food Archives - vandira

8 Vancouver cafés to work at

Every now and then I work at a café in downtown Vancouver. I pick either a morning or an afternoon when I don’t have any meetings, walk over to a good coffee spot, and roll up my sleeves to get stuff done. Being in a different place with café-sounds around me helps me focus. Here’s a selection of my favorites.

When I first started looking for cafés to work at, it was a bit of a search to find good spots. By good spots I mean cafés with good coffee, WiFi, and preferably power outlets to charge my laptop. I find that it’s not that easy to find places that can tick off all three of those criteria. Nevertheless, you can find my recommendations per downtown area below. If you have any tips for me, please do share!

west end

Perfecto on Robson & Nicola

This bright spot has plenty of tables and quite a few power outlets. I’m quite critical of croissants, but Perfecto does them pretty well. It’s close to Robson’s shops and restaurants, so plenty to do after you close your laptop. You can also find another Perfecto café on Davie & Seymour.

Unfortunately, Perfecto on Robson has covered some of its power outlets, but you can still find some plugs if you sit by the window.

Fresco Cafe on Bute & Davie

Before I moved to another part of the West End, I used to walk Davie Street a lot. As I made my way up to Burrard Street for my bus, I always looked over to my left into Bute Street and saw the Fresco Café sign, but until a few months ago I never walked over to take a look. When I did, I was so pleasantly surprised! It’s a stylish, colourful, and cozy place, with a shared round table in addition to various seating options around (and outside!) the café.

downtown

FUNK. Coffee Bar on Thurlow & Dunsmuir

This has quickly become my favorite place to work downtown. It’s spacious with different types of seating areas: high long tables, low long tables, two cozy corners with couches and armchairs, and window seating. Delicious coffee and fresh pastries served by super warm and friendly staff. The first time I came here to work, I couldn’t help but smile at all the interactions happening around me all throughout my stay. Oh, and they serve dumplings and baos after noon!

Matchstick on Richards St

I knew Matchstick on Davie Street, but learned that there’s another one in Yaletown. When I went there for a coffee at the end of a run, I was pleasantly surprised by the set-up of this location. Since then, I’ve sat down to work here a few times and couldn’t recommend it more. There’s a long table with plugs, as well as little one/two person tables on the left side. When I was there last, I had a vegan BLAT sandwich which was to die for. Please try it if you’re ever there!

Indigo on Robson

I looooove the Indigo book store. There’s a café on the first floor with access to some power outlets. Past the café, just by the Fiction and Graphic Novels section, you’ll find a low long table to sit at, as well as a high colourful table by the Romance section. Both tables have power outlets within the table, including some USB-A ports.

Gastown

Nelson the Seagull

I absolutely love this place. This sourdough bakery has a delicious menu, nice coffee, plenty of shared tables to work at, AND power outlets. It does get busy around lunchtime, so I’d recommend going there early, or after lunch rush hour. Before you leave, consider buying a sourdough for tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch.

Nemesis Coffee

To be honest, this is not necessarily the best work spot because they don’t have WiFi and there’s no laptops allowed in the weekend. But if you’re okay using your phone’s hotspot for internet, or if your tasks for the day don’t require WiFi (e.g., lots of reading or writing to do), definitely go here. Plants everywhere. A big shared table. Their coffee is really nice, with a nutty flavour. Even the decaf tastes good. But the best thing about Nemesis is their food. That Bodega sandwich yuuuuum.

mount pleasant

Prototype Coffee

Prototype Coffee is a micro coffee roastery, so expect top quality coffee! You’ll find lots of people working here. The design of the back wall is gorgeous, and the coffee is great, but definitely on the expensive end, so do keep that in mind. Great for an hour or two!

Vancouver Dec 13

Hello from cold Vancouver

Can you believe it’s already winter? With the year coming to an end fairly soon, let me put together another one of my season overviews… After that packed summer I had, by comparison here’s my hibernation-ish last quarter of 2024.

