Characters Taverna (web site, 1103 Davie Street, Vancouver, phone 604-685-9607) offers traditional Greek and Indian dishes with some creative fusion dishes as well. Below is a picture of my pasta special which was curry beef with fettucini (around $12). This is an unusual combination that actually worked really well.

Fatburger (web site, 105-111 Dunsmuir St. Vancouver, phone 604-669-9640) is a popular American fast-food chain that serves burgers, French fries, soft drinks, and milkshakes. Burgers are big, and well, fat. Pictured below is the King Burger (not to be confused with the restaurant Burger King), which is a 1/2 lb burger served with mustard, relish, onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, and added cheese (for around $8.00). I’m not usually a fast food fan, but I have to say my burger tasted really good – toppings were fresh and the beef was flavorful. Maybe even the skinniest of us can splurge on a fat burger once in a while!

The Dunsmuir location I visited is really close to the Stadium skytrain station and the Vancouver sports stadiums: GM Place and BC Place Stadium. Two other locations in the Vancouver area are: 1101 Denman St. Vancouver, 604-689-8858, and 1995 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, 604-904-4430.

Yopo Cafe (web site, 1122 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC, phone: 604-609-9676) is a tiny, bright, well kept Chinese restaurant in the upscale Yaletown shopping/restaurant district in downtown Vancouver. Lunch specials such as the lemon chicken on rice with shredded pork chow mein (pictured below) are served with soup, and are a reasonable $7.00 (or $6.45 if you get just one of the items). This restaurant is very popular for take out, and the kitchen is quite fast. They also offer an extensive Chinese food menu with over 100 items, which is pretty amazing considering their tiny kitchen. And what’s more, they provide free Chinese Food delivery to the Vancouver area for orders $20 and up, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.