I always look forward to my adventures with Avocado (aka Vegan Buddy but I wanted her to have a food nickname too!). We don’t get to see each other as often anymore because we’re both busy with different schedules, but I always treasure our time together when we do get to hang out.
Our March vegan adventure was Meet On Main! I found this place online and it seemed to have great reviews, so I suggested it to Avocado!
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!
The restaurant was bumpin’ on a Wednesday night! All the tables were full, the place was buzzing with conversations, and music was blasting.
I love going to vegan restaurants because it means I have the freedom of ordering anything off the menu, whereas usually I am limited to only 2 or 3 choices and have to make modifications.
We decided on sharing a few items!
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!
It came with al dente penne pasta which was comforting, warm and filling. It didn’t taste anything like cheese nor was it gooey like cheese, but we both still enjoyed it. We had a hard time identifying what made the sauce creamy, and guessed it was some kind of nut base.
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.
I really liked the batter, which was a bit chewy and dense. It came with a sweet chili sauce that reminded me of Korean or Asian-style sweet chili due to the ginger inside.
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.
It was a bit too spicy for Avocado, so she only had one piece. After a couple more pieces for myself, it got pretty spicy so I took turns eating the creamy mac and cheese to balance the heat. The creamy dip was also pretty watery, so it didn’t help to extinguish the heat.
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!
We actually ordered the chocolate pecan crumble but raspberry was fine too. It was okay, but definitely not worth the price. The vegan vanilla ice cream was delicious though. It was more of a vanilla bean flavour than plain vanilla and enhanced the flavour of the raspberry crumble.
All in all, we enjoyed our vegan adventure to Meet On Main. I would recommend hanging here with some friends for snacks instead of a dinner, especially if you want to try something new. Our server was also very friendly and attentive throughout the night.
Although, it is a bit on the pricier side for what the ingredients are so I wouldn’t come that often. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt it was overpriced for veggies. But I feel like Meet is a vegan restaurant staple in Vancouver, so I’m glad we got to check it off our list!
Yay!
Chongqing Noodle House is located in a large plaza, with plenty of parking. Right next door, there was a restaurant with the similar colours and branding as Chongqing which we thought was amusing.
We like to eat dinner early because a) I don’t understand how people aren’t hungry after a long day at work, and b) we hate waiting in lines. The restaurant wasn’t full when we arrived, but it filled up throughout out meal.
Spicy beef noodle soup: My go-to! I ordered this half spicy due to my stomach problems. Even though I love my spice, I gotta make sacrifices for health. The initial first bites were delicious, and then it sorta went downhill from there. The soup was very salty and did not have much depth to it. It tasted like MSG water with a ton of spice.
Don’t remember what the boyfriend ordered, but he did not enjoy his noodles either. He also found the soup to be very flat and salty only. I guess you can already tell from the broth and how clear it is, although yes, I know that sometimes clear broth could be tasty.
Remember the numbing tongue feeling I got? Well, it was double the unpleasantness for him because he ordered full spice! But we were both troopers and finished our bowls. At the end of it, our mouths were just very parched from all the salt, and also tingly from the Sichuan peppercorns.
Walking in, the restaurant was very comfortable and had high ceilings. It wasn’t too busy and Cocoa said she never had to wait in line with her previous visits. There was a huge sign on the wall, as you can see in the pic, that warned customers of possible long waits because “you can’t rush perfection”. Indeed, many of the negative reviews I read about this place was that food came slowly… which was also the case for us =( So, don’t come here if you’re in a rush!
Many of their rolls came with sauce, so I had to double check with the kitchen to make sure they were dairy-free. Luckily, most of the sauces were mayo-based, which I could eat. People are always surprised when they find out mayo doesn’t contain dairy! It usually doesn’t, unless the restaurant decides to mix some cream or butter in there for extra flavour.
They really pay attention to the minor details here, which adds to the longer wait! When my plate arrived, it came with a shot glass of dry ice that looked awesome!
Sushi Ville is known to slather a tremendous amount of sauce on their rolls, as evident in their pictures. Knowing that, I decided to order my sauce on the side and I was so glad I did. The boyfriend didn’t, and he ended up regretting it after because the sauce was too overpowering and felt heavy after awhile.
BC Roll: The boyfriend loves his BC Roll. To this day, Uomo has the best BC Rolls and this was still the case after coming to Sushi Ville.
Spicy tuna tataki roll: The boyfriend loves his tuna tataki, so he chose this for his special roll. There was a good amount of spice, topped with a healthy dose of fresh onions. However, after a few pieces, he found the sauce to be a bit too much.
Spider roll: Unlike our special rolls, Cocoa’s special roll did not come with as much sauce. It was topped with tempura flakes instead. I don’t remember what it came with apart from some tempura, but Cocoa did not have any complaints about it. I also liked how there were specks of pink in the roll, although I can’t remember what it was!
The boyfriend, myself and Jerky have never been here before… so after parking, we got a bit lost and almost wandered into a questionable alley. We saw a taco sign and actually ended up stumbling in through the back. Actually we weren’t even sure that we were at the right place, because we didn’t see any signage and the menus said “Tacobar” LOL.
Sadly, many of the items had dairy in it so I couldn’t enjoy the flavours to its full potential. That was probably one of the reasons I thought it was just okay.
Steak taco, $7: The steak taco came with grilled Wagyu steak, pickled chayote, pineapple, and some sort of mayo sauce. The boyfriend was a bit reluctant to order this because Wagyu beef is normally $150+ per piece, so he wasn’t sure how good the quality of their Wagyu steak was. I should have listened to him because the steak was pretty dry and bland. The only thing that saved this dish was the sweet pineapple and mayo concoction.
Pork al pastor, $6: This taco came with spit roasted pork, pineapple, pickled onion, and cilantro. Unlike the steak taco, the pork was juicy and full of seasoned flavour! The pineapple added a nice touch of sweetness. I enjoyed this taco a lot more than the steak.
Wings, $10: The boyfriend and I decided to share some wings as well. The wings came marinated in chili salt and was served with lime and valentina. The batter was a bit alarming because it was so dark, meaning that the oil probably wasn’t that fresh or new. But, it tasted delicious! They were piping hot, juicy crispy, and crunchy.
Octopus party to protect people’s privacy LOL!
We found the waiting area a bit strange because it was so big! Couldn’t they have fit a couple more tables instead of making such a big waiting area? But who am I to judge, I’ve never owned a restaurant before.
Pickled cucumbers, free: For their grand opening, we received a complimentary plate of pickled cucumbers to snack on. Later on, these became imperative because our food was taking so long, and we were haaaannnngry!
Milk tea, $4.00: The boyfriend is a huge fan of milk tea, so he wanted to see how this place was. The milk tea took quite awhile to come. After asking, we were told it was on the way and that there were many drinks ahead.
Braised beef shank in noodle soup, $8.95: I chose the thick noodles, which were delicious and so comforting!
Deep fried Taiwanese nuggets in beef soup, $8.75: The boyfriend ordered thin noodles, which he enjoyed.