The reason,  these two chains have started to make their way into the Vancouver area and have a good following down in the States. Typically I stay away from fast food restaurants however after having an awesome time at the Fat Burger in Las Vegas I decided to try these two out.

First up, Fatburger.

The Fatburger in Vegas had an awesome vibe, great staff with amazing personality and real good burgers. Five stars all the way.

Unfortunately the one in Burnaby is a different story. Sure the burgers are good and taste the same as the Vegas version but the atmosphere was different.  It felt like an empty shell, the decor seemed too perfectly planned out and the staff did the whole song and dance of yelling out the order but sounded dead inside. Overall, disappointing and over priced.

After that experience I was hesitant to try Five Guys Burgers & Fries. How ever after hearing a lot of good things about the chain from Americans. I decided to hunt down one in Vancouver. With doubt in my mind and the expectation for this Canadian copy to fail to wow me I ventured off to the West Vancouver location.

Let’s just say, Five Guys won me over. The food was exactly as expected, a good sized greasy burger served up with amazing fries and free peanuts. The wait was a little long but worth it.

So, overall, a lesson learned and if In-N-Out ever comes up here I’ll gladly give them a try.

Locations visited:

Fatburger  - 4461 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, BC‎

Five Guys Burgers & Fries – 2002 Park Royal, West Vancouver, BC

Anton’s Pasta Bar has made a name for itself in Vancouver as a pasta place where you’ll end up leaving with your belly full and half your meal in your hands and that’s usually a good thing. In reality the food is average quality, the portions are comically large and the price is right. The menu is quite extensive and you should easily find something that interests you.

Anton’s has three different menus which include Lunch, Dinner and take out. There are some variations for each menu, lunch has smaller portions and a reduced price compared to the dinner menu and the take out menu is a beast of it’s own. I live close by so the take out option is a vary attractive idea when comparing it to standing outside for a long period of time waiting for a seat during the dinner time rush. However there are draw backs, during the dinner rush Anton’s takes the priority of those who sit in over those who take out. Valid idea as most people who take out do not purchase drinks or anything extra. However when you order for takeout the portions are noticeably smaller but still carry the dinner menu rates and you may end up waiting an hour to an hour and a half before you can pick up your meal. So my advice? Go for lunch at Anton’s Pasta Bar. You will avoid the dinner time lineup and the comically large portions. The lunch portions are large enough where you still end up taking food home but you’ll end up saving yourself a few dollars and the ever so exciting thrill of standing outside for pasta.

Penne Antonio

For my latest visit (during lunch) I ordered the Penne Antonio ($10.95 lunch/$14.95 dinner) which came with a good amount of chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes and feta cheese in a dill pesto sauce. The chicken was a little over done and had a bit of chewiness to it but the tomatoes and mushrooms were perfect. Unfortunately the sauce was a big downfall of the dish. Pringles should of used the sauce as the inspiration for their “Extreme Dill” chips because the sauce had a massive amount of dill that overpowered everything to a point where it just didn’t work out too well. The sauce was also extremely salty which was probably due to the amount of feta cheese included in the dish. Overall I was kind of disappointed by the dish, all of the ingredients that make up this dish I love but the combination in this meal failed epically.

I’ve had great meals in the past at Anton’s Pasta Bar but that’s because of the large portions and the relatively cheap price you pay. The pasta itself is quite average so go with an empty stomach and you’ll leave satisfied.

Anton’s Pasta Bar
4260 Hastings St Burnaby
Telephone: 604-299-1610
www.antonspastabar.com

Appetizer at Bombay Bhel

Admittedly Indian food is somewhat new to me. Up until about six months ago my knowledge of Indian food was limited to Butter Chicken. So discovering Bombay Bhel turned out to be a good thing. My first impression is that the restaurant tries to hard to be a cool and hip place to eat, the Earl’s of the Indian food world one could say. During the day the front windows brings a large amount of light into the front half of the restaurant but at night the restaurant is plunged into darkness and filled with a hybrid offspring of Indian techno music.

The food however is quite good. I have yet to be disappointed by any of the dishes I’ve tried in the last three visits to Bombay Bhel. The chicken has always been done perfectly, the lamb dishes are nice and tender and during one visit I had to try goat curry which threw me off since it included bones but was good as well. Value wise, the dishes are priced fairly well and the portions are large.

Overall Bombay Bhel delivers a good meal and is never super busy to the point where you have to wait for a seat for very long. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself stuck in line for it’s neighbour Anton’s Pasta Bar.

