The hot chocolate festival is back again this year for the 7th time with 29 participants and 61 flavours to try! I had a craving for Lucky’s Doughnuts and Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe is also participating in the hot chocolate festival so it was the best of both worlds. Their hot chocolate is also reasonably priced as well. The festival runs from Jan. 19 to Feb. 14, 2017.
Cafe/Bakery
Trees Organic Coffee-Broadway
Disclaimer: I won a giveaway from Trees Organic Coffee for free cheesecake, drinks and a gift bag for 4 people
Trees Organic Coffee opened a new location on Broadway and Fir St. a few months ago. To celebrate, they hosted a giveaway on Instagram and on Facebook and the lucky winners would receive free cheesecake and drinks for themselves and 3 friends. I won the Instagram giveaway and redeemed my prize last month.
I’ve been to Trees Organic Coffee quite a few times in the past and most recently, when they offered 50% off cheesecake for National Cheesecake Day over the summer. Their claim to fame is that they were voted “The Best Cheesecake in Vancouver”. They have various locations downtown.
Peaked Pies-Whistler
Recently I went to Whistler for our company Christmas party and one of the places I wanted to try was Peaked Pies. Whenever I see people on Instagram visiting Whistler, they always seem to drop by Peaked Pies!
The shop is rather small and only seats about 10 people or so. They offer Australian-style meat pies in flavours such as the traditional Aussie, beef curry, and butter chicken. Each pie is about $7-8 and is like a small meal or really big snack.
Bluhouse Market & Cafe-Lunch in Deep Cove
My first time hiking Quarry Rock in Deep Cove was last year and I was glad that it was easy! I’m not much of a hiking person actually but I do want a slight challenge and some exercise so it’s the perfect hike for me! Also, I can use it as an excuse to go eat after! We went over the BC Day long weekend and surprisingly it wasn’t too crowded. I arrived at 10am and we came back down around 12pm after sitting at the top for a bit.
We didn’t plan where to eat beforehand and came across Bluhouse Market & Cafe. Since it looked cute and not too busy, we just decided to go for it. Read more
Smokehouse Sandwich-Downtown
I’ve heard about the delicious sandwiches from Smokehouse’s Richmond location so I was interested in trying out their sandwiches at their new downtown location. I’ve never been to the Richmond location so I can’t compare but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.
17°C Dessert Café
Disclaimer: All food was complimentary but opinions are my own
Shaved ice from 17°C Dessert Café took over Instagram recently after they opened over the May long weekend. If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ll know that I hate line ups so obviously I wasn’t the first one there but thankfully I was invited by ChineseBites for a private tasting. Yay!
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Buro Coffee-My Introduction to a Spanish Latte
Buro Coffee opened up last year on the edge of Gastown. It’s in the triangular shaped building where Cordova meets Water Street and Richards Street.
I love how there are big windows on all sides.
It’s fairly spacious inside and great for studying but it can get crowded and really loud on the weekend! Read more