Filipino Feasting

For my birthday, my family gifted me a dinner voucher for a Filipino restaurant in Vancouver. It was such a coincidence, because I had been looking at Kulinarya‘s menu for quite a while and had mentioned it to friends months ago. We didn’t get around to going there as our summer winded down and we moved to a new apartment, but early October we invited our friends to join us and experience a bit of my Filipino culture. We had some planning to do for our group’s Friendsgiving weekend, so why not do that over a delicious meal?

And it wasn’t just a dinner. We went for a Kamayan meal, a traditional communal dining experience, where food is artfully arranged on banana leaves and shared without utensils. It’s also known as boodle fight, as this way of eating has its origins in the Filipino military. Soldiers shared meals this way in spirit of camaraderie and equality. I had to do some research to figure out where this term came from, but it seems “boodle” refers to food, and “fight” symbolizes the fun, competitive feel of grabbing the food with your hands, making sure you get what you want 😉

It really was fun to all eat with our hands and see everyone get really into it; grabbing a bit of rice from here and finding some vegetables and seafood over there, and asking your buddy 2 seats over if you can have that last delicious piece of grilled meat… I must say, everything was absolutely delicious, and the flavours certainly matched what I am used to from my mom’s cooking. Big fat stamp of approval! I can’t wait to go back and try more of their food.

Friendsgiving

After being MIA (short trip back home) last year for Thanksgiving, this year was truly special. We booked an incredible Airbnb on the Sunshine Coast with a group of 8. It was a display of both impressive team work and of our shared love for food. The first night, we transformed the massive dining table to a snack feast. Boards and boards of deliciousness. See for yourself below.

On night two, the guys were responsible for dinner. They cooked a fantastic seafood paella. We all looked… rather interesting, as they had picked ‘funny’ as the dress code for the night. If someone had wandered in on us, they would have thought they were high. Munching on rice and mussels were a mime, a Spanish Señorita, a female Salvador Dalí, a shopping bag, a mine visitor, a Hawaiian, the Joker in a purple suit, and Hot Mess Tarzan. Tell your imagination I said you’re welcome!

On night 3, it was the ladies’ turn, and we spent 4,5 hours working on our carefully planned out Thanksgiving dinner. Our dress code was fancy, so everyone was looking dashing ✨

Things ‘quieted down’ from here. I took a (second) three-week Change Management course which took lots of time reading and working on assignments after work. I had my remaining wisdom teeth taken out (not fun). So I was mostly cooped up inside for a bit there. Just before my final assignment, it was a long weekend. We drove out to Pitt Meadows to walk around the marsh in that area. It was nice to get some nature time before diving back into making my deadline.

Tyler Hilton at the Biltmore Cabaret

You know me, I love concerts. Tyler Hilton came to Vancouver on 20 November and of course I wanted to go! I’ve seen him live in Amsterdam in 2013, The Hague in 2016, and Amsterdam again in 2018. Aside from that, for many years I saw him on my favorite tv show, One Tree Hill, as the gruellingly annoying Chris Keller. This November, I saw him just as himself, a dad of two now, and soon to be Canadian citizen! Anienke joined me as I enjoyed the songs from my teenage years until now. Of course, grabbed a CD from merch to add to my collection.

Binging through winter

Since moving to our new apartment, it’s been nice to make it cozy in here and ease into fall and winter. With more time spent at home, I’ve been enjoying my books and shows. Here’s what we’ve been binging on:

Shows

Silo | Apple TV+
Outlander season 7B | StackTV on Prime
Only Murders In The Building | Disney+
Loot | Apple TV+

Books

In my attempt to beat my own record of 16 books in one year, I’ve been trying to finish a few books I had lined up. Really enjoyed these reads the past few months:

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a cult TV show while also in an actual cult by Bethany Joy Lenz (mindblowing!)
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (also a show on Apple TV+, next on my binge list)!
Gut: The inside story of our body’s most underrated organ by Giulia Enders (who knew poop-science could be fun and engaging to read)
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (also beautifully made into a television show on Hulu)

If you have any book tips for me, please let me know, so I can start building my list for 2025.

