Aladdin’s Shawerma Cafe (map, 720 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 778-881-7916) is a recent addition to the downtown Granville Street area, serving delicious and fresh Middle-Eastern fast food until the late hours of the evening. The small restaurant is brightly lit and clean, and they offer a selection of vegetarian falafel wraps, chicken Shawerma wraps, combination platters, and more!

Most people order take out from here, but there are also some comfortable bar stools along the side counters which are perfect for a quick sit-down bite.

While most items are around $5 to $6, their biggest platter – the Shawarma Falafel (pictured below) – is just over $10 and features the works: a salad, hummus, tatziki, rice, tender Shawerma chicken, and several tasty falafels. Hot sauce is optional but highly recommended!

Falafel Shawerma platter from Aladdin Cafe in downtown Vancouver BC Canada.

Close up of the chicken in the Middle-Eastern Chicken Shawerma Falafel platter from Aladdin Cafe.

Another photo of the Chicken Shawerma Falafel platter from Aladdin restaurant on Robson Street, Vancouver.

Phnom Penh Restaurant (map, 244 E Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-682-5777) is one of Vancouver’s most praised restaurants by the (very active) local food blogging community.

The blog foodosophy has a really insightful discussion into the nature of the Cambodian/Vietnamese food that is featured at Phnom Penh:

…common to the cuisines is the general presentational philosophy of “fresh” balanced with “savory”. Pho, as an example, will always be presented to the diner with a plateful of herbs and greens as a counterpoint the savoriness of the broth. To indulge the diner further – a wedge of lime of almost always provided to allow for adjustment the sour note. This philosophy lends an appealing “brightness” to the cuisine.

(Read more at their blog by clicking here.)

Most bloggers agree that the “must-order” signature dish at Phnom Penh is the chicken wings. So we ordered them! (See the photo below).

These chicken wings were amazing – remarkable, really – and the reason is that their flavors are multi dimensional. If you enjoy pub food you may find yourself eating piles of wings on certain nights of the week, with a choice of hot, teriyaki, or honey garlic sauce. If you’re used to these style of wings, you’ll soon realize that the wings at Phnom Penh are in a different category altogether.

Prolific food blogger KimHo describes them best on his blog (click here to read his post):

It had some pepper-y and garlic-y flavour at first but, after a moment, other layers of flavours I can’t described started to kick in. And I could stop eating them piece after piece! In the small bowl is a acidic/lemon-y dip which added yet another layer of flavour.

Another one of my favorite dishes to order at Phnom Penh is the traditional Vietnamese gỏi cuốn (Summer Roll), also known as a Salad Roll (also pictured below). I enjoy making these at home – the ingredients are so fresh and I love the combination of the rice paper wrapper with the seafood, vermicelli noodles, vegetables and herbs. Click here to check out a video I made of me and my friends making Vietnamese salad rolls at home.

I’m definitely going back to Phnom Penh to try more of their dishes sometime soon. Hope you enjoy it!

Garlic Chicken Wings from Phnom Penh Vietnamese / Cambodian restaurant in Vancouver BC Canada.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls from Phnom Penh Restaurant in Chinatown, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Capones Restaurant and Jazz Club (website, map, 1141 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-569-1770) is one of Vancouver’s hottest places for live jazz music in the downtown core.

Located in the trendy Yaletown shopping and restaurant district (which is accessible via the Yaletown-Roundhouse Canada Line train station), Capones features live jazz music 7 days a week combined with their upscale and sumptuous food reminiscent of the great pizza, pasta, and other meat and seafood specialties found in New York’s fine jazz eateries.

Capones recently underwent a major renovation and features a brand new bar area. I haven’t seen it yet and am looking forward to checking it out soon!

I visited Capones a few months ago. For an appetizer, we ordered the baked brie cheese which was topped with fresh sweet blueberries (pictured below). For the main course we tried their pastas, the Carbonera fettucini and the seafood fettucini (also pictured below). As usual the food was very delicious and the portions were just the right size – not too big to be uncomfortable but still enough to be heartily satisfying.

Prices are reasonable considering the restaurant’s location and the quality of the food. A meal tends to be around $20 to $40 per person depending on whether you order appetizers or drinks.

The music that night was provided by Phyllis Adelyne, an accomplished jazz singer with a warm personality and a classic sound drawing back to greats like Ella Fitzgerald.

I can’t wait to see what great performers and tempting dishes Capones has in their lineup next. Highly recommended.

Baked Brie Cheese from Capones Restaurant and Live Jazz Club in Vancouver BC Canada.

Carbonara fettuccini pasta from Capone's restaurant and Live Jazz Club in Vancouver BC Canada.

Frutti di mare (seafood) fettuccini from Capones restaurant and live jazz band club in Yaletown, downtown Vancouver BC Canada.

Phyllis Adelyne singing jazz at Capones Restaurant and Live Jazz Club in Vancouver BC Canada.