While afternoon tea is generally a ladies dominated activity, after enjoying today’s service I’ve decided it’s a nice date event too. It’s a relaxed but special Valentine’s experience if you’re looking for something different from the over-priced prix fixe menus at most restaurants on Valentine’s day.

The Urban Tea Merchant’s downtown location is a calming environment amidst the hustle and bustle of all the corporate offices surrounding it. The tea room is cozy and quiet for a nice afternoon of treats and conversation.

Here’s a close-up of the Sweetheart Afternoon Tea, available February 11-14 for Valentine’s day.

- First, choose from the store’s 150+ selection of teas, including J’aime – a green tea accented with French macarons, almonds, and fruit

- Next, enjoy a glass of chilled white tea and a tea-infused strawberry sorbet to cleanse the palate for the tea service

- The tiered tray of high tea goodies come next. Highlights include: crispy endive spear with a mild creamy blue cheese and candied walnuts, smoked chicken salad in a pistachio cone, broccoli and cheese quiche, flaky scones with devonshire cream and a tea infused jelly, chocolate dipped strawberries, raspberry and pistachio French macarons, and Thomas Haas sparkle cookies.

- There’s also a smaller kid-themed tea tray available with fun items like nutella and pb&j sandwiches:

- As part of the Sweetheart Afternoon Tea service, each guest receives a beautifully wrapped tin of Urban Merchant Tea to take home ($29.95 value).

Overall, I enjoyed my high tea experience at the Urban Tea Merchant. It’s very comparable to many of the better high tea locations in town and the service is excellent. While my high tea experience here was complimentary, I would have no problem returning and paying for tea service and this write-up is on the blog because I can recommend it.

The Urban Tea Merchant also offers smaller afternoon tea services plus a tea and chocolate fondue feature. Nice alternatives to regular tea service, which can be a little over the top.

I’ll be doing a follow-up post next, listing all my favourite high tea locations.

The Urban Tea Merchant, Downtown and West Vancouver
Sweetheart Afternoon Tea February 11th through 14th
11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm $48 per person (includes a special $29.95 tea gift)
Served daily – Petit Afternoon Tea ($25), Westcoast Afternoon Tea ($29) and Signature Afternoon Tea ($48)
Downtown – 1070 West Georgia Street, Vancouver (Entrances also on Alberni Street) 604-692-0071
West Vancouver – 825 Main Street, Park Royal Village 604-926-3392

The menu is simple but interesting. One soup prepared daily, five salads (all vegetarian), five sandwiches, a daily quiche, a cheese plate, and a charcuterie plate.

I enjoyed Mike’s Reuben sandwich with a beets & cheese salad. The sandwich was rich from the excellent corned beef*, a smattering of sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and melted swiss cheese on rye. On the side, my marinated beets with frisee and goats cheese was a light, fresh accompaniment.

My dining partner went for the meat ball sub, featuring the now famous meatballs from sister restaurant Judas Goat. The meatballs were rolled in a tomato sauce, tucked into a soft bun, and topped with shavings of ricotta salata cheese. Delicious & moist with a salty bite. On the side was the Mediterranean macaroni salad, tossed in a tomato dressing with arugula, olives, and feta.

Dishes I have my eye on for the next visit: Good ‘ol potato salad, a TLT (T=smoked trout), and the grilled cheese with smoked jarlsberg, brie, and caramelized onions.

Sandwiches range from $8-9 dollars, and you can add a salad or soup for $3 more. Great value for what you’re getting. The restaurant is also open for breakfast, serving coffee & baked goodies.

Weekday lunches are looking up!

Everything Cafe
75 East Pender Street, b/w Carrall & Columbia
Vancouver
604-681-3115

* The supplier of corned beef is Mike Vito, of J. Beethoven’s corned beef fame. If you ever see them at Granville Island, do yourself a favour and buy some for dinner at home one night. INCREDIBLE!

Tucked into a teeny space on Granville Street between Pender & Hastings, walk into a heavenly smelling shop filled with baked breakfast goods, plenty of treats, and gourmet sandwiches for lunch.

