Last week I was treated to a breakfast at Little Nest, a cafe just off commercial street. First time visiting this place I immediately noticed the homeyness of this place. It was like I stepped into someone else’s kitchen, a very hipster kitchen that is. The the next thing I noticed was the number moms dining there with their toddlers, this was a very family friendly cafe.

For my breakfast I decided to get a latte and the Little Nest Breakfast. I ordered this breakfast with scrambled eggs and it came with baguettes, fried polenta, and a bed of sautéed  mushrooms with pesto sauce.

The dish looked really appealing, and it was really tasty. I enjoyed everything. From the way it was presented, the dish was split into 2 sides, the side with the eggs and the baguette and the super yummy side with polenta and mushrooms.

The polenta had a really nice crust on the outside, and it was just mild enough to compliment the spinach pesto and mushrooms. There were also caramelized pearl onions as well as goat cheese on top. Although the eggs and baggues were good, the polenta side definitely out-shined the eggs and the baguettes.

My friend ordered the Eggs of the Day, which had eggs, baguette and a side of tuna salad. The salad was cold, and it was really refreshing. It had baby greens, green beans, and tuna. It was really nicely dressed, and the green bean still had a nice crunch.

I was there on a weekday and the place was already busy, I can’t imagine what it is like on weekends. I loved my breakfast here, everything was fresh and tasty. I’d definitely come back, but only on a weekday.

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Little Nest
1716 Charles St
Vancouver, BC V5L
(604) 251-9994

A couple weekends ago before I went shopping for spotted prawns at Granville island, I stopped by The Red Wagon for some breakfast.

I have read a few good reviews from other bloggers about their Crispy Pork Belly breakfast, and I just gotta go try it to see what all the fuss was about.

The Crispy Pork Belly breakfast came with 2 eggs of your choice, toast, potatoes, grilled tomato, and a generous chunk of pork belly. It was drizzled with salsa verde, and hollandaise sauce.

This breakfast was amazing. There was a lot going on, and every bite was just full of flavor. The salsa verde and the hollandaise sauce somehow just worked out together really nicely with the eggs and the potatoes.

Speaking of the potatoes, not only were they moist on the inside, they were also sprinkled with fresh green onions and cilantro, so genius.

On to the crispy pork belly itself, it lived up to its name. It was really crispy! It’s like somehow they extracted all the fat parts of the pork belly, and replaced it with crispy skin. It was pretty good, but just a tad dry.

My friend ordered their Banana Pancakes, and it was very banana-y. It wasn’t just a few slices of banans on the pancakes, it was like they pureed bananas and mixed it into the pancake batter. Not sure if they really did that, but there was whole lot of banana taste. It was very sweet on its own, we didn’t use much syrup with it all. It was also very buttery.

A simple, traditional breakfast consist mostly of eggs, potatoes and some type of pork, everyone can make it, but The Red Wagon does better. You gotta come try the crispy pork belly breakfast. And between the sweet and the savory breakfasts here, based on the 2 dishes we got, the savory was the clear winner.

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The Red Wagon
2296 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V5L

A couple weeks ago my friends and I stopped by 9th Avenue Grill for some breakfast before our day of photowalking.

The menu had pretty standard breakfast items and the prices were very reasonable. For my breakfast I decided to try the Cheese Omelette And …, yup, that was the name of the dish, with the dot dot dot.

It was a 3 cheese omelete with bacon, sausages, pancakes and potatoes. My omelete was pretty flat with cheese folded inside. There were 3 cheeses, but the only one I could really taste was cheddar. I had a feeling it might be a tex mex mix. It was not bad.

The sausage and bacon were pretty good, but I was most disappointed by the pancakes, especially when I just had Rhizome Cafe‘s a day before. The pancakes were were just flat, dry, and didn’t have much flavor at all. They actually reminded me of pancake mix.

A friend ordered the 9th Avenue Big Breakfast with French toast. This was just a classic breakfast with 2 eggs, bacon, sausage, potato and choice of pancakes or French toast. This dish was again pretty normal, but the french toast were just a tad bland.

Perhaps the most flavorful dish we had was the Veggie Hash. It was scrambled eggs with peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes with Monterey Jack cheese. This was a nice hash, it had all the nice flavors from all the vegetables.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with their breakfast food. The savory part was all right, but the pancakes and french toasts just weren’t good enough.

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9th Avenue Grill
1822 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6J
(604) 714-0744

Last weekend after we stopped by Hamburger Disco‘s pop up store on Main street to picked up some t-shirts, we went to the near by Rhizome Cafe to grab some brunch.

Most of the items on the menu are vegetarian, and the only meat available was salmon. For my breakfast, I uncharacteristically picked their eggs benedict, Eggs Rhizomedict because I was really curious about their house made squash sauce that they use instead of hollandaise.

