**A different kind of travel**

Travel Dates: May 20 - 23, 2021

Like everyone else, travel cancellations for 2020 were inevitable due to the global pandemic. I had to put a pause to my travel plans to Mexico City, Honolulu and Vancouver, BC. It was unfortunate but that was the reality we all were facing.

Presently, there are some travel restrictions for us living in Canada. My siblings and I had travel vouchers for Flair Air that were about to expire soon and we were in dire need of a vacation. It was agreed upon, a quick getaway over the May long weekend to visit Vancouver, British Columbia. A beautiful city for its pristine view. A city with a wonderful balance of city life, nature and I can’t forget, amazing restaurants!

Going to Vancouver over the May long weekend there were still some restrictions. There were no indoor dining, limited business hours, and limited capacity for recreational and entertainment purposes such as shopping and visiting art galleries. As well, it was mandatory for everyone to wear face masks while indoors. We embraced the public health restrictions and accepted it. The limitations did not deter us from enjoying our vacation. Any escape away from home is always welcomed, especially, when you haven’t travelled in over a year!

When it came to dining we made due and completed our dining experience either at a near by park or we ordered take outs/deliveries and ate at our hotel room. Not to sound so extra but I bought a beautiful acacia wood plate from MUJI on Robson Street and used it as my dinner plate for all of our take-outs. It was the best idea ever! It was more aesthetically pleasing for photos than from the to-go containers. I highly recommend purchasing some re-usable plates and utensils to use during your trip. And of course, you can always eat from the take-out boxes. Whatever floats your boat!

I’m grateful we were able to travel and we throughly enjoyed Vancouver with optimism and found creative ways to enjoy it during these uncertain times. Everything we consumed we loved! Our main purpose for travelling to Vancouver was to eat as much as we can! Especially to devour the abundance of fresh seafood that the city has to offer! We loved the fresh sashimi from Tom Sushi and the delicious hand rolls from Hello Nori. The highlight for me is the dozen of oysters we ate at Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe located at the Granville Island Public Market. I must mention, Vancouver has a lot of amazing, authentic Chinese food! We found a spot called Happy Noodle House out of sheer luck and it was the best Chinese food I had thus far! It was our first meal when we touched down in Vancity too! Not once but twice we re-ordered the Tan Tan noodles and the Xiao-Long Bao. Just thinking about it right now, makes me want another weekend get-away to Vancouver!

Where We Stayed

The Burrard

Address: 1100 Burrard St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y7

Check out this beautiful garden view at The Burrard! We felt like we were in Honolulu. ALOHA!!! The staff at The Burrard were friendly and helpful. Our room was nice, clean and had all the amenities. There is a trendy coffee shop downstairs called Elysian Coffee with delicious baked goods and great coffee. As well, if you want good ole comfort food you can have a wonderful meal at Burgoo’s outdoor patio.

We didn’t do this but the hotel had bicycles for us to use which were free of charge. My brother and I should’ve taken the bicycles out for a ride on our last night when we went for a stroll around the park.

I would highly recommend The Burrard to my family and friends. Superb location! You can easily walk to bustling places such as Yaletown, Robson and Davies Street. We would definitely re-book our stay at The Burrard in our future visits to the city.

Beautiful back-drop! Had to strike a pose, do some VOGUE.

Restaurants in Vancouver

Happy Noodle House

Address: 630 Davie St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2G5

I have to be honest, I don’t think I have had really awesome Chinese food in my city. It’s just mediocre. This fuelled our desire to discover a great restaurant with authentic Chinese food. Any place with the best Xiao Long Bao and we’re there in a heartbeat!

We arrived early afternoon and we couldn’t check into our hotel right away so we decided to take a stroll and explore around our area for something to eat. Low and behold, we found Happy Noodle House. I believe it was less than a ten minute walk from where we were staying. My brother checked the reviews on Yelp and they had great reviews. The food were DELICIOUS!!! Happy Noodle House over-exceeded our expectations and we achieved our goal in finding a restaurant with delicious, authentic Chinese food.

