****½ (4.5/5)

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

***½~ (3.5/5)

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

****~ (4/5)

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

****~ (4/5)

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

****~ (4/5)

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

****½ (4.5/5)

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/