The Eggs Rhizomedict had roasted red peppers and spinach. The squash sauce was a little strange at first, simply because my mind was still expecting hollandaise. But the more I ate it, the more I loved it. The sauce was really yummy, it was a bit sweet. I tasted mostly butternut squash. I had my Eggs Rhizomedict half salad and half roasted root vegetables. The roasted vegetables were yams and potatoes. The this was a savory breakfast, but there were a lot of sweetness from the squash sauce, roasted red pepper and yams.

Dee ordered the Rhizome Buttermilk Pancakes, which had 3 very fluffy pancakes. I liked these pancakes a lot. They were topped with sliced apples that has been caramelized a little. It’s a very simple dish, but also very yummy.

I really liked my breakfast there, and I’ll definitely come back.  This is a great spot breakfast for vegetarians.

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Joe’s Grill on 4th is this really laid back diner in Kitsilano. A few weeks ago, I stopped by to get some late breakfast.

For my breakfast, I ordered Waffles, it also came with eggs, fresh fruits, and choice of bacon, sausage or ham. It’s pretty awesome the waffles came with the eggs and other stuff, because I like my sweets and I like my savory for breakfast.

This was a big breakfast for its price. The part I was most excited for was the waffles. The waffles great, but I’m just spoiled with cafe zen’s waffles. They were a tad dry. The rest of the food on my plate were pretty solid.

My friend ordered Joe’s Omelet. It had mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, and bell peppers. It was really good. I liked it better than my own breakfast. I loved the mushrooms, it was really flavorful and the eggs were moist.

This was a nice laid back place to get cheap and solid food. The omelet was really amazing. I’d love to go back and try other things.

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I have been craving for enchiladas for a couple months now, therefore I brought myself to Bandidas Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant on Commercial dr.

Walking into the restaurant, my first impression was, this place smells weird, kinda like old furniture. This place was also really busy during lunch.

The obvious choice for me to get was the enchiladas. But, it was my first meal of the day, I needed my breakfast fix. I ordered the Huevas Rancheras instead. I also ordered a side of Corn Bread. Enchiladas, some other day. Also in a breakfast mood, my friend ordered the Pineapple French Toast with sausages.

We waited a long ass time for our food. I know it was busy and all, but we waited for 30-40minutes.

Huevas Rancheras came with 2 eggs, ranchera sauce, beans, purple cabbage salad, and roasted potatoes and yams. Everything on the pate was really good and each item has their own distinct flavor. The sauce was light, it had just enough spicy hint for a breakfast plate. I really liked the roasted yams, they were really sweet, they were a good mix with the usual potatoes for breakfast.

The corn breads were a little disappointing. They were really flat, and oily at the bottom. It was more crunchy rather than fluffy.

My friend wasn’t completely impressed with the Pineapple French Toast. Although there were fresh sliced pineapples beneath the french toasts, it tasted rather mediocre.

This was a real hipster place. The atmosphere reminded me a lot of Foundation on main. Service here was friendly, but also quite slow. It’s probably not a good place to go if you have work to get back to after lunch.

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Bandidas Taqueria
2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC V5N
(604) 568-8224

A few days ago my friends and I went to Twisted Fork Bistro for Sunday Brunch. We got there around 11:30am and man, this place was so packed. We ended up waiting for 30mins to get our table.

We were all ready to order once we sat down. I ordered their Banana French toast, with a side of fruits ($6) to start. Along with the fruits, my friends also ordered Banana Bread and Scones to start off the meal.

When I ordered the fruits, I was expecting a little bowl with diced up fruits. And when the fruits came, I was so happy. It was a big plate of really yummy fruits with watermelon, pineapple, banana, apples, cantaloupes and strawberries. It was definitely my kind of brunch plate.

The banana bread and scones came with jam and whipped cream. Both were really good, especially the scones, they were really flaky and soft. The jam and the whipped cream were really nice additions to the breads.

An order of Banana French Toast came with 3 super thick banana stuffed french toasts with brioche bread, and also more fresh fruits on the side (yay!). Presentation of this dish was super pretty and appetizing. The french toasts were really good with syrup and especially with the whipped cream. The french toast without anything, was kind of bland and dry. Some parts of the crusts were pretty hard, but good thing that the pieces were big, because that means more soft centers.

My friends ordered 3 other kinds of brunch dishes, Eggs Benny with Chorizo, Asparagus Scramble, and Gruyere Baked Eggs.

The Gruyere Baked Eggs was my favorite savory breakfast that we ordered. It was very creamy and cheesy. Even though the yolk was a little dry, it was really yummy.

The Asparagus Scramble was a big breakfast. There were at least 4 eggs in the scramble, nice flavors to go with the potatoes, and vegetables that were also on the plate.

Overall, this is a super busy place for brunch and they only serve brunch on weekends. There was constantly multi-groups of people standing by the door waiting for tables. The crowd finally died down at around 1:30pm, so that might be the best time to go.