Whistler: scandinave spa

We haven’t been skiing yet, but we did drive up to Whistler at the start of December to tick off a different bucket list item.

The Scandinave Spa in Whistler was an absolute delight. The way there was such a nice start, too – it had been a while since I drove the Sea To Sky Highway. Even after living here for two years, driving there is just magical. It’s ridiculously beautiful. It doesn’t get less jaw-dropping. The view of this snowy mountain top reminded us that it’s winter now.

It was a little bit overcast/foggy at first when we arrived, but the clouds disappeared, and while sitting in hot baths and saunas we enjoyed the views over gorgeous snowy mountains and blue skies.

Running

With limited daylight hours and winter temparatures, it’s a bit challenging to get out and run, but I have gotten back my routine and am working on being able to run a casual 10K at least once a week. From there, it’s building up further to 21K, and eventually… 42K. In May, I’ll be running my first full marathon! I have lots of work to do, both in terms of building up my long distance runs but also getting my abs and back in shape to be able to keep myself upright for hours on end 😮‍💨

I’m both intimidated by it and excited for it. But Vancouver will pull me through it – I mean, the views as I run through the city and/or around Stanley Park do really add to motivation. The photo above was False Creek at 4.18PM on 2 December, just before it got really dark soon after. I ran back over that bridge you see in the distance, and hit 10K again for the first time since early September.

And now? Now, we pack… Homebound for Christmas and New Years! 🤗

P.S. Don’t worry about me, winter really doesn’t get that cold in Vancouver.

Travel Dec 29

A Sunshine Coast Christmas

They say when you are far away from family, your friends become your family. Living abroad, it’s the family-focused occasions that remind us of the vast geographical distance between our life here and our loved ones back home. But they also remind us of the opportunity we have to build new traditions and make new memories with new people! So when we heard that Anienke and Smit would not be going home for the holidays either, we all got very excited and started planning a Christmas weekend getaway. Some place where we could unwind, play games, watch movies, and recreate Christmas dishes we love from back home. Here’s how we spent our Dutch-South African Christmas on the Sunshine Coast:

friday, heading to the Sunshine Coast

Does Sunshine Coast sound familiar to you? Tom and I had been there once before last summer, and we were quite keen to go again. The Sunshine Coast is located on the southern coast of British Columbia, and spans about 180 kilometres between Howe Sound in the southeast and the entrance to Desolation Sound in the northwest. Due to the long stretch of mountains between the coast and the rest of the province, there is no direct road connection, meaning you can only reach the Sunshine Coast by ferry or seaplane.

So on Friday 22 December, the four of us drove up to Horseshoe Bay, a ferry terminal just 25 minutes away from our place. I should say five of us though, because Anienke and Smit’s cat Tauriel came along too! At 7:50 PM, the ferry brought us to Langdale on the Sunshine Coast in just 40 minutes. Located in Gibsons, our Airbnb was just 10 more minutes away once we got off the boat. It was dark, but there were Christmas lights and decorations everywhere on the way there. We got settled in at the Airbnb and had a cozy evening with a glass of red South African wine. The best.

Saturday, day one

The next morning we finally got to see our surroundings, as we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise. Our first floor apartment had an ocean view from the kitchen, with those cute little mini islands in the distance. The living room windows revealed a stretch of snow-topped mountains. Aside from what we saw outside, we were also pleasantly surprised by how well equipped the place was. Courtesy of our Airbnb host, we found Anienke grinding fresh coffee beans and frothing milk in the kitchen. Nothing like a cup of cappuccino first thing in the morning!

With caffeine in our systems, we freshened up and went on a mission: to get groceries for the entire Christmas weekend.

If there’s one thing we all have in common it’s that we love food. Coincidentally, Tom and Smit both like to cook, and Anienke and I both don’t mind helping (read: eating what they make). So here was the deal: on Christmas Eve, couple 1 makes the main dish and couple 2 makes the appetizer and dessert. On Christmas day, we switch roles.

