Sour Grapes

I’d spotted this place on my exploratory trip to Commercial Drive two weeks ago and had been having a bit of a craving ever since. See I have a special place in my heart for Bo Kho, a Vietnamese tomato based beef stew, often seasoned with star anise or spices resembling chinese 5 spice mix. It always seemed more appropriate to have this during a Montreal winter than a (no less delicious but somewhat) thin brothed pho.

In any case, I’m happy to report that Paris Bakery does a bang up job. The meat is tender (yes white people, there is a bit of fat and tendon in there, don’t worry you can eat around it), the sauce is nicely rich, not too fatty, and redolent (foodie word) of the nice warming spices. The whole thing comes with a nice crusty Viet roll (instead of rice noodles, but you might be able to get a sub if you wanted).

Paris Bakery also makes bahn mi (Viet sandwiches) which I neglected to try, assorted rolls, and some steamed rice sheet dishes. The salad rolls were ok but not spectacular, and no where near as satisfying as the stew. Do however on all counts get yourself an iced coffee as they do a good one here.

I should have taken a picture of the menuboard… but here’s an outside shot of the place instead… doesn’t it look cool? I think the owners took over an old Italian bakery and (thankfully) were too lazy to renovate it.

1403 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5L 3X8, Canada - (604) 251-6366‎
Google Map

(ps. I was looking for other blogs with posts relating to Paris Bakery but couldn’t find any… if you have one let me know, I’d like to link to it :))

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 10:21 am and is filed under restaurants.