If You Find Yourself in Vancouver's Chinatown...

I'm going to keep this brief because I have dumplings to eat. 

This picture makes me laugh.
No time to wait for the ciggy break to be over, we've got food to eat!

Chances are if you are visiting Vancouver, you're going to pay a visit to Chinatown--It's Canada's largest, and one of the most historic Chinatowns in North America, so not to be missed. Sure you'll find the gate and visit the classical gardens, but let's be honest; you came here to eat. 

There are so many places to eat, the range and variety of food is abundant, and there are really no bad options. On an average day we're looking for authentic (non-fusion), big flavours and bang for our buck. We can talk dim sum and cocktails later.

So, if you're out for a wander and looking to do a bit of a food crawl, let me share a few north stars that will guide you through Chinatown.

Stop One: T&T - Char Siu Bao/ BBQ Pork Bun

Get a couple of these hand pies (of the Chinese persuasion) for your initial walk about. The whitest, fluffiest bread wrapped around sweet pulled pork will be the warm hug you didn't know you needed. Honestly, we generally just pop into T&T Grocery (conveniently located across from a parking garage and the Sky Train) and grab a couple of these bad boys before even getting on with our day. If you're feeling weird about starting off at a grocery store, I get it. We also have been known to stop in at New Town Bakery.

Tyler's Pick: Pan-fried pork and chive dumplings.

New Town always has a huge line-up down the sidewalk.
If it were me, I'd skip the bao at New Town and fill up on egg tarts.

Stop Two: Chinatown BBQ - Wanton Mee 

Chinatown BBQ has some of the best Hong Kong style BBQ meats in town. Think Peking duck, soya chicken, char siew and all the other favourites. Their ginger-scallion sauce is above the rest and really makes the dishes POP! If you have to choose just one dish, we love the wanton noodles with BBQ pork, dry or in soup - you can't go wrong. The soup feels like a nourishing broth with the freshness of ginger on the side, while the dry noodles have just enough dark soy sauce to give them a tangy sweetness. Our go-to on an all-too-frequent rainy Vancouver afternoon.

Tyler's Pick: Anything with a hefty spoon of their ginger-scallion sauce and chilli oil to give it a kick. 

Stop Three: Money Foods Enterprises - BBQ Meat and Butcher

Next, you're going to want to toddle your way over to Gore & Keefer. Right on the corner is a butcher (the one with all the meat hanging in the window next to the fish market). Go in and grab yourself some rice and a good portion of crispy pork belly, roast duck, char siew...basically meat, it's a butcher. Get it to go, and pay in cash because there is no other option. Aptly named, this place is money. 

Tyler's Pick: 5 bucks worth of char siew, barbecue sauce dripping pork wrapped in brown paper, the perfect pocket food.

Stop Four: Kent's Kitchen - The General Cafeteria Line-Up 

Kent's Kitchen is one of Tyler's picks. The food is good, the price is right, and the authenticity takes him right back to Malaysian lunches at the Chinese food court. Cash only, you can walk right in and choose noodles or rice and point to a couple of dishes to plop on top. You'll end up with a container of something yummy that is in the ballpark of about 2kg of food and you'll be working on it for the next couple of days...yum! 

Tyler's Pick: The spicy pork neck, beef with broccoli on a pile of rice noodles.

Nothing fancy, but so so good!

An Adriatic AdVANture: Choose Your Own Adventure

Many moons ago I wrote about a prospective summer roadtrip, outlining the loosely made plans to travel around the Adriatic Sea. We did it and had a blast.

Now, with the prospect of a post-pandemic world (I've been optimistically proclaiming this since April 2020), it's time to dust off the old passports and start plotting. To pique some wanderlust, I took a jaunt down memory lane, reliving the seasides, the wine, the cheese, the misadventures and epic scenery of that summer.

This is a bit of a 'choose your own adventure' situation--Read in chronological order or click around the links. So where are we going first?!

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road!

• The Montenegrin Chapter
• The Croatian Chapter
• The Bosnian Chapter
• The Swiss Chapter
• The Italian Chapter 



The summer circuit!