All the breakfast dishes were $12 and the portions were big. My favorite part of the meal would have to be the fruits, the french pressed coffees, the french toast with lots of whipped cream, and also our very smiley waitress. She definitely help us to get out of our grumpy groove that morning.

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Twisted Fork Bistro
1147 Granville St
Vancouver, BC V6Z
(604) 568-0749

I am on a bit of pancake craze lately, but only because I keep finding better and better places to get pancakes from. Jethro’s Fine Grub has pancakes like no other in Vancouver.

I wasn’t planning on getting pancakes when I visited Jethro’s for breakfast, but one item on the menu looked too good to pass up and that was the Nana Cake ($9). An order of Nana Cakes came with 2 massive massive banana pancakes. My stomach was already defeated before I began eating it because it was so giant, so giant that it couldn’t fit into my 35mm camera frame. No pan, just cakes.

These pancakes were one of the best pancakes I’ve ever had. They were sooo good! so good! The pancakes were really thick and fluffy. They had really awesome buttery and vanilla-y flavor and smelled so delicious. The bananas in them were really moist and soft. They had really nice crispy crust that I loved. I didn’t end up much of the syrup, because I didn’t really need to. The cakes were moist and flavorful enough to eat on its own.

My friend ordered the Smoked Salmon Benny with potatoes. They were pretty tasty, and they give you a lot of potatoes in really big chunks. While the bennys were tasty, we did find the potatoes to be a bit bland on their own.

Along with the Nana Cakes, I also ordered a bowl of fresh fruits. It was a mix of apples, grapes and cantaloupes. They were nice and fresh and sweet.

This place was really busy and there was always people waiting for tables. The waitresses were really nice. One of them gave me a compliment on finishing half of the Nana Cakes, I took the compliment proudly. She also gave me suggestions on reheating the rest of my nana cakes when I get home (400 degrees, 15minutes).

This is an awesome place to get your breakfast grub on. I will definitely return, but the questions is will I be able to refrain myself from ordering the Nana Cakes again in order to try other things.

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Jethro’s Fine Grub
3420 Dunbar Street
Vancouver, BC V6S
(604) 569-3441
www.jethrosfinegrub.com

Last week I was looking for a breakfast place, and I went to Cafe Zen on Yew. This place already showed a lot of promise when I first got there because the place was packed and people just kept coming in.

For my breakfast I chose a half order of Pancakes with fresh fruit. A half order of pancakes came with 2 big fluffy buttermilk pancakes (buckwheat is the other option). The pancakes were really really good. They were really fluffy, moist, and just airy enough. The buttermilk pancakes smelled really nice, and had good amount of thickness. I absolutely loved them. I also really liked the fresh fruits. The little bowl of fresh fruits had watermelon, kiwi, grapes, orange and cantaloupes. They all really sweet and fresh.

Kid ordered the BC Scramble with fries. The scramble had generous amount of smoked salmon and dill. It was really tasty and everything also tasted super fresh. The fries wasn’t oily, they had nice crispy outer crust and moist potatoes inside.

I had a great breakfast here. The place was tiny and super busy. It was clearly a favor spot in the neighborhood. Like Nice Cafe the tables for 2′s were some what placed really close together, so be prepared to get cozy with other diners.

One thing I really liked about this place is that most of the items have half orders. The portion for my half order pancakes was perfect for my appetite, but this also gives people a chance to try out different things. I saw a lot of very delicious looking breakfast plates during my visit. The pancakes were awesome, but I already have my eyes on those scrumptious looking french toasts for my next visit.

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Cafe Zen on Yew
1631 Yew St
Vancouver, BC V6K
(604) 731-4018
cafe-zen.ca

A couple weeks ago my friend brought me to Siegel’s Bagels for some bagel sandwiches and bagels to bring home.

Siegel’s Bagels sells authentic Montreal Style Bagels. There was an in house wood burning oven to baked the bagels, and there were more than 10 flavors of bagels to choose from.

I ordered a Candied Smoked Salmon Bagel on everything bagel for my lunch. I had a really high expectation for my salmon bagel, because I absolutely love smoked salmon bagels. This was the first time however, I tried candied smoked salmon on a bagel.

First thing I noticed when I bit into my bagel was, it was not toasted. I’m not sure if I was supposed to ask for it to be toasted because the cashier didn’t ask me about it. The candied smoked salmon was a little bit sweet and a little bit salty. They were dried, kind of like salmon jerky. The everything bagel was pretty good. The bagel was dense, and a little bit sweet. It’s got a good chewy texture. I have to say, I was a little bit disappointed with the cold bagel sandwich. Having the bagels toasted, would have made a huge difference for me.

My friend ordered the Lox and Cream sandwich. Other than using smoked Sakai salmon instead of the candied smoked salmon, they had the same ingredients.

