Guu Garlic (Robson)

Last night, I went downtown to have dinner with a friend at Guu Garlic on Robson Street.

Also known as Guu with Garlic, someone had given me a Travellers Deck card to this Japanese izakaya (an establishment serving alcohol and tapas) and I wanted to use it before the year’s end. I’d been there once or twice with much larger groups and, as is the nature of sharing tapas with a lot of people, didn’t get to eat as much as I would have liked. Here was an opportunity to really sit and savour what Guu has to offer and my friend had just finished her exams — what better reason did we need to celebrate?

The deal on the card was one free dessert with a minimum of $15 purchase (maximum two people).

Café D’Lite (West Broadway)

Someone suggested that I should write about all my favourite dining spots in Vancouver and share them online, so that’s exactly what I’m starting to do. These posts will be in no particular order, but they will generally be about places I’ve enjoyed and would be happy to go to again. If you have similar preferences to mine, then you may like to look at some of these suggestions.

First up on the list is a little place on West Broadway (between Trutch and Balaclava) called Café D’Lite.

Although this place is meant to serve plenty of Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine, I’ve never spent more than a cursory glance over the menu items because I always know what I’m going to get: Hainan chicken with a bowl of yellow rice for each person. The only question we ever really have is: Do we want a whole chicken (~$23) or half of one (~$12)?

In our case last night, my brother and I opted for a whole one — I wanted leftovers for the next day.

Served cold over cucumber slices and with little orange dishes of chili sauce and ginger garnish on the side, nothing complements Hainan chicken like warm yellow rice. The cups of cheap tea were also surprisingly comforting to me on this cool, rainy summer day as I ploughed my way through a good third of the chicken: perhaps it’s because the place is so small and laissez-faire and service is a matter of waving your hand at someone to grab their attention, it reminds me of the city I grew up in; or perhaps it’s because this was one of the first places my brother brought me to when I first moved to Vancouver and was struggling to find a foothold, and subsequently latched onto.

At any rate, it was a pleasure for me to return here yet again, to chat about the day’s happenings and to reflect, afterwards, how much has changed since then.

Café D’Lite
3144 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 733-8882

Hours
Mon–Thu: 11:00 am–8:00 pm
Fri–Sat: 11:00 am–9:00 pm