White Spot (web site) is a popular Canadian chain of restaurants that serves American style food, such as burgers, chicken, salads, and breakfast, as well as some creative or ethnic dishes on the currently featured menu. One of their downtown Vancouver locations is at 580 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, phone (604)662-3066, which is within walking distance of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, GM Place Stadium, and BC Place Stadium, as well as Pacific Centre Mall and the Four Seasons Hotel. (Click here to view a list of White Spot’s 34 locations in the Lower Mainland area.)

I ordered the Chicken Gai Yang ($14.99, pictured below) which their website describes as, “Fresh pineapple, red pepper, green onions, mushrooms and bean sprouts simmered with coconut milk, lemon grass and lime juice over Jasmine rice. Topped with fresh grilled chicken breast marinated in lemon grass, curry paste, ginger and cilantro and garnished with house-made peanut sauce, a traditional Thai cucumber relish and cilantro.” It was nicely presented, and had some tasty combinations of flavors.

Video from White Spot restaurant:

Seoul House Korean Restaurant (map, 1215 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, phone 604-739-9001) is one of Vancouver’s oldest Korean restaurants, and is still a favorite for many.

The main attraction here is the Korean Barbecue, where you are given raw meat and seafood to cook at the grill at your table. They also offer a buffet on Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm that is reasonably priced (under $15). During the week there are many a-la-carte items to choose from.

We ordered a really fancy dish with jellyfish (pictured below, around $15), as well as some tofu soup with egg (also pictured below, around $10). There were several tasty condiments/side dishes that were also served with the meal, including the bean sprouts, some cooked potato with a brown sugar sauce, and the famous kim-chi spicy cabbage. A large meal for two was around $21 per person.

There is free underground parking accessible at the alley behind the restaurant, off of Alder street.

Korean Jellyfish dish

Korean tofu soup with egg

Korean bean sprouts

Korean brown sugar potatoes

Korean Kim-Chi (spicy cabbage)

The Oriental Buffet near Guildford Shopping Mall (15140 – 101st Ave., Surrey, BC, phone 604-583-8893) is a huge all-you-can-eat restaurant that has a big selection of Chinese and Japanese items (some of which are pictured below).

Be adventurous and try some Peking Duck on a crepe with hoi-sin sauce and green onion, or how about some Japanese sushi, Chinese dim-sum, deep fried crab legs (pictured below), or the old favorites such as barbecued pork or chicken, popcorn shrimp, mussels, sweet and sour, wonton soup - you name it!! Finish off with some icecream, cake, jello, or mango pudding for dessert.

This restaurant is very popular with Chinese tour groups; the tour buses pull up and the high volume of customers keeps the food fresh. Dinner per person is a reasonable $14.99 plus tax; various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are also available at an additional cost.