Cafe Medina

by Lauren Mote

The original name for this review was going to be “Three blocks over and one block down – see ya later Yaletown”, but then I ran out of room, and I didn’t really want to slag Yaletown for having virtually no restaurant I could possibly ever have a fulfilling lunch at. Besides, my love for the Chambar legacy continued to give me butterflies – last time I went to Cafe Medina, Chambar’s lunch joint conveniently located right next door, I arrived 15 minutes before closing, and had an enormous plate of belgian waffles with an assortment of lovingly handmade and creative condiments, like lavender dark chocolate, orange marmalade, and thick, creamy butterscotch. Ough – now that was a mouthful, and the most delicious run-on sentence that this author has ever written.

I met with my good friend, and wine freak Diana Minnella, a wine rep for Phillippe Dandurand Wines. After the “catch up” and many americanos (49th Parallel coffee of course), our server suggests “the meatballs and the merguez” – you see, I know better then to ask questions. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that this restaurant is tiny, and always full – ALWAYS. I was happy to let the server pick his guest favourites. And he was bang on.

Diana and I shared “Les Merguez” – flat bread wrapped roasted merguez sausage, baba ganoush, haloumi cheese (traditionally made from a mixture of sheep and goats milk, from Cyprus and the Mediterranean area, similar texture to mozzarella), grilled eggplant, tabbouleh (15), and “Les Boulettes” – spicy Moroccan meatballs, roasted vegetables, houmus, yogurt, cucumber salad, and grilled foccacia (14). This might have been the best restaurant houmus – so good, and not that “kick in the mouth” garlicky-ness that I have always found with Greek houmus.

In the end, we should’ve ordered more, Diana expensed it.

Too little too late.

Next time.

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday – Friday: 8am – 5pm (lunch served until 3pm)

Weekend Brunch: 9am – 4pm (brunch served until 3pm)

Monday: closed

Cafe Medina

556 Beatty St.

Vancouver, BC

www.medinacafe.com