Hey guys,

I'm driving out there this weekend with my wife and 6 month old daughter, and staying for 5 days. What's some good places for Chinese and Japanese food? Does not strictly have to be Asian cuisine. My budget per day for lunch and dinner is about $60-70 for 2 ppl.

Do you guys have any decent sized malls? Also, where are the "FOB" malls located?

Is there any sightseeing places? Looking for other fun stuff to do as well, so my daughter doesn't get bored, even though she's not that old.

All suggestions welcome, as I haven't been there in over 10 years. If there's a website with listings, that'd be great as well. I'll be staying in the downtown area.

Thanks.

Being that I just relocated to Vancouver, I consider myself still a resident tourist. So here's some websites about vancity that i found useful:

http://www.bcpassport.com/
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/medi...ases.php?id=62
http://www.vancouver.hm/vanframe.html

can't go wrong by going to:
- granville island
- visit robson street
- Richmond (no.3 road) for all things asian and FOB.
- when the sun is out, white rock is nice. strolling along crescent beach was a pleasant experience
- kitsilano
- day time walkaround gastown and chinatown. but beware of the seedy parts.
- North and West Vancouver are always nice to visit on good days as it rains alot there.
- is the capilano bridge open? can be quite fun for the young ones. and then head up to Grousse mtn.
- if you still have time, maybe a ferry hop to victoria? dunno.
- on a nice day, rent bicycles and bike along the seawall.

Grouse Mountain--great views.
Visit Whistler--nice atmosphere.
Capilano Suspension Bridge--DON'T drop your daughter over the edge (like someone actually did--don't worry the baby survived, but the mother was charged)
Kitsilano/Spanish Banks is a really nice place for a walk along the shore and to watch the sunset--can be less crowded than Stanley Park and parking is free.
Vancouver Museum--they have a REAL Egyptian mummy on display. Also a beautiful locale. There's usually people flying kites out there.
Vancouver Aquarium--good for kids and adults
Science World--your daughter is too young but you guys might enjoy it. There is a play area inside, too.
Gastown--neat shops and Storyeum (new exhibit show thing)
Vancouve Maritime Museum--if you're into those kinds of things
Downtown mall = Pacific Center
Park Royale (north and south) = mall in west van (north shore)
Metrotown/Metropolis = mall in Burnaby (accessible by sky train from downtown)

you forgot richmond center = mall in Richmond (along number 3 road)

heroin. we have lots of that here. safe warm rooms and free clean needles for the procedure as well.

I highly recommend you to try out the lunch in Richmond restaurant cause it's awefully cheap, but the food is good. If you wanna try really good chinese/hong kong style lunch, try the restaurant in Parker Place in Richmond. I think it's called Mario. Lunch is like $5.95 for a plate + drink. $8.95 -$10.95 for set lunch. (actually, most lunch in Chinese restaurants in Richmond are cheap)

Then u can buy some pirate LV or Prada hand bags inside the Parker place mall. Walk over to central plaza, try out the delicious bakery, $1/ 3 buns. Save that for snack.

Headover to Aberdeen centre, walk into Daiso, look for anything that worth more than $2 to you and buy a bunch.

If you still feel like seeing more Chinese/Asians, walk across the street, go into T&T supermarket, they have some free sampler Asian food for you. If u're still feeling a bit hungry, go into the shopping mall named Yaohan Centre. You'll see another supermarket and they do have free sampler too.

I don't do the above, but it's something that Caucasians don't know much about. It's all about "best bang for the bucks" right !

English bay, stanley park

i think everything else has been said

This is good info. I'm making a trip out this summer.

There's Storyeum in Gastown as well, though I've never been myself I've heard good things about it.

Not sure when the season is (I'm sure a quick google would bring answers) but Squamish is the bald eagle capital of the world, you could take a quick trip out there and also visit Rocket Rally, then continue on up to Whistler.

^
that's what I call a road trip.

If your daughter is old enough to walk, and say a few words, I recommend hitting up the aquarium. I took my kids the other day, and it was amazing. Coming from Alberta, I'm sure she hasn't seen a lot of sealife, plus it's basically inside Stanley Park. Hit them up on the weekend, and you can take the Stanley Park mini-train and petting zoo.

If you're interested in a good Dim Sum restaurant, there's one right across from the Hotel Vancouver. It's on the second floor, north side.

I'm sure someone who lives d/t can offer more info on the place I'm talking about. Their sharkfin soup is well worth it, and their dumplings are so good they've made grown men cry.

I definatly recommend the Aquarium. Lots of shows and there are exhibits that let children ( and children at hart ) touch the marine life. My fiance and I go at least 2 times a year and it is fun everytime .

Sorry for the big picture, I suck at the Computers

Locals will have to help me out with the name, but you have to go to the icecream shop that has some 150 flavors avalible at any time. Garlic flavored icecream FTW.

EDIT:

And I just remembered Anton's Pasta Bar, in Burnaby. Plates the size of a watermelon, heaped with pasta for 10 bucks. The catch is that you may have to wait outside for hours.

EDIT2: Found the name: La Casa International Ice Cream (I think)
http://findfamilyfun.com/lacasa.htm
http://www.lacasagelato.com/

If someone knows the name of that icecream shop, please let me know.

Thanks for all the sugguestions everyone. It's been very helpful. Maybe I'll run into someone while I'm there.

Mario's Gelati on Quebec and 1st?

^
Are you thinking Mario's Gelati?
Off Main and 2nd (or close to there)?



edit: Darn you Banman, you're quicker than me.

The other place is Casa Gelato, which I think is Commercial and 1st or thereabouts.

I think you want Casa Gelato on Venables. 206 Flavours on premises.

http://www.lacasagelato.com

Oops! 218. My bad.

That's the one.

Anton's is not worth the wait imo :|

The pasta is only so-so and they are quite skimpy on the meats...

Of course, I can't think of a replacement italian restaurant off the top of my head.

Place on 4th Ave near Burrard . . . Anducci's, maybe?

EDIT - It's Chianti.

My attraction is probably entirely nostalgic, it feed me and friends when we visited Vancouver years ago on spring break. That was a great trip, one of my friends (about 20 at the time) got his ass grabbed in broad daylight (10am or so) on the street by a 30 year old lady in a businesses suit.

http://www.straight.com/

georgia straight entertainment paper.
"best" places for food
monthly events
etc.

if you want real good ice-cream i say Mondo Gelato i have tryed most of the the gelato places and this one is the best, as for Italian food Dario's La Piazza 3075 Slocan right inside the Italian center all the severs even speak Italian

Just got back last night. We actually went there 3 times. Damn it was good. The ice cream shop in Cochrane has nothing on Gelato.

We ended up going to Stanley Park, which happened to be the only day it wasn't raining. Did the suspension bridge on Tuesday and basically hung out in Chinatown, Richmond and Metrotown the last few days.

Next time I'll come back in the summer, hoping there won't be as much rain.