Vancouver Restaurant - Tap and Barrel Olympic Village

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

It was two years ago in 2014 when we first visited Tap and Barrel Coal Harbour and we loved their cocktails and shared plates.  

Now let's fast forward to 2016 when we discover that Tap and Barrel Olympic Village has sparkling wine on tap.  Tap and Barrel Olympic Village is a short walk away from Main Street/Science World skytrain station.  It's a beautiful short walk along the seaside and then you are at Tap and Barrel.  

We met on a sunny Wednesday evening and even though it was Happy Hour when we arrived at 5:30pm with house wines for $4 and Wine Wednesdays with wine flights on special at $1 discount, my heart was set on trying their new sparkling wine on tap for $9 a glass.

Carolyn ordered the Orchard Hill cider and when I ordered the sparkling wine the server said he needed to check if it was available.  Oh no!  My heart sank and I was browsing the menu to see what my second choice would be if he was to truly disappoint me.  Luckily he returned with a champagne flute topped with Tap and Barrel sparkling wine.  The sparkling wine was delicious, light and bubbly.  We enjoyed our drinks with an appetizer of deep fried pickles while we waited for our girlfriend to arrive.  

Tap and Barrel is a great place for sharing tapas style which is exactly what we did.  We ordered the Maui Wowie pizza, pulled bacon poutine and handmade guac and salsa.  I loved being able to try different dishes with my glass of sparkling wine.  Perfect evening combination with girlfriends.

Tap and Barrel Olympic Village - Pulled Bacon Poutine

Tap and Barrel Olympic Village - Handmade Guac and Salsa

Tap and Barrel Olympic Village - Maui Wowie Pizza

Sunday Funday - Ready to Pay at The Burrard Public House

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

So what do you do on a rainy Sunday?  We decided to venture to Port Moody, BC to try the "Ready to Pay" app that is making its debut at the Burrard Public House.  

"Ready to Pay" does as the title suggests, when you are finished your meal and instead of waiting for a server to get the bill and then bring back the machine for you to pay, you just pay from right there on the spot with your cell phone and walk away.  Okay, to be polite it is courteous to let the server know you've paid with "Ready to Pay" so they don't chase after you ;)

"Ready to Pay" is now available on Apple and Android devices.  Every menu has a specific table number.  After we ordered, we could even check the prices and what we ordered on the app to make sure the server got everything correct before our food arrived.  It's super easy to use and it was nice that when we were ready to pay, we had control over it.  I think the server liked that too.  

Chicken Wings and Dry Ribs

Right now the app is available at the Burrard Public House in Port Moody, BC and even though it sounds far, it was only a 15-20 mins drive from Metrotown in Burnaby. 

So what was The Burrard Public House like?  It's an old fashioned pub.  Affordable drinks, and cheap appetizers on Sundays.   Every Sunday they have a menu of appetizers for $6 each from 3pm - closing so that's a great deal!  We ordered the chili lime chicken wings and dry ribs from the appetizer menu.  Totally worth it!  There are over a dozen wings on that plate.  I'd go back just for those generous portion sizes.  

For the main course, I had the Bacon Cheeseburger with fries and gravy.  Boy, I was completely stuffed!  

Bacon Cheeseburger with fries and gravy

The menu at the Burrard Public House is quite extensive and I can't wait to return to try more of their comfort food.  Next time, we're thinking of going for the Sunday brunch.   If you're thinking of going to the Burrard Public House, don't forget to download your free "Ready to Pay" app so you can pay when you're ready.  Super cool Sunday Funday!

Find out more:  Ready to Pay and The Burrard Public House

Girls Night Out - Vancouver Art Gallery and Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar

Hi Vancity Girlfriends,

During these hot summer days, it's hard to get motivated to do anything but sit around and try to cool down.  Well, I decided that enough was enough.  It was time for a girl's night out.  So Carolyn and I decided to get together for a girl's night out at the Vancouver Art Gallery.  The Vancouver Art Gallery is by donation on Tuesday nights from 5-9pm so it's a great way to get cultured no matter what your budget is.  Along our adventure, we also found out that it is a wonderful cool space that is air conditioned in every room.  

