Even though I grew up in a very small town in New Brunswick, I was able to develop a fondness for fried rice at quite a young age.  Any time I would go out to a Chinese restaurant (pretty well the only ethnic food available in northern New Brunswick outside of North American), I ordered what was called “chicken friend rice” from the menu every time, and it was so delicious: nice light brown in color, and perfectly textured and flavored.

When I moved to Vancouver in 2003, one of the first things I noticed was that the Chinese food here is quite different compared to the Chinese food in Eastern Canada. It seemed that all the fried rice was white or yellow in color and the taste was quite bland compared to what I was used to. Besides that, some of the other Chinese food items I was used to were missing from the west coast Chinese restaurant menus, such as Chop Suey and even another one of my favorite food items: the egg roll (haven’t seen one in Vancouver yet, and on a few occasions, the Chinese server at a restaurant pointed out a spring roll from the menu when I asked if they made egg rolls).

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to tell you about a delicious plate of fried rice that I discovered at a restaurant on Davie Street. It’s actually at a Thai restaurant on the north side of Davie Street, just east of Bute called Thida Thai.

Thai Fried Rice - one of the lunch combos for less than $9.00.

The Thai fried Rice, like all of their lunch combos, comes with a spring roll and a small side salad. The fried rice can be ordered with chicken, beef, pork, or tofu, but I always choose chicken. The chicken is good quality, too, and just the way I like it: generous portions of high quality white meat (very rare I will find gristle, but it has happened a couple of times), and just the right texture. Also within the rice, you’ll find around 4 sweet tomato wedges and onion slices. It’s a very nice tasting lunch that I go back for again and again, and it definitely satisfies my “chicken fried rice” cravings in Vancouver.

Another of their items I like to indulge in once in a while is the Thai Yellow Curry lunch combo:

Yellow Curry lunch combo - includes spring roll, rice, salad, and yellow curry with potatoes and chicken (or beef or pork)

All in all, it’s a pretty good little Thai restaurant with extremely reasonable prices, and a super friendly staff. It’s quite quiet and cozy inside with some pretty nice Thai decor.

Thida Thai interior - actually, it looks better than this now. I'll get a more recent picture soon.

Elephant statue/ornament

If you would like more information about Thida Thai and its menu items, try visiting the Thida Thai website at http://www.thidathairestaurant.com/.

A couple of days ago, I got a nice free pair of glasses from Clearly Contacts, and I’m so amazed that I could get such a nice pair of glasses for free, I decided to write about it.

I first learned about Clearly Contacts when I saw them on Breakfast Television around 2 years ago before Halloween. They had someone on there to talk about the company and some people in the studio were showing off some of the special effects contact lenses. At that time, I had been looking for a set of spooky looking lenses to go with my Halloween costume, and when I realized that this company was local, I decided to order them right away. Just a few days later, I got my lenses in the mail in plenty of time for Halloween, and it only cost me around $60 for the pair.

After Halloween, I had pretty well forgotten about Clearly Contacts, until around 2 years later when I accidentally stepped on my pair of glasses and twisted the frames. That was around the middle of October this year, and I thought I should start looking for another pair of glasses somewhere. It was around that time when I received an email from Clearly Contacts announcing a promotion that really caught my attention.

I thought this sounded too good to be true. Ten thousand free pairs of glasses? Who are they trying to fool? Still, I couldn’t resist going to the site to check out what they had there just in case.

I noticed they had a really large amount of frames to choose from, but it was kind of hard to imagine how any of the them would look on me. That is when I discovered their really useful tool called the “Virtual Mirror.” By using that, I was able to upload a picture of my face, and then as I clicked on different frames, they would appear on my face. As a result, I was able to pick out a really good pair. I settled for a pair of Kam Dhillon frames and then waited for midnight, which was the promotion’s start time.

