Om Nom

Every once in a while I crave breakfast it’s a rarity but how can I say no to the urge? So my search began for a good restaurant that offers a great value for what you get. Typically restaurants seem to overcharge for something as simple as pancakes and my search lead me to Jane’s Restaurant a small place located in the Burnaby Heights area.

Jane's restaurant

This place has style that has been unchanged since probably the first days of it’s existence. Red vinyl booths, wood paneled walls and black velvet paintings welcome you and for me brings back childhood memories of friend’s parent’s basements.

Jane’s is one of those hole in a wall type restaurants that seem to be popular with the local university crowd. Weekends fill the restaurant with people looking for a good meal that’s good quality cheap food and Jane’s deliver. For $3.95 ($1 more for another pancake) you can get two large, and I do mean really large, pancakes and for an additional $2 you can add either bacon or homemade potato chunks. The pancakes were surprisingly on par with IHOP so this makes for a filling meal that’s cheap and leaves you satisfied. They also offer a breakfast special that offers a typical meal of 2 eggs, homemade potatoes, toast and a choice of 3 sausages, 3 strips of bacon or a slice of ham for $3.50.

Jane’s is one of those family run places that also offers Chinese food which splits the menu into those two styles. Typical North American diner food takes care of the first half of the menu and Chinese food makes up the second half. If their breakfast is any indication of the rest of the menu this place is a clear winner (won ton soup was pretty good). I’ll definitely will be going back soon.

Jane’s Restaurant
4217 Hastings St Burnaby
(604) 293-1343

Located on Denman in Vancouver The Ukrainian Village Restaurant offers all the typical Ukrainian dishes and crams a a whole whack load of trinkets and photographs to set a Ukrainian feel to the small restaurant.

Admittedly this is my first time trying Ukrainian hence the creation of this blog. Sure I’ve had things like perogies and cabbage rolls but on the menu was a wide selection of other dishes I’ve never tried. So my meal of choice for this visit was Chicken Paprika ($14.95) and Ukrainian Borsch ($5.25). The Borsch was pretty good, and a fair size for the price. As for the Chicken Paprika it was served on a large dish with four pieces of chicken and four dumplings. The chicken was cooked perfectly and fell off the bone nice and easily, the paprika sauce flooded the plate and provided a nice flavor to the meal.

One thing to note is the perogies are hand made and come in many varieties. The sausages were pretty good however I was in a large group and some had to wait a bit as they microwave the sausages to re-heat them. So knowing that I was kinda happy I didn’t ask for a sausage.

Maybe there isn’t a selection of Ukrainian style desserts out there but The Ukrainian Village Restaurant offers a limited selection, aka two options, ice cream or cake which was disappointing to say the least.

Overall, The Ukrainian Village Restaurant was a very welcoming start to Ukrainian food which I hope to have one day soon. The food was very well prepared aside from the sausages and the staff were welcoming.

The Ukrainian Village Restaurant
815 Denman St Vancouver BC
Telephone: (604) 687-7440
www.ukrainianvillagerestaurant.com

For those who don’t know Japadog personally let me introduce you. Started in 2005 by a mad scientist (or one smart businessman) Japadog took the streets of Vancouver by storm and quickly became the phenomenon it is today. The opening of it’s second cart on Burrard and Pender brings me personally one step closer to this yummy hot dog variation as it’s now dangerously close to work. To be more blunt, it’s a Japanese take on hot dogs and it’s stupidly yummy.

Now were do I start, the fact that you could spend 30 minutes in line during lunch for a hot dog? or the fact that if you so chose, you can have fish in a tube covered in wesabe mayo? and why should you spend six plus dollars on a hot dog?

The selection varies depending on what cart you venture to, and in this case I’ll be reviewing the Burrard and Pender location since I’ve had most of their hot dogs. Personally my favorite hot dog is the Korokke dog ($6.00). Served on top of the all beef sausage is mash potatoes, cabbage, Japanese mayo and Korokke sauce. Other than the traditional all beef sausage other menu items include different types of dogs.

Korokke Dog

The Okonomi dog ($6.25) is a Kurobuta pork sausage smothered in cabbage, Bonito flakes, Japanese mayo and Okonomi sauce. When I had this it was pretty good but they seemed to have been in a rush and the Kurobuta pork was kinda slimy in an non-cooked kind of way.

The Terimayo is their supposed top seller that breaks it down to the basics. Meat, bun, shredded seaweed with teriyaki and Japanese mayo.

The Sakana ($6.25) is a fish sausage (Gyoniku) topped with tuna, Japanese mayo, soy sauce, and mixed orangic leaves. Overall this was pretty tasty but for me it’s a try once kind of dog.

So that’s Japadog, friendly service, mile long lineups during lunch and a tasty alternative to Vancouver’s street meat scene. If you live in Vancouver and haven’t had a Japadog I’d highly suggest you try it right away. If you’re visiting the city put this on you’re must do list. That way when you watch a travel show featuring Vancouver you can then point at the TV and yell “I’ve been there!” in turn making your friends jealous and you will be the master of the universe and everything in it.

The Good:
Imaginative menu
Unique style
Friendly staff

The bad
Kind of pricey
The lineups at lunch

Japadog
Burrard and Pender Vancouver BC
www.japadog.com

The Gilmore Restaurant in Burnaby is one of those places that has been around for a very long time and probably has seen it’s share of better days in the past.

Mushroom Burger at The Gilmore Restaurant

Run and staffed by the owners it’s the type of restaurant that you can go to for a quick cheap meal and walk away satisfied.

So how could I resist when I walked by and saw that one of the lunch specials was a mushroom burger with fries and soup or salad for $5.25?

The soup, Clam Chowder, was not much to talk about but I wasn’t expecting so. The hamburger however was surprising. Made by hand the patty was quite large, the mushrooms were a nice thick cut and the bun was nicely grilled w/ some butter to make it crunchy.

Other than the specials the menu is littered with additions that have made the cut as time goes one. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Chinese food and random other goodies make up the menu.

Overall, you can’t go wrong, this place has been around forever so you know they’re doing something right.

The Good:
Cheap prices
Good quality food.

The Bad:
The restaurant is showing it’s age

Gilmore Restaurant
4015 Hastings Street Burnaby BC
(604) 294-1044