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.

Cin Cin

On Jan. 3rd 2009 I was still in Vancouver and after a long day of shopping a friend and I decided to head to a restaurant that we had stumbled upon on Robson Street. It was called Cin Cin and it was on the second floor. It is a beautiful restaurant and it feels like you have stepping into another country when you walk in. The atmosphere is more 'classy' (dare i say) and the waitstaff all whore button up shirts with ties. we felt a little out of place, well at least i did but i was very excited to eat the food. we were seated right away at a cute little table by the terrace and Sarah ordered us some wine. I wish I could say that I carefully chose a wonderful bottle of white to go with our meal but I have no clue about wine other than it tastes good. So I left that decision up to my Friend Sarah who did a wonderful job.

We were unsure as to what we should order but when I heard that the special was duck my mind was made up and I was able to convince Sarah to order it as well. I had never had duck before and I thought that if i was to eat it anywhere for the first time... THIS should be the place. I had never tried Polenta either and we got a side of polenta to try. when the duck arrived it looked so good. the outside was crispy and a little salty and the duck was done perfectly. it was a little pink inside and melted in my mouth. I dont even remember what else was on the plate because the duck was so amazing. the serverings were a good size, which was surprising for a restaurant like that. I am used to extremely small servings at places like this.

Don't forget Dessert! OHHHHHHHH, the dessert..... I ordered the Tiramisu. it was a great decision, the marcapone was wonderful and it was so creamy and the flavours were great. Sarah had beignets which were great, especially dipped in chocolate! Those both looked really pretty too!

If I were rich I would go to Cin Cin for every meal.

Just an update; I recently went to Cin Cin again when my sister and her husband were in town in Feb 2011. The food was once again amazing and very creative. The servers were so friendly and helpful. They are always a great bet for a good, wait not just good, AMAZING meal out!

Blarney Stone Gastown Vancouver

On Dec. 31st we headed out to have a wonderful new years and ended up at the Blarney Stone Pub in Gastown. I was starving and needed to fill my belly for along night of drinking and partying that was ahead of me. I ordered the Sheppard's Pie. It comes with a basic salad and sourdough. the sheppard's pie was really good. the meat was seasoned really well and the mashed potatoes were creamy and they had a nice crust on top from being baked. My friend Sarah had never had sheppard's Pie in her life and loved it. It was a little on the saltly side but not insanely salty that you could not eat it. It was great for pub food and a wonderful way to start out the night!