After spending 32 hours on a train, and surviving the  restaurant car food, I finally arrived in Vancouver in Canada. 

The trip was supposed to last ‘only’ 24 hours but we’ve been badly delayed because of a truck stopped on the track while its driver attempted to steal the railroad… lovely. 

Apart from this incident that occurred while we were sleeping anyway, it was a great journey. 

I really recommend to travel by train in the US. You need to have time but it worth it. It’s cheap, the landscapes are very beautiful and it’s far more comfortable than the plane (unless you travel 1st class which is not my case).  You have a lot of space and can lenghten your seat nearly completely. And you know what, they screen films and even organize wine tasting oui ! oui !

https://www.amtrak.com/

Vancouver, Canada, I feel the need to specify hoping that some of you are like me and ignored that there is also a Vancouver in the US, and not too far from Vancouver Canada by the way. 

So, Vancouver, Canada, urban and bucolic at the same time, situated on the north west of the corner of the British Colombia, stucks between forest and sea is the perfect spot to go green for a few days.

It’s also the most densely populated city in Canada, multicultural,  where 52% of the population have a first language other than English.   

I tried, in vain, to find a signature dish, an ingredient from here, a specialty… I heard and been introduced to the Poutine (not the same as the one we have in Nice), which is made of French fries , topped with grated cheese and gravy (eek!), and originated from Quebec. I  also found maple syrup and yes, Namaimo bars,  a non baked dessert. That’s all. 

Difficult to define the Canadian cuisine that’s why, on the food scene, you will find a lot of Asian fusion, a lot of sushi, some fish tacos which according to a guy I was talking to is the signature dish of the city (am I wrong or tacos are Mexican?) and of course, Italian.

Talking about Italy,  pass by ‘Ask for Luigi’ who makes his own fresh pasta, mixes polenta with anchovies… The real Italy for this cute restaurant. http://www.askforluigi.com/

On the fusion side, let’s go to Bao Bei in China town. Forget about your motto ‘I want to go green’ at least for one night as cocktails are killers and so is the food. This Chinese brasserie is making modern Chinese cuisine and do it very well. The ‘Shan tofu’ is just genius and God knows how much I find tofu so boring but definitely not this one. http://bao-bei.ca/

If it was hard to find a Vancouverite specialty,  for sure, it was easy to find beer and a lot of breweries. I have to dash, I have an appointment at the Black Kettle brewery for my next post 🙂

See you soon x 

 

View of the train, from the train…