Travel PhooD: Breakfast at Medina’s

City: Vancouver, Canada
Location: 556 Beatty Street, Crosstown
Eaten: Soft-boiled egg, bacon, and Belgian waffle with white chocolate pistachio rosewater sauce
Damage: $12CAD + tax

David N. (who treated me to breakfast – thanks, honey!) and I like to joke that Medina represents everything that is simultaneously great and absolutely wrong about Vancouver.  Located in Crosstown, a bit of a developing (read: gentrifying) neighbourhood sandwiched between the affluent Downtown core and homeless/prostitution/drug-riddled Downtown Eastside, and next door to our old first-year dinner hangout, Chambar, Medina looks like a typical Vancouver café from the first step inside.  The glass windows run from about three feet off the ground up to the vaulted ceiling, and single light bulbs hang from the ceiling.  The bar sits on the right side, the espresso machine waiting, with a few stools lined up at the counter.  Along the opposite wall (brick, of course) runs a padded bench behind lacquered wood tables.  The restaurant itself is narrow, but long – typical, because Vancouver retail lots seem to be becoming increasingly disproportionately rectangular (window space must be a premium!).

Bacon and eggs, Medina-style

The food at Medina’s is quite good – in addition to the typical eggs-bacon-fruit fare (which, as I will explain later, is not all so typical after all), there are brunch specials like Les Boulettes (2 poached eggs, spicy Moroccan meatballs, cilantro, hummus cucumber tomato salad and a piece of grilled focaccia) and the Fricasse (2 fried eggs on braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, carmelized onions, arugula and smoked applewood cheddar with grilled focaccia, both descriptions from Medina’s website!), which I can both heartily recommend, as we tried them the last time I was in Vancouver.  Their waffles are slightly crispy with a soft inside, with additional sauces on the side (ranging from classic mixed berry compote and fig orange marmalade to the more adventurous milk chocolate lavender and white chocolate pistachio rosewater).

Ever wonder what $1.25/slice bacon looks like? You're looking at it.

I said I’d say something about the bacon, so here it is.  If there’s one dish that really just embodies why exactly I would call Medina’s just plain wrong sometimes, it’s this one.  First of all, four strips of bacon shouldn’t cost $5CAD.  Ever.  Granted, it was really good bacon, but that’s not the point.  Secondly, this ain’t no Average Joe rasher, no sir – this is thick-cut, farmers-style bacon.  And lastly, it’s served on a square white plate with – get this – a drizzle of balsamic on the side.  Too much, perhaps?

Overall, Medina’s is a good place to sit down once in a while and have a chat with some friends over breakfast or brunch.  The food is good, but it definitely won’t be cheap (if you are looking for cheap breakfast food, Denny’s is both cheap and filling – Grand Slam, anyone?).  The service is attentive, but the place really isn’t all that big, anyway.  I’d come here again, but only once every few weeks as a nice treat!

 

Travel PhooD: beard papa’s

City: All over!

Damage:  $9CAD/half-dozen, $1.75 each

With a name like beard papa’s, one wouldn’t really guess that this was a cream puff chain.  However, this popular cream puff shop has expanded far beyond its Japanese roots, to Vancouver, New York, Sydney, and even London (on Oxford Street).

Is it called Beard Papa's because his head looks like the cream puffs (or the other way around)?

There’s more than cream puffs for sale – they also offer cheesecake sticks and chocolate fondant – but the real stars are definitely those giant cream puffs.  About the size of a small fist, these treats have a flaky outer shell with a freshly-piped creamy filling more akin to custard than whipped cream (though it’s a mix of both) – guaranteed to change your view on cream puffs.  In addition to the classic vanilla flavour, they also offer several specialty flavours in rotation: caramel, strawberry, chocolate, and my personal favourite, green tea.

Mmmm, green tea

A more conventional flavour, caramel

 

Travel PhooD: Japadog

City: Vancouver, Canada

Location: Burrard and Smithe; Burrard and Pender; 530 Robson St. (coming soon)

Damage: $6.25CAD for one Okonomi hot dog

The Japadog stand is somewhat of a Vancouver institution.  What started out as a creative twist to regular street vendor hot dogs has become so popular in recent years, they’ve actually been able to set up a second location, and are opening a store on Robson street by the Central Library (who’d ever heard of a chain hotdog stand?!).  And it just keeps getting more popular – what recession?

I think I picked the wrong day to come (I'm halfway through the queue)...