The local supermarket didn’t know what hit them.

Just kidding, it was fine. We had already bought our meats back in Vancouver, ensuring the center pieces of our dinners were covered. We also brought spices, wines, snacks, and whatnot. The Gibsons supermarket provided the remaining ingredients. For breakfast, we bought some eggs, and stopped at Sheer Bliss Bakery Cafe to score some fresh bread. Back at the Airbnb, we made my mom’s signature vegetable omelette and baked some bacon. Can’t go wrong with that, but it was the ciabatta bread that totally made it. The bread definitely honoured the bakery’s name!

Bellies full and the kitchen cleared, we hopped in the car to go and explore the Sunshine Coast! The weather was fantastic, so we scrolled through some hike options on the AllTrails app and decided to drive to Madeira Park, a small community in the north. In summer, it’s a popular spot for its beaches, swimming, diving, fishing, and other water activities. At 9 degrees in ‘winter’, we were much more comfortable on dry land, so we picked an easy out-and-back hike along the coast to the Francis Point Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was… underwhelming. But the way there was beautiful! We drove around a bit more before making our way back to Gibsons. On the way, we stopped in Sechelt to pick up a few more groceries, including some festive champagne for tomorrow night. The big Christmas cook-off was coming closer, but for Saturday night, Tom had made us a dinner reservation at a local restaurant so we could have one night without a hot mess in our own kitchen 😉

And boy, what a meal that was! We had dinner at Drift Cafe and Bistro, a cute little brunch and dinner restaurant in Gibsons. It was clear that it was not peak season on the Sunshine Coast – one couple was just finishing their meal when we arrived. After that, we had the place all to ourselves. Chatting with the waiter, we learned that the island has 70% of its business between May and September. The rest of the year, everything is slow and quiet, and Christmas time is no exception. The average age on the Sunshine Coast is 58 – it’s a retirement paradise, for good reason – and it’s quite the challenge for the area to find staff to keep businesses open.

Once we were back home, our attempt at starting a movie was stopped short when we realized we couldn’t keep our eyes open after that very filling dinner. So it was an early but very satisfying night 🙂

Sunday, day two, Christmas Eve

Sunday morning, we woke up to yet another fragrant cup of fresh coffee to start the day. We went out to find the local public market. We spent some time there and had another coffee before taking in more of our ocean and mountain surroundings at the Gibsons Harbour and a bit further out at Georgia Beach.

Time to head back and get to work in the kitchen! We started with a bun of South African boerewors (from the bbq on the patio!) as our lunch. For our Christmas Eve appetizer, I made my mom’s fresh Filipino spring rolls (lumpiang sariwa) and Tom made Fries suikerbrood wentelteefjes for dessert. Both of these are family favourites! (For Tom’s dessert, we went to a Dutch store in New Westminster and found the last loaf of Frisian sugar bread they had, pfew!). Anienke and Smit were responsible for the big Christmas Eve main course and made an incredible leg of lamb, potato bake, and sugar snaps salad. In between the main course and dessert, we all took a seat around the Christmas tree and exchanged our gifts. It was a proper Christmas Eve celebration, including Christmas crackers, which Tom and I didn’t even know what those were? Can someone confirm if we are dumb or if it’s not a thing in the Netherlands?

Monday, day three, Christmas Day

Inspired by yesterday’s sunrise view from the apartment, we got up early on Christmas Day and drove out to a lookout point to see the sunrise. Though it was too cloudy to really see it, it sure was a pretty sight. Coffee in hand, we looked over the ocean and waited for the horizon to light up.

And also shook from the cold and complained about how it’s quite windy this morning. And Tom spilled some of his coffee when Smit drove over a little bump. Plus, we started at Georgia Beach but realized we needed to be higher up, so we drove up to another spot. Just giving you the full Instagram versus reality picture here! 😉

From there, Christmas Day was a blissful continuation of building the 1000-piece puzzle we had started, cooking, playing Dutch and South African music, playing more games, and finishing the movie (De Slag om de Schelde, or “The Forgotten Battle”)… and more cooking!

