Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Category Archives: Eating Out


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Eating Out in RC: Bernie’s Bureks and Restaurant

BY PAUL REID

5737 Battison Street (at Tyne and Kingsway)
Vancouver, BC
604-526-6580

Make sure you’re hungry when ordering
Bernie’s hamburger. It’s huge!

Greetings food fans! So where are we here. February. Ah, an even better month now with this Family Day. And our community is much better off now with the addition of Bernie’s Bureks and Restaurant. If you haven’t done so yet, I highly recommend that you attend Bernie’s.

Bernie’s has been open just over a month now. Perhaps you’ve noticed the Bernie’s sign at the corner of Tyne and Kingsway, ground floor of the Kingsway Continental (former Jaguar’s restaurant).

Our man, Bernie, is actually a woman, aka Erika Marinovic. She is bringing to our community’s culinary tableau all the best from the Balkan region of southeastern Europe that includes your former Yugoslavia, from where Erika hails. Here, in the Balkan region, according to Wikipedia, we find our Albanians, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Croats, Gorani, Greeks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenes, Romanians, Armenians and Turks.

Have you ever had a burek? Bernie’s bureks are homemade filo pastry pies made entirely from scratch, including the filo pastry. The fresh filo pasty is what really separates Bernie’s bureks from others. Currently available in cheese, beef, potato, spinach, beef, potato, sour cherry and apple, they are sold by the slice or by the pie.

You can have them on location in restaurant or take them with you fresh or frozen. People will buy several pies to cook at home as they want them.

Bernie’s bureks are becoming famous across the country, something Erika attributes largely to the European truck drivers, who load up on bureks for the road, spreading the word about Bernie’s across Canada and down through the United States.

Today, my friends, I want to inform you about another of Bernie’s specialties, their humbly named hamburger with mayo, pepper spread, onions, lettuce and tomatoes ($9.75). There is apparently a half pound of beef that goes into this burger, so much that it requires a specially made bun (which was nicely toasted and delicious, by the way). Served with a delicious coleslaw, the burger was huge and delicious. On my patented Gourmet/Gourmand Scale of Goodness (taste x size divided by price), we derive a very high number indeed. I urge one and all to flock to Bernie’s to taste for yourself.

My accomplice enjoyed a slice of burek and soup of the day ($8.95). The burek of course, with the homemade crust, was the likely the best in Canada, and the homemade soup is the real rib-sticking deal for which Bernie’s is renowned.

So go to Bernie’s my friends. It’s a nice place. You can see them making the handmade filo; you can meet the lovely Erika, and have yourself a delicious, affordable and filling meal.

Copyright (c) 2015 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Eating Out in RC: Lotus Seed Vegetarian Restaurant

BY PAUL REID

#180 – 3665 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC V5R 5W2
(604) 431-7789

Coconut green curry at Lotus Seed Vegetarian Restaurant

Spicy Thai green curry at Lotus Seed Vegetarian Restaurant

Greetings RC. Good news: we have a new restaurant in the community that is going to help lead us into a more healthy lifestyle. Let’s give a big warm welcome to Van Loc and Amy who are bringing to our community health and awareness. “Awareness of healthy choices for food, our bodies, our community and our planet.” Their headquarters: the Lotus Seed Vegetarian Restaurant, named for the lotus, a divine symbol in Asian traditions representing the virtues of purity.

Located in the Boundary Plaza (at the corner of Boundary Road and Kingsway), between Starbucks and Bikram Yoga Metrotown, you can find parking there, free for up to one hour. Of course, though, being a healthy type, you may be arriving on foot. In that case, just head on in.

Once inside the nicely renovated interior, sporting a Zen-like simplicity and beauty, one can now choose from among Lotus Seed’s gourmet vegetarian offerings. All the menu will likely grow, Van Loc and Amy are starting off with relatively few items to ensure quality and freshness.