Japadogs are essentially normal hot dogs – the kind you would buy from any stand on Robson St./Burrard St./etc. – with Japanese toppings.  In 2005, Noriki Tamura, the owner of Japadog, wanted to open a street food stand.  However, due to archaic Vancouver by-laws, only pre-cooked, ready-to-eat foods are allowed to be sold, which basically means no crêpes, no curry fish balls…heck, I’m not even too sure fries are ok.  Probably not.

So basically…you can sell hot dogs.  But there are so many hot dog stands in Vancouver already (since no one can sell anything else!); how do you attract customers to yours?  The answer – make unique toppings that would appeal to locals and tourists alike.  Throw in a few colourful signs and cute Japanese service (read: lots of quick bowing and ‘お好みです！プリズインジョイー！/Okonomi desu!  Pureesu enjoy!’ – they’re so polite! ♥♥♥) and voilà! – Japadog was born.

I’ve visited quite Japadog a number of times, mostly when I feel adventurous or particularly Vancouver-y.  Japadog is rather popular, so most days, the queue is about 15 minutes long.  On a sunny day, be prepared to wait almost an hour!  If the queue is especially long and you’re starving, drink something while waiting in line – it can be slow torture, because the closer you get, the more the tantalising the smell gets, gently teasing your olfactory senses until you get to the front of the line…

…only to order and go and stand in the pick-up line (cruel, eh?).  But from here, you can see how they make the toppings!  First-timers normally get the Terimayo – a beef sausage dressed in Japanese mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce with shredded nori (dried seaweed).  However, since I’m not the biggest fan of teriyaki sauce, I prefer the Okonomi – pork sausage with fried cabbage, okonomiyaki sauce (just a bit) and Japanese mayo, topped with bonito flakes.  There’s also the Oroshi – a generous scoop of grated radish on top of a pork sausage with green onions and soy sauce – and the Ume – raw red onions on a pork sausage with ume (plum) sauce.  There’s even an Edamame version – Edamame beans packed inside a sliced pork sausage – but I have yet to try it.

Here’s another thing I discovered here – wasabi (deu.: Meerrettich) mayonnaise is fantastic.  Its pleasant light green colour, coupled with its subtle kick of hotness, almost ensures that I will never again be satisfied with regular Japanese mayo.

I have to admit, Japadog is not exactly the cheapest hot dog you’ll ever have, or perhaps even the tastiest.  It is, however, an interesting experience definitely worth checking out!

 

Travel PhooD: Granville Island – Lunch with a View

City: Vancouver, Canada

Damage: $7.06 for a slice of tortière and a 355mL bottle of Raspberry Guava Koala

One of the most quintessential Vancouver hotspots is Granville Island, nestled under the Granville St. Bridge and jutting out into False Creek.

The highlight of the Island is the Public Market, home to numerous fresh produce stands, organic and whole foods stores, bakeries and sweets, seafood, cheese and charcuteries.  It’s most busy in the summer, when throngs of tourists and locals alike pack the narrow corridors inside and spill into the outdoor patio.

Outdoor dock

When the weather is fair, the dock outdoors makes a great place to grab a bite to eat, though most things bought in the Market itself are admittedly overpriced.  It’s a better idea to bring lunch with you (there’s a Save-On-Foods about a 20-minute walk from the Island which most people pass by on the way in anyway), but if you find yourself starving, or just curious as to what the stalls have to offer, my best suggestion is to pick up something from a place that doesn’t look like a food-service stall.  Of course, you can always skip lunch and head straight for something sweet…

…but if you have a craving for something a little more ‘normal’ (a relative term, I assure you), you can buy a few buns and some cold cuts from one of the meat places and make yourself a sandwich, or grab one of the premade items at a bakery.  On this particular day, I bought a slice of tourtière and a bottle of raspberry/guava Koala from Laurelle’s Fine Foods, a bakery that sells ready-to-eat pies and salads.

For those of you that don’t know (which will be most of you), tourtière is a French-Canadian meat pie traditionally served during the winter holiday season.  Warm and savoury, the ground meat, usually pork, is spiced with nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and sage; the smell is reminiscent of rustic Christmases gone by.

If you’re still hungry after lunch, you can also grab a small snack at any of the stalls.  My brother’s favourite place is Lee’s Donuts, where you can buy freshly baked cake donuts by the dozen.  I, however, think the best deal in the Market are the sticks of pepperoni at one of the meat places – the price of $1/stick hasn’t changed in almost ten years.  And for dessert, maybe a cake from Stuart’s – Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, anyone?