Half way through our sandwiches we spotted a sign for stuffed bagels at the counter. We were intrigued so we ordered a Spinach and Feta stuffed bagel to try. I would really suggest not to order this unless it was freshly out of the oven. The spinach and feta stuffed bagel we got had been sitting in the warmer for a while, and it was soggie, oily, and pretty much tasteless. Huge disappointment, totally not what we were expecting. It was a bad version of spanakopita.

Honestly, I don’t really know what the difference between a Montreal Style Bagel and regular bagel. After my meal I also took home half a dozen bagels and I noticed the Montreal style bagels were somewhat skinner and more dense compared to regular bagels. Also There was definetly a sweetness to all the bagels I tried, which was nice.

You can get bagels here anytime of the day because they open 24 hours a day. Not a bad place to do a bagel run.

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Siegel’s Bagels
1883 Cornwall Ave
Vancouver, BC V6J
(604) 737-8151
www.siegelsbagels.com

A few days ago I brought a friend to The Well for some breakfast. We were there on a weekday, and we were literally the only ones there.

Being the only diners at the restaurant wasn’t weird at all, because the owners were really friendly. There were a a few good selections from the breakfast menu, but my friend and I somehow both ordered items from specials of the day. I ordered the Tuna Melt ($12.95), and my friend got the Meat Lover’s Benny ($14.95).

All breakfast items came with fresh fruits and hash browns.  “Wow” was the word we both said when our dishes arrived. The portions were so massive. By fresh fruit, they don’t mean pre-made fruit salads. There were pineapple, cantaloupe, orange, watermelon, strawberry, cherry tomatoes, and a branch of grapes. There was also some raw enoki mushrooms, which I found to be a bit weird. All the fruits were really fresh and sweet, I absolutely loved everything.

My Tuna Melt was served on a bagel. It was layered sliced tomatoes and avocados under the tuna salad and the cheese. There were 4 difference cheeses, but I could only recognize brie and maybe white cheddar. The tuna melt was good, the layer of tuna was really thick, it had good flavors, but the center was still a bit cold. I also found the bagel to be a bit too hard a chewy.

The breakfast also came with roasted potatoes, and those potatoes were soo yummy. They were moist, fresh, really well seasoned, and had some crispy ends. I rarely finish hash browns for my breakfast, and I found myself saving the potatoes for last. Those potatoes were awesome.

The Meat Lover Benny was the meatiest benny I’ve ever seen. It had sausages, bacon, ham, Montreal smoked meat, and roasted red peppers. It was really good, and you can still taste each kind of meat. The roasted red pepper brought out a really nice sweetness to the benny. It was hard to stop eating them.

I really enjoyed eating there. There were so much variety on my plate. It really felt like I was having brunch at some kind of resort. I really loved the fresh fruits. When I wondered how they were all so fresh and sweet, the owner said they go buy them fresh every morning.

This was a great find, and it was totally worth the price. Thumbs up!

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The Well
3048 Main St.
Vancouver, BC V5T
(604) 569-0570

I’ve been to The Templeton a few times over the past few years. It was the restaurant where I had my very first (second and third) deep fried mars bar. I’ve been here for lunch and for dinner but never for breakfast. This time I visited it for breakfast because the original place I wanted to visit wasn’t opened for breakfast.

The breakfast menu looked awesome. I was torn between the Blueberries & Banana Pancakes and the Hakai Omelet. I made up my mind on the Hakai Omelet ($10) on the last second, an omelet with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and onions  sounded too yummy to pass up.

The omelet was indeed very tasty. There were lots of smoked salmon with just the right amount of cream cheese wrapped inside the omelet. The onions were sweet and really balanced out the smoked salmon. I was really really happy with my omelet. It also came with some roasted potatoes with rosemary, they were also really good and the rosemary flavor wasn’t very strong.

My friend got the Trucker’s Breakfast ($8), which had 3 eggs, 4 bacon, roasted potatoes and toast. There was definitely a lot of food, but not as much as the Big Ass Breakfast. Yes there’s a breakfast item called the Big Ass Breakfast, I wasn’t hungry enough to try it this time, but one of these days, I’d order it.

I don’t recall having bad food out of all the times I’ve been here. It does get slightly busy for dinner, but during breakfast it was a super laid back and quiet place to get some good morning grub. I will be back for the pancakes and the Big Ass Breakfast.

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The Templeton
1087 Granville St
Vancouver, BC V6Z
www.thetempleton.com

Going into Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe is like going into those diners in the movies. It’s got a really nostalgic atmosphere with 1950s, 1960s furniture and vintage collectibles. It’s a pretty cool place to dine in.

I was there to get my favorite meal of the day, breakfast. My friend and I were seated at this tiny booth for 2.  The booth was cute, but it was so tiny that even I felt fat sitting in it, but only because I had my laptop bag, camera, and my coat which took up half of the seat.

The menu for breakfast was straight forward. There was omelets, traditional breakfasts, pancakes and waffles. I opted for the Spanish Omelet, and my friend got the Lumber Jack Breakfast.

