Soho Road Naan Kebab – Vancouver, BC

Georgia St & Granville St.
Downtown Vancouver, BC

BBP Full Scorecard

Situated at W Georgia St & Granville St, Soho Naan is enthusiastically shoveling out Traditional UK Tandoori to some hungry, hungry hippos.

*** Note: For more info, please click HERE.

  I was greeted by a swirling line-up which was a good sign and shortly after, by delightful owner Sarb (this guy is always smiling, seriously. Google Soho Naan => images) who recommended the butter chicken for me. The great thing about their menu is half orders (Half – $6 – $7, Full – $10 – $12) are available as well as a vegetarian option. The cart is a bit plain looking, from one side there is no signage, but you’d never know they have a magical tandoor (clay oven) hidden away in there! Now I’ll admit, the wait was a bit long and I started counting pigeons at some point, but then again it was the middle of the lunch hour on a weekday afternoon, what can you do? Once I got my order, first thing I noticed was the hot and fresh naan. Can I get a “Hell Yeah!”? The chicken was tender, and the flavor of the sauce was good but the portion was a bit small for my liking. Healthy portion yes, but when I’m at a food cart, I want to be FULL, not “good full” as so many of us gals put it. Would I come back? Yes, service was great, location is awesome and the food has been praised by Canada Top Chef Dale Mackay and recently visited by James Cunningham and the Eat St. crew.

Please click HERE to see what’s around – Sorry, it’s just oh so close to the ‘The Kaboom Box’ food truck, we didn’t want to repeat ourselves.. *giggles*

The Kaboom Box – Vancouver, BC

Granville St & Robson St.
Downtown Vancouver, BC

BBP Full Score Card

Honestly, who needs Nightmarket when we have these delicious food trucks sweeping the city? This week we decided to hit up a meals on wheels joint and stopped by Kaboom Box in all of its bright-and-red-as-a-fire-truck glory.

*** NOTE: Visit their website @ www.thekaboombox.com

Hot Smoked Salmon Burger

World Famous Hot Smoked Salmon Salmwich

Tasty, yes, but ‘world famous’? Ehhhhh. Smoked salmon with their maple-mustard coleslaw between a toasted whole wheat bun sounds like a winning combination, but the flavours left something to be desired. I do have to give them props for doing an awesome job on the smoked salmon (I wonder if they’ll sell those individually…), but I definitely think much of the flavour was overpowered by mayo. Someone may have gotten a little too sauce happy with the mayonnaise because all I could taste was mayonnaise and by the end of the sandwich, I felt like I had been eating mayonnaise all of my life.

It was a very good salmon sandwich, but that’s all it was; just a salmon sandwich.

I do want to go back to try their Oyster Po’Boy though, since I’ve watched enough Triple Ds to pretend to know what it is. Hopefully our second visit will be.

  You got me at Smoke salmon, really. Mmmm… These guys means business when it comes to serving only Oceanwise seafood and sustainable produced meat, and what’s even better is that they are committed to using local and organic vegetable whenever possible. Providing the streets of Vancouver with fresh, healthy, sustainable, and local food. Thumbs up in my books! Ohh, for those extra brownie points: biodegradable and compostable packaging.

The Re-Up BBQ
Another food cart in Vancouver serving up some delicious Southern BBQ with a side of attitude a couple blocks down at W Georgia St & Hornby St. These guys got BRISKET (yum), BACON (oh man), PULLED PORK (drool), and did I say BACON? You in the Fraser Valley and can’t make it out to the cart? Well you are in luck, Re-Up has just opened a brick-and-mortar location in beautiful New Westminster at Quayside Drive. There, they also have retail items and lots of other goodies.
www.reupbbq.com

Yew Restaurant + Bar, Four Seasons Hotel
This stunning environment, fashioned after Mother Nature herself delivers excellent seafood, cocktails and EVERY bottle of wine is available by the glass, which makes it a BBP Favourite! Stop by for Wine Down Sundays where every bottle is 50% off. See you
there!
www.yewrestaurant.com

Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar
My personal favourite place for Prime Rib and Ribeye and the setting is just gorgeous. Leather, marble, wood, suede, embroidered napkins, romantic lighting, everything is perfect right down to the very last detail. The service is among the best in the city in my
opinion. Love it? Go check out their Whistler location as well. MUST: Get the cheese toast!
www.hyssteakhouse.com

Phnom Penh – Chinatown, Vancouver

Phnom Penh – (604) 682-5777
244 E Georgia St.
Vancouver, BC V6A1Z7

BBP Full Score Card

For years, Phnom Penh has won multiple awards, and would have constant long line-ups for a table. There is just so much this place has to offer when it comes to different exotic dishes. If you never tried, what are you waiting for? Go! Eat your heart out!

