Taking the ferry over to Victoria is a popular day trip for tourists to Vancouver. And for some people, a ride on BC Ferries is inevitable, whether it is to attend school at UVic, visit family, or simply return home. In my case I was going over for a vacation, which also involved performing in a piano concert (click here for free recording of my performance in the concert).

Naturally, during the 1.5 hour ferry trip, I got hungry. There are several food options available on BC Ferries, one of which is the Pacific Buffet, which BC Ferries describes as offering “elegant ocean-view dining on sailings from Vancouver to Victoria and features a wide selection of hot and cold items”. The buffet costs $16 to $21 depending on the time of day.

The line up for the buffet seemed long, so I headed over to the main cafeteria, which is branded as “White Spot”, a popular chain restaurant with several locations in Vancouver. The ocean-going version of White Spot has a simpler menu, but still has some attractive choices, such as the Roast Chicken with fries or Caesar salad, various burgers, salads, or their signature entree, the baked maple-glazed salmon ($11.99, pictured below).

The salmon was surprisingly good, and unlike some restaurants where the actual product looks a lot different from the picture in the menu, my salmon looked very similar to the enticing poster-sized photograph at the cafeteria entrance. My only problem was that I was really hungry, and I could have easily eaten two orders of scrumptious salmon. Maybe next time I’ll try the Pacific Buffet!

(above) BC Ferries Salmon Entree ($11.99)

Megabite Pizza (web site, map, 1005 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-687-0002) is a great place to stop for late night pizza in downtown Vancouver. It’s located in the middle of the Granville Street entertainment and night club district, on the corner of Granville and Nelson street. It’s across the street from the Cellar night club, and close to a late night sushi place, Kuroshio Sushi Express.

Pictured below is a slice of their vegetarian feta pizza, which was $2.50 including tax. Interestingly enough, this Megabite Pizza location was used as a film set for the upcoming movie Personal Effects, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Ashton Kutcher, who was seen wearing a chicken suit in front of the restaurant, which had temporarily renamed itself to “Megabird Pizza”.

Vegetarian pizza slice from Megabite pizza in Vancouver. ($2.50 for a slice)

Kuroshio Sushi Express (map, 1011 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-623-3388) is a take-out sushi restaurant in the Granville Street night-club and entertainment district, near the corner of Granville and Nelson Street downtown.

Their best deal is a huge sushi “burrito” ($1.88 plus tax, various kinds), which is a sushi roll that is not cut into pieces. Click here for a picture of the Sushi Burrito.

Pictured below is the Teriyaki Chicken Roll ($3.75) and the Veggie Roll (avocado, cucumber, lettuce, carrot, diakon radish, and inari, $3.00) which were both delicious. The restaurant also prepares large sushi party trays for $25 on special order – be sure to call them a day in advance if you’re ordering the party tray. The restaurant is open late every day, from 12pm to 3am on weekdays and from 5pm to 3am on Saturday and Sunday. For more info please view Part 2 and Part 1.
Teriyaki Chicken roll sushi ($3.75) and Vegetarian Sushi ($3.00)