Actually, it was impossible to do anything on the site as soon as the promotion started, but I don’t think too many people were surprised. I couldn’t get anywhere at all and the site was pretty well down, so I figured I may as well give up and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, though, I was able to use the site with no problems, and to my delight, when I placed my order and entered the code for the free glasses, it worked.

Anyway, a few days later, I got my new free glasses and they are so nice. Here they are:

Prescription glasses and frames, case, cleaning cloth, and jacket. All free.

Clearly Contacts claims to be the largest online retailer in Canada, and on the page that talks about the history of the company, it starts off with:

Clearly Contacts was founded by Roger Hardy in 2000, with a mission to save the world from overpriced vision care products.

Well, their prices do seem to be really good, especially when they give away 10,000 free pairs of glasses. I think I’ll continue keeping my eye on these guys to make sure I don’t miss any of these sweet promotions.

For more information about Clearly Contacts and their products, and for connecting with them on Facebook so that you can also take advantage of their occasional promotion, just go to http://www.clearlycontacts.ca.

Update: This restaurant is now closed, and a new restaurant will soon be opening in its place.

There is a restaurant located on Davie Street between Thurlow and Burrard that I don’t go to very often. I would say I stop in for a meal around once every couple of months or less, and that’s about it. The reason I don’t go very often, though, is not because it’s bad, but because I’ve been there so many times already, I’m now at the point where I prefer to save it for special occasions only. Because it’s so good!

Actually, one of my main reasons for going there these days is so I can introduce it to my friends who haven’t tried it before, especially people who are new to the city. I know exactly what to order to satisfy their taste buds and give them a good impression of Kam’s, and so far, nobody has ever been let down.

The items on the menu that I order almost every time include:

Nasi Goreng - Malaysian shrimp fried rice with green chili, choice of pork, beef, or chicken. I recommend ordering this with chicken.

Tom Kah Seafood Soup - A combination of prawns, squid, mussels, tomato, exotic spices blended in hot and sour, coconut broth. A couple of my friends told me that this was the best soup they had ever tasted.

Ah May Chicken - Pan fried sliced chicken with sweet & sour spicy sauce. It comes with a big serving of broccoli.

Those are the three items I will order almost every time without fail. There is also another item that I will usually order, but I missed out on it during this visit. That dish is called the House Chili Beef (Beef with house chili sauce and vegetables). If you’re going to choose a beef item while you are there, I recommend that one.

There was a new dish that we decided to try on this occasion that was also quite tasty. It was a mix of prawns, vegetables, and a special sauce:

Prawns with mixed vegetables. Actually, I don't remember the exact name of this item, but I think it was either the Chili Pepper Prawns, Prawns with Black Bean Sauce, or the House Chili Prawns.

Anyway, that’s pretty well how most of the dishes look. They are mainly a mix of some kind of meat (chicken, beef, pork, or seafood) and vegetables, with different sauces. You probably noticed that they are all quite large, too. Well, that’s another thing I really like about Kam’s: if you go, you’ll definitely not leave hungry.

Most of these large dishes range in price from between $10.95 and $13.95, which I think is quite a good deal considering the quality of the taste and the large portions. Almost every time we’ve ever gone there, we ended up leaving with enough leftovers for a full meal the next day, so the food goes a long way.

2 for 1 coupon

There is a coupon that you can find in the Straight magazine that you can use every time you go to get one of your dishes for free. It is a 2 for 1 coupon. You can only use one per table, but if you bring it in with you, you can take advantage of the offer every time you visit there, without fail. The Straight magazine is very easy to find, too, as it is on every corner of every block in the Kam’s Place vicinity. The coupon looks like this:

Kam's Place 2 for 1 coupon - look for this inside the Straight

Don’t be surprised if you open up a Straight magazine and find out that the coupon has been ripped out already. I’ve come across that many times. Who knows, if it happens to you, it may have even been me who did it. The best thing to do is just grab a magazine from the middle.

