Restaurant Review: Stephos Greek Taverna

Stephos Greek Taverna
1124 Davie St
Vancouver, BC


Good food, good friends and good conversation. In my opinion, those three things are the key to a wonderful evening. While you will have to discover the latter two on your own, if you go to Downtown Vancouver, on Davie St, I guarantee you can find the first in plenty.


Stephos is one of Vancouvers most famous restaurants. It has become so legendary that no matter what day you go, you will always find a lineup of at least one hour outside. And believe it or not, it is absolutely worth it. I think Greek food is healthy, balanced and delicious, and at Stephos, this is even more so. The lamb dishes here are known to be the best on the West Coast, and the best part is, that the prices are extrodinarily reasonable. You can have one of the best meals in Vancouver for no more than $15, including a glass of wine. And by the way, I don't think I have ever had a meal in which the house wine complimented the main course so well.


On this occasion, I had a Souvlaki Platter, which consisted of skewered lamb, rice, pita/tzatziki sauce, and a salad, and as I said, the taste is definately the best Greek food in Vancouver. Although I have not yet tried it, I am told the Roast Lamb is heavenly, and I also would recommend you end the meal with a piece of Iki Miki (Baklava).


As for the latter two things I mentioned at the beginning of this review, on that particular evening, I was blessed with having them both in plenty, and although one of them was a bit inebriated, made for a memorable dining experience. ;)

Service : 3/5

Ambiance/Location: 4/5

Food: 5/5

Helplessness...

The scenes that I have seen unfolding on the television in Haiti over the past few days have truly been heartwrenching. You cannot help but feel despair when you think about the kind of hell Haitians are being subjected to. I feel a special sense of despair being a Civil Engineer, and that too, one with a good knowledge of structural engineering. It frustrates you when you know that the knowledge to minimize death and destruction due to earthquakes exists, but unfortunately, not the political backbone or the financial resources.

They say an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. While I certainly encourage western governments and people to give wholeheartedly, I think it is time we took an effort to ensure everybody in the world has access to proper, safe infrastructure, as a human right and not a privellage. The west should exercise its influence to minimize corruption and provide the means to do so in countries such as Haiti, rather than just providing bandaid solutions later on. Of course, it is easy to say, and much more difficult to do, but I really hope that someday we develop the will to minimize the fallout from such natural catastrophes, rather than look onwards afterwards as helpless bystanders.

Restaurant Review: The Mongolie Grill

The Mongolie Grill
467 W. Broadway
Vancouver, BC



It has been a looooong break between blogs, so decided to catch up a bit tonite. Firstly is a restaurant review for a place I went to a few weeks ago, 'The Mongolie Grill'.

Mongolian food is quite interesting to eat. Not so much in its taste, but in its preparation. You prepare the meal yourself, and have them cook it for you. So, essentially, the amount, taste, and ingredients are upto you. Which means if you are frugal, you can end up making a heafty sized meal for a low price. Essentially, you are given a bowl which you are allowed to pile up with as much noodles, meats, veggies and sauces as you want/can fit, and then hand it over to the chef, who grills the concoction up right in front of you. The benefit is that you get to see your food being prepared. The drawback is you can't complain if it doesn't taste good. The taste is really highly dependant on the types and amounts of sauces you put into your bowl. This time, I got Akila to make my bowl, so it ended up being scrumpcious. Past experiences have not always been so yummy.

The cost per bowl is $9.95, and with a bit of experience in making a bowl, you will be able to build yourself a tasty, filling meal. The taste is not quite chinese, or japanese, but quite unique. Bewarned however, that there are times when it takes quite a while for the food to reach from the grill to your table when there are alot of customers. So it might be a good idea to go during off-peak hours.

Service: 3/5
Ambiance/Location: 3/5
Food: 3/5

How do you change an ideology?

Unfortunately I will start off with my first blog of the year on a bit of a depressing note... I suppose the biggest item in the news right now is the renewed emphasis on terrorism due to the bomb scare on the plane that was flying from Amsterdam to Detroit... I am quite thankful that I was able to get all my travelling done in 2009 before this incident. As I understand it, airline security is now absolutely horrendous. No more carry-on luggage, no more blankets, no more in flight location tracking, enhanced screening devices... all in the name of preventing more possible attacks.


But where does this all end? Just how many more measures can we put in place in the name of preventing terrorism? I am sure that at this rate, we will soon see the day where passengers are forcibly strapped to their seats in nothing but their underwear and the only in flight refreshment would be a glass of water which is sipped through a straw in the presence of a AK-47 bearing security officer. Is it really going to solve anything? Just how much more of our liberties do we give away in the name of counter-terrorism? And then what... once we have secured our planes, what about the dozens of other targets which could just as easily be attacked and destroyed by the 'evil doers'...

I suggest we go on the offensive. Not literally by guns and bombs, but by fighting the root cause of the problem. Not the terrorists, but the terrorist IDEOLOGY. I firmly believe that although human beings are naturally a bit crazy, there is always some reason for when we start to do things that are highly irrational, illogical, and dangerous. The way to curb the behavior is to diagnose the reason, or the cause, and not just protect ourselves from the symptoms... to simply blame the person as being crazy and fight with them is in neither individuals best interests... if you really want peace, you have to find out what it is the root cause of the problem and try and solve it. Killing one terrorist is only going to breed 10 more. Rather, you have to kill the terrorist ideology, and not just the terrorist. Generally, terrorism is bred out of poverty and a lack of education... the young men that are boarding these planes with the hopes of blowing them up these days typically are from good homes, with at least a basic level of education. And that is what makes this problem even scarier. Exactly what the grievences are and how you address them is beyond me, but I just feel that it is in the USAs best interest to swallow its pride and at least attempt to figure out just what it is which is causing all this animosity, rather than maintaining its status quo and ignoring the root cause of the problem.

The Obama administration promised to do things differently, and given that this is its first real test with regards to issues of national security, it will be interesting to see whether those words we heard 2 summers ago were just empty promises, or if politics in America has really changed.