The Spanish Omelet was pretty much salsa in an omelet. It came with some hash potatoes and toast. The omelet was OK because the salsa looked and tasted like canned salsa. I was more impressed by how they cooked the omelet. The omelet was more like a burrito, where the eggs were cooked really thin, and the salsa was wrapped in the very thin egg sheet. I was really intrigued by how they concealed the runny salsa inside of it, without any escaping out of the eggs until you cut into it.

The potatoes were really good, they had some yummy crispy ends. The waitress recommended their in house hot sauce, and insisted that I should try it and also take a picture of it. If it’s your first time there, you’ll probably think why do most people there have a huge bottle of olive oil on their table like I did. Those are not olive oil bottles, they’re the hot sauce bottles. The hot sauce was indeed very good. They were a little bit sour and not too spicy for breakfast.

The toasts had a generous amount of butter on them. I noticed some peanut butter and jam on the table, so I took advantage of that and made some peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the very buttery toasts, they were super yummy.

If you’re really hungry, you can consider ordering the Lumber Jack Breakfast. It had 3 eggs, 2 pancakes, sausages, ham, and bacon. It was a simple traditional breakfast and it will definitely satisfy your breakfast appetite.

It was first day on the job for our waitress Zoy there, and she did an excellent job. Actually, not just her, the rest of the staff too, everyone was helping out with each others tables, I never got tired being asked if I needed more coffee.

I had a good meal here even though my omelet wasn’t amazing. The overall experience was really good. I’d go back to try their other breakfast foods, maybe the waffles, and the Lumber Jack.

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Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe
2095 W 4th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6J
(604) 732-6810

My friend was craving Denny’s for a few nights because our other friends had been taunting him with the thought of Moons Over My Hammy. We decided to go for “dinner” after watching a movie so we went to the Denny’s at Scott Road and 84th Ave for the first time since my friends witnessed an incident there. I’m not going to say what it was, but it was bad.

Anyways, the service here was slow. First, it took about 10 minutes to get menus, and after placing our orders, it took 24 minutes to get our meals (yup, we timed it). We were really hungry, so the 24 minutes seemed extra long and made us a bit irritated. I ordered the Grand Slamwich, while my friends ordered the Moons Over My Hammy, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Veggie-Cheese Omelette, and a Bacon-Slam Burger.

Although our waitress said that 9 out of 10 people don’t order the grand slamwich with the potato bread, I decided to go for it because that’s what it was intended to be served on. I was tempted to get it with sourdough but I went for the original. It turned out pretty good too and was happy overall with my sandwich. The top of slice of potato bread was toasted crunchy, and somewhat light. The bottom pieces was toasted as well, but had a nice maple syrup on it making it sweet. It put all of the things I love about breakfast together in one bite. Inside my sandwich is everything in that I would pick from the Grand Slam–eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, and melted cheese. The amount of syrup was perfect as it didn’t overwhelm the dish and make it too sweet. It may seem weird that all of these ingredients are put together but it works. It kind of reminds me of a McGriddle in that it has syrup in the bread, but this is way better. It’s something that I could actually see myself craving once in a while. It also came with shredded hash browns which were cooked until it got nice and crispy.

I think with all of us being really hungry, the majority of us liked our dishes. A couple of my friends got the spiced fries too and they were pretty good. It costs another 89 cents to upgrade your fries.

If only the service was quicker and better I would’ve gave a better score.

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Denny’s
8487 Scott Rd
Delta, BC

(604) 590-1717

http://www.dennys.ca

Last week my friend and I visited Chez Faye Cafe in Yaletown to get some breakfast. Other than breakfast food, this cafe had sandwiches, and other international dishes such as Korean bim bim bop and butter chicken.

I ordered the Chez Faye Benedict and my friend ordered their Big Breakfast.

The benedict was different from a traditional benny. There was no hollandaise sauce. There was ham, poached eggs, what tasted like a spaghetti meat sauce, and cheddar cheese. I guess what threw me off the most was the spaghetti meat sauce. It was very tomatoey, it over powered the whole thing and it was just really heavy for breakfast. The eggs were runny, but I could barely taste it. Spaghetti meat sauce for breakfast, is just not my thing.

The benny came with some potatoes and fruit salad. The fruit salad was the only thing I enjoyed because the fruits were fresh. The potatoes were a little greasy though.

My friend was really looking forward to the Big Breakfast because we were famished that morning. The big breakfast has 3 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausages, hash browns and ham. With the word “big” in big breakfast, you usually would expect the pancakes to come on a separate plate. And when the “big” breakfast hit our table, we could not believe our eyes. Everything came on 1 plate, and the pancakes were so small. The eggs could be finished in 2 bites, the whole thing just didn’t look very “big”. Taste wise, it was mediocre. The pancakes looks like they were instant pancakes that you warm up in a toaster, they tasted like how they looked, bland.

Overall, it wasn’t very good nor satisfying. A disappointment for sure.

