Thank Granville It's Food Trucks (TGIF) is back in South Granville, Vancouver

All summer long last year, hubby and I kept an eye out for new food trucks that's participating in Thank Granville It's Food Trucks (TGIF). I am so happy to learn that they're coming back this year.

Screenshot from Instagram

Where is TGIF?

Fir Street corner West 10th Avenue (near the Vancouver School Board)

When is TGIF 2022?

Time: Between 12 NN to 7 PM
Days: Every Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
Date: From June 3 to August 28, 2022

What to expect during TGIF?

• Rotating lineup of food trucks
• On some days: outdoor artisan craft markets and a Plaza Party

Which food trucks will be at TGIF?

I will update this post as soon as I see the food trucks list on Instagram, but on the announcement they names Super Thai, The Brownie Bakers, Boca'O, and KYU Grill.

List of Food Trucks participating at TGIF in South Granville

📍 means I went to TGIF and ate at this food truck.
✓ means I ordered from this food truck in the past.

]

June 3 (Friday)	June 4 (Saturday)	June 5 (Sunday)
Marhaba Food	📍 Overland Sandwich ✓	Ay! Mamacita
NaMi Vietnamese		Crema Ice Cream & Desserts ✓
		📍 Munchu Picchu ✓
June 10 (Friday)	June 11 (Saturday)	June 12 (Sunday)
The Jerkshack	📍 Boca'O ✓	Mahshiko Food
Old Country Pierogi	Camion Cafe	Munchu Picchu ✓
	Munchu Picchu ✓
June 17 (Friday)	June 18 (Saturday)	June 19 (Sunday)
Ay! Mamacita	La Callejera Mexican Street Food	Boca'O ✓
The Brownie Bakers ✓	NaMi Vietnamese	Food Daddy ✓
The JerkShack		Munchu Picchu ✓
Munchu Picchu ✓ (2 PM - 7 PM)		📍 Tokyo Katsu-Sand ✓
		Salty's Lobster Shack ✓
June 24 (Friday)	June 25 (Saturday)	June 26 (Sunday)
La Callejera Mexican Street Food	📍 La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
Super Thai ✓	📍 Overland Sandwich ✓	Munchu Picchu ✓
		Tokyo Katsu-Sand ✓
July 1 (Friday)	July 2 (Saturday)	July 3 (Sunday)
Happy Canada Day! TGIF is closed.	📍 Jerkshack ✓	Crack On ✓ (10:30 AM - 4 PM)
	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
	Mahshiko	📍 Mahshiko ✓
	Munchu Picchu ✓	Munchu Picchu ✓
		📍 Takenaka ✓
		Tokyo Katsu-Sand ✓ (11:30 AM - 4:30 PM)
July 8 (Friday)	July 9 (Saturday)	July 10 (Sunday)
Baba's House	📍 Hugs Mini Donuts	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
Cultivate Food Truck	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓	Tokyo Katsu-Sand ✓
The Brownie Bakers ✓
La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
Marhaba Lebanese
Overland Sandwich ✓
July 15 (Friday)	July 16 (Saturday)	July 17 (Sunday)
Camion Cafe	Hugs Mini Donuts ✓	No food trucks today.
The Jerk Shack ✓ (until 3:30 PM)	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓
Marhaba Lebanese (from 1:00 PM)
July 22 (Friday)	July 23 (Saturday)	July 24 (Sunday)
Camion Cafe	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓	La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓ (until 3:00 PM)
KYU Grill ✓	Mahshiko ✓	Tokyo Katsu-Sand ✓
La Callejera Mexican Street Food ✓	Super Thai ✓
Marhaba Lebanese
Munchu Picchu ✓
The schedule below is from the South Granville BIA website and is subject to change without prior notice.
July 29 (Friday)	July 30 (Saturday)	July 31 (Sunday)
The Jerk Shack	Ay! Mamacita	Hugs Mini Donuts
La Callejera Mexican Street Food	La Callejera Mexican Street Food	Old Country Pierogi
The Mahshiko		Tokyo Katsu-Sand
Munchu Picchu
August 5 (Friday)	August 6 (Saturday)	August 7 (Sunday)
Marhaba Lebanese	No food trucks today.	Ay! Mamacita
Munchu Picchu		La Callejera Mexican Street Food
Old Country Pierogi		Tokyo Katsu Sand

The table below is my personal checklist of food trucks that will be part of TGIF 2022 and whether I have tried their food or not. You can view a similar table from 2021 here.

