Located at where Homer street meets Cordova the "urban bakery" known as Brioche is a Vancouver classic. This restaurant is located in one of the many heritage buildings in the area featuring a uniquely traditional café design which is hard to find in this city. On the main menu you will find a variety of staples that make up a good lunch. On the left you will see another board, actually a door painted to be a chalkboard, which features daily selections. There are a lot of daily items on there but they are almost all universally good so be adventurous when you have the chance.

If you follow that door and you will find an almost-private room in the back where additional seating is available along the Water street side of the building. Outside of lunch hours this is a great place to have a meeting while you enjoy the rich flavours of the menu. As with many cafés in Vancouver's Gastown you can also opt to sit outdoors if the weather permits, though seating can be limited when the kitchen is brewing up a storm. Like other heritage buildings, Brioche lacks air conditioning which only adds to the old-world appeal of this venue.

If you are looking for lunch that burns (in a good way) you need to check out Rice 'N Spice in Royal Centre at Georgia and Burrard. Located on the food court level this place always has a line up of about twenty people or more. Clearly this is one hot spot and the food lives up to the popularity, even though this place is hard to find online.

This curry bar features nearly everything under the sun. A daily special for each day of the week has my personal favourite, chicken masala, featured on Wednesdays. On other days I opt for the chicken curry or if I've got a craving for sweet foods I'll go for the chilli chicken. The standard dish comes with two veggie options as well, and usually there are at least six to choose from. So you can get some dal (the lentil dish) and some chick peas (as seen here) or you can get some cabbage, mixed vegetables and even some potatoes if the rice or noodle option is not enough starch to keep you happy.

You read that title right folks. Café Crêpe's Robson Street location should be classified as a no-go for any local people looking to dine over their lunch break. I say this because this location has a tendency to ruin your schedule if you have any plans at all.

When we arrived, perhaps about ten minutes into the lunch hour, we were made to wait before getting a seat. No big deal here - perhaps just a taste of Paris coming through - for we were promptly seated after things calmed down. So far things are okay.

It took quite awhile for us to flag down our server to take our order. At lunch hour on a Monday one might expect that they would be "on it" for the daily rush. Whatever. We're still doing alright by any account I suppose. I thought about what I wanted, scrolled down the menu and pointed at what I wanted as I read it aloud to our server. I ordered a chicken baguette sandwich with the only side order I saw available: fries (I think they have soup too but nobody told us the daily specials). It's been a long time since I've had fries but no worries I guess. You only live once and there are bigger things to complain about than this.

What happened next?

Pho Van is an East Van classic for Vietnamese food, located on Fraser near 18th it is a landmark in the neighbourhood where restaurants are relatively few and far between. You'll see it's lights beaming from across the street so it is hard to miss, especially with that happy cow on the banner out front taunting you to come inside.

Inside the restaurant Pho Van glows with neon lights, a big screen TV and a lot of mirrors on the three walls that are not facing the street. For this reason it looks about three times larger than it really is. Sometimes the TV is playing pop music videos, other times I've seen it showing the mating habits of animals on the Discovery Channel. Whatever the case, you'll have a few distractions when you're waiting for your food which usually arrives in good time.

Main Street has a million dining establishments that try to be original by way of design.
Habit Lounge is one of those. It's got a narrow space with great decor - simple tables, wood, lots of red, white textured walls, etc. I've always wanted to try their food, since I'd been to the neighboring Cascade (owned by the same people) before and had found it to be decent.

The trip to the Flying Beaver had me remembering the cheesy 1980's sitcom Wings in which a few people work at a small airline hangar and various plots ensue. The show was created to take over the audience as Cheers was winding down, I'm sure had they known about the Beaver hey might have had a longer run on the small screen given perfect balance of airline hangar and neighbourhood pub that defines this place.

When you arrive at the Beaver you will note the industrial surroundings with the BCIT Aerospace Campus just to the north. Busses are few here so good luck walking that distance - I certainly wouldn't want to do it. Convince a friend to drag their oil wagon out of the driveway, or ride you bike already, and head down to the south side of Sea Island and you will be well on your way.