Lunch at Kam’s

Kam’s also has some fabulous lunch dishes that are so big, they are a challenge for almost anyone to finish. And what a great deal! Starting from as low as $5.75, they all come with a small bowl of hot/sour soup, and a plate of food with rice, salad, and a mix of vegetables and meat.

The hot/sour soup that comes with the lunch special

Lunch plate including rice, salad, and chicken/vegetables with black bean sauce.

Another lunch plate, with a bowl of curry, chicken, and vegetables

On a recent walk-by, I noticed on their sign that they are now also serving sushi boxes for lunch. I haven’t tried any of them yet, but I will likely drop in real soon to try one out.

If you want to stop by and give Kam’s Place a try, the location is at 1043 Davie Street, which is approximately half way between Thurlow and Burrard, on the north side. They also have a delivery service to the downtown and westend area. If you’d like to order something, the number is 604-669-3389.

Out of all the many great seafood restaurants that specialize in oysters in Vancouver, one of my favorite places to go is a place in Yaletown called Rodney’s Oyster House.

It’s not the easiest place to find. Located on Hamilton Street south of Davie, it has a really small sign that isn’t really outstanding if you are looking in that direction from Davie Street. In fact, during my first 2 years in Vancouver, I continually failed to notice it during my many trips to Yaletown.

Rodney's Oyster House on the east side of Hamilton, between Davie and Drake

I was really impressed with the interior design the first time I entered it. It doesn’t look at all like any of the modern restaurants like Earls, Moxies, Cactus Club, and Joeys. In constast, it has a simple, old-fashioned looking interior with a lot of white. It reminded me of the interior of a ship, actually, which helped me to enjoy the seafood even more.

I was there with 4 other people at the time, and we decided to sample pretty well everything there. There wasn’t much to choose from there, so it was pretty easy to decide. They just have a simple menu with few selections.

The dinner menu at Rodney's Oyster House (click to enlarge)

The first thing we ordered was a selection of fine, fresh oysters.

Fresh oysters

Oyster closeup. If you love oysters, your mouth must be watering now.

Following that, we ordered the Oysters Rockerfellah, Pan Fried Oysters, and Shrimp Cocktail. This was, by far, my favorite moment of our dinner party.

A tray of seafood delights. Can you imagine how delicious this was? (click to enlarge)

And then, we couldn’t call it a night until sampling one of their fine desserts. I ordered the Banana Creme Brule.

Banana Creme Brule - the most unique of their 3 desserts

And that was it for our evening dinner. By the time we left, it was night time, and we were all stuffed to the max with a full selection of various items from their menu and plenty of beer. Before heading home for the night, I took one more picture of how the restaurant looks from outside at night.

Outside Rodney's Oyster House at night

After seeing my photos of Rodney’s Oyster House and all the amazing kinds of seafood you can get there, you are probably already making plans to go and check it out for yourself. If that is the case, and if you want more information about the restaurant and its menus, I recommend checking out the Rodney’s Oyster House website.

Among all the spectacular cuisines that you can enjoy in Vancouver, one of the easier things to find, and something that I have to go out and eat around once a week, is a nice bowl of ramen.

There are several ramen restaurants located in the downtown area of Vancouver. I haven’t tried all of them yet, mainly because the ones I have tried were so good, I ended up just going back to those. One of my favorite ones to go to is the one called Benkei (pronounced ben.kay) Noodle Shop.

Benkei Noodle Shop on Thurlow between Robson and Alberni.

There are several Benkei restaurants located throughout the city, including the following:

• 747 Thurlow Street (between Robson and Alberni)
• 1741 Robson Street
• 3217 West Broadway
• 43 East 5th Avenue

The interior of Benkei Noodle Shop on Thurlow Street.

Another interior shot at the Thurlow Benkei

They make 5 different kinds of ramen at Benkai Noodle Shop. You can find your traditional Japanese flavours such as Shio, Miso, Shoyu, and Akaoni, and also one with a local twist called the Shiro (recently renamed to Peko).

