Vancouver Trip (Day 2)
Sunday 9/2: Stanley Park Run + Downtown Food Tour
Mr. E and I headed out around 8:15am for a morning run around the lovely and iconic Stanley Park (8+ miles total). We finished up in time to get breakfast at the Club Lounge by 10:30am and then lingered over second (and third) coffee. We then returned to our room for some reading time before walking the short distance to Kirin Restaurant to meet up with our Vancouver Foodie Tours-led "Best of Downtown" tour.
Our guide, Nadia, comes from a very impressive pedigree of working with several Michelin-starred chefs, and she now works as a private chef in addition to leading these tours to share her knowledge, passion, and love of both food and Vancouver with her visitors. We kicked off with dim sum at Kirin on Alberni Street, the first fine-dining Chinese restaurant in Vancouver. My tasting here was rather limited due to my food restrictions, but Mr. E proclaimed this the best dim sum he's ever tried! And I did at least enjoy the local craft brew that accompanied the food.
The next stop was at Urban Fare, just across the street and down the block from Kirin. This venue reminded us a bit of Mariano's in Chicago, although with a smaller overall selection of prepared foods. Here we enjoyed some cheese and chocolate paired with both white and red Bordertown wines. The chocolate caramels in particular were outstanding!
Our middle stop was at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar on Burrard Street, in the Sutton Place Hotel (coincidentally, the place where we'd stayed during our last visit many years ago). This was my favorite tasting spot thanks to the wonderful special preparations I received to accommodate my pescatarian and allium allergy food restrictions. My trio of shrimp and seared halibut and fish carpaccio was absolutely stunning, and the lemony seasonal cocktail beautifully highlighted the fresh seafood.
After these three mostly savory stops, we switched over completely to sweet at Thierry, where we sampled the tangy fresh raspberry macarons. Mr. E also procured some madeleines here for later. The tour finished up at the Bella Gelateria down by the waterfront with a trio of flavors -- my favorite was the dark chocolate sorbetto. Yum! And dairy free!
The three hours of the tour flew by, especially since we also stopped several times to learn more about Vancouver and admire some of the iconic or historic buildings. Mr. E took advantage of the lovely sunny weather to snap lots of photos, too. We both love the mix of building materials used in the skyscrapers and also how the many glass towers reflect the surrounding cityscape.
Mr. E and I tried to take advantage of Happy Hour oysters at Joe Fortes as recommended by Nadia, but the line was out the door on this Monday holiday afternoon, so we gave up and returned to the hotel instead to put up our feet for a bit. Eventually, we decided to return to Urban Fare for some dinner, where I also picked up a bag of plain popcorn to snack on over the next few days (weird cultural oddity? -- very difficult to find unflavored chips or popcorn in most shops!). We wound down the evening in the room with yoga (me) and wine (both).
Mr. E and I headed out around 8:15am for a morning run around the lovely and iconic Stanley Park (8+ miles total). We finished up in time to get breakfast at the Club Lounge by 10:30am and then lingered over second (and third) coffee. We then returned to our room for some reading time before walking the short distance to Kirin Restaurant to meet up with our Vancouver Foodie Tours-led "Best of Downtown" tour.
Our guide, Nadia, comes from a very impressive pedigree of working with several Michelin-starred chefs, and she now works as a private chef in addition to leading these tours to share her knowledge, passion, and love of both food and Vancouver with her visitors. We kicked off with dim sum at Kirin on Alberni Street, the first fine-dining Chinese restaurant in Vancouver. My tasting here was rather limited due to my food restrictions, but Mr. E proclaimed this the best dim sum he's ever tried! And I did at least enjoy the local craft brew that accompanied the food.
The next stop was at Urban Fare, just across the street and down the block from Kirin. This venue reminded us a bit of Mariano's in Chicago, although with a smaller overall selection of prepared foods. Here we enjoyed some cheese and chocolate paired with both white and red Bordertown wines. The chocolate caramels in particular were outstanding!
Our middle stop was at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar on Burrard Street, in the Sutton Place Hotel (coincidentally, the place where we'd stayed during our last visit many years ago). This was my favorite tasting spot thanks to the wonderful special preparations I received to accommodate my pescatarian and allium allergy food restrictions. My trio of shrimp and seared halibut and fish carpaccio was absolutely stunning, and the lemony seasonal cocktail beautifully highlighted the fresh seafood.
After these three mostly savory stops, we switched over completely to sweet at Thierry, where we sampled the tangy fresh raspberry macarons. Mr. E also procured some madeleines here for later. The tour finished up at the Bella Gelateria down by the waterfront with a trio of flavors -- my favorite was the dark chocolate sorbetto. Yum! And dairy free!
The three hours of the tour flew by, especially since we also stopped several times to learn more about Vancouver and admire some of the iconic or historic buildings. Mr. E took advantage of the lovely sunny weather to snap lots of photos, too. We both love the mix of building materials used in the skyscrapers and also how the many glass towers reflect the surrounding cityscape.
posted by jms | 3:30 PM
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