1. Edible British Columbia Tours. For delights (and calories) per minute, it’s hard to beat the food-focused tour of the Granville Island Public Market offered by Edible British Columbia (previously mentioned here). When our next trip to Vancouver rolls around, I’m booked on their Chinatown tour for sure.
2. World’s Best Thai Food at Sawasdee. I’ve eaten Thai food on four of earth’s seven continents, and can tell you without hesitation that Vancouver’s Sawasdee Thai Restaurant (4250 Main Street) has the best Thai food on the planet. From the exotic cho muang (purple dumplings, shaped like flowers and stuffed with spices, chicken, and peanuts) to the tourist-friendly cashew chicken, every single dish I sampled was exquisite. (The friendly owners made us feel like family, to boot!)
3. Lunches at Red Door. In almost every city we visit, we stumble on one restaurant we return to for a second helping. Because we didn’t discover Sawasdee until our last night (a good thing, probably, or I wouldn’t have eaten elsewhere!), we wound up feasting on plate after plate of the Red Door’s innovative pan-Asian tasting menu. Starved after our lunch-hour flight, we pounced on their pad thai, tom yum gai, and chili-spiced calamari … and came back for more the very next day.
4. Dinner at Hell’s Kitchen. Cracker-thin crusts, fantasy combinations of tasty toppings, groovy pie titles (it’s a “T-Rex,” not a “Meat Lovers”), and a hip, enthusiastic staff make Hell’s Kitchen one of the planet’s best spots to scarf down hot pizza. Allow the bar tender to recommend a local beer, order any pizza on the menu, and prepare to be wowed. Save room for the chocolate mousse!
5. Gelato at La Casa Gelato. Mama mia! With more than 208 flavors of gelato in the freezer, a house packed with throngs of Asian tourists, and zany murals on every wall, you’ll never notice that La Casa Gelato’s Italian ice creams are, in fact, just above average. The staff is liberal with samples, so try the wasabi and soy sauce flavors before you bury yourself face-first in more familiar fare.
6. Harbour Centre Tower. High atop Harbour Centre Tower, the Vancouver Lookout provides visitors with a sweeping, panoramic view of the city. After the glass elevator ferries you fifty-one stories into the sky in under fifty seconds, you’ll be able to see all of Vancouver’s landmarks at once. While the food is second-rate and obscenely over-priced (a small bowl of pasta topped with canned sauce will set you back $24.00), a sunset dinner in the Top of Vancouver revolving restaurant makes for spectacular evening.
7. Capilano Suspension Bridge. There’s much more than a bridge at the Capilano Suspension Bridge park — but the experience of walking the bridge is more than enough to justify the ten minute drive to this high-altitude attraction. After passing through the surprisingly good gift shop, cross the swinging bridge over the Capilano River. On the opposite shore, the Cliff Walk and the sky-high Treetop Explorer (a network of catwalks suspended high above the rainforest floor) provide an eagle’s eye view of some of Canada’s most beautiful scenery. Top off your visit with a hunk of made-on-the-premises fudge!
8. Chinatown Walk. Vancouver’s Chinatown is the perfect size — large enough to give you that “I’m really in China!” feeling, but small enough to experience in an afternoon. Ogle the pickled snakes and eels in the Chinese pharmacies, browse the bewildering array of fresh fruits and vegetables, and line up with savvy locals for tasty treats from any of the dozens of Chinese bakeries along the way. If the food stalls were selling scorpion on a stick instead of teriyaki beef, you’d swear you were in Beijing!
9. Harbour Cruise. While a bit touristy by nature, harbour cruises provide a great opportunity to see the city at its best — from the water. We opted for the Indian Arm Luncheon Cruise, which provided both city views and a peaceful trip into a coastal mountain fjord. The food’s forgettable (chicken or salmon, salad, rice, and bland pre-fab cake or pie), but the trip makes for a relaxing alternative to Vancouver’s busy streets. When the boat prepares to return home, don’t miss your chance to get photos of Silver Falls!
10. Walking from Stanley Park to the Marriott Pinnacle. After we returned to Vancouver from Indian Arm, we hiked along the seawall from Stanley Park back to our hotel. Along the way, we saw Vancouver at her twenty-first century best: modular bay-front homes, clean streets, bright shops, tidy public gardens, gleaming skyscrapers. Do not leave this city without taking a brisk walk along the waterfront!
Sour Notes
Despite rabid recommendations from guidebooks and a local or two, we found some places we would characterize as must-misses:
– Mum’s Gelato. Though once characterized as the best gelato in town, Mum’s appears to have outlived its heyday. The surly guy behind the counter was the only Canadian we met who couldn’t smile, and, despite the thrum of traffic on the street outside, the shop was totally deserted except for us. Locals must have deserted the place for any of several bustling gelato shops along the same street; you should follow their example, because the below-average ice cream has been in the freezer for a bit too long for its own good.
– Jade Dynasty Dim Sum Parlor. Dim sum dishes here were sticky-sweet or far too salty; our entrees (including beef fried rice and lemon chicken) were no better than dishes from your local mall’s food court. When even I can’t finish a dumpling, you know something’s gone terribly wrong … and with hundreds of dim sum parlors in Vancouver, there’s no need to waste time here.
– Vancouver Aquarium. If you’ve never been to a modern aquarium, the Vancouver Aquarium is worth a stop (particularly if you’re in town on a rainy day). But if you’ve visited larger facilities — like the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the jaw-dropping Georgia Aquarium, or the Sydney Aquarium — the exhibits here will fail to impress, especially given the price of admission.
– Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe. We’re told that lines circle the block for Sophie’s Sunday Brunch, and every Vancouver guidebook insists a pilgrimage to Sophie’s is a requirement. In our opinion, this kitschy diner has seen its better days. In its place, we recommend the Sunshine Diner, where the huge platters of pancakes, eggs benedict, and seasonal fruit made up for the joint’s more sterile character.
You went to the Jade Dynasty at a bad time. The restraurant is only about a year old and had a long period with switching and trying out new chefs.