The ramen menu. Click to enlarge.

My favorite ramen is the one they now call Peko (was Shiro just 3 weeks ago). It has a white creamy soup base with a garlic flavour, and besides the nice portion of ramen noodles inside, also has corn, spinach, and slices of BBQ chicken inside. The flavour of the soup is a bit similar to clam or corn chowder.

This is my favourite. It used to be called Shiro, but is now called Peko on the menu.

Miso ramen

My Japanese friends in Vancouver often tell me that the Peko ramen that I like the most is not real ramen. I guess they feel as though some rule has been broken in messing around with their basic ramen flavours, and it can’t technically be called ramen because of the soup base and what is inside it. Someone even said it is more like spaghetti than ramen. Well, they might call the Peko ramen “not real ramen,” but I call it “the best damn ramen I’ve ever had.” Highly recommended.

When you are paying for your ramen, you will also be given a Benkei Noodle Shop service card, which contains a list of their locations, and on the back, an area for them to stamp your card. After you get that, don’t forget to bring it in with you every time you go because after your card has been stampled 10 times, you can use it to get a free ramen.

For more information about Benkei Noodle shop, its staff, menu, and locations, visit the Benkei Noodle Shop website.

Throughout the year, Granville Island Brewing releases a variety of seasonal brews for beer fans to enjoy, such as the Rogers Chocolate Stout, the Raspberry Wheat, and the Ginger Beer. Yesterday, they had a party to celebrate the release of this year’s Ginger Beer, and I was invited to attend.

Photo by Yang Ji Hye

I found out about this party through a website called Meetup.com. If you’re not familiar with Meetup.com, it’s a site where you can find a group for just about any interest or topic imaginable. You can choose to join some groups that interest you, and then the fun starts. At least once a month, almost every group will have what is called a meetup where you have a chance to meet new people with similar interests in different locations. Yesterday, it was time for The Vancouver Beer Meetup Group‘s meetup, and the event was the Ginger Beer party held at Granville Island Brewing on Granville Island.

There were more people there than expected. The meetup said it had space for just 25 people, but there must have been at least 50 people there. There were times when it was difficult to get to the bar to order another beer. That wasn’t so bad, though, because the people there were really easy to talk to, and I found myself getting into multiple conversations on my way to get my next beer.

Our group took over most of the space

The Ginger Beer did not disappoint. It wasn’t my favorite beer of all time, that’s for certain, but I still enjoyed it. It had a nice crisp taste, and was so light. I joked with some people saying that it tasted as though someone had mixed a can of gingerale with a lager. It actually did taste a bit like that, but better, of course.

Anyway, it was a really good party, and I was able to meet several new people. I even went out with a small group from the party to Dockside Pub after that so we could enjoy even more craft beer. I guess I drank a bit too much there, though, because I don’t remember going home.

Located on the western edge of Gastown near Waterfront Station, Steamworks Brewing Company is one of the most popular restaurants in the Vancouver area, and one of my favorite places to hang out and enjoy craft beer with my friends.

The Steamworks building towers above Cordova Street near Richards

Steamworks Brewing Company first opened in 1995, and it gets its name from the famous Gastown steam line that runs through the premises. Steam is use to fire the kettles that brew the beer, and according to the Steamworks website, “the instant heat of steam allows for greater brewing finesse, and most importantly great tasting beer.”

The brewing area can be seen across from the kitchen, and on your way to the washrooms, downstairs in the pub section

As I often do when I go to a brewpub, when I was there last week, I ordered the tasters. I was lucky that they had 8 different beers available at the time, so I was able to get 8 taster glasses (sometimes they only have as few as 6, but I would say the average is around 7).

