Eat Streets: Kerrisdale transforms into a world of delicious flavours

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Exploring the restaurants that bring Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods to life.

Once a month, a group of women, all retired professionals, meet for lunch in a Vancouver neighbourhood where the food is surprisingly affordable, international and delicious.

Kerrisdale.

They call themselves “The Lunch Bunch.”

Over salad rolls stuffed with frilly lettuce and shrimp, and rare beef noodle soup at the newly opened @26 Viet Cafe on 41st Avenue, Lunch Bunch member Donna Battye said the area has changed “in a good way.”

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Kerrisdale’s reputation as a privileged Scottish/British enclave has transformed in recent years, and nowhere is the gift of that evolution more apparent than in its restaurants.

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Sure, anyone who lived there in the 1990s will miss the Cheshire Cheese with its hearty British pub fare, but Battye is not crying in her Earl Grey tea.

If you walk 41st Avenue between West Boulevard and Balsam you will find your tea, although it’s likely to be green, bubble or jasmine.

And we’re all richer for it. Literally.

“It’s hard to find an expensive meal around here,” says Battye. The Lunch Bunch knows every crack in the sidewalk, every hole in the wall, the history of who owned what, when, where to find the deals, and how to get them. Battye recommends picking up a copy of the quarterly Kerrisdale Insider, a free print guide to the neighbourhood distributed at local businesses, to help find your way around the area.

Battye, who lived in the neighbourhood before downsizing and moving to the River District, still has an important connection to the place. Her grandkids go to nearby Point Grey Secondary.

The Lunch Bunch suggests grabbing a table early because Point Grey Secondary breaks for lunch at 11:40 a.m. By 11:45, the sidewalks, cafes and restaurants, are flocking with kids from Point Grey, Saint’s and Crofton House.

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“Flocks of boys and flocks of girls,” she says.

The young people are the canaries in the coal mine on 41st Avenue. They land where there are flavours, and good deals.

At Big Way Hot Pot, at 2145 West 41st, customers grab brass bowls, fill them with vegetables, delectable proteins, and choose a broth (think collagen bone broth, or sesame paste Mala) and spice level. The loaded bowl is then weighed.

As with salad bars, there is a strategy to dining by weight. “The first time we tried it, one of the women’s bowls was $30,” said Battye.

A few pointers from Battye’s granddaughter helped them learn how to game the system: leafy green vegetables and thinly sliced proteins weigh less than fish balls. “Hers is always $9,” said Battye.

Another favourite of the Lunch Bunch is Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant at 2046 West 41st. The second floor Cantonese eatery has free underground parking, and a push-cart dim sum for brunch. Try the pea tips sauteed with garlic, and the all-day dim sum.

Neptune Eats, another Cantonese-style restaurant anchors the block on the other side of West Boulevard, but right next to it, Burrata Pizza , a Neopolitan pizza shop, is worth a stop.

“There is always a lineup out the door of kids,” said Battye. “That’s how we know it’s good.”

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A few steps further west is Moore’s Delicatessen and Bakery at 2128 West 41st, founded in 1930, where Battye loves to pick up a sugar cookie after lunch. When she pokes her head in the door, she spots Sarah Artuso, whose parents bought the baker in 1973. Artuso and her brother are front-of-house and baker respectively, keeping it in the family.

Another favourite of the Lunch Bunch is another family-owned business, Baan Wasana Thai Restaurant at 2143 West 41st. Their lunch appies start at $4 for spring rolls, and $15 for a lunch combo including jasmine rice. “It’s always delicious,” said Battye, who points out the red colour-drenched walls.

Ramen Danbo at 2277 W 41st Avenue, specializing in Fukuoka-style Tonkotsu (pork broth) is extremely popular, given the lineups that are managed by a careful queuing system: try the Negi-goma ramen lush with roasted sesame seeds and green onion, or classic Tonkotsu Pork broth (do triple lard if you’re feeling comfortable about the state of your arteries).

