Last week my friend and I had quite a food filled day, we both felt like eating something light for dinner and preferably vegetarian. We ended up at Nuba on East 3rd Ave.

We sat at the bar because we didn’t want to wait for a table, and decided to just get a couple things for dinner. We ordered a couple things to share: Chicken Shish Tawook and Vegan Meshwi.

These dishes were quite small for entrees. The Chicken Shish Tawook had 2 chicken breast skewers and it’s served on top of a bed of hummus and avocado, as well as some picked vegetables. The chicken was very nice. It was juicy and had nice bbq char on them. It really enjoyed the green chutney it came with as well.

I loved the Vegan Meshwi. It had 2 skewers of grilled onions, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and red peppers. I especially enjoyed the cherry tomatoes, they were sweet, juicy, with a bit of tanginess. These skewers were served on top of a bed of hummus and taboulleh. There was a nice balance of heartiness (grilled vegetables) and freshness (taboulleh) in this dish.

Their bold flavours and their portion control made me leave the place feeling completely satisfied, yet not overly stuffed. Great place to check out.

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Nuba
146 3rd Ave E
Vancouver, BC V5T1C8

We have been wanting to try Mis Trucos for a while now, and with less than a week left on the groupon coupons we bought, we finally made it this week.

We started off the meal with some tapas to share. We got the Foie Gras Mousse on crostini & onion jam, Crispy Bread wrapped Wild Prawn, Polenta Fries, Goat Cheese flatbread, and the that day’s tapa special, Steak Tartar.

There was quite a bit of Foie Gras on the crostini, but even with that much Foie Gras, I hardly tasted the liver. The onion jam and pickle were really nice condiments to balance out the liver. It was a nice canape.

The crispy bread wrapped wild prawns were pretty much like spring rolls with really crispy and layered wrapping. I found this dish really bland, the fillings needed some seasoning. Another dish we found a little bland was the Polenta Fries. It came with a cheese fondue dip, but the polenta itself didn’t have much flavor. The cheese fondue was runny and it tasted like it was made with cheap cheese.

The Steak tartar was one of our favorite dish of the night. It was very flavorful, and the steak was mixed with green onions, capers, and other herbs. I don’t enjoy eating raw beef, but this one was nice.

For my entree I got the Scallops with White Truffle Risotto. It was supposed to be lobster risotto, but they ran out of lobster and substituted it with scallops. After eating my first spoon full of the risotto, I thought this dish was again, bland. But when I got to the scallops, the dish got a lot better. The dish got better, but it also got boring after a while, because there was just too much of the same flavors. I was slightly disappointed with my choice.

The entree we liked the most was the Striploin with new potatoes. The steak came with soft boiled egg, new potatoes and spinach. The steak was cooked to rare and it was really tender. Every single ingredient had its own flavor, and I especially enjoyed the spinach. I’m not sure what it was cooked in, but the flavor was really bold, and it was really delicious.

Overall, the food was decent, but they just didn’t have exciting flavors. We also found it to be a bit expensive as most tapas were $8+. It was rather a ‘meh’ meal, not sure if I will return in the future.

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Mis Trucos
1141 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC V6E
(604) 566-3960

My brother and his wife took me out for my birthday (a month overdue!), and I chose Cioppino’s because I was craving pasta for the past few days. We didn’t make any reservations, and arrived at Cioppino’s at about 6:30PM. Although only a few tables were filled at the time, all of them were reserved. We had to sit at the bar. Felt a bit weird with so many open tables, but it did fill up as we ate dinner.

We were served bread with a strange garlic butter, along with glazed, roasted almonds when we were seated. The bread’s crust was way too tough for me, and the butter had a strange grainy texture. The roasted almonds were really good though.

We started with the Zucchini Blossoms with buffalo mozzarella which was a chef’s special of the day. The zucchini blossoms were stuffed with mozzarella, then battered and fried. It was served with some zucchini slices, and I think a balsamic reduction. The blossoms were really delicate. Crisp and light batter, with the blossom and an equally light cheese inside. I ordered this because I remember seeing Mario Batali cook these on Iron Chef and his TV show, and I wanted to try it. Our server had some crazy one-handed spoon and fork skills to serve us the dish. It’s nice that they have specials each day, but they usually don’t disclose the price up front when you ask for it, and it doesn’t seem like the restaurant where you ask about prices. Our 3 small pieces turned out to be $25. We thought it would be closer to about $18, like most of the other appetizers.