On the menu that day: we devoured Tom’s famous ossobucco and risotto in between Anienke and Smits puff pastry flatbread-ish appetizer with leftover lamb, and their delicious malva pudding and custard dessert.

Tuesday, back to Vancouver

After sleeping in a bit, we cleaned up the Airbnb and packed up the car. Unfortunately, it was time to go home! With our 10.50 AM departure time and good weather conditions, it was promising to be a beautiful ferry ride with amazing views.

We went home with:

sadness that this weekend came and went so fast
stronger abs from laughing
wonderful gifts
a ton of new memories
a well-travelled cat
and what feels like an additional 5 kgs in the mid-section

Merry Christmas everyone! See you in 2024 🙂

Travel Jun 22

Things to do in Vancouver in spring and early summer

Ahhh the sweet, sweet arrival of warm weather! I am writing this mid-June, amazed at how fast time has flown by. I can’t believe it’s been about 6 months that I’ve been here! If you ask me, arriving in winter was the best thing. It’s cold, but gorgeous, and gradually you feel the temperature rising, the sun shining more hours, and people finally coming out of their hibernation state. It’s not even officially summer yet and there are so many amazing things in the calendar for the coming months… But let’s look back for a second – here’s what I already had a chance to do in spring and early summer.

Before anything else, I should tell you: everyone is telling me how unusual this year’s (pre-)summer is. We were hit with 30 degrees out of nowhere in May, and the weather has been amazing since – with the odd grey day here and there. It’s been unusually dry – May and June are supposed to be very wet months, but there’s hardly been any rain… It’s nice for activities, but there’s a price – “Canada on track for its worst-ever wildfire season“… Wildfires are unfortunately not that unusual here, so a smoky Vancouver is definitely something I’m not looking forward to.

richmond night market

If you’re a foodie, then it’s definitely a must to visit the Richmond Night Market at least once. It’s an annual night market that opens from May until October. A great place to go in the summer and fall! It almost feels like a festival terrain with all its colours! When you arrive, you’ll likely see some pretty long lines. I recommend getting the Zoom pass – staff walks around the queue selling these passes that get you immediate skip-the-line access. It’s a ticket for 5 people – we went there with 4, but you can still use the last slot for the next time you go. It’s only a few dollars more than the normal admission, and it’s worth skipping the line which can take 45 minutes to get through.

There’s an abundance of food from all over the world – though I have to say I missed a Filipino stand! Food isn’t the only entertainment though, there’s a whole section with carnival-ish games. I failed miserably at catching sticks. Those of you following me on Instagram know what I mean!

3rd beach tuesday drum circle

On a random Tuesday evening walk around Stanley Park, friends of ours noticed a big group and some pretty impressive drum music on Third Beach. Turns out, it’s a drum jam that happens every Tuesday evening in that exact spot if the weather is nice.

A week or two later, the four of us filled up a cooler, brought a sweater, and met up at Third Beach to enjoy the drums. They do this from March to September after 6 PM until sunset.

Do expect interesting crowds… using lots of weed. If you don’t want to be in the middle of that, just pick a spot a bit farther away from the drummers. It’s loud enough to enjoy the music from a bit more distance 😉

join a charity run

With the weather improving, I felt encouraged to put my running shoes on more often! After a very wet Vancouver Sun Run, I signed up for the Run For Women which took place on the University of British Columbia campus grounds. It was lovely seeing a different neighbourhood of campus, and it was an amazing route right through the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. The weather was fantastic, the vibe was so nice, and the goodie bag was out-of-this-world. I’ve done so many running events but this goodbie bag was by far the best. The event was by Shoppers Drug Mart, so it was full of shampoos, creams, vitamins, lotions, tooth brushes, and more!

white rock

After the run, we spent the rest of the sunny day with my friend from work. She and her husband took us to White Rock, which is about a 50 minute drive from downtown Vancouver. It’s a beautiful seaside city known for its historic pier (also the longest pier in Canada!) and lovely beaches.

