The Bon Vivant Blog

The cleaning up of the old factories on Spadina continues, and with it, has come a new coffee house. D and I were strolling down Spadina during our visit in January, reliving many happy memories shopping in Chinatown and Kensington Market, when we saw Dark Horse Espresso. My need for delicious coffee overtook my already-wired [...]

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We had to go into FNAC to pick up a Paris Museum Pass and when D realized we were near Printemps – her immediate reaction wasn’t to go shopping – instead it was to go get some lunch at Cafe Be (Be as in Boulangepicier), Alain Ducasse’s small bakery/bistro/sandwich place in the Printemps department store. [...]

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It has definitely been a while – our apologies. Back in the City of Lights – out with A and B, two residents who love the good life and are dedicated to finding the best food possible. We’re staying in Montmartre, we’ve flown all night and are more than a bit tired – but never [...]

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Food is an integral and important part of my travels. In fact, if a place does not have good food, I strongly think about whether I want to go there and if there are other redeeming factors to the city/country in question. Thankfully, if you do look hard enough, usually you can find some decent [...]

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I’d head here any time for high-quality Dim Sum. Let me back up. Sunday am – time for Dim Sum. A friend of a friend recommended a place at 1st and Renfrew – we googled for it and found Bing Sheng. It turns out that it wasn’t the place he was talking about, but that’s [...]

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(Sorry – this post is more about traveling to Toronto – but yes, the Market is in here too, near the bottom) Welcome Back…. Arriving at 6:03am on the red-eye from Vancouver, sore back, sore butt, but happy to be home. Waiting for the Rocket to get downtown, another bus driver stops to wait for [...]

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Arroy-D Thai Restaurant www.arroydthai.com 3106 Cambie Street Vancouver, BC V5Z 2W2 (604) 879-9999‎ (604) 879-9944‎ Cost: reasonable, most dinner entrees $9-12 Would we go back : Yes, good local Thai place but wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to go there Good place to go for Thai food in the Main street area. The [...]

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Bistrot Bistro 1961 West 4th Avenue Vancouver, BC V6J 1M7 (604) 732-0004 Reservations: yes A Kitsalano favourite – this a casual but comfortable bistro serving simple french food at a reasonable price. Great for a weekday dinner or casual dinner. Things to try – frites, escargots, and beef bourguignon. View Larger Map

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Japanese food made us think of kewpie mayonnaise and I was surprised to hear (well maybe not really) – that it contained MSG and that MSG may be a key player in “umami” – the fifth taste…. Interesting New York Times article on MSG.

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Quirky japanese chain that sells mainly cream puffs and apparently has quite a large following in Japan. Go to their website and you will see a quirky video on the life of the imaginary Beard Papa who hails from Osaka and makes these delicious cream puffs. Tried the original vanilla cream puff – delicious vanilla [...]

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