Thankfully I have pool chairs and beaches to hang out on ?. 

Beach blankets: Zaful

Glad I finally got to have my first beach day of the year. It’s been sunny and warm in Vancouver for the past couple of weeks (BLESS) but I’ve either been busy with school, work, or going away to have had any time to spend at the beach. This past weekend I finally had a bright and sunny day off so Terri and I hit the beach! Kits beach was bumpin’ with beach-goers who all probably had the same day planned as we did. Thankfully we got lucky and found parking a block away which is SO rare especially on a day as nice as last sunday. 

I made it a goal last year to try to have more adventures. This year I’m making it a goal to gym and beach as often as I can this summer. If I’m not darker than I’ve ever been after this summer then I will have failed. 

If you were wondering, my deliciously adorable beach blankets are from Zaful. LOVE their swimwear selection and affordable prices. A lot of people ask me whether or not you can trust these sorts of websites and the products they offer. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Zaful so far! As long as you do your research and read the reviews on the products, I think you really can’t go wrong!

What’s your favourite beach in Vancouver?

On a spontaneous thursday evening, my lovely friend Megan and I decided to grab dinner together since I was close by her place studying. We always eat in the Kitsilano neighbourhood, so we decided to urbanspoon a place in Kits that we haven’t tried. We found this place called the Oakwood Canadian Bistro.

I’ve actually heard about the Oakwood before from some other friends, but have never bothered to try it. I thought that it was great that the food was all made from fresh, local products. Anything from their “bread to the pastas, butchery to the sauces”, they are all locally sourced. Not to mention their service was great as well. Somebody was always ready to check on us and made sure we had everything we needed.

We decided to order 3 dishes to share so we could try a few items. The first dish we got was the rabbit rillette, truffle butter, shaved foie gras, caraway epi bread, and pickled veg. Interestingly, the dish was served in the jar.

Our server explained to us that this dish is placed in layers. The rabbit rillette sat at the bottom, the truffle butter in the middle, and the shaved foie gras on the top. We ripped the bread into pieces, and used the dish as a spread. Oh. My. Word. This was AMAZING. And although it looks like a small dish, it was actually pretty filling because of the bread and the rich flavours.

The next dish we ordered was the seared scallops, truffle sabayon (cooked and whipped yolks with seasoning), dijon spaetzle (small dumplings similar to pasta), bacon crumble, and black kale powder. Another perfect dish; Packed with creamy, delicious flavour and perfectly pan-fried scallops. I adore scallops so this was definitely right up my alley. Also usually I can’t eat too much truffle because of the intense richness, but with both this dish and the first one, they used just the right amount of truffle so that it wasn’t too overwhelming.

The last dish we ordered was the mussels in tomato coconut broth, house baguette and cilantro. We didn’t think that the dishes (that looked so small) would be so filling, so we got it with fries too.

Honestly, we could’ve gone without this dish and we would’ve left satisfied and full, but of course we under estimated these dishes, and ended up not being able to finish this dish. We did manage to put away quite a bit of it though. Enough for me to tell you that it was also absolutely amazing. The coconut tomato sauce was amazingly delicious, tasting a little bit like thai curry. Tasted amazing with the fries and bread as well.

Overall, I was extremely happy with my experience at the Oakwood. The food was good, the restaurant was beautifully decorated, and the service was good. It is definitely on the pricier side, but I think it was perfectly worth it. Between the two of us, the bill came out to around 60 dollars. I will leave the menu here so you can check out their other dishes, along with the prices.

I think I would give this place a high 9/10. If you’re ever to go for a little bit of a fancier meal, definitely go and check it out.

The Oakwood is located at 2741 West Fourth Avenue

 Their phone number is 604 558 1965

and their hours of operation are : 

Dinner: 5pm – Late (closed Mondays) – reservations excepted

Late Night Menu – 10:30 – Close
 
Brunch: 10:00am – 2:45 Saturday & Sundays – no reservations

Thanks for reading,

More soon.

This is a place I’ve passed by countless times yet only recently actually visited. I used to live in the Kitsilano area when I was younger, and I used to pass by this little place all the time. But now that I actually make my own money, I can actually afford to buy as much coffee as my little heart desires.

I was actually cafe hopping one rainy spring day and decided to give this one ago. I didn’t actually get to try their coffee (I already had two in two hours at the previous cafe and I would’ve probably been bouncing off the walls if I had anymore) but I did try their Matcha Latte.

I don’t know if you’ve read my previous Vancouver Cafe Crawl post (I wrote about 49th Parallel), but I have quite the sweet tooth, meaning I enjoy my beverages quite sweet. I think the Matcha Latte here would have been absolutely fantastic for anyone who truly loves the natural bitter taste of good matcha, but I definitely had to add some honey to my drink before I could enjoy it. It was really delicious though, once I sweetened it up.

One of my favourite features about Arbutus Coffee is just how it looks. It sits on the corner of Arbutus st. and W6th Ave. and looks like the most welcoming, quaint, and home-y little gem ever (reference the first photo !). It actually reminds me quite a bit of one of my other hidden gem cafes in Vancouver, Marche St. George (next time I visit there, I’ll take some photos for you guys), in the sense that it nestles in a neighbourhood area rather than being located on a main road.

The inside of Arbutus Coffee is warm and woodsy. It was the perfect vibe for gloomy day. Not to mention they were playing GREAT music. It was obviously one of the employee’s playlist because it was a great mix of tropical/deep house and popular music.

I would recommend this place 100% purely just for the vibe it gives off. The staff were all very friendly, and the interior was just perfection. Like I said, I visited on a typical raincouver day, but I think this would be a great place to come to even on a warm sunny one. They have tables set up outside for the good days.

let me know if you’ve been to Arbutus Coffee and what you thought about it ! or if you have any suggestions of cool coffee houses to visit in Vancouver for my next Cafe Crawl destination please fire away ! 

More soon,