I highly recommend the fresh, hand-pulled Tan-Tan noodles and the superb Xiao-Long Bao Steamed Buns (soup dumplings). We had to make a second visit and we made sure we re-ordered those two items. Three mentionable items are the Eggplant with Chili Garlic Sauce, Szechuan Green Beans and the Spicy Salted Tofu. If you enjoy salty and spicy those are the three dishes you must try! The portions were amazing and even though we ordered take-outs, the food was piping hot! Also, we got to choose between vegetable fried rice or fried noodles which were complimentary. We decided to go with the fried rice since we already ordered a noodle dish. Real talk, you would assume a dish given for free would be basic and bland but we were wrong! The complimentary fried rice was delicious! On our second visit, we declined the complimentary item because we didn’t want to waste food so instead they gave us 15% off our entire meal.

Very impressed with Happy Noodle House! Great customer service, price was affordable and I would definitely recommend this spot if you want delicious, authentic Chinese food.

What we ordered: Eggplant w/ Chili Garlic Sauce, Tan-Tan Noodles, Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings and complimentary Vegetable Fried Rice. — **What we ordered:** Eggplant w/ Chili Garlic Sauce, Tan-Tan Noodles, Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings and complimentary Vegetable Fried Rice.

Best Tan-Tan Noodles at Happy Noodle House!

Hello Nori

Address: 1165 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1B5

How pretty are these rolls from Hello Nori! As pretty as they look they were pretty tasty as well! Our family has the tendency to over-order (especially me) so with the advice of my sister, we went with 6 Hand Rolls which consisted of: Toro, Yellow Tail, Ora King Salmon, Hokkaido Scallop, Crab and Truffle Lobster.

WHY DID WE LISTEN TO MY SISTER!!!! Uggghhh! We should’ve ordered two-sets of the 6 Hand Rolls. They were so fresh and delicious. Note to self: Follow Ross’s advice from Friends and always listen to your UNAGI!!!

What we ordered: 6- HAND ROLL: Toro, Yellow Tail, Ora King Salmon, Hokkaido Scallop, Crab, and Truffle Lobster — **What we ordered:** 6- HAND ROLL: Toro, Yellow Tail, Ora King Salmon, Hokkaido Scallop, Crab, and Truffle Lobster

Tom Sushi

Address: 1175 Davie St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1N2

What we ordered: Assorted Sashimi, Tamago Nigiri, Uni Nigiri and Toro Nigiri — **What we ordered:** Assorted Sashimi, Tamago Nigiri, Uni Nigiri and Toro Nigiri

It’s always wise to listen to your friends for restaurant recommendations while travelling. Especially, when your friend is considered a low-key foodie and she’s known to be an excellent chef herself. It saves you a lot of time researching online that’s for sure! That’s my friend Jessica. I can always count on her for excellent restaurant recommendations within the city or cities she has travelled to. She was kind enough to share her restaurant lists which she complied for future visits to Vancouver.

Tom Sushi was one of the restaurant on her list and I am so thankful to her because everything we ordered were fresh and delicious! We ordered assorted sashimi, tamago nigiri, uni nigiri and toro nigiri. Complementary miso soups were given to us which was so nice of them. I love everything and again, we should’ve ordered more!!!

AJ’s Brooklyn Pizza Joint

Address: 325 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5T 1W5

The Detroit Red Top Pizza from AJ’s Brooklyn Pizza Joint was AMAZING! The wait was well-worth it! My brother had their pizza on his previous trip and he made sure he had it again. I don’t know why, but the cheese riding up on the crust was the best part for me. I’m not really good at describing when something is hella good but trust me, its damn good!!!

Usually I prefer Neapolitan pizza because it’s light but this pizza even though it was filling, it hit the spot for me. I ate 2 and half slices which was pretty darn good for someone like me who doesn’t finish their food!

