Belly’s Best Bites
Osteria Savio Volpe: One Smart Fox Indeed
Any menu that leaves you wishing you could just order the whole thing is a sign that something good’s afoot.
People to Know: Grandview Woodland Food Connection
Grandview Woodland Food Connection’s impact encompasses almost every facet of nutritional awareness, from seed programs to nutritional mentorship through community kitchens, gardening workshops, and more.
Thierry’s Rendez-Vous Film Fest Returns
In full sabreur regalia, Thierry recreates a moment that many may recall from the restaurant Chatting with a friend over lunch the other day, we were reminiscing about some of the more colourful [...]
6 Good Reasons to Drink (More) Tea
Tea is on my mind this week, following a chat and tasting with tea ambassador Louise Roberge. As president of the Tea Council of Canada, Roberge knows a thing of two about tea. Not only [...]
Timber: a Cheeky Salute to Canadian Cuisine
Timber is the latest undertaking by the crew behind Forage restaurant, in the spacious Listel Hotel quarters that used to be O’Doul’s. The saga behind long running O’Doul’s demise, Forage’s ascent, and now the arrival [...]
Joe Fortes Marks a Milestone
Joe Fortes: pulling out all the stops They threw a heck of a party last night at Joe Fortes—and rightly so. Hitting the 30 year mark in a dining city as fickle as [...]
Bodega on Main: A Worthy Salute
Patatas Bravas and Gambas—tapas mainstays for over 40 years Some restaurants just strike a chord. That’s very much the case with Bodega on Main, which has recently arrived almost right beside Campagnolo. I’ll admit that [...]
Four Good Reasons to Dive into Supermarine
Supermarine: A new and original seafood spot for Kits A Chat with James Iranzad... James Iranzad co-owns Supermarine with Josh Pape After I wrote my piece on Supermarine (1685 Yew St., [...]
Cheese Maven Alice Spurrell Retires
Alice Spurrell (rt.) hands over the reins of Les Amis du Fromage to daughter Allison (l.) Tim Pawsey photo I’ve always figured it’s my role to bring attention where it’s due. That can [...]
Red Racer + Dix Redux = Good Brews News
Red Racer Restaurant has landed—with a few taps to go along... The Big Brews News of the month is that Central City Brewing’s much anticipated Red Racer Restaurant has landed in downtown Vancouver, [...]
Giardino: Umberto’s Latest Almost Open
Umberto: You'll be impressed, Updated: Now Open. See below... Giardino is just about ready to welcome its first, lucky guests. And judging by the number of enquiries on this site, there is [...]
Unwrapped: Beach Bay Café and Patio
Beach Bay's fresh feeling and bright interior, across from iconic English Bay The wraps are off Beach Bay Café and Patio, across from English Bay, in the West End of Vancouver (1193 Denman [...]
5 Great Reasons to Visit Unsworth Vineyards
A restored early 1900s farmhouse is the centrepiece that serves as Unsworth's restaurant 1. It’s on Vancouver Island Even though the setting is beautiful and quite easily reached from Vancouver, I’ll confess: Over [...]
Why the Where to Dine Awards are Different
Sashimi platter at Miku, photo: KK Law One of the highlights of my year are the WHERE to Dine Awards. They were handed out this week at a superb party at Boulevard Vancouver, [...]
Sai Woo, Vancouver: Chinatown Rising
Sai Woo's long bar makes the most of the expansive room One of the challenges of this gig is finding the time to return to those places that impress the first time around. It takes [...]
Nose to Tail: When Only the Beast Will Do
Nose to Tail at Campagnolo Roma Dramatic pig skull presentation at Campagnolo Roma makes the point I’m both intrigued and reassured by the resurgence and resilience of nose to tail dining. I’m a [...]
Amici Miei, a Flavour-packed Family Italian
Amici Miei owners Marcella and Manrico I love it when I discover new little places with a whole lot of heart. There’s no question that’s the case at Amici Miei Cucina Italiana (1114 [...]
4 Sustainable Tastes at Vancouver Aquarium
No, they weren't on the menu. But isn't everyone mesmerized by jellyfish? There's something very reassuring about walking into Stanley Park on a perfect, almost Spring evening. This night was spectacular. A crystal [...]
Terrific First Tastes at Tacofino Tacobar
Tacofino chinook salmon ceviche with salmon skin chicharone, tomatillo, herb salad and chips Gastown’s dining renaissance is continuing at a pretty good pace. And it’s being driven very much by the likes of [...]
4 Great Reasons to Fall in Love with Nettles
Nettles, freshly cut. Put them in the crisper and they'll keep for at least a couple of weeks. Or dry them. My love affair with Stinging Nettles is a relatively recent occurrence. When [...]
