Vancouver between shops, food and breweries

After several post where I’m telling you how much beautiful Vancouver is and how much we loved to spend almost a week there, you may think that I’ve done with that.
Not at all!!!
I haven’t tell something yet about one of the most important thing of a perfect journey: food, drinks and shops!
I must admit that I was a little biased about north-american food, but after this travel I totally changed my mind: food is really delicious, and If you’re not into meat courses – I mean, these people really eat a lot of meat – you can always taste some amazing food from any other country and cuisine.
One of the most beautiful thing of Vancouver is that it’s a melting pot of cultures, religions, languages and countries. You can eat Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Italian, Spanish, whatever you like food. And it is really good.
And what about drinks? These guys know how to handcraft beers and prepare refreshing cocktails. I have to say that: alcohol is more expensive than in Italy, but It’s totally worth it.
Moreover, if you want to visit some cool shops, you can find many of them in Gastown that are comparable as quality, prices and design to the Scandinavian ones.
And if you want to buy some alternative fashion like Gothic, rockabilly or vintage clothes you can find some in the same district as well.
Do you know the amazing shoes of Fluevog are from Vancouver and their showroom in Gastown is breathtaking?
I did not, until I went there.
So, enjoy all the pictures!

Super 80s style hairstylist in Yaletown. So funny!

Unexpected Japanese street-food and a lot of delicious pastries in West-end district.

Even seagulls go shopping in Vancouver.

This one was probably the most beautiful shop in town: the Old Faithful Shop of Gastown.
I adore this kind of minimal, vintage, shabby-chic design, and the brick wall as well.

The Fluevog‘s showroom in Gastown. After having been there I absolutely need to spend a fortune to buy one of these boots or shoes.

Gastown district is very famous for its shops, restaurant, bars and for the picturesque steam-engine clock, build in 1859.
Steamworks Brewery is located close to this clock; their handcraft beers are pretty good and the brewery is worth a visit as well.

This is Peckinpah, a nice and convenient place to eat some local specialities – like smoked chicken wings, pulled pork with coleslaw and potato salad – and to have a night cap as well.

More cool bars: L’Abattoir of Gastown and The Keefer Bar of Chinatown.

This is definitely our favorite place to eat in Vancouver: Meat and Bread in Gastown. We had lunch there twice in five days.
As the name of the restaurant suggests, you can eat basically two things: meat and bread. And it’s really yummy!
House’s daily specials are the porchetta – which is really common in Italy and we didn’t expect to eat a really good in Vancouver too – and the meatballs sandwiches. Everyday you can taste something different like greek cuisine inspired sandwiches with lamb meatballs and tzatziki sauce. At lunch hours usually you have to wait 10 minutes in line but it’s really worth it and it’s really nice to eat at the common table with many cheerful locals.
Moreover, the interior design of this place is a mixture of indie culture, hipster’s influence and a true Canadian taste.
Look at the following pictures and you’ll understand why we loved it so much.

We spent our last afternoon in Vancouver visiting some local handcraft breweries in Main Street.
The neighborhood was full of hipsters: Canadian people are really ironic, of course.

We loved this alternative neighborhood not so far from the downtown of Vancouver, and we enjoyed it more after tasting two of the many breweries you can find there, located only 2 minutes walk from each other: Brassneck Brewery and Main Street Brewery.
In both of them you can have a beer flight of their many craft beers, eat some snacks like sausages or a delicious hummus, and stay how long you want with your friends, kids or just alone. You can do whatever you want, even watch the Olympics games while drinking a beer.

Brassneck Brewery – aka the hipster one.