List of Food Trucks in Vancouver
🔲 Ay! Mamacita	🔲 Baba's House	🔲 Bistro Van	☑️ Boca'O
☑️ The Brownie Bakers	🔲 Camion Cafe	☑️ Crack On	☑️ Crema Ice Cream & Desserts
☑️ Food Daddy	🔲 Hugs Mini Donuts	☑️ The Jerk Shack	☑️ KYU Grill
☑️ La Callejera Mexican Street Food	🔲 Marhaba Lebanese Food	☑️ Mahshiko	☑️ Munchu Picchu
🔲 NaMi Vietnamese	🔲 Old Country Pierogy	☑️ Overland Sandwich	🔲 Rolled West Coast
☑️ Salty's Lobster Shack	🔲 Sirius Cravings	☑️ Super Thai	☑️ Takenaka
☑️ Tokyo Katsu-Sand

Pinoy Fiesta Vancouver 2022: Unang Hirit sa Tag-Init

In 2019, we joined the "Pinoy Fiesta Vancouver: Unang Hirit sa Tag-Init." Unfortunately, it was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic. There is still no news if the event with proceeding this 2022.

I'll update this post once I hear any news.

Halo-Halo Festival 2022 in Vancouver

Summer in Vancouver is hot. If you want to beat the heat, check what desserts tropical countries like the Philippines have to offer.

What is Halo-Halo?

The literal translation is mix-mix. It is a dessert from the Philippines consisting of shaved ice, condensed milk, and sugar. Then, you add mixed fruit, boiled sweetened beans, and gelatin that you mix together. It's usually topped with purple yam (ube), leche flan, and ice cream.

Halo-Halo with Ice Cream

Halo-Halo Festival in Vancouver

Eight restaurants are participating in the event to promote halo-halo and provide relief from the heat.

When is the event?

July 15 to August 16, 2022

What to expect from the restaurants?

Halo-Halo and other desserts are inspired by flavours from the Philippines.

List of participating Filipino restaurants

• Grandt Kitchen
• KaonTa
• Kabayan Fiesta
• Mabuhay Foods
• Mr. Siopao de Langley
• Pampanga's Cuisine
• Plato Filipino
• Sago To Go
• Win Win Chick-N

Lunch at Sushi Bang

After Mass, we planned to head to Costco, and on our walk, we decided to stop by Sushi Bang for lunch.

Bristol Roll
inside: deep-fried prawn and crabmeat
outside: salmon

Bristol Roll

It's a good roll, but somehow the Special Rolls from Masa and Sushivan are just better. We also ordered two bento boxes and an Ebi okonomiyaki.

Lunch from Sushi Bang

Box B Beef Bento Box
Beef Teriyaki with rice, assorted tempura, 2 pieces salmon and 2 pieces tuna sashimi, salmon maki, and salad

Hubby ordered the Box B Beef Bento Box, and the beef teriyaki was surprisingly delicious, better than others we have tried so far. Though, the sashimi and salmon maki are just okay.

Salmon Bento Box
Salmon teriyaki with rice, assorted tempura, BC roll, and salad

The assorted tempura and BC roll are good, but the salmon teriyaki is better at Sushivan. The salmon was cooked excellently, but the teriyaki sauce didn't work well. I'm not sure cause it was good with the beef.

Ebi Okonomiyaki

There is an abundance of Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, but so far, I have only found two others (Hime Sushi and Gyu-Kaku) that serve Okonomiyaki, which was terrific. I'll return for this and to try the rest of the Special Rolls.

If you know of other restaurants that serve Okonomiyaki, please leave a comment below so we can add it to our to-eat list.

Breakfast at Tim Hortons

A blessed Sunday to you. 😃 As part of our routine, before heading to Mass, we go to Tim Hortons to enjoy breakfast.

Breakfast from Tim Hortons

I ordered the Sausage Breakfast Sandwich with Homestyle Biscuit. Comparing this to the one from Wendy's yesterday, I stand by my assessment.

Sausage Breakfast Sandwich with Homestyle Biscuit 

The Tims biscuit was toasted; that's why it's not as soft as the one from Wendy's. The sausage is savoury with a slight sweetness, while the one yesterday definitely has more heat.

I recommend the Tims Sausage Breakfast Sandwich with Homestyle Biscuit overall, but if you enjoy spicy food, you'll love the new Sausage Breakfast Sandwich from Wendy's.

Ice Cream from Baskin-Robbins

Will it be a surprise that this is only my third time trying Baskin-Robbins (BR)? I remember going with my siblings and trying it for the first and only time (so far) back in 2007 when we were in California for a family vacation. The second time was in the Philippines when they opened a location.

We don't see BR as often, so when we did, we decided to grab a scoop of ice cream each.

I ordered the Caramel Macchiato while hubby had difficulty picking a flavour. He ended up choosing the Jamoca Almond Fudge.

Caramel Macchiato
Wake up your taste buds with delicious salted caramel swirled throughout coffee-flavoured ice cream with real espresso flakes for an extra kick.

Caramel Macchiato and Jamoca Almond Fudge (Take our Jamoca ice cream, add roasted almonds and a chocolate-flavoured ribbon. Feel your taste buds buzz!)

It's hard to do ice cream wrong, but I am pleased that hubby and I are consistent with our flavour choices. I always go for coffee ice cream. I don't drink coffee but love it in desserts (cake and ice cream). Meanwhile, hubby likes nuts in his ice cream, whether crushed into the ice cream or as a flavour base.