For my main, I ordered the Garganelli ($25). My brother ordered the Risotto ($32), and my sister-in-law ordered the Gnocchi ($25). I wasn’t sure what type of pasta my Garganelli was when I ordered it, but it was very similar to penne. It was served with a rich and cheesy cream sauce with porcini mushrooms, zucchini, and ricotta cheese. The mushrooms added a nice meatiness to the pasta, and there was plenty of it. The pasta had a lot of bite left to it, and I think I would’ve preferred it to be a little bit more tender. The portion size wasn’t a lot, but it was decent, and the bowl is pretty deep. This was truly one of the first times that we really savoured our food, and ate really slowly. Each bite was delicious. The pasta wasn’t “uber” expensive or anything, and quite reasonable considering the price of everything else. My brother said it was the best risotto he’s had, and my sister-in-law enjoyed her gnocchi too.

For dessert we ordered the Banana, Chocolate, and Caramel, which is wrapped in phyllo and served with a banana ice cream. This was just OK. Caramel, and crispy, flakey phyllo get me everytime. I think we only got half a banana and it was $12.

The service was very good. They paid close attention to us, and were quick to refill our water and wine glasses, as well as switch plates and utensils after each course. While we waited for our dessert, they even gave us more almonds to munch on, even though we weren’t finished the previous plate. We didn’t really want anymore, but felt obligated to eat the new ones. By the end of my meal my stomach was very satisfied. I’d come here again for another special occasion, and only for special occasions unless I get a lot richer. They also have a huge multi-million dollar wine list which made my eyes open wide when I saw all the prices.

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Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill
1133 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 688-7466

http://www.cioppinosyaletown.com/

Nuba. A really popular Lebanese restaurant with 3 locations. We went to the highest rated one-the one in Gastown on West Hastings & Cambie, which I’ve walked past a bunch of times recently. I made sure to go with a bunch of my friends because I knew I wanted to try a bunch of things on the menu. We just ordered lots of share plates and appetizers but weren”t able to order any of the entrees. We got the fire-grilled halloumi cheese, najib’s special, chicken tawook, lamb kibbeh sainieh, lamb hushwie, tomato confit & macedonian feta, and le grande feast which comes with another chicken tawook, skewered prawns, lamb chops, and some tabbouleh, baba ghanooj, and hummus.

I started off with a Red Sangria. It was OK, but I wish it was more fruity, and had more fruits in my drink. We were also served cucumber water which was different but also good and refreshing. At first, I was like, what was that flavour? Did they clean the cups? Then my friend pointed out that there was cucumbers floating in the pitchers.

My favourite dishes were the chicken tawook ($7.50), najib’s special ($6.75), tomato & feta cheese ($8.00), lamb kibbeh sainieh ($7.00), and the lamb chop from le grande feast. The chicken was the probably the moistest, juiciest chicken I’ve ever had. It was really good. It had nice spices and a nice crisp skin. The najib’s special was seasoned cauliflower with tahini. This packed a lot of flavour, with a nice mix of middle eastern spices. It may have been cooked a bit longer, though as some pieces were really dark. The tomato & feta cheese was nice and refreshing. The cheese had a consistency similar to firm tofu and was a nice contrast to the warm tomato. The lamb kibbeh sainieh were ground lamb patties with a good mix of spices. Very tender and a bunch of flavour. The lamb chops looked a bit burnt, but were really not. Cooked to a medium, it was very juicy.

I didn’t like the halloumi cheese much as it was way too acidic for my tastes. It seemed like a mix of cream cheese and yogurt. Not sure why it was considered “fire-grilled”. I didn’t like the lamb hushwie much either. It was served on a pile of hummus, and the lamb, but I found the meat a bit tough and stringy.

The trio of cold sides/dips – the baba ghanooj, hummus, and tabbouleh with a bunch of pita bread. Separately they’d cost $7, $6, and $6 respectively, but these ones came with our grande feast. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything to special about these either. I found them to be a bit bland.

Now that I think about it, the dishes are quite pricy. We spent $17-$25 depending on if we ordered drinks or not, and I wasn’t overly full, but was satisfied. I’d come back to try out the mains for sure, which are all under $20, though I’m not sure what the portion sizes are. Some of the dishes were really good, some were misses.

