Discovering the Far East

After discovering the far west on Wednesday (see Discovering Kerrisdale/Dunbar), les vacances today lead me to stroll to the far east and discover...

The first stop was Teng's Market, Victoria and 34th corner. Always packed with surprising food, packaged or fresh, today's amazing finds included Lettuce Stems (wonder if I can pull out my jardin lettuce stems, but what to do with it?), Lotus Roots, Nagaimo Yam and, what I could not resist buying, those cute looking Golden Melons.

Just south of there a sign on the sidewalk caught my attention. Harmony Cake House, Victoria between 34th and 35th, according to the sign, sells regular and eggless cakes. I thought an eggless cake will make for a healthy dessert tonight, but apparently they only make them as special orders. Every other item in the store was so yellow looking that I think they brushed everything with egg yolk prior to baking.

Crossing the busy 41st, the first interesting looking place was Bon Bon Bakery, Victoria between 41st and 42nd. Highly recommended by a neighbour, I thought I will check it out. Not the best selection of breads nor sweets, and the service was bad. A bakery I know on Fraser Street (see Saturday Shopping) remains to be our neighbourhood's baking pride.

 

A block south of there, I stumbled upon a block that felt like a Mini Chinatown, Victoria Block between 43th and 44th. There are close to 20 Chinese businesses in that one block ranging from dim sum restaurants, seafood restaurants, grocers, herbal shops, to cake houses all cramped together in one block and packed with shoppers. I am now very excited knowing I can walk to my own neighbourhood's Chinatown.

Continuing south I went through 4 to 5 no-stores blocks, but kept on going until suddenly a small little shopping stretch popped up on Victoria between 48th and 50th. These two blocks have everything: Value Village, banks, gas station, wine making store, liquor store, at least four sushi restaurants, antique store, two martial arts equipment stores, computer repairs, Fido store, appliances, pharmacy, clinics ... and those are the ones I noticed or remembered. 

But one cute diner caught my eye, Victoria Restaurant, 6482 Victoria Drive. An old fashioned Canadian-Chinese diner with a lovely older couple working it, extremely clean, nice pleasant service and a huge menu. Too early for greasy food, I opted for a bowl of oatmeal. Worth checking out for brunch or burgers one day.

 

Right across the street is another eye-catching restaurant - Neighbour's Restaurant, 6493 Victoria Drive. It was recommended to me once described as basic place but good food. It was closed for lunch, but they do deliver and my day ended with a pizza delivery from them. Good delivery service for sure, nice pizza crust but packed with layers of cheap thick cheese that is almost burnt.

 

And if that does not keep you entertained, you can hop on a private free shuttle bus on either Victoria and 38th or 49th that will take you directly to Edgewater Casino downtown!