Examples:

- The memorable vanilla bean cinnamon bun. Moist, gooey and rich with a vanilla bean icing, it’s the perfect size treat. Not so big that it’s “too much” and not so small that it’s not enough.
- A rice crispy square filled with cranberries and chocolate – I love good rice crispy squares!
- Scones and loafs, all freshly made from scratch each day
- Light and fluffy Belgium waffles. They were making them last time I was in the shop. It took some serious willpower not to buy about 10 of them.
- For lunch, a pan seared salmon sandwich with rich garlic aioli and arugula. Light, but satisfying

Chef/owner Lydia Lai and her staff are usually on hand to serve up your food and give you tips on maximum food enjoyment (ie. put the cinnamon bun in the microwave for 20 secs for maximum gooey-ness). They’re all very lovely – the type of business and people you want to support.

Also available for catering, I hope to keep coming back to Crème de la Crumb for a long time.

Crème de la Crumb Bakeshop & Catering
Twitter – cremedelacrumb
466 Granville Street, (b/w Pender & Hastings)
(604) 683-5595

Part modern diner, part coffee stop, Acme Cafe is in the slightly dodgy part of Gastown, east of the Woodwards building. It’s well worth the extra steps, especially as a breakfast or lunch spot. Details:

• Open the door to the cafe and you’re greeted with a clean, gleaming, beautiful room. The colour scheme is black, white, and chrome, giving off a fresh ambience to the restaurant. I think it has a modern diner look, but my husband is adamant it looks nothing like a diner – see what you think.
• There’s 2 areas when you walk in – one for take-out orders and one for dining in.
• The breakfast menu looks lovely (will try soon), but lunch and dinner include a nice selection of sandwiches and comfort food classics like Macaroni and Cheese or Meatloaf. I enjoyed a hearty Chicken Club sandwich, loaded with fresh veggies, cheese, and bacon with a hefty side portion of potato chips and a scoop of the most excellent broccoli almond slaw. The broccoli gives a different texture to a standard coleslaw, and the dressing is mayo-based with a hint of sweetness. So. Good.
• Acme Cafe offers online ordering too, so you can put in your order, walk over, and your food will be waiting for you
• If possible, leave room for sweets – there’s milkshakes and floats (good marks from my ice-cream addicted husband), and fresh baked goods, like soft & chewy 3-bite cookies or the most incredible looking pies, which I’m trying next.

There’s lots of reasons to make return trips to Acme Cafe.

Acme Cafe
51 West Hastings St (east of Abbott)
604.569.1022

Generally, a sign that says “best…” makes me run the other way. Yes in this case, the cheesecake is pretty damn tasty. It’s a light and airy cheesecake, totally different from the dense brick of cheesecake you’d get at True Confections. Additional flavours include blueberry, mocha, chocolate orange – they vary based on what’s in season.

I studied, met professors, and generally treated Trees like my “Central Perk” during graduate school, so I know it well and have love/hate feelings for this place.

Here are some highs and lows:

• High: Morning breakfast deal of a coffee and muffin for $3 (or around that). And the muffins are freshly baked each morning and yummy. I have a weakness for the banana muffin, which I indulge in when I happen to be downtown in the morning.
• High: The spinach and feta scone (I believe it’s spinach and cheddar now). SO good. If I’m going to spend a whack of calories on something, this is a possible candidate.
• High: Lunch specials include freshly made organic soups, which are usually delicious.
• Low: The sandwiches are generally small and dry, although I haven’t ordered one since the first one I ate years ago. And expensive for what you get!
• High: Live music at the Granville St. location on Thursday and Friday. I popped in tonight and the place was full with a great band on.
• Low: Really uncomfortable seats and comically small tables. Come on! The stools are good.
• High: Trees was organic long before organic became a buzz word. In fact, the cafe used to be called “Trees Coffee.” It became Trees Organic during a rebranding activity several years ago. Since 1996 they have house-roasted organic fair trade coffee and all their food products are made with organic ingredients.
• Medium: Unfortunately, I really don’t find the coffee that good. The drip is fine, but I have had my share of burnt espressos there. My husband Dan would disagree with me though – he alleges that they’ve made many great espresso macchiatos for him.
• High: The service is friendly, personal, and fun. They make you feel welcome and let you stay awhile.