Goodbye Kits Kitchen: Brian Fowke moves on
Brian Fowke... Time to move on. Tim Pawsey photo Fresh daily proponent Brian Fowke says it's time to move on from his cherished Kitsilano Daily Kitchen, which will now become AnnaLena ... This [...]
Drinking in Dine Out in Style
Dine Out Vancouver started out as discount dinner-fest. But it’s now blossomed well beyond the plate. Dine Out is now very much also about what’s in the glass. The time was, not all that long [...]
Dine Out 2015: Hired Belly’s $38 list and more
West Oak, a warm and welcoming addition ($18 menus / $28 menus) The annual Dine Out media preview (organised by Tourism Vancouver) is one of the year’s most anticipated evenings, designed to give [...]
Dine Out Vancouver 2015: Hired Belly’s $28 Picks
Baru Latino: Dine Out is about the undiscovered Dine Out’s $28 category is the most hotly contested, with some 133 options—of which quite a few are chains—though worth checking out. What you won’t [...]
Dine Out Vancouver 2015: Hired Belly’s $18 Picks
Dine Out at Cannibal Café ... Dine Out is here again already? Boy, how this little post-holiday, pre-tax time doldrums promo has grown in its 13 years. What used to be purely a [...]
Michel Jacob’s Le Crocodile Celebrates 30 Years
Rob Feenie and one-time mentor Michel Jacob (courtesy le Crocodile) It’s a fact of life. People just have to ask me: “What’s your favourite restaurant?” It's always tough to answer because, as a [...]
Cactus Club Wine Matches: Try this at Home
Cactus Club exec chef Rob Feenie and sommelier-service director Sebastien Le Goff Scratch the surface of a Cactus Club wine list and you’ll often find what constitutes an unlikely line-up of wines—for what [...]
Goodbye Raincity Grill & C: Agents of Real Change
Raincity Grill owner Harry Kambolis, at Nu, 2005 Raincity closes Whatever the circumstances, I was saddened by last week’s shuttering of long-running Raincity Grill and, not that long before, of C Restaurant, owned by [...]
Chefs for Oceans: Here’s to ‘Yew,’ Ned Bell
Chef Ned - kicking things off with a delicious, true, 'down-east' lobster sandwich on unadorned white bread. Over the years, I like to think I’ve developed a sense of perspective. Or, more specifically, [...]
Bufala: Local Boy Brings it Home
Wicked Margherita with herbed and spicy oils to match Bufala has landed on the West Side with a bang! A few years back, when I referred to Kerrisdale as a ‘culinary backwater’ the [...]
Smoke & Oak: Ribs ‘n Riesling at Wild Goose
Smoke & Oak overlooks this dramatic panorama Last week—on yet another glorious Okanagan summer’s day—we found ourselves on the patio at Wild Goose. Nothing unusual about that. But this was the first time [...]
Thai Cuisine by Montri: The King of Thai Returns
Montri's back on Broadway This week I spent some time with Montri Rattanaraj. Not only is he one of the most charming people, he’s one of those few I consider a Vancouver ‘original.’ [...]
Faubourg Paris’ Franck Point: Croissant Crusader
Faubourg Paris' Franck Point: croissant crusader Franck Point is fanatical about croissants. In fact you could call him a ‘croissant crusader’ and he likely wouldn’t object. Point is the man behind Faubourg Paris, those [...]
First Bites at Vancouver’s Fat Badger
The Fat Badger: making good use of a familiar space I knew when I walked into The Fat Badger (1616 Alberni St., Vancouver) for the first time that it would stir my emotions. After all, [...]
Hail Mary: Making the Most of Adversity
The View's Hail Mary white blend. More than just a wing and a prayer Yesterday’s BC Bloom spring release tasting yielded up a wealth of wines, especially in the category of decent white [...]
Vancouver’s upstairs Gurkha Himalayan Kitchen adds a different dimension to West End dining
Taas, a tasty starter plate of grilled lamb with puffed rice, garnished with fresh cilantro, Tim Pawsey photo (Updated May 8, 2014) Upstairs restaurants (i.e. those without any significant street level presence) can [...]
Yak & Yeti: Hitting the Himalayan High Notes
Yak & Yeti Momos and Lamb Kebab I’m intrigued when restaurateurs open a second location. Often as not the reasons are pretty straightforward: As in “If it works here, why not there?” However, [...]
5 Very Good Reasons to Dine Out for Life on March 25th, 2014
Maenam is just one of more than 125 restaurants taking part in Dining Out for Life, ©TP photo It’s quite a milestone: Dining Out for Life turns 20 this year. One thing [...]
