Cobs Bread Vancouver

Making kids lunches is a daily ritual. The hot lunch program will be starting soon, so a few of the days we can skip the chore of lunch preparation.

Sandwiches are a favorite lunch option and bread from Cobs Bread in Vancouver is always a win. You can go in to buy a fresh loaf, and they can slice it for free. Choose thick slices or regular slices depending on your preference.

Cobs Bread always has some delicious items like scones, and savory items like cheese buns and pizza. The sourdough bread is delish as well.

Everything is always so fresh and you can smell the aroma of delicious bread down the street! Cobs Bread also offers seasonal scones like delicious Peach or Pumpkin scones. The pumpkin scones weren't sweet unless you chose the glazed pumpkin scone. 

If you're looking for a great bakery with freah baked breads and scones, open early, check out a Cobs Bread location. 

Don't forget your snacks!

Cobs Bread

2924 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3G3

Check out their website for more info.

Passion8 Vancouver

For delicious dessert and coffee, Passion8 Dessert Cafe is a great place to visit to sit in or take a coffee and snack to-go!

Located in the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant in Vancouver, the cafe always has a variety of cakes, and macarons to choose from. 

On the menu you can also find fluffy souffle pancakes, and their specialty, Korean shaved ice or bingsoo!

Snow Bingsoo or Bingsu is a milk-based shaved ice dessert topped with sweet, flavorful toppings like red bean (classic version called Injeolmi) or fruit, sauce or ice cream, depending on what kind you choose. Passion8 cafe has various flavors of Bingsoo to order like mango or matcha!

Their drinks list includes flavored coffees and tea, hot or iced, and prices are pretty good for the city.

Passion8 offers indoor seating, but the cafe is pretty spacious with tables for parties of 2 or more. 

Strollers can easily be pushed inside or left by the entrance. There are no kids seats unfortunately.

Passion8 cafe is open until 11pm or 12am for your late night dessert cravings! They are also open in the morning from 9am Wed-Fri.

With friendly service and a lovely ambience, we enjoyed our visit to Passion8 Dessert Cafe!

Don't forget your snacks!

Passion8 Dessert Cafe

3010 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2V9

Check out their Instagram for more info.

Lykke Stockholm

We visited Lykke in the neighborhood of Södermalm in Stockholm, Sweden to start our day!

Lykke Nytorget offers breakfast items, Swedish pastries, and drinks in a cool, bright setting. It's great to enjoy the outdoor seating area on a sunny day.

Lykke sustainable merchandise (bags, shirts and even coffee) is available for purchase in the cafe or you can shop online. Lykke is a Danish word for Joy and Happiness!

If you're looking for nice friendly service and a kid-friendly cafe, Lykke is a good option! There are babyseats and plenty of space for strollers in the cafe.

Lykke is the type of cafe where you can sit and relax or work remotely - look for tables marked that its ok to sit for working.

We really enjoyed our visits for fika at Lykke Nytorget. Definitely a cafe to visit if you're looking for a place to stop in Södermalm for good coffee and snacks! 

Don't forget your snacks!

Lykke Nytorget

Nytorgsgatan 38, 116 40 Stockholm

Check out their website for more info

Kanto Filipino Bistro New Location Vasastan Stockholm

We first tried Kanto Bistro when it was a pop-up location so we were excited to visit their new permanent location in Stockholm.

Located in the neighborhood of Vasastan, Kanto Filipino Bistro is the perfect place for a tasty dinner.

A great way to start the meal is with some appetizers! We decided on some egg rolls or Lumpia and fried chicken. There are a couple of sauces included like sweet and sour and vinegar.

For mains, we went with the Beef Tiyula, a flavorful curry dish, we wished it was served with more sauce but otherwise it was delicious!

We paired that with an order of the chicken pancit or fried noodles. This was served with lime and was a generous portion size perfect for sharing. 

For those with little ones, there is even a section of the menu listing kids dishes! 

For dessert, we tried the mango sago and ube cassava. The mango sago was delicious and the perfect Summer dessert. 

They were unfortunately out of the mais con queso, vanilla ice cream with corn and cheese but we will have to save it for next time.  

For drinks, Kanto Bistro now has a larger cocktail list. We tried Lychee & Jasmine Collins, and Red Horse beer.

The outdoor seating filled up after dinner started! It's wonderful to see how popular the restaurant has become!

We think our first visit to the new Kanto Filipino Bistro was even more enjoyable and the dishes were even more flavorful. Hopefully this unique restaurant featuring Filipino forward cuisine is here to stay. Filipinos all over Stockholm have only great things to say about it. If you're in Stockholm with a craving for Filipino food or dessert, visit Kanto Bistro!

Don't forget your snacks!

Kanto Bistro

Rörstrandsgatan 25, 113 41 Stockholm

Visit their website to reserve a table and check out the menu.

Espresso House Sweden

Although, Espresso House is a Swedish chain coffeeshop, you can find some delish snacks and drinks!

Flavored seasonal coffee drinks that are not usually available at other cafes can be found here. So when I'm craving a Pumpkin latte in the Fall, or a Peppermint latte in the wintertime, I know Espresso House will have one!

Espresso house reminds me of another popular North American chain. It's a go-to cafe that's in subway stations, airports and train stations. Wifi is available and you can sit for a coffee break or some remote work.

Depending on the season, the menu could change slightly but you can always find your favorites. In addition to Swedish pastries like cinnamon buns, there are muffins, cakes and cookies for a sweet treat. If you're hungrier for lunch, you can find salads, sandwiches or wraps. Some sandwiches can be grilled and those are really tasty. A few Vegan-friendly options exist, just ask if it's not clearly labeled.

For coffee, alternative dairy-free milk is available. We've also noticed that the coffee is served hot. Often times in Sweden, you need to ask them to make it hot instead of warm.

With the Espresso House app you can order and pickup to takeaway or have it there. You also get different offers in the app. 

If you're in Stockholm and looking for a cafe to grab some food or fika, stop by an Espresso House. They are found all over the city and around Sweden too.

Don't forget your snacks!

Espresso House

Check out their website for more info and locations.

Bizarre Food in Sweden

(Reposted from an old WordPress post)

Summer is meant for picnics in the park! In Sweden, that means there will definitely be some potatos and some herring. Swedes are all about pickled herring but it's not for everyone. We've tried many different types of herring and it's not bad with a cracker and maybe some cream cheese. 

Pickled herring or 'sill' at a Christmas buffet comes in many varieties.

Often people back home ask me what the weirdest thing I've eaten in Sweden is. I'd say pickled herring was one of the things. Maybe the tube caviar 'Kalles' as well. But really, after traveling in Asia, pickled herring or sill (in Swedish) is not too bizarre.

Kalles, caviar in a tube.

Surströmming, however, is herring that has been fermented and canned. There are apparently 2 types you can eat - one is from "last year" (it has a slimy texture) and the other is 'new' prepared (canned) in August which is more firm. Usually it's more of a tradition in the North of Sweden and many Swedes who live elsewhere haven't even tried it!!

Yes, there are a few videos of people trying surströmming and even puking it out, which is gross. When I heard that a Swedish guy was having a picnic to try it, I had to tag along.

This was my first introduction to Surströmming and that was enough. We were fortunate to miss the opening of the can - apparently the smell was 10x worse, but even when we got there a bit afterwards, there was still an odor. Actually it was only after the wind started blowing in our direction that we were all like..."What is that stinky smell?!?" It smelled a bit like the garbage room actually. And we were told they had even rinsed the fish in water after opening the can haha...

That rotten, stinky fish they call Surströmming!! This one is 'new' prepared in August. This type you need to remove the fish bones and skin before eating. There was a surströmming 'expert' at the picnic who showed us how to do that (She was from the North of Sweden).

Removing the bones while trying not to touch the fish is a challenge... otherwise your hands will smell...

When you remove the bones and the skin, there isn't really much 'meat' which was great for us since we really just wanted to try a tiny bit.

Time for a bite!

"It's so oniony"

The tradition is to put the surströmming on a cracker with a ton of other things - honestly if you have to eat something covered by so many other things, you know something's wrong. This cracker or tunnbröd was covered in boiled potato, creme fraiche, tomato, chives, red onion and of course bits of surströmming.

We also tried it by itself and it really was NOT something I need to try again haha. It wasn't the texture really, it was more the combination of the smell with the flavors of saltiness, and strong onion that wasn't very pleasant. But hey, we were willing to try it and I'm proud of how adventurous we are. It's just something you have to do when you are in a different culture - try different things that may seem strange and bizarre to us :) and who knows maybe sometimes you might enjoy it (not the case with the surströmming though).

Don't forget your snacks!

Lāsīte Restaurant Riga

We had a wonderful evening at Lāsīte restaurant in Old Town Riga, Latvia.

We visited in low season (in late February) but I'm sure during peak tourist season this place would be packed.

Everything is served in traditional clay dishes. We ordered lemonade for the kids and they liked the clay cups.

The ambiance is lovely and service was excellent. The staff were friendly and answered any questions we had about the menu.

You feel like you are really eating in an old medieval pub with your family. The restaurant is spacious and we were able to bring our stroller in and park it by our table which was very helpful. 

There was some construction going on nearby, so the restaurant posted signs directing customers to the main door. 

We started the meal with some delicious Latvian garlic bread made from Rye. It's a traditional dark bread called Rupjmaize. 

The duck and lamb dishes we ordered were both tasty! Great for sharing.

The chocolate dessert we ordered was also delicious! 

There was ice cream for the kids but unfortunately, no sorbet if you're dairy free.

After 6pm they usually have live music. There was a guitarist who came in to play and they was very good. It was a bonus to have live music as we were having our meal.

If you're visiting Riga, Latvia and want to enjoy a nice medieval dinner with some good food, visit Lāsīte. We had a lovely dining experience with the kids!

Don't forget your snacks!

Viduslaiku restorāns LĀSĪTE

Ieeja no, Pils iela 13 un Aklās ielas krustojums, Ieeja (reāli atrodas) no Aklās ielas, Aklā iela, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia