Living abroad I don’t actually get to visit home very often. It’s a very long flight from Singapore and reliable housesitters have not been easy to find. This year I combined a visit to Vancouver and my training at the Institute of HeartMath in California.

Quincy in Singapore | San Francisco | Stanley Park | Granville Island | Restaurants in Vancouver

Quincy Hotel

With a flight the next day, I stayed overnight at The Quincy Hotel. The bright pop of colours was fun and with its location on Mount Elizabeth, it was a quick walk to all the restaurants on Orchard.

Also it’s close to home, a quick taxi ride to jet back for any pressing questions and issues before I’m off for nearly a month.

Taking a night for myself before an intense week of training and spending Christmas with extended family was exactly what I needed – some quiet time. It was a slow easing into a time away from home and my dogs. Plus the flight to San Francisco is a very long fifteen or so hours.

San Francisco

I had one night in San Francisco, before leaving for Boulder Creek. To take in the Christmas Spirit, and also for ease and convenience of travel, I stayed at Westin St Francis at Union Square. My room looked out onto the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink, so gorgeous all lit up with the Christmas tree nearby.

And then there’s Westin’s own Christmas Sugar Tree.

I was far too tired after that long haul Singapore-San Fransciso flight to attempt skating, so many years since the last time. If you’re up for it, the rink is open from November to mid January each year.

Usually when I’m in town, I go for a ride on the trolley and head to Fisherman’s Wharf. Not this time. I wrapped myself up in my winter coat that I took out of storage and a big warm scarf and went for a walk.

Boulder Creek, California

Stanley Park

With my extended family in town from California, we went to see some of Vancouver’s famous sights. Mostly they came for the food, and Vancouver has plentiful of great, fresh, and innovative cuisines.

Driving over the Lion’s Gate Bridge from Vancouver to West or North Vancouver, you’ll drive through/over Stanley Park. It’s a massive urban park on the West End, full of great restaurants and interesting shops. Vancouver, in general, has a diversity of cuisines, due to the many different ethnic and cultural groups who call the city home.

In university, we used to come to the West End for a great hamburger steak at a Japanese restaurant, back when I ate more meat. It was my absolutely favourite thing. It’s been so long I don’t remember the name.

For this trip, it’s Kingyo Izakaya which is one of the restaurants the family insisted on booking. Then there’s Raisu on West 4th. My family, as well as cousins and aunt and uncle in town, loves Kingyo. This was my first time trying it. I’m not convinced.

Stanley Park covers 400-hectare of West Coast rainforest and there are many different areas you can enjoy. There’s the famous Seawall you can take a walk along or ride your bike. There are also trails, beaches, vista points, restaurants like Prospect Point Café and the Teahouse restaurant, the Stanley Park Train (yet to do this one), sculptures, First Nations art and totem poles…

Granville Island

Granville Island is another popular attraction in Vancouver. We come shop at the public market for pasta, cheeses, desserts, and other foodstuff, as well as grabbing a bite to eat. My mom likes Celine’s Fish & Chips. I like getting the freshly-squeezed juices. There are also many great restaurants there, like Sandbar which has a sushi bar. I actually used to live and work very close to Granville Island and sometimes would go there for lunch with my work friends.

Close to Granville, on West 2nd Avenue, are Blue Hat Bakery-Café and Blue-Hat Bistro, both part of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. The Bakery is a local favourite and gets very busy. We love their pasteries and also the sandwiches. The offerings and cake menu change regularly, so each time, a surprise.

This December trip, we didn’t spend too much time at Granville Island. We met up for brunch at Edible Canada and while the food was decent, the service was pretty slow and tone-deaf.

2025 Update : After a decade, Edible Canada permanent shut down after closing March 2020 due to restrictions of the past few years. What started as a culinary tourism concept had become a go-to in Granville Island and Vancouver. Founder Eric Pateman continues his work as a consultant in the food and aviation industry.

Other Restaurant Considerations

The two restaurants that I had wanted to try are farm-to-table Fable and Forage, both I keep hearing about and sprouted during the time I was living overseas. Located on West 4th Avenue, Fable is focused on creative, modern, and locally-sourced. Other restaurants also on 4th Avenue, a fun area to explore for eating and shopping – Sophie’s Cosmic Café, Las Margaritas, and Raisu.

Eating out in high school or even university wasn’t a regular thing. We hung out at places like Benny’s Bagels. So it was a thing to go out with friends for brunch at Sophie’s, which has been around since 1988. Or dinner at Las Margaritas. One of my favourites was La Bodega for their tapas. I would have loved to grab dinner there this trip; it closed in July earlier this year. Opened in 1971, La Bodega was one the oldest and longest-running restaurants in Vancouver.

We met up with my cousin, his wife, and two kids at Forage one night. Sitting at one of their cozy u-shaped cubbies, we explored their menu, which is entirely Canadian. With the majority sourced from the province, the rest comes from elsewhere in the country. This means their menu changes, with certain harvest preserved or dehydrated to be incorporated throughout the year. As I wasn’t eating meat, I didn’t enjoy my meal as much as the others. Still, it was quite an experience.

4th Avenue – Fable | Sophie’s Cosmic Café | Las Margaritas | Raisu

Vancouver continues to be a destination for its natural beauty, diversity, and wide-ranging dining offerings. While it is especially noted for its Asian cuisines, there are many ethnic foods, such as Afghan.

Canadians with Afghan ancestry only number in the thousands but we’ve been blessed to have Afghan Horsemen since 1974. This was the first Afghan restaurant in Canada and is located just outside of Granville Island (202-1833 Anderson Street). I haven’t been to this location; they were preciously at Broadway and Cambie.