The RawBar at Fairmont Pacific Rim: Vancouver’s First All Ocean Wise Sushi Bar
Fairmont Pacific Rim Rawbar dragon and motoyaki rolls I’m always annoyed intrigued by people who scoff at the idea of Vancouver becoming a truly “green city.” Maybe it’s just so much an entrenched [...]
Chinese Restaurant Awards: 2014 Diners Choice Winners
Landmark Restaurant's Geoduck hotpot (CRA supplied) Just announced: the winners of the 2014 Chinese Restaurant Awards, Diners’ Choice, as tabulated from 19,612 ballots. The Chinese Restaurant Awards have grown from small beginnings into [...]
No Time Like the Present to Jump on Wagon Rouge
Bistro Wagon Rouge serves French classics in a cosy setting Wagon Rouge is one of those places where, if I lived in the ‘hood, I’d be every day. And, apparently, it's where [...]
The Roof at Hotel Vancouver Re-Opens as a Pop Up
The Roof is back! Martinis too, Tim Pawsey photo UPDATED, March 25th, 2014... From the announcement: "…It’s official – The Roof is now open! After several unexpected delays, the doors swung open this [...]
Wild Rice Closes Groundbreaking Original
Andrew Wong & chef Stu Irving (who went on to open Cobre). Hmmm, sure took some awkward pics in those days! Wild Rice, Andrew Wong’s trend-setting downtown room at Vancouver’s Pender and Carrall [...]
Il Giardino to Re-Open: Umberto Menghi’s Iconic Room to Rise Again
Il Giardino, Umberto’s much lamented restaurant, which he closed last spring to make way for redevelopment, may well resurface just up the street. It appears that once Umberto realised just how much Il Giardino really [...]
Hail forage! Where Caesar Rules!
The well foraged Caesar, TP photo If you're a regular visitor here (and if you're not, why not subscribe?!) You'll know that I have a lot of time for what goes down at [...]
Legendary Hy’s Encore: of Cheese Toast, Steak, Whisky & Whispers
Hy's Encore: Over 50 years is pretty impressive in a place as fickle as vancouver The Hired Belly is happily ensconced at Hy’s Encore, cosseted in the city’s most cherished culinary time warp. [...]
Dazzled by the dumplings at Lin. Again!
Six delicious little juicy packets You will no doubt be horrified to learn that the Hired Belly can be fickle, even, occasionally, weak-willed—especially when it comes to certain foods. Nevertheless, I’ve learned over [...]
Blue Water Café Unsung Heroes: the 10th Anniversary Edition
Unsung Heroes creator, and Blue Water executive chef, Frank Pabst It was a decade ago that Frank Pabst rolled out his first Unsung Heroes seafood festival. Interestingly, at the time, it was considered [...]
8 Do’s and Don’ts for 2014 Dine Out Vancouver—Including Let’s Do Dine Out Lunch
Yes, you can Do Dine Out Lunch, such as Edible Canada's delicious porchetta sandwich Dine Out adds up to a whole lot of tasty fun that can save you a bundle of money—especially [...]
Haywire Unveils Lunar New Year Pinot Noir & Comprehensive Pairing Guide
Another Haywire first! How about toasting The Year of the Horse with a brightly adorned bottle of Okanagan Pinot Noir? While several BC wineries have turned their attention to Hong Kong and the [...]
10 Sure Bets: The 2014 Dine Out Vancouver Short List
Dine Out Vancouver: It's about food and wine UPDATED, Jan 16, 2014. The Trouble with Dine Out Lists... Is that you're guaranteed to miss not only a few worthy restos but likely many. So be [...]
The Fish Counter: Vancouver’s Go-To Sustainable Seafood Store Opens on Main St.
The Fish Counter: warm and welcoming, and already popular The Fish Counter (3825 Main St., Vancouver, 604-876-FISH [3474]) is the latest endeavour from celebrated Canadian Chef Robert Clark, with business partner Mike McDermid, [...]
Reconnecting with La Regalade, West Vancouver’s Authentic French Bistro
La Regalade's classic style has made it a West Van fixture Vancouverites are notorious for not crossing bridges, which may be one reason why I don’t get to West Vancouver’s La Regalade more [...]
Waste Not, Want Not: Concerned about wasteful consumption, local chefs go whole hog
Unless you’re a regular overnight visitor to Vancouver’s higher end hotels, chances are you’re not aware of the Essential Vancouver. It’s the sister publication to monthly WHERE magazine, with whom I've enjoyed a much-valued relationship [...]