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Chez Faye Cafe
1168 Hamilton St (Mainland St entrance)
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 689-8425

I asked a question on Twitter a couple weeks ago on everyone’s favorite breakfast spot in Vancouver. A number of our followers answered Deacon’s Corner in Gastown, it was one of the restaurants I have yet to try.

The Deacon’s Corner is located right across from the Alibi Room, at the edge of Gastown. The diner was really quiet when we were there, and the empty diner reminded us of some zombie movie set up. It felt like a zombie could really walk out of the kitchen any moment. Don’t get me wrong, I was comfortable sitting in there and I liked how it had a character of its own. But if I had to pick a zombie movie to get a you a perspective, it’d be Zombieland.

The three of us all wanted pancakes that day, so this review is going to base only on their pancakes. One order of Pancakes came with 3 very large pancakes, and a choice of bacon, sausage, or ham.

The pancakes were really big. It was sprinkled with powdered sugar and it came with a side of butter and meat of your choice. The buttermilk pancakes were pretty tasty and light. I ordered my pancakes with sausage. I was expecting sausage links but instead I got a sausage patty. I didn’t quite enjoy the sausage because first it reminded me of McDonald’s breakfast sausages, and second it was pretty dry. It had a hint spiciness, which was the only thing I liked about the sausage.

The serving size of the pancakes was really big, too big for an average person to finish. It’d be perfect to share with 1 or 2 other people. I’ve heard good things about this place on other dishes, I’d return to check them out.

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Deacon’s Corner Pancakes
101 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V6A
www.deaconscorner.ca

So my friends have been talking about breakfast at Yummy Sushi for the past couple years, and they’re always shocked that I haven’t been there yet. Well guys, why don’t you ever take me there?

Ok this place is a bit odd, it’s named Yummy Sushi, but it’s really made it’s name for all day breakfast. Not Japanese breakfast, but all American eggs and sausages type breakfast. The menu was simple, you can get 5 bacon, 2 eggs hash brown and toast or 4 sausages, 2 eggs, hash brown and toast for..*dun dun dun* $2.99 dollars. Yup, I got 4 sausages, 2 eggs, hash brown and toast for $2.99 dollars!

The food was really ordinary. My over-medium eggs were cooked perfectly, the hash browns had nice crispy ends. The sausages on the other hand, didn’t taste too fresh. My friend and I also ordered a side of French Toast for $2.99 dollars. Why not? It was so cheap, and it tasted half decent. I also ordered coffee for $1.00 with endless refills, it wasn’t the best coffee.

With it’s ridiculously cheap food, and hole in a wall decore, it’s really got a character of its own. The owners were really nice, and they do have regulars going in for breakfast.  So do they sell sushi here? I don’t know, and I was advised not to order sushi here. The total damage on our bill for 2 breakfasts, 1 french toast and 2 coffee: $12.29

Note: Cash Only!

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Yummy Sushi
1980 Pine Street
Vancouver, BC V6J
(604) 731-7110

Nice Cafe is a little breakfast joint in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver. This place had an atmosphere of a diner. We were seated right away, but were were seated at a row of tables for 2 that were placed so close together, it could almost be a long table. I could literally reach over to the next table to grab the ketchup without extending my arm fully. It gets cozy if you’re not sitting at a booth.

They had the usual suspects for breakfast here, bennys, omelets, pancakes. I got the traditional 2 eggs, with hash browns, sausages and toast. So what could it be so different from other breakfast places that serve the same things? The major difference was that it was cheap. My breakfast plate was $4.60, and the portion size was pretty much the same as you would find at IHop.

The food looked and tasted homemade. Nothing was overly greasy. The hash browns were really fresh, they were crispy on the outside, and still fluffy on the inside. Also, it was a nice touch on the green onions sprinkled on top of the hash browns. I asked for over-medium eggs, and they were cooked perfectly. It was a solid, comforting breakfast that hit the spot.

I enjoyed breakfast here a lot. It was a really relaxing place and I loved the neighborhood retro diner feel. The ‘long table’ concept was pretty neat, because you can chat up and be friendly with strangers sitting next to you. The staff were friendly, and were on top of their coffee refills. Great spot for breakfast.

Note: No Credit Cards accepted here. Cash or Debit only.

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Nice Cafe
154 E 8th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5T
(604) 874-4024

Last week my friend and I visited Acme Café. We meant to get there earlier for breakfast, but things got tied up, so we settled for a “late brunch” i.e. lunch.

Acme Café was quite a busy little place. The restaurant was pretty packed when we got there, so we got seated at the bar. It was when I got to the bar that I realized they had an open kitchen. That was pretty cool, I was watching the how the chefs prep, and cook everyone’s food.

We were really hungry when we were there, so we ordered quite a bit of food. We got Quiche with Chicken Soup and Salad ($9.50), Meat Loaf ($11.50), Strawberry and Vanilla Milk Shakes ($4.50), and a Strawberry and Blueberry Pie ($4.75) for dessert.