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Nuba
207 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 688-1655

http://www.nuba.ca

When it comes craving for Greek food, I always prepare myself to stuff my face with tons of rice, skewered meat, and tzatziki sauce. One of the first places I’d think of to do that to myself is Stepho’s Souvlaki on Davie street.

Stepho’s has been around for a long time, and it’s no secret that it’s got good food. I haven’t eat-in at Stepho’s in a while because it’s always got a line up. I usually opt for take out, but this time the hunger got to me, and the hunger told me I should wait in line for 40 minutes. The Hunger is a jerk and it does crazy things to you.

The restaurant was crazy busy as usual, getting a waiter to come around our table to give us water and take our order after we finally got a table was a challenge too. We probably waited for another 10 minutes for our waiter to come greet us. When the waiter finally came, we ordered our food right away.

For appetizer, we got the Kalamari ($7.95), and the Spanakapita ($4.95). For entrée we got a small Lamb Souvlaki, and trying for the first time, the Pork Souvlaki.

The Kalamari was deep fried squid, and it was good as usual. The batter was really crispy, the squid itself wasn’t too rubbery. It was piled on Greek salad, with a side of tzatziki sauce. The portion size was big, so it was a good dish to get and share.

Spanakapita was spinach cheese puff. One order came with 2 big spinach cheese puffs. They were really buttery, and the pastry outside was really flaky. It was pretty good, but the spinach and cheese stuffing inside didn’t taste particularly fresh.

It’s really hard for me not to order the Lamb Souvlaki here because it’s my favorite dish here. This time though, the plate was just OK.  First thing I noticed was that the rice was a bit hard. The lamb was cooked well, but it wasn’t as tender was I’d usually get here. We tried the Pork Souvlaki for the first time. We got it because we always over look it, why would you pick pork over lamb, chicken or shrimp? let’s try it anyway. The first thing I worried was that the pork might be too dry out, but it wasn’t, it was fully cooked, and it still moist and tender. It wasn’t as good as the lamb, but I wouldn’t mind eating it.

I seriously was not in the right mind when I got myself to line up to eat in. I spent 2 hours on dinner, and it felt like I wasted so much time. I was so eager to get out by the end of my meal. I wouldn’t recommend going there at peak dinner hours, i.e. 6 – 8pm unless you just totally have time to burn. I highly recommend take out, the quality of food is just the same as eating in.

As much as I like Stepho’s, I do find that they have consistency issues. They used to be really awesome a few years ago, but lately they’ve had their on and off days. This time, was an off day for me.

Note: Street Parking, Long Line Ups

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Stepho’s Souvlaki Greek Taverna
1124 Davie St
Vancouver, BC V6E
(604) 683-2555

I visited Babylon Cafe right after my horrible experience at Tsunami Sushi. And this place saved my night.

Babylon Cafe is a very tiny falafel/shawarma restaurant located right at the intersection of Granville and Robson Street in downtown Vancouver. I think this place has its own little following, because there is always people lining up whenever I walk pass it. I ordered a falafel wrap ($4.95) and my friend ordered a chicken wrap ($5.95). Soon after I ordered, 4 people came to line up behind me instantly.

It is like when you go to Subway, where you order and you watch them make your food. So after we ordered, we were left there watching our wraps being made. They do not skimp out on the meat! As my friend puts it, ‘when he put the chicken on my wrap, my eyes were smiling because he kept on going!‘ You may choose your own toppings for your wrap, I went for everything. The falafals in my wrap were giant, and very flavorful, the amount of spicy sauce was just right. However the whole wrap all together was a little on the dry side, I would ask for extra tzatziki sauce next time.

After we paid, and tried to leave, one of the dudes lining up behind me had to walk out of the restaurant in order for me to get out. That’s how tiny the place is. The lamb wrap here is really popular, and they sell out fast. One of the guys lining up behind me tried to order it, but he didn’t have any luck. Overall the food was really tasty, and the portion is very generous. It’s a good place for a quick lunch or a quick bite to eat. Although I was a bit turned off by them using the microwave to heat up my falafals, this is still one of the few fast food places I would return.

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Babylon Cafe
716 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z1A1
Tel: (604) 677-3522