If you are in downtown Vancouver, please show love and hit up AJ’s Brooklyn Pizza Joint. You don’t want to miss out on their incredible pizza!

What we ordered: AJ’s Detroit Red Top Pizza — **What we ordered:** AJ’s Detroit Red Top Pizza

Yaletown Gelato

Address: 1208 Homer St #122, Vancouver, BC V6B 2Y5

Coffee Shops

Elysian Coffee - Burrard & Helmcken

Address: 1100 Burrard St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y7

Can’t go wrong with an Americano and Latte while sitting at an out-door patio.

Honolulu Coffee Nelson

Address: 888 Nelson St g1, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H1

From Left to Right: Ice Hawaiian Latte, Ice Americano and Blue Valentine Kombucha (raspberry & lime)

Bubble Tea Shops

Machi Machi

Address: 1194 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1B5

My sister says its well worth the wait in the line up for this yummy drink from Machi Machi. She waited in line for ten minutes which was pretty decent. I swear people get this drink just for the cute bottle! I would too! FYI, we didn’t keep the bottle! Lol. She really wanted the Matcha Latte with Panna Cotta (Bottle) but they sold out so she went with her favourite go-to, Black Milk Tea with Panna Cotta (Bottle).

What she liked about the drink is that it’s very light and not too sweet. The panna cotta was a great addition to the drink.

What we ordered: Black Milk Tea with Panna Cotta 奶酪紅茶歐蕾 — **What we ordered:** Black Milk Tea with Panna Cotta 奶酪紅茶歐蕾

Milksha 迷客夏

Address: 1258 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6E 1C2

What we ordered: Fresh Strawberries Bubble Green Tea — **What we ordered:** Fresh Strawberries Bubble Green Tea

Things To Do

Granville Island Public Market

Address: 1689 Johnston Street

I’ve been to Vancouver plenty of times but this was my first time to the Granville Island Public Market. I was pretty excited for the market especially since my brother kept bragging to us he had the BEST donuts ever!!! All I heard from my brother was, “Lee’s Donuts this! Lee’s Donuts that!” He was hyping the place hardcore but now I can see why! Besides being excited for Lee’s Donuts, I wanted to have some fresh oysters, explore the farmer’s market, enjoy some delicious eats and have a cold beer at Granville Island Brewing.

Yummy donuts, fresh oysters and a cold beer?! That’s what I call a perfect Saturday!

My travel photographer finally in front of the camera! Rare moment for sure.

Lee’s Donuts

Address: 1689 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9

When my brother speaks highly of something, I must trust and believe him because honestly, he’s 100% right all the time! Especially when it comes to food! He knows his stuff! Lee’s Donuts was absolutely incredible. Their donuts were fresh, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the insid. I don’t know what else to say. You know its good when you see a line-up out the door. I thought we would be in line for awhile but it wasn’t bad at all. We were in the line-up for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

I promise you, it’s well worth the trip to Granville Island Public Market. We only ordered their honey dip (their most popular) because that’s what we love but the other selections looked very pretty and yummy! We had a few donuts left-over and ate them the next day. STILL DAMN GOOD!!!

What we ordered: Half dozen of Honey-Dip Donuts (Most popular item)

All smiles since the line-up at the famous Lee’s Donuts was about 10 to 15 minutes!

Siegel’s Bagels

Address: 1689 Johnston St #22, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9

What we ordered: Candied Salmon and cream cheese with red onion + capers. — **What we ordered:** Candied Salmon and cream cheese with red onion + capers.

Granville Island Brewing

Address: 1441 Cartwright St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R7

From Left to Right: Peach Sour & California Common

Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe

Address: 1511 Anderson St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R5

My first slurp of the fresh oyster and it felt like I had a taste of the sea in my mouth, in a very good way!!! Just with a squeeze of lemon was all it needed! The oysters were fresh, plump, juicy, sweet and a hint of briny. My sister and I loved it so much we started with 6 oysters and decided another round was required. We were very satisfied indeed!