Bombay Bhel
4266 Hastings St Burnaby
Telephone: 604-299-2500
www.bombaybhelrestaurant.com

Inside Heavenly Bites

Heavenly Bites focuses on an Indian tradition called Tiffen Boxes which as I just recently found out are small metal pots that fasten together with a handle.

My knowledge of Indian restaurants is some what limited so I can’t quite compare Heavenly Bites with other Indian places and get away with sounding smart. What I do know is I like their style. The restaurant itself is small and minimalistic other than one or two art pieces you’d never know you walked into an Indian restaurant. There is no separate menu if you chose to stay so they hand you the take out menu.

For the appetizer we ordered Pakora ($4.45) which was amazing. I could not stop eating it the pieces were cooked perfectly and the sauce they provided for our meal (not sure what it was but came in a Jones Soda bottle) went well with it. For my Tiffen Box ($9.95) I chose Karai Chicken to accompany my random vegetable curry and rice.  If you prefer not to have the Tiffen Box you save $2 but miss out on the vegetable curry of the day.

Karai Chicken Tiffen Box

The Karai Chicken had a great flavor, tasted very fresh and the chicken was perfectly done. As for the vegetable curry  it was a bit cold in places but still very tasty.

Will I be going back to Heavenly Bites? Why yes, yes I will. The quality of food, the friendliness of the staff, the feeling of home cooking in the food all adds up to a very nice meal. The only downfall for this place is that it closes early. 7pm cuts the dinner time window short and maybe one day they’ll extend their hours as business picks up. But for now, Heavenly Bites will be a very strong contender for a great tasting lunch.

Heavenly Bites
4016 Hastings Street Burnaby BC
Telephone:
www.heavenlybite.ca

Jane's restaurant

This place has style that has been unchanged since probably the first days of it’s existence. Red vinyl booths, wood paneled walls and black velvet paintings welcome you and for me brings back childhood memories of friend’s parent’s basements.

Jane’s is one of those hole in a wall type restaurants that seem to be popular with the local university crowd. Weekends fill the restaurant with people looking for a good meal that’s good quality cheap food and Jane’s deliver. For $3.95 ($1 more for another pancake) you can get two large, and I do mean really large, pancakes and for an additional $2 you can add either bacon or homemade potato chunks. The pancakes were surprisingly on par with IHOP so this makes for a filling meal that’s cheap and leaves you satisfied. They also offer a breakfast special that offers a typical meal of 2 eggs, homemade potatoes, toast and a choice of 3 sausages, 3 strips of bacon or a slice of ham for $3.50.

Jane’s is one of those family run places that also offers Chinese food which splits the menu into those two styles. Typical North American diner food takes care of the first half of the menu and Chinese food makes up the second half. If their breakfast is any indication of the rest of the menu this place is a clear winner (won ton soup was pretty good). I’ll definitely will be going back soon.

Jane’s Restaurant
4217 Hastings St Burnaby
(604) 293-1343

Admittedly this is my first time trying Ukrainian hence the creation of this blog. Sure I’ve had things like perogies and cabbage rolls but on the menu was a wide selection of other dishes I’ve never tried. So my meal of choice for this visit was Chicken Paprika ($14.95) and Ukrainian Borsch ($5.25). The Borsch was pretty good, and a fair size for the price. As for the Chicken Paprika it was served on a large dish with four pieces of chicken and four dumplings. The chicken was cooked perfectly and fell off the bone nice and easily, the paprika sauce flooded the plate and provided a nice flavor to the meal.

One thing to note is the perogies are hand made and come in many varieties. The sausages were pretty good however I was in a large group and some had to wait a bit as they microwave the sausages to re-heat them. So knowing that I was kinda happy I didn’t ask for a sausage.

Maybe there isn’t a selection of Ukrainian style desserts out there but The Ukrainian Village Restaurant offers a limited selection, aka two options, ice cream or cake which was disappointing to say the least.

Overall, The Ukrainian Village Restaurant was a very welcoming start to Ukrainian food which I hope to have one day soon. The food was very well prepared aside from the sausages and the staff were welcoming.

The Ukrainian Village Restaurant
815 Denman St Vancouver BC
Telephone: (604) 687-7440
www.ukrainianvillagerestaurant.com

Now were do I start, the fact that you could spend 30 minutes in line during lunch for a hot dog? or the fact that if you so chose, you can have fish in a tube covered in wesabe mayo? and why should you spend six plus dollars on a hot dog?

The selection varies depending on what cart you venture to, and in this case I’ll be reviewing the Burrard and Pender location since I’ve had most of their hot dogs. Personally my favorite hot dog is the Korokke dog ($6.00). Served on top of the all beef sausage is mash potatoes, cabbage, Japanese mayo and Korokke sauce. Other than the traditional all beef sausage other menu items include different types of dogs.