Their usual assortment of delicious beers. The dark and light ones stuck together near the menu are German beers left over from the 2010 Olympics

Here is what I got to taste during my last visit. All text in brown is part of the beer’s description taken from the Steamworks menu:

Steamworks also brews a selection of seasonal beers throughout the year. The ones I’ve tried so far are:

• Skinny Tire Hefeweizen
• Raspberry Frambozen® (my favourite)
• Sour Cherry Ale
• Great Pumpkin® Ale
• Blitzen® Christmas Ale
• Ginger beer

Since I moved to Vancouver in 2003, I’m sure I have been to Steamworks more than 100 times, and I still like to stop by for some of their delicious beer at least once every month. It’s not just the beer that is good, though; a lot of their food is also really good, and they have quite a large number of menu items to choose from. A few of my favourite menu items include the Beer Battered Halibut & Chips, the Baked Spinach & Crab Dip, the Chorizo & Chicken Quesadilla, and their awesome yam fries with balsamic glaze and pesto mayo. There is definitely something for everyone there.

One of the things that I find really cool about Steamworks is actually how huge it seems to be inside. There are so many different sections, including the Uber Lounge, the Wine Room, and the Harbour View room. I get the feeling that I can enjoy some slightly different atmospheres all in the same building. My favourite places for gathering with friends in there are the Harbour View room (great place for dinner parties) and the pub section, which are both located downstairs. Down the spiral stairs, you’ll also find a small waiting lounge, a pool table, the Wine Room, kitchen, washrooms, and the brewery itself.

Steamworks has a sister restaurant right next to it called the Transcontinental. It’s located right inside Waterfront Station, and it has a much quieter and more elegant atmosphere than Steamworks. I personally prefer Steamworks, but I have been with people who thought Transcontinental was better. One good thing about it, though, is that if you have a group that is pretty big–let’s say 6 or more–and Steamworks is full, you can usually go to Transcontinental and get right in there.

You can see the Transcontinental banners on Waterfront Station. The Steamworks building is to the right.

Transcontinental has almost all the same beers as Steamworks, and also a few others that weren’t brewed in the brewpub, but you can’t get tasters there (yet). Also, it seems that the menu items at Transcontinental are a bit more expensive. For example, Fish & Chips at Steamworks is $16.99; whereas, at Transcontinental, it’s $18.

Though the service is usually quite good, which is quite a feat considering how busy it is, Steamworks is not without its faults. One thing that really stands out for me is the time I organized a party for some of my friends to try out the new pumpkin beer they had just begun serving there. Despite the fact that I called ahead to make sure it was there, when we all got there the next day, we were told by our server that they had just run out of the pumpkin beer, and wouldn’t have any more until the next week. What made that extra bad for me, though, was that the exact same thing happened to me the year before.

Anyway, even after 7 years, Steamworks still remains one of my favourite restaurants in the Vancouver area for gathering with friends, and enjoying fine beer, good food, and a pleasant atmosphere. If I ever have friends visiting me here from other countries, Steamworks is usually one of the places I will bring them for a good dining experience in Vancouver. I’m not sure if it’s because I want to give them a good experience, or if I’m just using it as an excuse to go and try out their beer again.

When a brand new Moxie’s opened on Davie Street in 2004, few people were more excited than I was to give it a try. Well, I like to eat out a lot (some of my friends can’t believe how much I spend eating out all the time), and if I have a chance to try out a new place, that can be a pretty exciting event for me.

Located beneath the Sandman Suites on Davie Street, between Thurlow and Bute, it has a nice, inviting appearance outside the entrance. You can see a small section of the restaurant, which has some nice tables and booths, a wide screen TV, and a fireplace. And that’s what you see before you even enter the front door.

I’m guessing all Moxie’s are quite similar on the inside, though I’ve only been to a few in this city. They all seem to have a modern design like some other restaurants in the city, such as Earl’s, Joey’s, Cactus Club, and Milestones. Inside Moxie’s, it’s usually pretty dark, and the tables and chairs are top quality. The chairs have really thick cushions that you sink right into when you sit on them. Also, there are some nice booths that give you a more intimate setting with a small group of friends.

