Inside Vancouver

From Shangri-La With Love

by Shawn Conner in Events on November 3, 2012

Bond Night Shangri-La Hotel poster image

The Shangri-La is throwing a James Bond-themed party with great prizes, cocktails and entertainment.

Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond movie, opens this Friday, Nov 9, in North America. It’s already doing boffo box office internationally, and racking up mostly rave reviews.

Just prior to the movie’s opening, the Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver is hosting a Bond-themed party. On Nov 8 in the appropriately exotic XiShi Lounge, From Shangri-La With Love celebrates Ian Fleming’s gentleman spy with wine, women and song. Well, make that cocktails, women and song.

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From Shangri-La With Love

Hungry? Guided Foodie Tours of Vancouver

by Remy Scalza in Food & Drink on May 29, 2011

Photo Credit: VancouverFoodTour.com

So here’s a classic traveler’s dilemma: You’ve just arrived in Vancouver and you’re starving. You know the city has a reputation for incredible food and can’t wait to chow down. But where to go?

You could do a quick, desperate search on the Internet, but we all know how unreliable those TripAdvisor reviews can be. You could ask the concierge at your hotel, but he might just send you to some boring bistro around the corner. Or you could just venture out on your own and hope for the best, but the clock is ticking and your stomach is growling.

The solution: a cool, relatively new offering called Vancouver Food Tour. This local company offers regular, guided eating tours of restaurants and bars in different neighborhoods around the city. One price includes all your food and drinks, plus expert commentary and an introduction to some of the local hidden gems.

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Hungry? Guided Foodie Tours of Vancouver

Dining at West Restaurant – Vancouver Dining Par Excellance

by Dana Lynch in Food & Drink on March 24, 2011

In Vancouver—a city with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to world-class cuisine—it’s difficult to name a single restaurant as the “best.” But if that title could be claimed, West Restaurant + Bar would certainly be among the very top contenders.

The recipient of an enormous array of awards (including AAA’s Four Diamond Award and four consecutive wins for Restaurant of the Year by Vancouver Restaurant Magazine) and famed for its outstanding contemporary cuisine by Chef David Gunawan, perfect service, and bartender extraordinaire David Wolowidnyk* (himself a frequent winner of Bartender of the Year), West has a grandiose reputation. But it takes just one visit to this South Granville institution to confirm that that reputation is well-earned.

Or, to put it more simply: After dining at West last night, my partner and I declared it one of the best meals we’d had in our life. (And as someone who often writes about food, we’ve tried a lot of restaurants!)

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Dining at West Restaurant – Vancouver Dining Par Excellance

B.C. Bar Crawl: Drink your way through Vancouver on March 14

by Remy Scalza in Food & Drink on March 11, 2011

Photo credit: Remy Scalza

16 bars. One night. A rare chance to sample Vancouver’s best cocktails in the company of some passionate mixologists.

The inaugural B.C. Bar Crawl will take place on Monday, March 14, at 8:30 p.m. The event is part of the Tales of the Cocktail, a traveling festival in Vancouver from March 13-15 that features dozens of cocktail-themed presentations, seminars and activities.

The Bar Crawl invites drinkers to sample signature creations at Vancouver bars and restaurants that specialize in artisan, hand-made cocktails. The crawl is self-guided: You’re welcome to stop in any of the participating venues between 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to try out their drinks. There’s no admission fee, but you will have to pay $11 for each specialty cocktail you sample.

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B.C. Bar Crawl: Drink your way through Vancouver on March 14