131 Water Kitchen & Bar

Decided to chill out with friends on Saturday and we thought of taking a stroll around Gastown and maybe have a couple of drinks. Thanks to friends who take random strolls around Gastown or have hung out there a few times we were able to pick out the bar 131 Water Kitchen & Bar.

We got there around 9:35pm and we managed to secure a place by the patio.Drinks were refreshing,company was great and we were doing a lil of people watching here and there. I had a Strawberry Margharita,loved it, Tin had Long Island Iced Tea and my other two friends had a Pitcher of Sangaria.

Gastown reminds one of a lil town in England with all the street lights,bricked sidewalks. Its like you have stepped into some little town in England altogether.

If you happen to be in Vancouver and decide to hang out in the outskirts of a somewhat busy place I would suggest you go to Gastown. Gastown has numerous kitchen & bars ,restaurants to choose from.

All Things Summer

It's officially summer and that means there are more outdoor activities to do. The weather has not really been the best as it has been pretty much rain throughout this past weeks. High up on my summer to do list is visiting as many restaurants as possible to try the various cuisine Vancouver has to offer. Vancouver has a diverse culture and a diverse culture means a wide range of cuisine to try.

To kick of my summer I decided to try Persian food. I had always heard that Persian food was really great but had not tried it. I decided to take the test for myself; unfortunately I could not find a good Persian restaurant with a reasonably priced menu for the student budget I work on. Luckily I have a good friend who also likes eating out and he had been recommended to this Persian restaurant in North Vancouver which had a reasonably priced menu, he highly recommended I try it as it was really worth it. Knowing my friend's sometimes specular tastes I hesitantly agreed to try it. My friend could not come out with me the day I decided to go try the place. Fortunately that weekend my friend  was celebrating her graduation so I decided to go with her and a few other friends to the Persian restaurant.

We set off for the short drive to north Vancouver. As often happens when you go to a new place you inevitably get lost and this is what happened my friend had given me the wrong name he had told me to go to Casbah restaurant instead of Cazbah; little did I know that the difference actually mattered as it turned out that they was also another restaurant with a similar name to Cazbah; I knew from the moment we got to the wrong restaurant that it was not right Thank God for google maps. My friends were getting impatient with me as they thought we were lost. Due to the beauty of google maps (What would the world have been without it?????) we soon found the correct  address luckily it was about 2 blocks from where we were.

Unfortunately we had not called to book a reservation so we had to wait outside for about half an hour as it looked really busy. In my mind I hoped this restaurant would be worth all the wait. Our time finally came and we got seated at our table. The waiter came with the menus and gave us. They had a very diverse menu from their starters to their desserts. We soon ordered our starters as we were now really hungry and it was approaching 10 pm. We ordered egg plant which was served with Pita bread. It was ok not great when we had it. We soon ordered  our main courses,us being Africans we did not want to try new things so we went for the safer options of Chicken, beef and lamb. To our surprise it barely took a long time as our food was ready in about 15 minutes.

When the food came we all looked at ourselves dumbfounded by the big portions that were in our plates. For the price coated on the menu it was definitely worth the drive to North Vancouver. We soon started eating our main courses, it consisted of a Skewer of Boned Chicken Kabab Served with Basmati Rice and Grilled Tomato with Cesar salad and roasted Alberta ground beef, the food was really well cooked the chicken was tender, the lamb tasted really good, its the best lamb I have had in Vancouver so far in my short time here. I was barely halfway through my meal when I felt I was full. I still had dessert to eat but I decided to for go it as I was really full. No one amongst my friends finished their food as the portions were really big even though we were as hungry as a bear which as just come of hibernation. We paid $12 each including tip for our meals which was really worth it

Everyone left satisfied after getting their money's worth of food. I would highly recommend this restaurant to those who would like to try Persian cuisine for the first time as it is value for your money and  the waiters are really friendly. If I was a food critic I would give it an 8 out of 10. But before you go I highly recommend you book a table as they are usually really busy. It is worth the short ride to North Vancouver especially during the summer when you have plenty of time.