The current exhibitions are "Of Heaven and Earth 100 Years of Italian Painting", this exhibit is on the main floor which usually hosts the traditional paintings.  On the upper floors are the more modern exhibits which included Material Future, How Do I Fit a Ghost in My Mouth, and Wallpapers and Emily Carr.  There were a lot of material art such as a book that was pulled apart and the pictures were cup up and displayed.  It was amazing to see the intricate detail and appearances.  The digital wallpaper was a sight with the digital wallpaper enlarged in scale and changing with the display.  We are not artists so we did not sit and ponder the artwork, instead we gazed, took photos, and admired the work of others.  I'm happy we went and we even made a Vancouver Art Gallery YouTube Video on the occasion. 

After our cultured adventure, we roamed the streets of downtown Vancouver wondering where we should eat.  We decided on Gastown and stopped when we saw Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar and we could not resist the cocktail that got us started with Vancity Girlfriends.  That's the fishbowl Sangaria.  Sangaria is like the summer time cool down drink.  I had the 1/2 turkey sandwich with clam chowder and caesar salad while Carolyn had the 2 fish tacos with fries and casesar salad.  We ate, drank and were merry on our Girls Night Out.  

Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar - Fishbowl Sangaria

Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar - Fish Tacos, Fries, Caesar Salad

Stay tuned for our next Vancity Girlfriends Girl's Night Out! 

Vancouver Restaurants: Tap and Barrel Pub

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

Our night began with getting free tickets to the Christmas Market at Queen Elizabeth Park since I'm an Arts Club member.  The free tickets are only good for admission on Monday or Tuesday nights.  As I vaguely recall, last year when we was busy and we didn't know that we were VIP members.  This year I knew that we were VIP members and could go straight to the front of the line.  I forgot what it was like inside.  So I happily invited Carolyn to the Christmas Market this year because it was free and she agreed because she's a Vancity Girlfriend.  This year it seemed like everyone was waiting for this same exact day to go to the Christmas Market.   Imagine being on a cramped skytrain with nowhere to go but instead it's an outdoor cage.  There are lineups not just outside but inside as well.  It was at least twice as busy as last year.  I'm not sure if that's because it was the last Monday before Christmas.  We were like sardines in a can at the market the whole time we were there.  It was too packed to buy any tickets, food, or even walk.  That was enough for me to try to get through from the entrance to the exit door.  Phew!  How did I escape the zoo.  What a relief when we exited and were back on the street.  

Monday Sangaria Special - Red or White for $6 each

Luckily that was just the start of the night and we had also planned to go to Tap and Barrel Pub at the Vancouver Convention Center.  This truly was our main attraction of the night.  I had looked at Tap and Barrel's website before when I was researching wine flights but this time we went because of Carolyn's holiday gift card.  I love a good deal!  Even better when we are surprised with specials of the night.  Monday nights at Tap and Barrel have Sangarias on special for $6.  I got a white Sangaria and Carolyn got a red Sangaria.  Forget about wine flights when you can have Sangaria night.  The second special of the night was $10 pizzas because a football game was on TV (of course I'm not a sports fan so I didn't even know football was playing).  These specials made our ordering much easier.  Great!  We could share appetizers and pizza with our sangaria specials.  We ordered deep fried pickles and salmon tacos.  Perfect for the two of us!  

Tap and Barrel Lois Lake Steelhead Salmon Tacos

Tap and Barrel Appetizers - Deep Fried Pickles

Tap and Barrel Pizza - Pork Belly and Soft Egg

I loved our combination of drinks, appetizers, and pizza.  We were able to try a little bit of everything.  The shared tapas life of Tap and Barrel.  Tap and Barrel Daily drink specials are something to watch out for!  Wednesday Wine Flights are on special and Thursday Dark and Stormy Cocktails are on special.  The food specials occur when there are sports games such as football and hockey games.  In addition every night they have Happy Hour from 3-6pm.  With all of these great deals, Vancity Girlfriends will be sure to return to Tap and Barrel.