Northwest Road Trip 2013 - Vancouver, BC, Canada, Day 6

A little bit less adventuring today yet still plenty to eat and drink!

We're facing a very busy street so due to an early wakeup, we ended up sleeping in a bit more. Which meant that we missed the brunch at Medina Cafe, which is the highest rated restaurant in Vancouver. There was a crowd waiting in front (of course), so we put in our name and jaunted around to Rogers Arena (home to the Vancouver Canuckleheads). Returning 20 minutes later, we waited an additional 25 minutes (total wait: 45 min) before being seated. We were thrilled to discover they were serving brunch all day! Also, we learned the couple next to us were also road tripping from San Jose! Small world.

This is a LAVENDER LATTE! Delicious.

Aside from their coffee, their other specialty are their waffles! Which you can order a topping with. So, naturally, we each went with one.

Waffles with Raspberry Caramel and White Pistachio Rosewater

 These waffles were AMAZING. I know, how can waffles be amazing? A waffle is a waffle, right? Wrong. Absolutely not true. These may have had crack in them. Or at least, some sugar.

Mains: Fricasse with short rib, sunny side up eggs, potato, caramelized onions, watercress cheddar and a side of grilled foccacia.
Les Boulettes, 2 poached eggs with spicy Moroccan lamb & beef meatballs, cilantro with hummus and grilled foccacia on the side.

The dishes were what I would call "saucy mush" since that's essentially what it was. That's more Greg's style than mine but I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it. The waffles were just hard to compete with!

After "brunch," we walked around Gastown and "Chinatown." That's in quotes because it doesn't look like a Chinatown. There is nothing that evokes thoughts of Asia except that large Asian market on one of the corners. Perhaps we were in the wrong area (sounds like it's actually quite sketchy). Gastown, on the other hand, it's just so darn cute and hip. Eatings pigs is super hot right now and we saw 3 different restaurants with either word "pig" in it or had a pig in their logo.

Gastown is also home to this gas powered clock:

And lots of gifts shops with fine characters:

It was starting to get dark (we are quite far north) so, time for beer! We headed over to Parallel 49 brewery, with an hour to spare for their NYE hours. Get this: the beer samplers were only $1!!! The flight of 4 was only $3.50!

My favorite was the Nitro Milk Stout, which pretty much tasted like a Guinness. GZ's favorite was the Lord of the Hops. I don't usually like breweries that have cartoon-y labels but this was a good one.

As they called for last call, it was time to start thinking about dinner! Time for our other favorite cuisine: Shanghai Soup Dumplings! After much research, we headed over to Lin Chinese Cuisine and Teahouse. Terrible service but the most soup-y soup dumplings we've ever head. Check out that droop!

We also ordered the Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup, which had quite the kick!

Overall impression of Vancouver thus far: People are extremely polite and their streets are super clean. They love beer growlers and Asian food.

Looks like we will be sleeping through the New Year! Although, based on the noise being made by the party next door, that may not be true ("You kids better turn that noise down or I'm calling your mom!"). Off to Whistler tomorrow!