there a month ago. In fact, it was so great that I would not hesitate to go there for the regular price of $27 for full service brunch.

I would highly recommend coming here if you are in downtown Vancouver. It would be a great start to a leisurely day in downtown Vancouver.  Heck, you could even check out the aftermath of the Vancouver riots too, haha.

Here’s what the menu looks like.

So for $15 + tip (on the original $27 of course) and tax, I had:

• A dozen fresh oysters (normally $12 if ordered a la carte)

• Tuna Nicoise:  Seared Ahi Tuna, Miso Dressing, Six Minute Egg, Green Beans, Black Olives & Dried Tomato ($19 if ordered separately)

• And dessert tapas (um…. the best idea EVER if you ask me! Three different miniature desserts on one plate? Hells yeah!) of creme brulee, caramelized chocolate truffle lollipop, and this delicious deep rich chocolate ganache cake. It would have been $9 if ordered separately

So for a $40 value, I paid $15.  I of course partook in the 50% off wine and my taste buds were absolutely deliriously happy by the end of the brunch.  Especially since I got to eat all that for $50 AND had oysters.  Mmmm… oysters.

I thought the service was phenomenal (well, I guess you can’t expect anything but the best at a 4-5 star hotel), the ambiance is great, and the food was to die for.  Everything was delicious.  It was a great memorable afternoon.  We got all dressed up for brunch at the Four Seasons and had a great afternoon.

Readers, have you ever gotten all dressed up for a fancy brunch at a fancy hotel?

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Let me first describe to you what a Banh Mi consists of.  A Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sub sandwich that is so delicious my mouth is literally watering as I describe it to you.  They are probably easy to make, but you need access to some fresh ingredients.  Some of these are fresh picked carrots and daikon, cilantro (mmmm), pate (if you’re not vegetarian, that is), Vietnamese salami (the tan coloured cylinder), finely chopped onions, mayonnaise, chili, black pepper, soy sauce, and of course my favourite- fish sauce.  Some of these ingredients may sound puzzling together, but seriously, when they are placed together on a freshly toasted french baguette, they create this delicious synergy of taste bud tantalization.  As Financial Uproar would put it, its like “sex in your mouth” when he describes theatre popcorn (though Banh Mi sandwiches beat theatre popcorn in my books any day).

This is a DEFINITE must eat if you ever come to Vancouver.  I’m sure that you will visit Chinatown here and if you do, you have to stop by Golden Garden.  Kim is the owner of Golden Garden restaurant- she used to operate out of this little hole in the wall grocery shop named Asia Market and had a small Vietnamese sub kiosk in the back.  Her little kiosk business used to be called Kim Saigon Sandwiches.  She recently expanded (in the last few years) and opened up a very modern looking restaurant serving delicious Vietnamese food (and you know how big a fan I am of South East Asian food- including Pho, Pnomh Penh etc).  Despite having her brother and her staff around, she makes these sandwiches freshly in front of you herself.

Unfortunately, the prices for her Banh Mi sandwiches have gone up because of the higher overhead (I assume) of operating a full restaurant versus her sandwich stand.  They used to e $2.25 now they are $4 a sandwich.  However, despite the increased price, they are still good, and they are better (in my opinion) than the Banh Mi sandwiches I had in Vietnam.

Kim is so popular that she has been featured on Global TV, and in the local newspapers like the Vancouver Sun.  On long weekends, she gets HUGE orders from all over lower mainland for like 200 sandwiches at a time, and they are so popular that they often sell out in the early afternoon.  They sell out because the delicious baguette that the filling rests on is delivered fresh daily.  She is very friendly and always works so hard.  She once told me that she works 7 days a week for 12 hour days.  Her dedication to her work and her business is always an inspiration.

This is a picture of the Banh Mi sandwich in its entirety, before I devoured it.  Usually just one sandwich doesn’t get you completely full, so my boyfriend often orders two sandwiches.

Golden Garden is located beside tbe CIBC bank on the corner of Main and Pender street in the heart of Chinatown.  I would caution against walking one block north though, because then you’d be in the heart of the Downtown Eastside   Quick Tip: If you take the sandwiches out to go, it will be about $0.50 cheaper than eating the sandwiches in the restaurant.  They also have other delicious Vietnamese cuisine at the restaurant, though the sandwiches are undoubtedly the most popular.

Readers, have you ever tried a Banh Mi before?

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I apologize for the late Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love! The weather has been too fantastic (basically 18-20 degrees, and sunny for the entire week) to stay home and blog.  I need to get my patio set built so perhaps I can blog from the patio on sunny days like that in the future.  Today in Vancouver we returned to the regular scheduled programming of light rain.  This week has literally been the first sunny week since the beginning of fall.  We were having a miserable spring full of torrential rain, hail, rain, and more rain.

I was able ride my bicycle for the first time this year.  One of my goals is to bike to work (I think I’ll try this once this week) to save money on gas and also to get some exercise and get some stamina going for my epic 7 day wilderness hike his summer.