An Adriatic AdVANture: The Montenegrin Chapter

At the birth of the planet the most beautiful encounter between land and sea must have been on the Montenegrin coast. -Lord Byron

Prerequisite reading- Time to Hit the Road!

After a quick visit to Canada, landing back in Albania for less than 12 hours, and working my inconvenient way into week three of a bout of guardia, we hit the road! Although there were a few mild moments of jetlag and indoor toilet-lust, we were beyond tickled to be in what has turned out to be our favourite European country, Montenegro! (I know I have proclaimed this at least a dozen times about different countries.)

We spent our first night in a dusty carpark overlooking the city of Ulcinj. As we indulged in a long lunch and seaside dips, the town had a lovely lazy vibe about it. Little did we know what we were in for that evening. We had struck the Montenegro Independence Day (Declaring independence in 2006, Montenegro is relatively juvenile)---which much like Canada Day ensured that the streets were packed, the music was bumping and the fireworks were popping off. It was a super crowded evening and the once vacant carpark was now jammed packed. Luckily the jetlag was very real. We put up the curtains and slept literally in the dead centre of the party. The next day we woke up to a much quieter New Year's Day-ish atmosphere. People were again chilling out on the beach and the Mediterranean vibes had been restored.

We then mozied up the coast to Petravac and properly setup camp for the first time since finishing the van. We rode our bikes, swam, ate fresh seafood and soaked up the campground for a few days.

Next up, we had our eyes set on Budva, but first thought we'd call-in on Sveti Stefan. In the past (1400's) Sveti Stefan was an island town just off the mainland. After a bunch of history, occupants and varied states of disrepair, it is presently a luxury resort with a connecting causeway. Sveti Stefan has been frequented by royalty and celebrities since the 1900's and is well beyond our price range. Even renting an umbrella and a couple of chairs was beyond our budget. Although access to the island resort is restricted to guests, the beaches, parks and beautiful village surrounding it are free for us commoners to gawk at and enjoy. We wandered around for awhile, had a beer and hit the trail for a night spent in Budva. 

Being just 20 minutes up the road from Sveti Stefan, it was no surprise that Budva was bursting with luxury yachts. With beachside carnivals, restaurants and bars leading to the beautiful walled city it was not hard to see why Budva was super busy with holiday-makers. A bit too bustling for our taste, we stayed only one night before heading onward to (one of) the City of Cats, Kotor. 

The Bay of Kotor, holy cow guys. As Tyler skillfully maneuvered the, at times single lane road which precariously hugged the shoreline of the bay, it quickly became clear that this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Lord Byron was not wrong. The Bay of Kotor is a large bay comprised of many smaller bays connected by narrow channels and home to multiple medieval towns. Throw in the Dinaric Alps and the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea and you've got yourself a deadly combo. We spent our days biking, swimming, checking out the monasteries, eating at the grill bars and reveling in the beauty of our surroundings. 

In the depths of the bay's crook is the fortified city of Kotor, which is where I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday! Tyler did a great job to make it special, decorating the van and pulling gifts from the storage. We spent the evening in the city, wandering the streets, drinking wine and making the trek up the 1400 steps to the San Giovanni Fortress for stunning sunset views of the city and shimmering sea below below. It was perfect! 

For a journey that could have taken us under two hours, we had just spent over two weeks driving the coastline of Montenegro. If given more time, we would have happily continued to explore the country but alas, King's Landing was calling! Next stop Dubrovnik, Croatia!

....But first we had to cross the border into Croatia. After waiting in a long, slow line, we were asked to pullover for a vehicle inspection. Having previously experienced some scrutiny over our Albanian license plates, we were not phased. After an hour of waiting with no movement, we spotted a stern officer heading our way, snapping the old rubber gloves on looking as if he was ready to rip the van apart. Seeing this, we cheerfully slid the backdoor open to reveal the absolute party-pit of a van littered with balloons and pool floaties. Recoiling at this juvenile club-house of a situation, the wind seemed to have been knocked out of his sails. Scattered, he had a quick peek through my purse, asked if we smoke marijuana and bid us adieu.

Checkmate.