Wednesday night we had the chance to explore a new neighbourhood on Vancouver Foodster’s Tasting Plates Marpole.
While Marpole is one of Vancouver’s historic neighbourhoods, it is often overlooked as people drive through enroute to Richmond or downtown Vancouver. The neighbourhood is going through a bit of a renewal and new merchants and eateries are opening up. Tasting Plates allowed the hungry tasters to check out what’s new and old in the ‘hood.
Starting at the Tasting Plates check-in location Gigi Blin Market Cafe, a stylish coffee cafe + market located on 70th, just off Granville. The not-quite year-old, Italian coffee bar welcomes people to grab and go or linger at the long table in the centre of the room. The Market half of the shop offers a selection of up some of the European groceries in stock. After check-in, Tasting Platers took their map cards to the counter for an espresso, affogato or an Italian soda. Served along side the beverage was a sweet mini pastry from Baguette & Co French Bakery and Cafe. Across the room, we met Skylar and Chloe from Kids Can Cook Pasta Sauces, serving their high quality sauces and pasta.
Around the corner on Granville, we found Bonjour Marketplace, an organic grocery market & cafe. One half of Bonjour is a grocery stop filled with organic produce, grocery products reflecting the neighbourhood’s multi-ethnic make up. On this side, we sampled Vita Biosa Artisan Pro-biotic drinks and Golden Leaf Tea’s award winning Red Jade and Pine Oolong teas. On the other half of the marketplace is a cafe serving light meals, salads and soups. Here Tasting Platers were offered a Tasting Plate representing a variety of the light foods available at Bonjour. The plate of brown rice risotto, fermented noodles, enzyme salad was served with a hearty carrot soup and cup of tea. The healthy and tasty meal showed off the Marketplace’s abilities and will certainly entice future visits.
Next door to Bonjour Marketplace, The Yard Cafe offered up a quartet of Tasting Cups. The local watering hole brought out a selection of Granville Island Brewery and Fuggles and Warlock Craftworks beers. Taking advantage of the lovely evening to sit on The Yard Cafe’s patio the Honey Lager, Pale Ale, IPA session beer and Lager quenched the thirst for patio season to start (for the time being).
Lastly, a block away we found Pho & Cafe Mai Mai, a hidden gem of a family run Vietnamese restaurant. Cafe Mai Mai points out they make their bone broth in house and make strides to ensure it is rich and flavourful while being as healthy as possible for their guests. The Beef Pho was indeed a hearty soup, add in Cafe Mai Mai’s housemade chili paste to your soup to find just the right spice for your palate. On the side we were served piping hot, fresh pork spring rolls. The tightly wrapped spring rolls topped off the meal with a crunchy bite.
If this makes your mouth water, keep your eyes and ears open for the next Vancouver Foodster events; Meatball Challenge is on now and Tasting Plates Richmond is coming up in a couple weeks.