***Note: If you know any dishes to share, please leave a comment!

Canh Ga Lan Bot (Phnom Penh Deep-fried Chicken Wings) – Deep-fried chicken wings with garlic, served with a lemon & pepper sauce. S: $8.25 L: $12.95

 on Chicken Wings :  Soooo these little guys are known as, “Crack Chicken Wings”.  Why? They are delicious and addictive (as crack is to addicts).  I promise you that you won’t be disappointed, and that I didn’t make up that nick name.  Everybody and anybody who has been here knows that this dish is the first to order. It’s that good. Deep fried, then sprinkled with salt/sugar,  fried garlic,  and green onion, with a side dip made up of lemon juice and pepper. Sweet, salty and sour… Oh my, my mouth is watering just reminiscing on how they danced it’s way towards my mouth.  *happy sigh*

Marinated Thit Bo (Butter Beef) – Thinly sliced specialled prepared rare beef on a bed of fried garlic, cilantro and their house special sauce. $13.25 CAD

 on Butter Beef : … silky, drool-worthy goodness that literally melts in your mouth. Cliche, I know, but it must be said! Hands down my favourite item we tried and as I write this now, my overactive saliva glands aren’t thrilled that Phnom Penh closed an hour ago. At first glance I was skeptical because it was covered, and I mean wrinkles on Gordon Ramsay’s forehead covered, in my least favourite herb, cilantro. However, not only did I use my fork to push others away from the plate of delicate slices of heaven, I was using it to pitchfork entire bushels of cilantro into my gaping, disbelieving mouth. Needless to say, this dish didn’t become a well-known local favourite by fluke!

Canh Chua Ca (Phnom Penh Hot and Sour Soup with Fish) – Their most exotic soup. Specially prepared with fresh cod, tomato, pineapple, mint leaves and other tropical spices. S: $12.75 L: $25.50

 on Canh Chua – Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Fish Soup: Canh chua is certainly an unusual flavour which can be a miss for some palates, but for those who have grown to appreciate the complex balance, it is nothing short of a savory sweet ambrosia. Loaded with fish, bean sprouts, tomatoes, celery, and pineapple, this is definitely one of the healthier options on the menu. The first spoon gives you a hit of sour, but then rounds off to a sweet taste, and just to make sure that really was something sweet you tasted, you go back for a second spoon and ah, yes, can recognize that slight pineapple note. Unsure of whether or not you actually like the soup, you go for a third spoon, with rice, and notice how the blandness of those Jasmine scented grains perfectly balance everything together. By now you’ve realized it’s also got a bit of a spicy kick, and ba-zing! You are now an addict!

Com Xao Trieu Chau (Trieu Chau Fried Rice) – Finely chopped chinese sausage, egg, carrots, green onions and rice. Beautifully spiced and stir-fried to perfection. $9.95

Lychee Milkshake – You just have to try it.

FOOD

Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie (BBP Favourite!)
With kick-ass ambience, stimulating decor and tantalizing modern Chinese tapa-style dishes, it’s no wonder Bao Bei was named “One of Canada’s Best New Restaurants” by Where Magazine in 2010! BBP gives EXTRA kudos for the unique cocktails (get the Guizhou Donkey), sustainable seafood, hormone free/organic meat & free range eggs!
http://www.bao-bei.ca/

New Town Bakery
Where do we start?! Christine has been known to sneak the last Coconut Bun from the box when we weren’t looking. BBQ Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bao) that are so tempting, if we didn’t buy equal numbers, it might be the end of BBP! Enough said!
http://newtownbakery.ca/

Tosi Italian Food Importers 
Tosi & Company has been importing scrumptious Italian specialty products into the Lower Mainland since 1906! This family-run business is teeming with chefs from all over Vancouver looking for the finest ingredients like their organic parmesan to make their clientele drool. Go see Angelo…but remember, you can’t just walk through the front door, you gotta ring the bell!
http://tosifoods.com/

                                                                      
TO DO

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
http://vancouverchinesegarden.com

Vancouver Police Museum                           
http://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca