Urban Thai Bistro (map, reviews, website, 1119 Hamilton St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-408-7788) is one of my favorite places to go for lunch in the Yaletown district of downtown Vancouver.

The restaurant has some great lunch specials which are $8.00 plus tax and tip, and include a salad, spring roll (with sweet plum dipping sauce), and a main course (such as a Thai curry dish) served with rice. Pictured below is the dish I ate, the pork with red curry paste, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, basil and coconut milk. It was really delicious!

The restaurant offers vegetarian versions of some of their curries, with Tofu instead of the meat, and they were also able to accomodate the special dietary needs of a person in our group requiring gluten-free foods. (For more information about Special Dietary Needs and restaurants in Vancouver be sure to check out Food Vancouver).

For more info please view Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, and Part 1. Their menu is also available on their website.

Also check out this video made by the restaurant that describes how to make Thai Curry at home.

Pork with red curry paste, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, basil and coconut milk from Urban Thai Bistro in Vancouver.

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen (web site, map, 1118 Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604 689-8318) is an upscale restaurant in Vancouver’s downtown Yaletown neighborhood, that offers fine dining in a trendy, lively atmosphere.

In a previous dinner time visit, I enjoyed their ling cod ($22). Since then I’ve been back three times for lunch. Goldfish offers daily lunch specials which are $10 plus tax and tip. These specials really showcase the talents of executive chef William Tse.

Flat Iron Steak (on Thursdays) is served with mushrooms, snow pear, and mustard green salad. On Fridays, their special is the seafood fricassée (pictured below), with mussels, fresh fish, thai basil, coconut, and fresh chiles.

The flavors in the fricassée were fantastic, expertly crafted into bringing out the freshness of the seafood, with a rich broth that went with the rice perfectly. The fresh chiles were extremely spicy but our helpful server warned us about them, and thankfully they were served on the side. Another popular lunch choice from our table was the Shanghai Noodles, which can be ordered with beef short rib or chicken.

Many food fanatics (or “foodies” as they are affectionately known) love Vancouver because of the remarkable East-meets-West fusion that happens in the kitchens of our many talented, daring, and masterful chefs. As a port city we are fortunate to have some of the freshest ingredients arriving in our markets from Asia and the Pacific Northwest. Chefs like William Tse and restaurants like Goldfish are setting the stage for Vancouver as a world-class food city.

Please visit the Gold fish restaurant’s web site if you’d like to browse their menu or see some photos of the room’s cool decor.

Seafood Fricasse from Goldfish Pacific Kitchen restaurant in Yaletown, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Amuse bouche, a little complimentary appetizer created by their chef.

I made another visit to Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant (map, 110 – 8380 Lansdowne Road, Richmond, BC, Canada, phone: 604-278-8829) and again was impressed by the superlative flavors and exotic tastes of the authentic, modern Chinese cuisine served by this restaurant.

The first dish that arrived was the Special Pork Chop Wuxi Style (pictured below, $13.95), and I tentatively bit into a tender, saucy piece of pork that I tenuously held in my chopsticks. Suddenly, a symphony of subtle sensations started to build up on my tongue and I thought, this is comfort food at its best. Whoever Wuxi is, he or she definitely has a walloping sense of style.

Not to be outdone was the Deep Fried Squid with Chili and Pepper ($9.98, also pictured below), a Chinese take on calamari that was crispy, salty, and delicate at the same time. The culinary concerto continued with Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Buns ($4.95, also pictured below) which my dining companion secretly devoured as I was munching on the marvellous pork pieces. I did manage a few nibbles of these jealously juicy buns, which if you haven’t tried, will lead you to discover that they must be eaten in a single bite.

With a can of coke, and a ration of rice, the bill came to $31.63 before tax and tip. The handy Geotip was utilized and we paid $20 each in cash (which, must be noted, is the only payment method that Shanghai Wonderful accepts).

For some more photos and info, please view Part 1.

Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Buns ($4.95) from Shanghai Wonderful restaurant in Richmond, BC, Canada.

Special Pork Chop Wuxi Style ($13.95) from Shanghai Wonderful restaurant in Richmond, BC, Canada.

Deep fried squid with Chili and Pepper ($9.98) from Shanghai Wonderful restaurant in Richmond, BC, Canada.

My serving of the pork chops