Hi all,

we've got 2 weeks practice at living in Vancouver, currently we're on day 2. We've found a crap supermarket on Davie and spend most of our time in shock at the price of things in there (everyone needs a hobby) and we've been to Stanley Park and explored the West End and Granville Market.

Anyone have any hints on eating out, food shopping and city living? Having seen the weather forecast, we've got a brolly. We're not 100% sure where we'll end up so a lot of our time is wandering around taking photos of peoples houses, streets and amenities. It's nice to finally gauge the feel of the place having spent so much time on streetmap and looking at photos. It feels pretty relaxed and safe compared to South London. We caught up with a few dogs owners on Sunset Beach and got the low down from them about living in the city with dogs.

We've also been pretty surprised about the level of traffic in the city. We can see Granville Street Bridge and Seymour Street from the apartment and it never really gets that busy in comparison to what I'm used to dealing with around Elephant and Castle everyday.

Also the Olympic closing ceremony skit about politeness is totally true.

Which supermarket did you go to?

If you are downtown you are stuck with expensive food markets really - the cheapest are real Canadian or Walmart - but they are out of town!

Granvlle Island has a cheap chicken booth in the market!!

Urban Fare? A vehicle for parting the pretentious from their excess cash.

There are Safeway stores at the Stanley Park end of both Davie and Robson that are more reasonable. As 4bells says, the stores where normal people shop are not in the downtown core.

Rent a bike (north end of Denman) and cycle around the seawall. I think the bit in front of the Olympic village is open again so you can cycle all the way around to Wreck Beach below UBC.

Two suggestions for eating out Stepho's on Davie for Greek (but make sure you are properly hungry beforehand). For Japanese Miko Sushi on Robson has the OH in raptures.

I'm guessing either supervalue or shoppers. Shops downtown charge for convenience - as noted save on, Canadian Superstore or Walmart are best - there is also a downtown Costco. Bear in mind the state of the pound is making things look worse.

Lots of restaurants, depends what you like Stephos is great inexpensive greek fare - don't be put off by the lineups.

Some areas you have to check out:

Yaletown - Rodneys for oysters and laughs - great place - Yaletown brewery for a pint. Bluewater Cafe if you want up market or Goldfish - Capones for Jazz - Keg for a nice steak

http://rohvan.com/

http://www.caponesrestaurant.net/

Denman - Bayside Lounge for drinks and sunset then over to the Sylvia. Lots of neat places to eat along Denman - I like the Banana Boat for Malaysian. Raincity Grill is nice if you want a bit more upmarket. Can't go wrong with the Boathouse.

http://www.raincitygrill.com/

Coal Harbour for Caderos or Lift - at least for a glass of wine - get on the upper deck if you can - stunning setting.

http://www.liftbarandgrill.com/

You must get over to Kitsilano Beach (across from Sunset Beach) check out the dog walking park next to the Maritime Museum. Have a pint at Watermark. Wander up to west 4 th - Italian at the Italian Kitchen, tons of other places. Or walkdown to Yew and York - take in some Jazz or Sushi tapas

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09...vancouver.html

http://www.watermarkrestaurant.ca/

If you can go further west and check out Spanish banks and Locarno Beach - great view of the city and stanley park. Wander down West broadway - lots of great restaurants and is the Greek part of town. if you want a great Burger - Moderne Burger is arguably the best in the city - go hungry

http://www.moderneburger.com/

South Granville for neat shops and galleries - VJ's for Indian and the Rango for casual - Red Door for modern Asian - West for 5 star westcoast fare.

http://www.southgranville.org/

Gastown for pints at the Steamworks, wander down to the Pourhouse or the Diamond at Maple Square. If you want live music the blarney stone and a pint at the gastro pub, the irish heather. Be sure to go early and check out the neat independant fashion stores.