It has almost a Californian vibe to it, a summer vacation feeling, especially with the amazing weather we had that day! It’s referred to as a resort town, so I guess that makes sense… We had a lovely time strolling over the pier, enjoying the street music, wondering how much the properties here must cost 😉

If you check out the video here, you’ll see some serious train tracks. The railway running along the waterfront operates 24/7, linking our Canadian province to Washington State. Once a train is passing, it can take quite some time before you can get off the pier. Not sure if I’ve ever seen that many cargo train carts in one go!

go to a sofar sounds show

I love live music, so when I heard about Sofar Sounds I was eager to try it! The concept is you buy tickets to see a show, but all you know is in which neighbourhood the show will take place.

A day or two prior, you receive the exact address, along with the names of three artists or bands that will be playing. The location can be anything from a bar to an office space, and from someone’s garden to a clothing store. The first time I went, it was in a beautiful co-working office on W Georgia St. We all sat on pillows, and there was a small bar area to get drinks. The second was a clothing store in Kitsilano, with cute rugs on the floor to sit on and you could bring your own snacks and drinks. Now that the weather is nice, it’ll be nice to see a show from a rooftop or other outside venue!

It’s small and intimate, with maybe 50 people in the audience. Just a string of lights, some nice plants, and cute decorations, and you have a lovely stage.

It’s a fun way to discover local artists and see places you’ve never been before. They’re active in soooo many cities all around the world, so have a look and see if there’s a show in your city!

use the may long weekend

We bought sup boards and took them out on the water in Washington State! I wrote about our trip for the May long weekend in another post. Gotta love the statutory holidays! We went out of Canada for this one, but British Columbia has so much to offer. Now that it’s summer, we’ll be exploring more hikes in BC, so I’ll have so much more to share with you over the next few months!

take walks by the water

Nothing beats the waters in BC. Stanley Park is my go-to for strolls by the water, but Vancouver is surrounded by the sea and lakes, so there are so many options! I mean… The five second video right here says enough.

Enjoying the views over the water, you’ll be sure to spot a seal or an otter, birds. And… so… many… dogs (in and out of the water!)

rent a boat from granville island boat rentals

This was sooooo much fun! For a Saturday in early June, we booked a 19″ boat (good for up to 8 people) for the afternoon until closing time at 9 PM.

Toss together a pasta salad. Collect ingredients for guacamole. Fill up the cooler. Put on your bathing suit. And ready to go! We took the ferry from English Bay to Granville Island (takes literally 2 minutes) and stepped right into the boat rental office. After signing some paperwork (gosh that did take a long time) and grabbing some life jackets, we were on our way. After debating a bit between Bowen Island and taking the inlet to Indian Arm, we decided on the latter.

We stopped at Deep Cove to use the washroom, then made our way further north up the inlet. It was so, so beautiful! Had an amazing time – not too hard with these surroundings and wonderful company. I want to go again!

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visit queen elizabeth park and go up the hill

South of downtown (about 30-40 minutes by public transit but just 18 minutes by car) lies Queen Elizabeth Park. Oh my goodness, this park is absolutely gorgeous. If not for the perfectly kept gardens, then the view from up there is why you should make the trip.

With just a few minutes of hiking up the hill, you’ll find Seasons in the Park, a fancy French restaurant with an incredible view over the city. (And great cocktails!) The view of downtown Vancouver with the mountain backdrop seen from this side of town is so mind blowing! If you want to see it from within the restaurant, remember to make a reservation… In any case, our waiter confirmed: even if you’d be out there every day, this view just doesn’t get old.

Phew! That was a lot, wasn’t it? But there’s more to come this summer that I can’t wait to share with you guys! Expect more photography, drone footage, and nature!