My accomplice and I, and guest accomplice, our niece Tania, can tell you first hand about three of them. We had the Spicy Thai Green Curry (tofu, mushrooms, potatoes, cauliflower, pineapple, green pepper, carrots, chick peas, green beans, garlic and onion with coconut base). With choice of rice or tortilla ($8.95). We also had the Zucchini Organic Brown Rice Lasagna (with home-made tomato sauce, top with sunflower, sesame, basil pesto ($8.95). And to round it out, the South American Baked Burrito (cheese, beans, basmati rice, sour cream, red cabbage, salsa, green pepper and guacamole, $8.95). We shared everything and my two accomplices and I gave each dish a big thumbs up! Super delicious. You will taste the love and goodness in each bite and boy, were we full.

Lotus Seed owners Amy and Van Loc

Lotus Seed owners Amy and Van Loc

Although this is by far not their first restaurant venture, this is their first vegetarian one. Van Loc, who has been a vegetarian for about five years now, says, “I had epiphany in my life where I wanted to make better choices for myself and my family. Better choices starting with food. And now I hope to make that food for everyone.”

A natural-born chef, Van Loc has been cooking from an early age. “Because I wanted to, because I have a passion for food.” Also because he started to criticize his mother’s cooking so much that she let him take over. That was when he was 12!

So, we’re telling you, Lotus Seed is the bomb, but you can’t really know until you taste for yourself. So if you haven’t done so already, do yourself a favour and head to the Lotus Seed. You can welcome Van Loc and Amy to RC, and of course try Lotus Seed’s healthy and delicious vegetarian food. You will love it. Bon appetit.

Copyright (c) 2014 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Eating Out in RC: Sushi Miga

4441 Boundary Road, Vancouver
Phone: 604-563-0722
Open every day 11 am – 9:30 pm

BY PAUL REID

Sushi Miga’s Party Tray A (a mere $22)

Sushi Miga’s Party Tray A (a mere $22) along with a few side dishes, left the accomplice and I more than well satisfied. Photo by Paul Reid

Greetings food fans. I want to tell you this month about the good folks and food I found down at Sushi Miga, the object of my accomplice and I’s latest gastronomic investigation.

First, so we can get a vision, do you know where the north end of Joyce street curls around into Boundary? Where James St. Café used to be for so many years? It’s in there. Remember, with ample parking to the north?

It’s nice. There’s a nice new sushi bar in the back; a familiar yet revamped layout with some new décor. My favourite is the new liquor licence and the ice cold genuine Asahi draft on tap at a mere $4.90 a pint. That alone is worth the trip. But folks, there’s more.

My accomplice and I ordered Party Tray A (44 pieces of tuna, salmon, kappa, California, spicy tuna, yam and dynamite rolls – $22); prawn and vegetable tempura ($5); gyoza ($5); and miso soup ($1.50).

How often can two people dine on healthy, delicious, visually appealing, tongue-tantalizing, stomach-filling goodness (including that cold Asahi draft beer) for under $40, and still have some to take home for a snack later? With Sushi Miga now in our ’hood, the answer is every day.

Now about the good folks, let’s start with Simon Kang – proud new father of Sushi Miga – who knows that he is not alone in Vancouver when it comes to sushi restaurants. “Apparently there are twice as many sushi restaurants in Vancouver than Los Angeles, and they have 10 times the population!” Simon says.

So how will he set Sushi Miga apart? One thing will be the addition of Korean fare to the menu. This will coincide with the arrival of Sushi Miga’s new chef, a master of Japanese and Korean cuisine, who joined the team in June 2014.

One of the current chefs is Simon’s old-time friend. We’re talking high-school chums, serving in the Korean military together, 40-year-strong type of friendship. It was his encouragement paired with Simon’s background in restaurant supplies that brought Sushi Miga to life.

Sushi Miga is already involved in our community’s awesome spirit with a generous donation to Graham Bruce Elementary’s recent fundraiser. “I want Sushi Miga to be a cornerstone of this community over time. We may not be the largest or the fanciest restaurant, but we want to provide fresh quality food to the community, in good amounts, at fair prices.”

But don’t just listen to me or Simon. Taste for yourself. Not just Sushi Miga either, but all fine eateries across this fine community. Bon appetite!

Copyright (c) 2014 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News