At the Davie Street Moxie’s, the difference between the lounge and restaurant section is quite big, especially in the atmosphere. I prefer to sit in the lounge because it’s a much bigger space, with nice orange lights enhancing the mood. In the restaurant area, though, they have a couple of round tables that are absolutely perfect for groups of 5-8, because everybody can see and talk to each other easily.

One of the things that really stood out for me, especially the first few times I went to this Moxie’s on Davie Street, was the men’s washroom. When I walked in, I thought I might be in the wrong place. As soon as you walk in there, there is a wide screen TV (no more missing the game while you’re using the washroom), and a fireplace below the TV. A fireplace in the washroom? Well, I’m used to it now, but at the time, I was quite impressed. I’ve heard that the women’s washroom is just as spectacular, but I haven’t been in there, of course.

The is definitely better than your average washroom

The menu has a lot of really good choices, and the quality is similar to all the other restaurants I just mentioned. It seems they can make pretty well every kind of food there, and nothing tastes bad. The steaks are good, the burgers are good, the pizzas are good, and the appetizers are tasty. From the appetizer menu, I often order the bruschetta and the skillet of garlic sauteed mushrooms, and I haven’t been disappointed yet.

One of my biggest disappointments from the menu list was the Moxie’s combo platter, which has “calamari, chicken tenders, avocado spring rolls, med bread, chicken wings and three great dips” on one big plate. There was nothing wrong with the taste, at all; it was the price. For $27.99, I expected a lot more, but after finishing it with just one other friend, I was still pretty hungry. I think they should reduce the price of that to around $19.99, tops, or else pile on more food. It’s just not enough food for the money, in my opinion.

They have a nice variety of drinks, too, including some house beers (Big Life Euro and Ale), cocktails, and wine. They are really good at making cocktails, and you can get margaritas in gigantic “Moxie’s size” glasses. My favorite out of all their cocktails is something I like to order because I like the taste, and also to make myself look cool in front of my friends. This Moxie’s exclusive drink (well, I haven’t seen it anywhere else yet) is called the Mexican Bulldog.

The Mexican Bulldog - around $9

If you want to try something unique and (in my opinion) delicious, then I highly recommend the Mexican Bulldog. What it is is a lime margarita in a large glass with a Coronita stuck into the top, upside down. The beer mixes in with the lime margarita, and as you drink it more and more, the lime margarita gets replaced by the beer. You can also lift the glass up and stick it into the margarita again quickly to add more beer to your taste. Be careful when you order this drink, though. Once other people see you with it, they might want the same, and you might not be able to order another one before Moxie’s quickly runs out of Coronitas.

All in all, Moxie’s is a really nice and super comfortable restaurant for spending some good times with your friends. I especially recommend the one on Davie Steet, but I’m confident you can have a good experience at any of the locations in the area. For more information about Moxie’s, their menus, and their locations, check out the official Moxie’s Classic Grill website.

The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown was one of the first restaurants I went to when I first came to Vancouver in 2003. I used to love going there for the old style atmosphere (is this grandma’s kitchen or a family restaurant?), and for the huge, affordable meals that left me stuffed to the max by the time I left.

Well, today is their 40th Anniversary, celebrating the opening of the original Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in picturesque Gastown, and for today only, they are offering their 1970s menu to all customers. What that means is that you can get almost all your favorite spaghetti meals for as low as $1.75 each!

