Pisces Fish & Chips (Ambleside, West Vancouver, BC)

Another weekend, another sunny lunch. We stopped by Pisces Fish & Chips after garage saleing. M remembered the Polish / Russian lady who (used to) own Pisces Fish & Chips and wanted to revisit the crispy fish & chips, as well as the schnitzel she used to make.



Alas, the restaurant had changed ownership and thus there was no schnitzel. We opted for their combo A, which included two pieces of fish, two prawns, and chips. We also ordered an extra piece of fish (more about this ambiguity later), four oysters, and a lychee slush with pearl drink, as well as a strawberry drink with pearls.



Pisces Fish & Chips is kind of hidden away in a strip of businesses along Marine Drive in West Vancouver. In fact, there is only pedestrian access to their storefront. You may park either in the parking lot of the complex, or your choice of Marine Drive or Clyde Avenue. Since there is this limited access, there is a cozy outdoor seating area in the courtyard in front of Pisces.

Pisces advertises that their fish and seafood is fried in a light batter. This is a welcome change as the traditional beer-battered seafood is greasier and is more filling. They also offer a number of Taiwanese dishes, so it might be worthwhile checking them out a second time.



The seafood was prepared nicely with a light, crisp coating and the oysters were the hands down favourite. They were fresh, a smaller size, as well as juicy and sweet! The tartar sauce at Pisces is nothing special, and the tapioca bubbles in the drinks were overcooked (ie mushy). The lychee slush was refreshing though! I'd order one of these any hot summer day!

Here's my beef...in my opinion, the fish that was sold to us was not cod, as advertised. It was probably Alaskan pollock. When we inquired about this, the cashier said it was cod. Whether the fish was sold to him as cod (and thus the restaurant is probably getting hosed), or the restaurant themselves were pawning off one fish as another it felt wrong. We paid about $35 for the entire meal and so I was a little miffed that we didn't get what we ordered. That said though, it did taste good and offered something different in Ambleside.

Random Yum-O-Rama Fact: Both M and I are Pisces, as well as both his parents! Pisces eating pisces at pisces...interesting...

Pisces Fish & Chips (Ambleside)

1425 Marine Drive [map]

West Vancouver BC

Phone: 604-926-8664

Review: Rose Thai (Ambleside, West Vancouver, BC)

It's been over a year since we last went to Rose Thai in the Ambleside community of West Vancouver. Why am I so sure?

Last year, there was a fire at the apartment where M lived on 19th in North Vancouver. He was kept from his apartment and his belongings for about a week, then told to evacuate his belongings as the apartment management and owners wanted to do a restoration and renovation before opening it up again for rentals this year.

We spent a couple life-sucking days trying to clean, dispose of, salvage and pack any items that were not water-damaged - it was an extremely hot time of year and the fact that the air cleaners and dehumidifiers warmed up the air made it unbearable at times.

After one such afternoon, we peeled off our dust masks and went for a drive around the North Shore. Driving along Marine Drive in West Vancouver, we came upon Rose Thai. We'd seen the owners painting and making minor renovations to the space a before (it used to be a Greek restaurant with a nice-sized patio) and had inquired then what kind of restaurant they'd be running.

Now, over a year later, we returned again, after a day of shopping and tinkering about in West Vancouver. Time kind of flies as you get older, huh?



It was a visit that was a long time coming. We settled on three choices: Pad Thai with seafood, Green Curry Chicken, and Beef with vegetables. The Pad Thai came first, with a generous garnishing of freshly roasted peanuts and a wedge of lime. When we were brought the dish, though, one of my dining companions exclaimed, "Is that for one of us?" It was such a small portion!

The Pad Thai at Rose Thai was pretty saucy. To their credit however, there were lots of white shrimp, egg, and bay scallops in the dish. This brought the following thought to our minds: how much do rice noodles cost?! Could they not throw in an extra brick of noodles? They certainly had enough sauce for it. Apart from the lack of noodles / extra sauce issue, the pad thai was flavourful and mildly spicy. The shrimp were nicely done and the sauce highlighted the sweet flavour of the shrimp.



The green curry chicken was a hands down favourite. It came with chunks of bell peppers, eggplant, onions, and green peas. We ordered two bowls of rice with it and had the following conversation between us (M Me MM):

Are we going to order more rice?

That depends. Are we going to pack up the rest of this?

There's so little though.

But it's so good!

Oh nevermind! I'm going to finish this all! [Proceeds to rapidly drink the remaining curry like soup]

[Makes mental note to blog about this]



The beef with vegetables came last. It was nothing too special, with a mildly spicy glaze coating onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, snow peas and slices of beef. It went well with rice and supplied some daily nutrients!

It should be noted that restaurants in West Vancouver do not, generally, offer great value. The same notion is carried out at Rose Thai: where Thai restaurants in the GVRD do not generally offer huge portions for the money, Rose Thai seemingly takes the two generalizations to the extreme - smaller portions than average, and smaller portions than other Thai restaurants! They don't even offer the "discount lunch specials" on weekends! That being said though, it does offer great flavours and is one of the only Thai restaurants in West Vancouver.

Rose Thai

1425 Marine Drive [map]

West Vancouver BC

Phone: 604-925-0070

Review: Dundarave Sushi

Me and M were in Dundarave killing some time before we ate mountains and mountains of pasta at his moms house.

We visited the consignment store, and a womens' boutique (M excused himself and went to the man / hardware / etc store nearby). Since we'd only had breakfast, and it was already late afternoon, we knew that we had to have something to eat.



Dundarave Sushi looked great - inexpensive, quick, and light. There was a great bargain advertised on the sandwich board outside. Two combos at only $6.95 each! Of course, being the piglets that we are, we ordered something else off the menu. For $13.95, we shared a combo that included miso soup, tuna, tai, and salmon sashimi, two pieces of california roll, tuna, salmon, ebi, tamago and kani sushis, a green salad, and side of tempura of generous proportions.

At first I was reluctant to agree to order the combo, but once the tray of food came, I was glad I ordered it.



The food was delicious and the fish was so fresh! I literally ate my first piece of tai sashimi and said to M, "the north shore is really the place to go for sushi."

I'm glad to have found Dundarave Sushi - it offers fresh sashimi and sushi at a great price. And to boot, it's across the street from one of the best yarn stores in town!


Dundarave Sushi

2459 Marine Drive [map]

West Vancouver, BC

Tel: (604) 922-5588