If you are adventurous, check out Salt and Judas Goat in Blood Alley (if you dare!) Wine and tapas parings.

http://www.salttastingroom.com/

for Belgium fare - Chambar is classy with a capital C - or nip across pender to Wild Rice.

http://www.chambar.com/

Commercial Drive if you fancy vancouver's counterculture scene - tons of great restaurants - drinks at stellas and dinner at the Havana (double as a theatre and art gallery).

http://www.havanarestaurant.ca/

http://www.thedrive.ca/

Main (SOMA) for the Cascade Room - modern take on a Brit Pub -cozy up at the Habit next door:

http://www.thecascade.ca/

the reef for Caribbean (one on commercial as well)

http://www.thereefrestaurant.com/Vancouver/index.html

I know more, lots more, Vancouver is a great foodie city. Enjoy!

Check the Scout - great way to keep up with what's going on in the city:

http://scoutmagazine.ca/2010/03/24/v...e-new-concept/

I really liked Urban Fare Remember if you are converting prices to GBP at the moment anything is going to look expensive. Actually my favourite supermarket in Vancouver was Stongs on Dunbar (if its still there). Take a trip to the Noor Mahal Indian on Fraser (if its still there!). Also Sophies on West 4th for a great diner experience.

Mmmm. Moderne Burger....

stongs is still there - it been there for years. I love, love moderne burger - never have i seen so many fries on one plate - love the art deco decor. Sophies is overpriced for good comfort food, lots of better places - coming from an ex Kits boy!

You can tell that dboy gets out a lot more that I do!

Thanks guys- hat's off to dboy. We're off out now for a wander, may head over Granville Street Bridge to Kits this eve....

I didnt bother putting Costco in cos I assumed that if you live in Yaletown you wont have room to store a 400 pack of loo roll;s etc!

Which store did you go to on Davie? Safeway? SuperValu? Choices? Urban Fare?

Downtown Vancouver supermarkets are not only some of the most expensive stores in all of Vancouver, they're perhaps the most expensive in all of Canada. Don't fool yourself into thinking their pricing is somehow "normal". Once you get outside of downtown, prices go down significantly.

Just for example, if I do my shopping downtown, I often pay $60 for 1-2 bags of groceries. If I'm buying outside of downtown, I can easily buy 3, 4, or even 5 bags of groceries for $60. Living in downtown Vancouver (Yaletown, or otherwise) is expensive. You're paying the price for the convenience.

By the way, the cheapest supermarket downtown is probably SuperValu, which is definitely not fancy. Safeway is relatively expensive, but you can save money if you have a Safeway Club card, and then you can take advantage of their special sales prices.

Across the Cambie Street bridge from Yaletown is Save On Foods - better pricing yet again, but you can only take advantage of their sales prices if you have a Save On Club card.

A 15 minute drive south of Yaletown at the foot of Main Street (toward the airport) is Superstore, which will give you some of the cheapest groceries in all of Vancouver. This is where I do the bulk of my shopping.

Also note that most people do not do all their shopping at supermarkets. Locals buy the basics at the supermarkets, but they'll usually go to speciality stores if they want high quality fresh food. Off the top of my head, I prefer Kin's on Davie for fresh fruit and vegetables, Ganache on Homer for high quality desserts, Granville Island Public Market for fresh fish, fresh sausage, etc.

Safeway must be one of the worst examples of a supermarket anywhere in the world. Nope, you just mentioned the Real Canadian Superstore, I take it back. Shopping in either of these places will make you yearn for Tesco Metro at 9pm on a Saturday evening and probably make you move back to the UK. Just awful. Actually, in either place just ask for the wine and beer section. That will pass a few amusing minutes....

The key word here is cheap, not good.

yawn....there's nothing wrong with superstore if you avoid the fruit and veg... IGA, Choices, Capers and Urban fare will please anyone not caring about costs.

T&T is also a good spot in Vancouver.

As long as you don't go on and on about the price of cheese.......

Or, take the Aquabus and go to Granville Island.

Granville island seemed to have a great selection and eating in there seemed good quality, we actually wandered over the bridge to get a good vantage point and take some photos. I was impressed with the diversity of the fruit and veg.

We'll deffo check out the T&T and we'll have a car for a week from tomorrow so we'll head out of town a bit.

We also had our first taste of some great oriental dining last night, really impressive.