An old friend suddenly spots Battye, and stops to tell us about a lunch she has just had at Nakamura Japanese Cuisine at 2055 West 41st, which recently re-opened after sustaining damage in a fire that also took out a longtime favourite, The Fish Café. Nakamura specializes in sushi and Kaiseki sets, a collection of small, seasonal and artistically presented fresh bites, usually including an appetizer, sashimi, a soup, a grilled dish, sometimes tempura and a sweet at the end.

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The Fish Cafe at 2053 West 41st Ave., closed after the fire in September 2024 swept through the block, will reopen soon, something Battye is looking forward to.

Another spot destroyed in a separate fire, Nando’s Peri-Peri, an Afro-Portuguese spot specializing in flame-grilled peri-peri chicken, recently reopened at a new location at 2179 West 41st Ave. Battye said the Lunch Bunch loves the new, spacious booths and updated interior.

At 2114 West 41st., a spot that housed the iconic Avenue Grill for 60 years, Baoguette Vietnamese Bistro serves classic Bahn Mi for under $10. Meatball, Lemongrass, House specialty on crusty “baoguette” buns (that’s a Vietnamese personal-sized bun with a thin crispy crust that won’t cut the roof of your mouth) with pickled veg and cilantro, as well as beef noodle Pho, spring rolls and vermicelli bowls.

Asa Sushi at 2178 West 41st, a longtime favourite in the neighbourhood, is always packed but never a long wait, with a nice bar that opens onto the street in good weather for an indoor/outdoor feel and a crazy roll (boy or girl) that is, well, crunchy and crazy. Most rolls are priced at a friendly $8 to $12.

41 Noodle And Rice Pot House at 2279 West 41st Ave. is a favourite, said Battye. Casual Chinese noodles and rice pots — like it sounds, 41 serves noodles, rice and all the classics to go on top, including broccoli with beef, lemon chicken, salt and pepper tofu. Not licensed, but you can get a glass of Ovaltine.

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On the western edge of the stretch is Minerva’s, opened in 1975. The family-owned business is a landmark, serving pizza and Greek specialties.

There are a few good spots on the side streets, West Boulevard especially. “Can’t forget the White Spot,” said Battye of the location at 5367 West Blvd., or another Lunch Bunch favourite, Sandeul Korean at 6019 West Blvd. for Bibimap, Bulgogi, Tteockbokki, Kimchee and Korean-fried chicken.

If you want to kick it old-school in Kerrisdale, you are still in luck. The Secret Garden Tea Room at 2138 West 40th is still going strong, serving lunch as well as traditional high tea, with lemon tarts, grapefruit-lavender cupcakes, scones with jam and Devonshire cream. And Earl Grey tea, of course.

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Eat Streets: What to know about Kerrisdale, between West Boulevard and Balsam

Number of restaurants and food options: 47

What are the options for parking? Two-hour paid street parking from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

What are Metro Vancouver’s Eat Streets?

This article is part one of a series highlighting Metro Vancouver’s must-visit Eat Streets. With the goal of celebrating — and maybe even introducing you to — stretches of community around the region that have a notable concentration of local food businesses. Know of a great Eat Street in your community? Let us know where. Email us at artslife@vancouversun.com.

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Read about more of Metro Vancouver’s Eat Streets:

• Eat Streets: A United Nations of cuisine on Vancouver’s Victoria Drive
• Eat Streets: Langley City’s one-way a hub of local food
• Eat Streets: Delta and Surrey unite over food on this stretch of Scott Road
• Eat Streets: Comfort food served Hong Kong-style at Richmond’s Empire Centre
• Eat Streets: There’s now a world of flavours on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive
• Eat Streets: North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale reinvented as a foodie destination
• Eat Streets: Where hippies used to gather on West 4th Avenue, foodies now flock for the old and the new
• Eat Streets: New Westminster gets fresh life on Columbia Street (and in a SkyTrain station)
• Eat Streets: Vancouver’s Yaletown a place to eat, drink, and ‘to see and be seen’
• Eat Streets: The ever-evolving waterfront food scene on White Rock’s Marine Drive
•

Bookmark THIS PAGE to read the latest instalment every Wednesday.

Then and now: Kerrisdale’s 41st Avenue

dryan@postmedia.com

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