The full meal deals

To give you an example of how good a deal this is, let’s take one of the menu combos that I usually order that is listed under the “It’s all included” box, which looks like this:

Remember all our entrées include: Minestrone Soup or Crisp Green Salad with choice of Ranch, French, 1000 Island, Blue Cheese, House Italian or Low-Fat Oriental Sesame dressing; OSF Classic Sourdough Bread with Whipped Garlic Butter; Spumoni Ice Cream; Hot Tea or our own blend of Coffee. “It’s all included” means added value for a complete meal at one low price. SUBSTITUTE SMALL CAESAR SALAD OR SPINACH SALAD IN PLACE OF GREEN SALAD....$1.50; SUBSTITUTE CLAM CHOWDER OR FRENCH ONION SOUP IN PLACE OF GREEN SALAD ....$2.25

What a lot of people I take there don’t realize is just how much is included with the meal that they are going to order, even though it’s listed plainly in this box above the entrées.

Now, out of their 23 menu items listed under there (all the way down to the kid’s menu), the one I order most often is called the Manager’s Favourite, which is a big plate of spaghetti with a choice of any two of their sauces. Your choices for sauces are:

• Tomato sauce
• Rich meat sauce
• Spicy meat sauce
• Clam sauce
• Mushroom sauce (contains several button mushrooms)
• Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese, a la Homer

I like to get the spicy meat sauce and the browned butted and Mizithra Cheese, a la Homer sauce together because it’s such a nice contrast. The spicy meat sauce is just a bit spicy, and the Mizithra Cheese sauce is just loaded with flaky cheese and butter (yummy!).

After ordering your meal, you can expect to get a nice, fresh bun of bread before long with two kinds of butter: regular and garlic butter. Try not to make the same mistake that many make, and almost fill yourself on the bread before you even get started.

Following that, you usually get your soup or salad, followed by your main course (in my case, the Manager’s Favourite plate of spaghetti). If you have enough room at the end, you can then order your ice cream, and don’t forget about the coffee or tea that is also included with your meal!

Anyway, that sounds like a lot of food, doesn’t it? Well, it sure feels like it was a lot after you’ve finished it. But can you believe that the whole cost for all of the above is just…

$10.95!

The 1970s menu

As I’ve already mentioned, The Old Spaghetti Factory has a promotion or special today to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. They have brought back their original 1970 menu, complete with 1970 prices. That means you can get one of these great meals for as low as $1.75. Consequently, the meal that I usually pay $10.95 for, today is…

$1.95!

If you have a chance, you should really check out their 1970 menu online. If you go to The Old Spaghetti Factory – Gastown’s 40th Anniversary, you can read all about today’s event, and you’ll also be able to click on an image there to see the original 1970 menu. As you’ll notice, not much has changed in 40 years (except for the prices).

Oh, it looks like they didn’t have soup included in the meal on the 1970 menu. Oh well, who’s complaining? I’m sure I can stick with a salad this time if it means saving $9.00 on the cost of the meal.

One more thing I should mention is that all revenues from today will go toward a good cause. On their website, it says:

We are proud to donate all revenue from these Spaghetti Entree’s to the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

You can find The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown on Water Street, just a couple of blocks past the Steam Clock, right after Abbott Street. If you are not familiar with the city, here is a map to help you get there.

Today was my girlfriend’s birthday, and that meant it was time for me to once again find a more elegant than usual restaurant for us to have a nice, romantic dinner. We had already been to top notch places like the Bacchus, Sandbar, Carderro’s, and Cloud 9, so I thought about maybe finding a new place. Thus, my Internet search for a better than average tasting (and wallet emptying) meal with a nice atmosphere began.

At the same time, I thought, what am I going to do about the cake? I was wondering if I should get her a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, or try something a little bit different this time. Then I remembered a cake that I had tried at a restaurant before at the Hyatt Hotel several years before, which I remembered as being one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I had ever had. It was at the Mosaic restaurant, which is on the 2nd floor of the hotel. I decided to head down on foot to gather some intel about the cake situation there.