I have been EPIC FAILING my eating out and gift budget this month, because I have so many friends who have birthdays around this time (most of my friends are Geminis, what does that mean?).  I am going to try afternoon tea today with a friend for her birthday (RB40, I’m going to see what the fuss is all about , so I’ll definitely share some pretty pictures of these dainty foods next week with you.

I also FINALLY USED my Groupon I got last year for doggy day care (It was one of the reasons I went on a Groupon ban).  It was actually quite fun- I got a report card from the day care centre (they said he was a bit shy), and I really did feel like a ‘mom’ (albeit a doggy mom).  The report card was quite the novelty- the idea of giving report cards to dogs gave me a good chuckle anyway.  It cost $12 for the entire day, but it usually costs $25.  I don’t know if I would want to do this on a regular basis (I wonder if people DO do this on a regular basis? That would be expensive!), I doubt it though.

PF Blog Love:

• Financial Uproar lets us take a peek inside his house.  Satisfied my voyeuristic tendencies on all levels.
• Krantcents asks you if $12,000 would convince you to move closer to work
• Prairie Eco Thrifter shares some cost effective ways to reduce health risks in your home
• Invest it Wisely talks about power and sex, namely that of Ahhhnold and his infidelity and love child.  *sigh* MEN.
• My Own Advisor discusses about why your financial resolutions might have failed. I plan to update you all with my resolutions soon- not sure where I am at.  All I know is my exercise resolution is a FAIL.
• Financial Samurai gives you the secret on how to trick an employer into hiring you
• Boomer and Echo talks about how to kill the joy of giving
• Retire by 40 explains why extreme couponing is not for him
• Little House discusses the emergency fund great debate
• My University Money talks about savings, and he also subscribes to the mantra of paying yourself first (as do I!)

There you have it folks, enjoy your long weekend! What are your plans?

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Nuba has come a long way, baby.  I remember merely a few years ago, I used to go to their hole in the wall place for lunch.  Then, they bought out the Mexican restaurant on Cambie and Hastings and revamped their look (think sleek, modern, fresh- even serving you cucumber infused water).

Nuba is a fresh lebanese restaurant that aims to use fresh ingredients, as well as some organic ingredients too.  Every time I eat there, I get such a good feeling, post-stuffing-my-face.  I liken eating at Nuba to doing yoga- you just feel really good afterward, its like you just filled your body with healthiness and it responds by feeling invigorated.

Then they opened up another Nuba near Main Street, then another one near Davie Street, and the newest one near Clark at the newly revamped Waldorf Hotel (where they apparently filmed Alvin and the Chipmunks, might I add!).

The menu is fresh and oh-so-delicious.  The hummus is so creamy- it has a perfect amount of garlic in it.  They are also very generous with their pitas, enough pitas for your lentil soup, hummus, baba ghanooj, and your main meal.

(more…)

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Finally! I made it to Kintaro after half a year of going without it (it’s smack dab in downtown Vancouver and it’s very hard to find free parking there.  PLUS the line ups are usually insane).  I had tried to line up for Kentaro a few months ago, but I was starving so went for Bentaro Ramen instead (which is down the block and definitely not as tasty).  So without further delay, here is my review on Kintaro Ramen.

This is another MUST EAT if you ever come to Vancouver.  Please do yourself justice and line up the extra 20-40 minutes it takes to get a seat in this hole-in-the-wall eatery.  There’s only about 20 seats in this entire joint, so that’s why there is a wait.  It’s just on the outskirts of Stanley Park at Denman and Robson (a major tourist attraction) so there’s really no excuse.

The portions are HUGE- the bowl is about 1.5x the size of my head (and my head is average sized LOL) and whenever I go there, I always get my favourite ramen, the Cheese Ramen (in the caption on the menu, it says “the ladies LOOOOVE it” and they are right!).  Check out the picture of the cheese ramen I took- do you see that massive pile of mozzarella cheese? Can you say CHEESE heaven!?  The huge bowl is about $8.50 (without the cheese, you’re looking at around $7.50 for a bowl).  Kintaro’s is the ONLY ramen joint in town that offers cheese ramen.

You can pick how fatty you want your pork to taste and how you want “rich” you want your broth to taste (I usually order medium broth).  They make their own noodles from scratch, so the noodles always taste fresh.

The downside is that they are closed on Mondays (usually it’s not busy in downtown, hence easier to find parking on Mondays) but open on other days between 12pm and 11pm.  There is always a consistent line up (so if you ever drive by Denman street and wonder what that line-up is about, it’s for Kintaro’s!) no matter what time of the day you come.

The other downside (or maybe not!) is that because it’s so packed all the time, often you are sitting with other people at the same round table (kind of nice and communal, I suppose) so you can hear their conversations and they can hear yours.  There are some private tables for two along the wall, and some bar stool tables (where you can check out the chefs).

The staff are always friendly too, and often you can order ahead of time, while waiting in line outside, so when you finally get to sit down- you’re ready to eat!

Readers, would you do a cheese ramen?  Or does that sound kind of unappealing to you? Any visitors (or fellow Vancouverites) been to this joint?  What did you think?

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