Korokke Dog

The Okonomi dog ($6.25) is a Kurobuta pork sausage smothered in cabbage, Bonito flakes, Japanese mayo and Okonomi sauce. When I had this it was pretty good but they seemed to have been in a rush and the Kurobuta pork was kinda slimy in an non-cooked kind of way.

The Terimayo is their supposed top seller that breaks it down to the basics. Meat, bun, shredded seaweed with teriyaki and Japanese mayo.

The Sakana ($6.25) is a fish sausage (Gyoniku) topped with tuna, Japanese mayo, soy sauce, and mixed orangic leaves. Overall this was pretty tasty but for me it’s a try once kind of dog.

So that’s Japadog, friendly service, mile long lineups during lunch and a tasty alternative to Vancouver’s street meat scene. If you live in Vancouver and haven’t had a Japadog I’d highly suggest you try it right away. If you’re visiting the city put this on you’re must do list. That way when you watch a travel show featuring Vancouver you can then point at the TV and yell “I’ve been there!” in turn making your friends jealous and you will be the master of the universe and everything in it.

The Good:
Imaginative menu
Unique style
Friendly staff

The bad
Kind of pricey
The lineups at lunch

Japadog
Burrard and Pender Vancouver BC
www.japadog.com

Mushroom Burger at The Gilmore Restaurant

Run and staffed by the owners it’s the type of restaurant that you can go to for a quick cheap meal and walk away satisfied.

So how could I resist when I walked by and saw that one of the lunch specials was a mushroom burger with fries and soup or salad for $5.25?

The soup, Clam Chowder, was not much to talk about but I wasn’t expecting so. The hamburger however was surprising. Made by hand the patty was quite large, the mushrooms were a nice thick cut and the bun was nicely grilled w/ some butter to make it crunchy.

Other than the specials the menu is littered with additions that have made the cut as time goes one. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Chinese food and random other goodies make up the menu.

Overall, you can’t go wrong, this place has been around forever so you know they’re doing something right.

The Good:
Cheap prices
Good quality food.

The Bad:
The restaurant is showing it’s age

Gilmore Restaurant
4015 Hastings Street Burnaby BC
(604) 294-1044

Wesley Street Restaurant bills itself as a contemporary West Coast cafe offering fine food and a good selection of wine to it’s

Wesley Street Cafe at night

customers. Truthfully I’m not a wine drinker so personally I can’t comment. But the others I was with were and they were impressed by the waiter’s knowledge of the wine selection and what the waiter suggested that night.

The menu is refreshed every season so next time I end up in Nanaimo I’ll be sure to visit again. Speaking of food, everything was amazingly presented, fair sized portions and the Crème brûlée was amazing.

For dinner appetizers cost an average of  $12 per dish. Entrees weigh in at about $25 and the desserts are around $9. But if you want to experience The Wesley Street Restaurant at a really good price go on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday as they have a 3 course special for only $25 dollars.

So if you’re visiting or live in Nanaimo and looking for a restaurant experience that isn’t at a cookie cutter restaurant (I’m looking at you Montana’s). I’d highly suggest the Wesley Street Restaurant.

The good:
Amazing food
Wide selection of wine
Friendly staff

The bad:
I don’t live in Nanaimo.

Wesley Street Restaurant
1-321 Wesley Street Nanaimo BC
http://www.wesleycafe.com/
Telephone: 250-753-6057

Little Tokyo’s Sushi sticks to a basic menu and doesn’t stray off into the wild out reaches of Sushi Land that some restaurants may venture off to and for that you are rewarded with consistently good eats. So to go into deep descriptions of what they offer won’t be necessary, all I can say is that I haven’t been disappointed yet. They offer great lunch/dinner combos and group meals with a bonus of free delivery for those who chose to stay home. This I guess brings me to the restaurant itself and the decor that can only be described as “a hockey based theme from the era of the Vancouver Canucks’ 1994 playoff run”. What truly makes Little Tokyo’s Sushi stick out in my mind is that the chef’s are friendly, they remember who you are and will always greet you with a smile.

Overall I can’t find anything bad to say about Little Tokyo’s Sushi. It’s kind of a hidden gem actually. Rarely is it busy and it offers everything I expect when I feel like a quiet low key Sushi adventure after a tiring day at work.

The Good:
Quality food
Friendly staff
Free delivery

The Bad:
For some people the lack of exotic food options.

Little Tokyo’s Sushi
3978 Hastings Street Burnaby BC
(604) 473-7900