When I arrived at the entrance, the hostess greeted me, and I didn’t waste any time in asking her about the cake. She told me the cake was $20, but if there was none made, I would have to wait a while. I looked around while she was talking, and noticed that the Mosaic is a fine looking restaurant itself. So I asked her if they had any special things that they do there whenever someone has a birthday. Her answer instantly gave me an idea for killing two birds with one stone this year. She told me that whenever someone has a birthday and eats at the restaurant, the cake is free. I asked her to please reserve a table for us for that evening, and she made a note to have a cake ready for us. Mission completed, I thought.

We arrived at 6pm, just 30 minutes after it opened, and the place was still empty except for a couple of individuals sitting by themselves. Either it was because it was a Monday night and we were early, or they heard I was coming, but I didn’t mind the peace and quiet one bit.

We were right in the corner, and pretty well had the place to ourselves.

Nice, gigantic windows for a view of Burrard Street and the church.

Upon sitting, I immediately placed an order for a Honey Brown beer. I regret not getting the full brand, but I’m assuming it was the Sleeman Honey Brown. I then began scanning the menu, which to my surprise, only had two pages. There was nothing wrong with that, though, because the selections, though limited, were pretty well all things that I liked. I decided to order the Seafood Chowder, and my girlfriend ordered the same.

When the chowders arrived, I couldn’t believe how big the bowls were. In fact, I had never seen such a fine looking bowl of seafood chowder. There was this gigantic piece of bread on the side and there were mussels and clams in the middle of the bowl. When I ordered it, I was thinking $10 was kind of steep for a bowl of soup, but after I got it, I felt way more impressed than ripped off.

Seafood Chowder - northwest style, halibut, salmon, mussels, clams, dill, and grilled flatbread - $10

My girlfriend wasn’t very hungry, since we had pigged out just a few hours earlier at Denny’s to take advantage of Denny’s free birthday meal, so she didn’t order a main course. I went ahead and order the Grilled Wild Salmon.

When that finally arrived, I was a bit less impressed. The presentation was good, of course, since that is one of the main things you’re paying for at a place like this, but I have seen so many salmon plates at these fancy restaurants now, I’m starting to get used to it, I guess. The $31 price tag, however, is something I’ll probably never get used to. It is just a couple of times a year that I do something like this, though, so I won’t complain. I certainly made sure I enjoyed every bite, though, since it was probably around $2 per bite.

Grilled Wild Salmon - grilled wild salmon paella style risotto, chorizo sausage, scallions, green peas, sun gold tomatoes - $31

Anyway, we were just stalling for time with all that other stuff. Finally, it was time for what we had all been waiting for — the arrival of the birthday cake. Our server came out with it on a large plate and one candle lit up in the middle, and what a monster of a cake it was.

Our FREE complimentary chocolate cake

After taking some pictures, and after my girlfriend made her wish and blew the candle out, we started to wonder how we should go about cutting up this gigantic slab of chocolate delight. We decided to cut out a 1/4 piece of the cake, and then cut that in half for our dessert. As soon as I put my plate down in front of me, I scooped out a big chunk from my piece of cake with my fork, and at last, I was able to enjoy the greatest moment of pleasure of the evening.

A 1/4 section of the cake. It's so big, it's almost intimidating.

Now, I’ve had a lot of chocolate cakes in my life, and I can honestly say that this was pretty well up there on top among the most delicious cakes I have ever tasted. It was so rich, soft, cool, and chocolaty, and did I mention yet that it was free? Unfortunately, it became a bit too much of a good thing, though, and I wasn’t able to finish my piece. As delicious as this cake is, it’s so rich, you will get stuffed really fast.  No worries, though. Our server just came and put our cake in a big box for us to take home with us, so nothing was wasted at all. Now we have enough cake to last us the whole week.

Anyway, now you know of a place you can go to on your birthday to get a really good free cake. Just make sure that you make a reservation beforehand and say it’s for a birthday. You should also inquire about the cake specifically to make sure they keep a cake for you for when you get there.

For more information about the Mosaic restaurant, just go to the Hyatt Hotel site, and scroll down to where it says Mosaic Bar and Grille.