Trees is a fun hangout offering great people watching with honest coffee & food.

They appear to have multiple locations now and also appear  to franchise. I’ll vouch for the location downtown on Granville Street, between Hastings and Pender.

Trees Organic Coffee
450 Granville Street (b/w Hastings & Pender)

My visits to Thomas Haas are usually on a Saturday and go something like this:

• Walk in and see huge line up
• Gently push my way through to the display window to find next to nothing left
• Decide if I want to wait in line
• Wait in line and order the amazing hot chocolate
• Stare at the chocolate boxes for sale and consider buying more
• Leave thinking “what a madhouse!”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always worth it, but I can’t say it’s the most relaxed experience ever.

But today was a great weekday morning. I have a friend visiting from out of town who loves croissants and I took the day off work to take care of some errands. So we woke up early and arrived at Thomas Haas for breakfast. It was busy, but not crazy busy like it is on the weekend. It’s amazing how satisfying a coffee and pain au chocolat can be for breakfast. France is SO going to be my next European trip.

Lately, I’ve been braving the Thomas Haas line-ups to pick up a small box of chocolates as a holiday party hostess gift. They come beautifully wrapped and how can you go wrong with chocolates like pistachio marzipan, salted caramel pecan, earl grey tea, merlot, or balsamic honey? Other great hostess gifts: a package of the excellent hot chocolate mix (read the ingredients – you will find no disgusting chemicals here), chocolate bars, and the famous sparkle cookies.

And, if it’s your responsibility to bring dessert and you’re not in a baking mood, any of the Haas desserts will make you a star.

The cafe is open for breakfast and switches to a daily sandwich selection at 11 am every morning. A great excuse to stop for a light lunch and dessert treat.

The only drawback? They’re closed Sunday and Monday…so wait in line and get your fix.

Thomas Haas Patisserie-Chocolate and Café
2539 W. Broadway, Vancouver (b/w Larch and Trafalgar)
604-736-1848
Open Tuesday-Saturday

Also in North Vancouver:
Unit 128, 998 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver
604-924-1847

Picture rows of beautiful pizzas, cut to order and charged by weight, as they do in Rome. Then, look at the fridge display of paninis, over a dozen kinds, all named after different regions of Italy.

My favourite Sciué lunch is a grilled Sicilia panini (Italian sausage, provolone cheese, and roasted red peppers) with a minestrone soup. It’s incredibly satisfying.

And, don’t forget that shot of Italian espresso before you leave.

Sciué Italian Bakery Cafe

800 Pender St. (@ Howe)
and
126 Davie St. (North of Pacific, close to Urban Fare)

AGRO Cafe and Restaurant

I love coming here to get away from the complete craziness of the public market. AGRO is a bustling cafe and roasting house specializing in fair trade, organic coffee, breakfast, and lunch. The espresso here is excellent (I was sitting next to some Italian tourists one afternoon on the patio and they gave me the thumbs up), as is the food. Menu includes hot breakfast items, pasta dishes, and gourmet paninis served with organic greens or fresh fries or yam fries.  A nice stopover for a quick, inexpensive bite to eat on the Island.

(AGRO’s second location is in Yaletown serving up excellent coffee, but with a smaler food selection.)

Hartman Leather

We dropped by the leather shop to pick up a belt for my husband Dan.  It’s great for men’s belts. Top grade leather, high quality, and well priced ($40 for a nice, locally made, leather belt). The store also sells leather bags, purses, and leather gift items. Not really my style, but they are beautifully made and I’d definitely consider these items as gifts.

Osake Artisan Sake Maker

Yes, we have sake made locally here in Vancouver! And it’s good. Drop by for a tasting (for a nominal charge) and you’ll enjoy some nice sake while learning about how sake is made, the different quality levels of sake, and why you should ONLY drink cold sake.

Osake recently came out with a line of dressings made from Sake Kasu, which, according to Osake, is the “lees” that remain after the moromi (fermented rice mash) has been pressed during the sake-making process. I bought some Kasu, smeared it on some fish and sauteed it last night. Yummy, but dont put too much on as it’s potent!

