I have discovered a great foodie adventure called Tasting Plates and treated my friend who recently made the move to New Westminister to the Tasting Plates adventure in May.
I had seen them before but never knew that they had early bird tickets until I bought the tickets for New Westminister Tasting Plates. At only $32 each it was a real steal! I loved being able to sample different restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and they even had a beer tasting! New Westminister Tasting Plates was spread out so I'm very thankful that my friend had a car and we drove instead of taking transit. For those who were taking transit, there was transportation provided so all venues were accessible.
Here's what happens, first we arrived at the first venue which was at Anvil Center where they give you the Vancouver Foodster Tasting Plates New Westminister map which gets stamped at each of the stops and that is your guide to unlocking the foodie adventure. After we got our tasting maps, we sampled Truffles Fine Foods sampler. It was a great start! Since Truffles hasn't actually opened yet, we sampled the place inside the Anvil Centre and continued along the foodie adventure.
Since this was the first time my friend and I had ever been on a Tasting Plates adventure, our strategy was simply just to walk to the places that were in New Westminister downtown core and the go out to the other places from there.
It was a cloudy breezy evening so we walked over to Old Crow Coffee first to warm up with a hot drink. At Old Crow Coffee I had the Macchiato and my friend had an Affogato (gelato with espresso). I had never heard of an Affogato before. Must be for true coffee connisseurs. The Old Crow Coffee was a quaint coffee shop is decorated with pictures of crows (hence the name) and a few chairs and standing bar tables.
Then we walked down Columbia street to the Heritage Grill restaurant. Now I was amazed that it was packed with tables full of people who were on the foodie adventure. So far in our journey we had only seen a few people at each location so walking into Heritage Grill was the first time we saw a restaurant full of foodies doing the New Westminister tasting plates. Even though the restaurant was full they seated us immediately. I was impressed that even though we were participating in an event, the service at each place was efficient and friendly. I thought that we were only going to have taster plates at the venues but at Heritage Grill it was a full plate full of appetizer type food that was filling enough for dinner.
That was the last of the venues in downtown New Westminister so it was time to get the car and go to Steel & Oak Brewing Company for taster beers. I'm not a big fan of beer, but we decided to still go and take advantage of the Tasting Plates. At least I could sip a few tasters. I'm more of a light beer drinker but had a sip of each just so I could say I did.
The beer tasting also gave us a bit of a break before heading to the next pub which was Frankie G's Boilerhouse Pub in Queensborough. This pub was the farthest for us to get to and they had transportation running from Steel & Oak to Frankie G's but once we got there it was a lively pub with an active trivia night, big screen TVs, and I even heard they had live entertainment later that evening. My phone battery started to die so I don't have a photo of the Chorizo Slider with green apple slaw. It was a nice appetizer treat and the slider was delicous!
We saved Fratelli Bakery for last because it was closest to my friend's house and Sapperton Skytrain Station. This was a true Italian bakery that had sweet treats such as macarons, cream puffs, cannoli, biscotti and they sold bread too. I had heard of Fratelli Bakery on Commercial Drive but never ventured that way, however, after receiving the box full of baked goods and trying the delicious treats, I will definitely return. They also gave everyone a coupon for 10% off their next visit. Now that is enticing us to return.
Overall I loved the foodie adventure and experience! This was a wonderful deal and opportunity to try so many different places and food and drinks. The early bird special is the best deal. I loved being surprised on the food adventure. It feels like a bit of a scavenger hunt. I also loved the fact that I was not expected to tip and after eating could just walk away since everything was prepaid for.
It's true, I'm addicted to Tasting Plates YVR. I've already bought my early bird tickets to the next Tasting Plates Cambie Village in June. The early bird special ends on March 20th. What a fun and fabulous way to explore the food in different neighbourhoods!
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