I had lunch at Cactus Club Cafe (web site, map, 855 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone 604-682-0933) and enjoyed their Westcoast Pocket ($4.00) and the Prawn and Scallop Spaghettini ($20).

The Westcoast Pocket (shown in video below) is made with wild smoked salmon, avocado, seasoned rice, pea shoots, tofu and tobiko, and is one of my favorite appetizers that Cactus Club serves. For another photo of the Westcoast pocket please view my review of their Yaletown location.

The prawn and scallop spaghettini is a specialty of Cactus Club’s celebrity chef and Iron Chef USA winner, Rob Feenie, and is made with pan seared prawns and scallops, roasted tomato sauce, garlic and parmesan crostini. I was really impressed by the size and taste of the scallops, which were generous in number and hidden throughout the pasta.

I made a little video of the dishes, which you can view by clicking here, or use the player below.

Westcoast Pocket from Cactus Club

White Spot Restaurants (web site, map, 580 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-662-3066) are a family-friendly Canadian restaurant chain with many locations around the Greater Vancouver area.

I went for lunch at their location at Georgia and Seymour in downtown Vancouver, and enjoyed the Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla with Caesar Salad (pictured below, $10.99 before tax). The restaurant gets quite busy at lunch, and I think the chef didn’t have very much time for presenting the dish, because it wasn’t impeccably styled like you might find at a high-end restaurant. But the quesadillas tasted great, really satisfying, and I liked the home-made black bean salsa that they used (which had some corn niblets).

The chicken, chipotle mayo, black bean salsa and cheese were accompanied by an amazing sour cream cilantro sauce and some ordinary salsa. It was good value to get a half Caesar salad included in the price. I’ll definitely go back and order this again!

The restaurant is conveniently located within walking distance of Vancouver’s sports stadiums (GM Place Stadium and BC Place Stadium), as well as the Vancouver main library downtown and the Queen Elizabeth theatre. It is accessible by either the Stadium skytrain station or the Granville skytrain station.

White Spot is open for breakfast starting at 6:30am, and is popular for brunch and dinner as well.

For more info, check out my previous reviews: Part 4 – Kitsilano Location, Part 3 – BC Ferries, Part 2 – Salmon Burger, Part 1 – Chicken Gai Yang.

Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla & Caesar ($10.99) from White Spot restaurant in Vancouver.

The Yaletown Brewing Company (web site, map, 1111 Mainland St., Vancouver BC Canada, phone: 604-681-2739) is one of Vancouver’s most popular Brew Pubs.

producer4000 writes on Dinehere.ca (click here to read review):

You don’t go to a plumber to fix your car, so don’t go to a brewery to eat. Yeah, I know what you’re gonna say. Anyhow, we went at noon on Saturday to sample the important stuff. Of the seven brewed on property, none were bad and three were superb and to my liking. The hefeweisen, Red Truck Ale and India Brown Ale were worth the trip. My beer maid was practically like family and the brewmaster was friendly yet very serious about his brews.

Even though I don’t drink beer at work lunches, the Yaletown Brew Pub is a favorite place for me and my coworkers to visit at lunch. I have been skeptical about the food at YBC having had a very, very greasy pizza there once, and the Macaroni and Cheese at $13.99 seems a bit pricy (but who knows, maybe it’s really good! I wonder how it compares to the Mac and Cheese at the Templeton…)

But the YBC has recently added some affordable Asian-influenced dishes to their menu, such as the Classic Kung Pao Chicken ($9.99, pictured below) which was served with toasted chilies, roasted peanuts, garlic, peppers, and jasmine rice. It was nicely presented and tasted surprisingly good.

I’m not the only one who was surprised! cocoeater writes on Dinehere.ca (click here to read):

Was a bit hesitant on ordering an Asian dish from this brew pub but they do have a lot of Asian noodle dishes on the menu. The Singapore noodles were very good with lots of meat and shrimp. Very surprised.

For more info and another photo please view Part 1. To view their Lunch and Dinner menus, please visit their web site.

Kung Pao Chicken ($9.99) from Yaletown Brewing Company in Vancouver, BC, Canada.