One of the best HAS to be Elysian Coffee. It’s so good, it’s worth a special trip.

I have never, ever had a bitter espresso at Elysian. It’s consistently smooth, sweet, and strong  – just how it should be. Elysian was one of the first places in Vancouver to make coffee with the Clover Machines as well (their second location has two Clover machines). This place does everything right. They also make an excellent chai tea in house, and carry a good selection of baked goods (many are gluten free) and light meals.

I don’t have all the fancy coffee talk down, but I do drink a lot of coffee and this is good coffee. The 5th Ave location doesn’t even have drip coffee on the menu because it’s all about the Americano as the good stuff. (Note: they do make drip for the mornings when people are in a hurry and it is of course, damn tasty!)

The original location  is right around the corner from Fifth Avenue theatres and was formerly called the Elysian Room.  It’s a warm room, with a few booths and tables. The second location is on Broadway (@ Ash) has a very different look. Modern, minimalist, and way bigger. Both are great.

The only problem? They close early most nights so don’t go looking for a late night fix.

Elysian Coffee
1778 W 5th Ave (@Burrard)
604-734-1778

and

590 W. Broadway (@ Ash)
604-874-5909

The Drive is an interesting spot in the city.  People usually call Commercial Drive Vancouver’s “Little Italy.” It is very Italian, but I can’t say there are any Italian restaurants on the Drive I need to eat at. Don’t assume the Italian food is good just because you’re in the Italian district (that said, people would tell me Lombardo’s and Marcelo’s are okay bets. But just okay to me. And only the Commercial Drive Lombardo’s, not their other location).

The Commercial Drive Website has a nice guide of the ‘hood online here (pdf).   I usually spend my time between E 1st ave and E 6th ave. But if I have the time I’ll walk further north towards Kitchener and Charles St, which has more restaurants and a slightly different vibe.  Grandview Park on a summer day is always lovely, as is ice skating at Britannia Community Centre.

But, back to Saturday. Our focus was mainly food, and we only had a couple hours, so we hit what I think are the best spots:

First, brunch at Cafe Deux Soleils – casual vegetarian eatery with big portions and tasty cheap eats. Organic coffee, fresh baked muffins, smoothies, and breakfast eats like veggie hash, eggs benny, veggie sausage.

Next, Prado Cafe for me, as the coffee at Cafe Deux Soleils didn’t quite have the punch I needed. One shot of espresso and a shot of water. Perfectly smooth and strong. Prado is one of many good coffee houses on the Drive. Look for JJ Bean, Prado, Joe’s, Continental, or anything independent. Not Waves or Starbucks.

Suitably caffeinated, we got distracted shopping at Barefoot Contessa (lovely, girly things) and Wonderbucks (for cheap housewares).

And then came the food shopping.

- The First Ravioli Store for fresh pastas and Italian ingredients like olive oil packed tuna, olives, and all sorts of pasta shapes.

- Fratelli Bakery , which always smells amazing when you walk in. Italian pastries (plus a few French pastries for good measure). In additional to breads and cakes, they also carry a big variety of little tarts and squares that are great for dinner party desserts. The best deal here is their frozen pizza dough, which comes in white or whole wheat for cheap (I paid $1.25 last time I bought it, but that was a while ago).

- La Grotta Del Formaggio. My go-to place for Italian meats, pastas, olive oils, cheeses, and San Marzano tomatoes.  I often see the same olive oil they carry at Urban Fare for $5-10 more. Their sandwich bar is very popular – piled high with different meats & cheeses and grilled.

- JNZ Deli. There was a line-up out the door when we arrived. We patiently waited and were rewarded with the lovely smell of smoked meat when we opened the door. I bought some bacon, which was AMAZING. So good.

- Belgian Fries. The fries and poutine here are good, but they are really just carriers for their wasabi mayo dip, which is addicting.

After a big cone of fries and lots of shopping we were broke, full, and happy….and done! If we had more time, we would have ventured north on Commercial Drive, but we’ll save that for another day.

See map for location details of all places.