Well this is not a thorough analysis of the dining scene as you would expect in a newspaper review. I found a hotspot at Vancouver airport at the end of a 5 day stay for our company sales conference. Since for the conference days our company planned the time from 08:00-22:00 every day I have sadly seen little of the city.

After landing on Tuesday I managed to walk a few blocks away from my hotel. I found a sushi bar on Robson Street (Tsunami Sushi) and gave it a try. After a day or airline food it was a good change. Tsunami Sushi was one of these places with a bar with a chain of boats taking different dishes under your nose (well not literally!). I tried some of my usual favourites such as spicy tuna roll or mackerel. One fish I did not recognise with its dark orange colour and very lean flesh. I asked and it turned out to be sockeye salmon. It has a much stronger colour than our Atlantic salmon.

With 1,500 people at our conference the logistics for serving lunches and dinners were quite amazing. However the hotel caterers seemed to take it in their stride with reasonably tasty and varied buffets.

 

One evening we split into ten smaller groups and went to a variety of restaurants. Our group went to Bridges which is in South Vancouver with a spectacular view across the creek to Downtown. The food was good and the main course was seared sockeye salmon with goats cheese potato cake.

We had an awards dinner at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel. This was very good indeed for a "standard" menu for masses of people. There was a goats cheese salad, followed by a gin and tonic sorbet (much better than I thought it would be) followed by a steak. I never managed dessert.

Today I spent a while wandering around a few blocks from my hotel. I was aware that quite a lot of people had emigrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver but in the streets where I walked it seemed that there were loads of Japanese restaurants. However with a heavy shower of wet snow I did not wander very far so my impression may not be representative.

Now for another Air Canada economy meal in a few hours...