It was Avocado’s birthday, so I told her to pick a restaurant to go to! She suggested Nuba, which sounded good to me! I came here once before three years ago, but to the Gastown location. This visit, we went to the Olympic Village location because it was easier to find parking in this area.
Although I did say above that this was their Olympic Village location, I guess I should clarify and correct myself because this Nuba location isn’t actually in Olympic Village. It is located on the outskirts of Olympic Village, a block away from Earnest and by Main Street.
Walking in, the decor at this location was very geometric, colourful and had sort of a 70s but modern twist to it. I quite enjoyed the decor here and the restaurant was pretty comfortable. Towards the end of our dinner when the sun had set, they dimmed the lights and gave each table a candle!
Garden falafel,$9: The falafel was a blend of chickpeas, fava beans, veggies, and spices. It was quite delicious, flavourful and savoury. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve tried falafel before but I was certainly impressed with this one.
It also came with a refreshing side of hummus, which we put inside the complementary pita bread. The green sauce on the side was also tasty and spicy.
Chicken tawook with hummus, $12: Oh man, this was absolutely delicious! The chicken was incredibly juicy, fragrant and bursting with flavour. There was a nice grilled taste to it as well. Adding the vegan tzatziki sauce on the side and hummus, I would order this again in a heartbeat!
Also, we didn’t even know that the tzatziki sauce was vegan until the waitress told us… we definitely thought it was made out of yogurt or sour cream. How amazing!!!
Chocolate quinoa cake with Earnest cardamom ice cream, $8: I suggested walking over to Earnest Ice Cream afterwards, but Avocado was not feeling it. But, we decided on trying the chocolate quinoa cake which came with a side of cardamom ice cream from Earnest! So, I did get my Earnest fix after all.
The cardamom ice cream was unlike any flavour of ice cream I’ve tried before. It was very unique but I really enjoyed it, and would get a scoop of this next time I go to Earnest! It has a subtle, nutty flavour to it. So yummy.
The chocolate quinoa cake was a bit too dry and crumbly for my liking. It wasn’t moist enough and since the texture was different due to the quinoa.
Overall, we enjoyed our visit and the food was delicious! The only bad thing is that portions are a bit small, which I remembered from last time. So don’t come completely starving!
Yay!
(Also, if you’re wondering/shocked why I had dairy *gasp*, I’ve been trying to incorporate a small amount into my diet to hopefully be able to eat it full on again. For those who are new here and wondering why this is shocking, it’s because I basically cut out all dairy two years ago due to stomach and digestive problems.)
The stuffed mushroom with avocado paste was so good! Same with the stuffed tomato cup!
Last but not least, a close-up of the vegan desserts!
Kale caesar, large $11.25: Finally, something familiar haha! No complaints about this caesar salad. After finding out that caesar dressing is made from an anchovy (type of fish) base, I find it pretty impressive when vegan caesar salad tastes like a non-vegan one.
Spicy kimchi roll, $7: This was my favourite of the day… probably because it had seaweed and rice (albeit, brown rice which is okay as well). This is actually only ‘half raw’ because the rice is cooked. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t that full from the few bites of that ‘burger’ or because zoodles aren’t filling, but I really liked this. It came with kimchi, sesame sauce, avocado, cucumber (or as they say “cuke”), carrot, peppers and sprouts.
It is in a very random and unique location, away from any foodie hotspots. The Workshop is tucked inside North Vancouver, along a stretch of quiet road that is mostly outdated car repair shops. I’m not too familiar with North Van transit other than the Seabus and Phibbs Exchange, so not sure how transit-friendly this place is.
There was a small nook on the side of the cafe where you can buy healthy and vegan to-go treats.
Organic nama shoyu ramen, $12.99: I am a big fan of truffle oil so naturally, I was curious to see if this would deliver. And boyyyy, did it deliver.
Since both pictures above didn’t include their bouncy noodles, here is a picture of them! I believe you might be able to change your noodles to either rice noodles or udon if you wanted. I overheard another customer saying that.
Avocado and I wanted to sit and chat more, but the place was getting busier and a line was forming so we each just got a pastry to go.
I called to make a reservation but unfortunately was told that they don’t accept reservations. I waited about 15 minutes and took the time to read over the menu options, which was perfect as Avocado had just arrived. And I tried to save her the meter parking in front of the restaurant that had 49 minutes remaining… Success!
Mac n’ cheese, $10.75: I haven’t had the regular version of this dish for so long because it’s dairy death. But this one is vegan so yay!
Sweet chili cauliflower, $9.75: Most Yelp reviews and my coworker raved about this, so we had to try it. The cauliflower pieces were bigger than I expected and fully cooked.
Hot chiggin’ things, $9.75: This was their take on vegan buffalo chicken! The first bite had the texture of real chicken and I had to do a double take. But after a few more bites, it had a denser texture than chicken.
Chili cheez fries, $10.75: This was our least touched and we ended up packing most of it back home. Although it was good, I don’t think the both of us were in the mood for fries as a main course, and my stomach wasn’t feeling good from before so I didn’t want to aggravate it with oily fries.
Warm raspberry crumble with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, $8.50: Even though we were both already full, I rarely get the chance to have dessert since it’s usually always dairy (sorbet is boring) so we had to!