“Indish” offers three menus:
- The Chef and Serve menu does all the prep work for you. All the veggies are chopped, meat marinated, your mise en place together. Indish acts as your sous chef and you get to finish cooking the meal at home with their detailed instructions. The menu changes regulalry, but it’s always mouth watering. We tried a delicious chicken and chorizo jambalaya. There’s a nice variety including duck breast, seared tuna, and coq au vin. My only issue is that I still think you need some reasonable cooking skills to finish the dishes off well – they are not fool proof even with the prep work done.

- The Heat and Serve menu offers fully cooked, frozen meals that you reheat in the oven. So cottage pie, chicken pot pie, mac and cheese – freezer friendly items. The Boeuf Bourguignon is also in this category (although it’s easier to reheat it on the stove for 20 min. than in the oven for an hour) and it’s excellent. Better than mine. Shhh!

- The Microwave and Serve menu is what I used the most. Fully cooked meals frozen in individual portions for easy heating. We’ve had many portions of the delicious butter chicken and lamb tagine. The spaghetti bolognese is good but the sauce is sweeter than I like. The only “meh” one is the thai green curry – it’s good, but nothing special.

While the food is delicious, having a sous chef in the kitchen is not cheap. The Chef ‘n Serve menu items are $24-43 for 2 servings. You can definitely make the same thing for cheaper on your own, so you are paying the big bucks for convenience. The microwavable items are a tad more reasonable at $8.50-$14 for one serving. I plan to keep a couple microwaveable items in the freezer for those nights I can’t cook but want some real food.

Overall, it’s nice to see Indish doing well. They have a nice concept, use quality local ingredients, and are filling a niche for time-crunched people that don’t want bad take-out for dinner.

Indishpensible
2777 Arbutus St (@12th ave)
604-731-3474

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!

After the tacone, my hubby and I walked into Granville Island and were feeling thirsty, so we dropped by Granville Island Brewing for some Winter Ale. Next, onto the Net Loft so I could check out the newest outpost of Dream Apparel, which specializes in Canadian made designs. Some really great items at the store, many on sale too…but I managed to resist this afternoon. I’ll be back.

Okay, back to the task at hand – buying food for dinner! We walked into the market and were distracted by Lee’s Donuts (you need to get a Lee’s donut every time you’re on GI!) and bought a few honey dips. THEN we scurried around picking up food and took a lovely walk home along the sea wall.

An unexpected lovely Sunday afternoon in Vancouver.

Basics:
First – get a map online of the island and if needed, mark all the below locations on your map.

We’ll spend most of our time in these areas:
- Public Market
- Net Loft

Vancouver Good’s Food Lover’s Granville Island Tour (Short Version)
Estimated Time: 1-2 hours, depending on how much you stop!

Start in the Public Market in-line at JJ Bean coffee. Grab the caffeine of your choice, and then go right to Lee’s Donuts and get yourself a honey dip donut. In the morning they are still warm and soft, melt-in-your mouth sugary goodness. Best donuts in the city!

Eat up your donut, drink your coffee, and walk. Walk around a bit, take in the ambience and get to know your surroundings in the market. If it’s still early you’ll see the vendors setting up and the day beginning.

Now, check our these food vendors. The order doesn’t really matter, but the order I have them is reasonably efficient.

Seafood City
There are many seafood vendors in the market, but when I did an Edible BC tour with chef Brian Fowke, this is where he went. I’ve been buying most of my seafood here ever since and have not regretted it. They often have lots of fresh, whole fish out for you to see, plus they carry Qualicum Beach scallops, which are divine .

South China Seas Trading Co.
This is probably my favourite place in the market. If you want to see some different ingredients, this is the place. I took my friend here so she could see and buy some real wasabi root. I bought pandan leaves here on Sunday, along with fresh tumeric, galangal, kaffir lime, and an assortment of chiles. Great service – the staff loves talking about their products, so feel free to ask questions.

Edible British Columbia
If you don’t want to a DIY tour of Granville Island and have the bucks, sign up for a chef-guided tour of the Granville Island Market at Edible BC ($65/person for a 3-4 hour tour). They will personally give you a tour and let you meet many of the vendors. The premise of Edible BC is that’s it’s a celebration of British Columbia food. You’ll find many locally sourced food items for sale here. They also do cooking classes and cool food tours like Audi weekends and kayak weekends. This is British Columbia in a storefront. Prices on items are a little expensive, but if you’re a tourist or in a hurry, it’s a good one-stop shop.

The Stock Market Around the corner from Edible BC is The Stock Market, which specializes in freshly made soups, stocks, and dressings. If I don’t have time to make my own, I’ll buy my stock and creme fraiche here. They also sell hard to find/make items like demi-glace and veal stock.

A la Mode In the same area as the Stock Market you’ll see a nondescript looking place called A la Mode. From a far it doesn’t look like much, but once you get closer you’ll see a wade array of fresh savoury and sweet pies. They also do soups and stews ladled into earthenware mugs covered with delicious pastry. There is just something about poking your spoon into crisp pastry and eating it out of a mug. Pure comfort.

Armando’s Alright, now let’s look at meat. On Granville Island, I buy about 90% of my meat at Armando’s. The staff is always super friendly and willing to custom cut. I find prices quite reasonable considering the location, although many of my friends will disagree with me. I just love looking at all the varieties of steaks they have laid out. And then lamb, and polderside farms chicken. Mmmmm.

Oyama Sausage Co. If you ever have good sausages at somebody’s house, they are likely from Oyama. Just writing the word Oyama has my mouth watering. Visit them early for best selection as they get busy. Super busy. They always have a fantastic selection of sausages in all sorts of flavour combinations. This is also where you come for pate, terrines, cured meats, and cheese. I love getting the creamy mountain mushroom pate and having it with a baguette. They also sell goose fat, which I will one day buy in a tub and make fried/roasted potatoes in them. mmmm.

Terra Beads
Five words for you: Blueberry bread with white chocolate.
I’m telling you, the first time I had this, it hooked me for months. I had one every week for half a year! In addition to my favourite item, Terra Breads is a great stop for cookies, scones, and artisan breads. But don’t buy the baguette there. It’s good, but it’s not La Baguette’s.

Local Vendors Every day, different vendors will set up in the market. They won’t have storefronts, but will have stands in the middle of the market. Depending on what’s in season, lots of yumminess exists. It’s apple season right now – I bought 6 different kinds of apple varieties the other day [note: I originally wrote this tour for a friend in September, true Apple season here!]

Just outside the Public Market:

La Baguette
All right, remember where you got your JJ Bean coffee? Go back that way and out the doors. Across the way you should see La Baguette, French bakery and home of the best baguettes in the city. I will often buy par-baked baguettes and store them in my freezer for bread satisfaction at home. The classic French baguette and the potato baguettes are my favourites, but it’s all good.

The Net Loft: Right across the Public Market is the Net Loft. Our last stop!

Walk through and check out the artisan shops, including the excellent stationary store Paper-Ya and the Hat Store. There’s also a kitchen store in the Net Loft – nothing too notable to mention – but those strange, colourful things outside the store are banana protectors. The best souvenir you can get, I say. I have one – they work!

…and that’s it!

A morning full of food and the best of the Granville Island Public Market.

Now where to?

My first choice would be to head to Railspur Alley, find Agro Coffee House, order an espresso, grab a seat (outside if it’s nice), and enjoy the island life as it passes you by. Or, take a walk just outside of Granville Island and find Go Fish! for lunch – expect good food and long line-ups.