I met up with Dickson, my stalwart pho companion, earlier this week to give the newest addition to Chinatown’s ever-revolving dining scene a spin. Basil Leaf, dubbed a Vietnamese restaurant and sports bar, opened about two weeks ago in an unfortunate location. Not unfortunate so much for the ghosts of the failed restaurants past, but [...]

Though Chinatown is only a ten minute walk from Downtown, depending on what event we’re running to, sometimes it is an additional distance we don’t have time to travel. That wasn’t the case on Thursday, when both the weather and our schedules were cooperative, with our Global Visions screening at Paramount falling at 8 (on [...]

The ongoing chronicles of pho continued at Ninh Kieu, an establishment I have passed by countless times on my way into Chinatown, but never really noticed. The only reason it stood out at all was due to the fact that they had, at some point, put up a white vinyl sign which attracted my eye. [...]

After a trip to the City Centre Market (after a few busy weekends and the Fringe, I think I was going through withdrawal), Mack and I walked over to Chinatown to check out the first East Meets West Festival. We weren’t sure what to expect – the grassroots committee had put together the festival as [...]

We followed up our early departure with our earliest start on our weeklong itinerary (if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a planner – perhaps too much so, but it’s hard to fight the tendencies). We managed on our second day to see all the Mall had to offer, and though the distance [...]

I took it upon myself to accompany a visiting consultant for lunch, and having worked with her over several months, thought I knew her well enough to suggest we try a new place within walking distance of the office. As it was one of those gloriously sunny spring days, I thought the brisk walk would [...]

I needed a quick lunch stop en route to Lucky 97 for a few groceries, so decided to take the opportunity to visit Van Loc in Chinatown. My usual banh mi haunt is Nhon Hoa 2 on 97th Street, but after two recent reviews in Vue and the Journal, I was curious to see what [...]

After making it through our salsa classes, I figured we deserved a reward of some kind. Logically, we headed to Double Greeting Wonton House. Exterior Situated in what Mack referred to as “the ghetto”, the restaurant was just a block away from where our classes were held, so it made sense to make the most [...]

I had been warned that Boualouang, a Thai and Laos eatery in Chinatown, was tiny, but I wasn’t prepared for a space that likely wasn’t ever meant to be a restaurant. Dickson and I intentionally planned a late meal, and arrived at Boualouang at 1pm in an attempt to avoid the lunch rush, and were [...]

I’ve mentioned in the past that an unintended benefit of changing office locations is being able to explore a new culinary neighbourhood. In my current case, that neighbourhood is the nearby Chinatown. I crossed the street from my usual banh mi place, Nhon Hoa 2 on 97th Street and found myself at Kim Tuyet (10645 [...]