The daily Quiche of the day had shrimp, mushrooms, caramelized onions, green onions, cheddar and 2 other blends of cheeses.  The quiche was delicious. The blend of cheeses was creamy, it was buttery, the caramelized onions added a really nice sweetness to it, and it wasn’t too greasy. The chicken soup was hearty, it tasted home made with real chicken.

The Meat Loaf was a heavy dish, mainly because of its portion size. It had 2 big slices of meat loaf, and they were covered with gravy and caramelized onions. The flavor was great, it’s got a bit of sweetness in the gravy, it was probably from the caramelized onions. The meat loaf had good spices, it was moist, great texture.

The main dishes were great, however greens in my salad wasn’t the freshest. My strawberry milkshake was a little on the watery side. Maybe it was the hot summer day that melted the milkshakes too fast, but I wished it was a bit thicker.

As for dessert, I liked Strawberry and Blueberry Pie. It was a big slice, with a lot of filling. It wasn’t too sweet, and it’s got a tiny bit of sourness from the blueberries. It was pretty yummy.

The service was great, the waiter had full knowledge of the menu. I liked the idea of having different soups and quiches everyday. I liked the clean presentation of their food. The restaurant space was great, I liked the modern diner feel. I gotta come back to try their breakfast soon.

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Acme Café
51 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B
www.acmecafe.ca
twitter.com/acme_cafe

Mmm brunch, my favorite meal of the day. I finally got a chance to visit Cafe Medina in Gastown. I was there on a weekday morning, and I was so surprised to find that this restaurant was busy! There were only 3 small tables for 2 avaliable when we arrived, so lucky we didn’t have to wait, because we were starving.

Ordering food here was easy, because I have heard so much about this restaurant, I had already done my pre-restaurant stalking, and knew what I was going to get without even looking at the menu. The waitress came and greet us very soon after we sat down, and I ordered a Latté to start off my meal.

The Latté was really good. It had a nice Latte art on top. The drink itself was very rich, and smooth. The coffee didn’t taste like it was made from over roasted beans. It was a lot yummier than I anticipated it to be. Very nice.

For food, I had the Fricassé, and my friend had their Tagine.

The Fricassé was had 2 fried eggs on braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula and smoked applewood cheddar in a hot iron skillet. And it came with a grilled foccacia bread. I think this was the most popular dish here because it was served all day, at breakfast, brunch and lunch.

The Fricassé tasted as appetizing as it looked. I normally don’t eat runny eggs but I made an exception for this one because there were so many other ingredients to eat with it. The sunny side up eggs were perfectly cooked. The braised short ribs were really soft and delicious. There were actually quite a lot of short ribs underneath the eggs and all the arugula. The arugula added a nice peppery taste, and it sort of balanced out the strong flavors of the beef short ribs. There were pieces of apples, and cheddar in it. I wished there were more of the cheese in it because they were really yummy. Overall I thought this dish was great, it had a lot of different flavors going on, however, it did get a little too salty for me in the end. The salty part came mostly from the beef. There were just a tad bit too much, for me at least.

As for the Tagine, my friend thoroughly enjoyed that dish. I had a some of it and it was very very flavorful. It was definitely a little bit on the heavy side for breakfast, but it made a great dish for brunch and lunch. If you like tomato based dishes, you will love this one too. It was poached eggs on spicy tomato stew and red pepper, merguez sausage, sundried black olives, and cilantro. It also came with a side of grilled foccacia bread and this white yogurt looking dip. I wish I had asked the waitress what the dip was called, but I was too busy eating because it was really yummy.

The Foccacia bread was nicely grilled, crunchy on the outside and really soft on the inside. Thumbs up for their foccacia quality. They were great just on their own.

Cafe Medina had a great dining atmosphere. It was just one of those places where people go because it’s their breakfast spot. I do really really regret not trying their waffles. I mean it is what they’re famous for right? But this does leave me an excuse to come back and get them. I look forward to go again for their waffles.. and their coffee, coffee was great.

Note: Open til 4pm daily. No reservations for weekends!

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Cafe Medina
556 Beatty St
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 879-3114
www.medinacafe.com

This Sunday I wanted to get some breakfast with my friends, and a quick search on the internet, I came across the Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe. Pannekoek mmm Pannekoek, what makes their pannekoek so different from DeDutche’s pannekoek?

This was a breakfast place for sure, I walked in and I could smell greasy breakfast. The menu had so many items listed! There were 35 different Pannekoeks and on top of that there were other breakfast suggestions and other breakfast choices. Lots of savory and lots of sweets.

It look us a while to decide, but in the end my friends got Pannekoek Pizza, Nasi Goreng, Vegetarian Chili Breakfast, Huevo Rancheros, and an order of the French toast to share. I wanted a sweet breakfast, so I went with the Apple n’ Grilled Banana Pannekoek.

