Thai Away Home (web site, 1206 Davie Street, 604-682-8424) is a casual, fast-food style Thai restaurant located in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown Davie Street district. Davie Street is great for people-watching while eating in at this restaurant, or enjoy take-out at home. My favorite is their Pad-Thai, which is fried noodles with tofu, bean sprouts, eggs and prawns (pictured below, $8.95).

Sushi California (501A North Rd, at corner of Austin and North Road, Coquitlam, phone 604-931-8284) is a great place for reasonably priced, tasty sushi combinations. It’s located within walking distance of Lougheed Mall and the Lougheed skytrain station. The spicy tuna combination is my favorite item: it’s priced around $8.00 and includes spicy tuna sashimi, spicy tuna roll, and kappa (cucumber roll) maki. Pictured below is the Alaska roll which is around $3.00 and tasted really fresh.

Samurai Japanese Restaurant (1108 Davie St., phone 604-609-0078) has become one of my favorite places to go for gigantic and fresh sashimi and sushi rolls. Located in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown Davie Street area, Samurai is usually packed with people well into the evening. Be prepared to wait a few minutes in line, but I think you’ll find that the wait is well worth it! Pictured below are the assorted sashimi, and the Saba (mackerel) sashimi. Price is quite reasonable at this restaurant, considering the quality of the food. For two people ordering some pretty fancy items, the bill came out to around $30.00.