Carthage Cafe

Carthage Cafe

1851 Commercial Drive

Vancouver, BC

After eating no solids for two weeks following having my wisdom teeth removed I was finally ready to take the plunge back into normal food. Lucky for me Vancouver is in the middle of "Dine Out Vancouver". Which is a celebration of BC food and wine in which you can go to many restaurants within Vancouver and other areas of B.C. and pay a set price (either $18, $28 or $38) for a 3 course dinner.

I was told about the Carthage Cafe by my roommate and her girlfriend. They love the place because it offers great vegetarian options as well as interesting meat plates. When I saw Carthage Cafe on the list of restaurants offering this deal I emailed my roommate and her girlfriend and we all decided to meet there for supper. It was recommended to make reservations, so with those made we headed over at 6:30.

We arrived at supper time and the place had a few people but filled up quickly. The bright red table cloths made the place bright and inviting. The size is perfect for a cafe and allowed it to feel cozy. The waitstaff was friendly but after being checked on about 9 times during our meal it became a little overbearing and we were hoping for a little less attention. I chose from the Dine out vancouver menu while my friends chose from the every day menu.

My Meal choice:

Doigt de Fatima $8.95
(Mix of cheese, beans, tuna & eggs in spring roll
pastry - served with salad)

Chicken Tagine $18.50

Tart of the day: Date

The Meal was brought up in perfect timing, there was no long waits between dishes. The glasses were constantly filled and I never felt like I was waiting for anything. Now, the food. I really want to say it blew me away but I found it to be ho hum... the Doigt de Fatima was very tasteless. I couldnt taste any spice or flavour in the spring roll, the salad with the spring roll was more flavourful and enjoyable. I found the Chicken Tagine very salty rather than spicey and couldnt really taste the saffron and lemon that I was hoping to. The Chicken was very tender though, which was the one redeeming part of the dish. The date square was a little too hard for my jaw to handle so it was passed off to the other guests at the table, who seemed to enjoy it. The stand out of the night was the tunisian coffee. It was this wonderful combination of flavours of strong dark coffee and rose water. It was a spectacular taste and was sweet and amazing. I would go back just to drink that wonderful coffee.

I did enjoy going to the Carthage Cafe because I like the atmosphere and my friends swear by their couscous. The staff there is really friendly but I did not think the food was anything spectacular. The flavours were lacking and the seasoning was off. If you are a vegetarian and in East Van, this may be the place to go but for a night out where you are spending your hard earned money you may want to pass and keep heading down the Drive.

The Templeton

I have heard that The Templeton is the place to go for breakfast but I had some extra time before a movie one day and decided to take a walk down Granville to check out this place. When I walked in i was surrounded by this wonderful diner with a tonne of character. I was able to get a table at the front where I could people watch. I didnt have much time but service was quick and I ordered a 777 Burger and their soup of the day, as well as a cherry coke, just to top off the diner experience. The Cherry coke was great and made me feel like I was eight again! The burger was good, everything you expect a burger to be. the meat was cooked well and I wasnt disappointed but not blown away. If you looking for a place to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere and have a good buger than The Templeton is the place.

On a side note, I did return later for breakfast with a few friends and we all enjoyed our breakfasts. I got the 'big ass breakfast' and a friend tried the Huevos Rancheros, which she always loves.

All in all The Templeton is great because of its atmosphere and its history. The food is great diner food and you'll be tempted to have more than one cup of coffee. It's a definite place to go if you're visiting Vancouver and want to visit a favorite of the locals.

Cafe Medina

Soon after I moved to Vancouver I went wandering around ChinaTown. Predictably, I got lost, but stumbled upon this cute little Cafe Called "Cafe Medina". It is a small but well organized cafe located along side Chambar, both Cafe Medina and Chambar's Menu are beligan inspired.
I Inlisted the help of my friend, and fellow coffee Blogger http://coffeevancouver.ca/, Robert. We had some difficulty finding a time that worked for both of us due to the limited hours of the cafe but we finally made it on a wonderful sunday morning. Although there was a line up the wait was well managed and we were seating fairly quickly. My interest was first peaked when i saw that they offered a Lavender Mocha on their Menu. It is something i have never seen before and I am a huge fan of the smell Lavender. Would I be a fan of it in my drink? HECK YES! The Lavendar Mocha was amazing and has since become my all time favorite drink in the Vancouver area. I drop in whenever I can just to grab a Lavender Mocha. My friend Robert chose the Lavender Latte and was pleasantly surprised by how mild the lavender was and did not over power the espresso.
Now on to the food!
I will always choose breakfast food if given the chance and the Fricasse was calling my name. This dish included: 2 fried eggs, braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, arugula, applewood cheddar. It also came with a side Grilled foccacia. This was AMAZING! the eggs were cooked perfectly and oooozed all over the ribs and potatoes. Teh arugula gave the dish some green which i really appreciated. The ribs were cooked perfectly and the sauce was flavourful. I loved all the flavours in this dish and I would highly recommed it if you are looking for something different for breakfast.
The service at Cafe Medina was wonderful, the Staff was very friendly and the set up was easy to manuvure. It is close to the skytrain station and is a great stop when visiting china town (or getting lost trying to find it). Two thumbs up!
Cafe Medina
556 Beatty St. Vancouver, BC
http://www.medinacafe.com/
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