I’ll start with mine. There were more cinnamon and sugar than I would’ve liked on it, but it was pretty tasty. The apples where in chunks and they were cooked together with the pannekoek, so they were actually ‘in’ the pannekoek. The grilled bananas were just laid on top, they were tasty bananas. It was a really sweet dish, on top of the cinnamon sugar, there were a lot of powdered sugar on top too. I don’t think you’ll need sugar in your coffee if you are eating this.

Out of my friend’s dishes, the Pannekoek Pizza looked the most appetizing. It had bacon, eggs, cheese and grilled pineapples. It was a big breakfast, and my friends really liked it too. I would probably get this the next time I visit.

The Nasi Goreng was Indonesian fried rice with ham folded in a pannekoek, and topped with and egg. Fried rice in a pannekoek! That’s pretty weird, but apparently it was super tasty.  My friend cleaned the plate, not a single grain of rice left. If you are adventurous enough, you should give it a try.

The French Toast was OK, nothing spectacular.

The staff here were friendly, it got quite busy in there no long after we arrived. It took the waitress a while to come fill up our coffees, but she had already known that she hasn’t come by to fill our coffees and apologized for that.

So what makes Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe different than DeDutch? It is not a franchise.  They had waaay more selections than DeDutch. The food tasted better, and their pannekoek to me was less greasy.

Note: Free parking at the back of the restaurant. Open til 3:30pm on Saturday and Sundays. Open til 2:30pm on Monday – Friday.

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Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe
3292 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC V5Z
(604) 874-0922

Enigma is one of the best spots to get lunch near UBC. I’ve been here a few times for brunch, and I’ve always had good experience here.

When you come here for brunch, you will get their house made Banana Bread to start. It’s something unique that Enigma does, those banana breads were yummy and a good way to start your meal.

I always order something different from the menu, so this time I tried their French Toast ($9). I didn’t have too much expectations to the French Toast, and I didn’t pay attention to the description, so when it came I was a bit surprised.. in a good way!

It was one pretty plate, it was 4 pieces of french toast piled on by fruits and walnuts. I wasn’t expecting the fruits, and I enjoyed them a lot. There were bananas, strawberry, pineapple, grapes and melons. The freshest fruit on there was the bananas, the rest were semi-fresh, I think those were pre-made fruit salads. I wished they were all cut by the order.

The french toasts were decent. It was soft, the bread were well soaked and cooked. It was really good all together with maple syrup and the fruits. I was A little disappointed that they used regular sliced bread though. If it was done with a thicker European bread, it would’ve been a lot better. But overall I really liked this dish, especially the amount of fruits. It’s a light and fresh breakfast at a good price.

They also had a large selection of savory breakfasts. You could build your own omelet and sides like my friend did, and her food was delicious too.

The atmosphere here was very relaxing, however during the summer it could get quite busy. If you are visiting during the summer, request a patio seat, it’s beautiful to eat out there.

Note: Free Parking at the back, and street parking.

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Enigma
4397 W 10th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6R
(604) 222-6881
www.enigmavancouver.com

I went to Three Lions Café last Sunday for breakfast for the first time, this is an awesome place for breakfast.

This place was really laid back, and pretty quiet in the morning. We went at 10am and there was still plenty of open tables.

I looked at their menu and immediately knew I wanted the Traditional English Breakfast, mainly because I’ve never had a traditional English breakfast, and I wanted to try. But before we got our food, we were giving a their house Homemade Bread with butter. It was pretty good.

The Tradition English Breakfast ($11.50) was glorious! It had Lincolnshire sausage, Wiltshire bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, two eggs, hash browns and toast. I loved the presentation, the portion was big, it was just one really appetizing plate. It was so tasty. There wasn’t one ingredient in it I didn’t like. The Lincolnshire sausage was really flavorful packed with herbs. The grilled tomatoes had a really nice charcoal flavor. The eggs and potatoes were perfectly cooked, and the beans, surprisingly was really yummy too. So good. So satisfying.

My friends ordered the Eggs Benny and Stuffed French Toast.

The Stuffed French Toast ($12) is what you should also check out when you come here. Don’t get fooled by the name or its appearance, read the description. It had Capacolli ham, fontina cheese, fig chutney and balsamic drizzle. It’s a savory stuffed French Toast. I’ve never ate anything like it before, and it was really good! The bread was nice and crunch on the outside, and the inside was really soft. It was very very similar to the French toast bread I had at Plums Café. Together with the ham, and balsamic sauce, very unique taste and very yummy. Brilliant dish.

I had a great morning here. The atmosphere was just so relaxing, and the food was great. I loved the decors, wood floor, tables and chairs. It was a perfect place to visit on a weekend. And you know it is a true English restaurant when they were playing football (soccer) on their TVs and you can order a Guinness along with your breakfast.

Favorited!

Note: Street Parking, They don’t take reservations.

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Three Lions Café
1 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC V5T
(604) 569-2233
http://threelionscafe.ca/