TOP 5

New Vancouver Hot Spots

By Amanda Ross

With preparations for the 2010 Olympics already under way, Vancouver opens its doors to a host of new places to let the fun and games begin.

Ping's Café

Eat: Ping’s Café

The opening of Ping’s Café might have gone unnoticed but for the wildfire word of mouth. The original dilapidated signage and covered windows pay homage to the eatery’s previous life as a Chinese-Canadian greasy spoon and playfully provoke self-doubt in first-timers: Am I at the right place? they wonder. The exterior was left intact, while the hip interior – pastiched together after hours by friends and family – taps into Main Street’s counterculture cool. Ping’s new concept combines izakaya (think Japanese tapas) with yoshoku (American classics retooled to suit Japanese tastes). Both are embodied in the Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg wrapped in hamburger, breaded with panko and deep-fried.

Drink: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters

Second only to Seattle in Starbucks per capita, Vancouver’s cutthroat caffeine market means independent coffee houses better be good if they want to compete. And good 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters is. Having cut their teeth opening the now iconic Artigiano chain, the Piccolo brothers are focusing their efforts on this tiny Fourth Avenue outpost. They serve up some of the world’s rarest coffee, and their bestsellers are as haute as they are hot; the organic Ethiopia Yergacheffe includes chocolate, citrus, raspberry lemonade and notes of white pepper. Pastries, like the buttery cranberry-orange scone, are made by Thomas Haas, local chocolatier and former pastry chef at the Four Seasons.

Shop: Provide

Nestled between Gastown (modern furniture mecca) and Yaletown (yuppie chic enclave) sits the emerging Crosstown neighborhood, where a handful of eclectic independent shops includes Provide. Owners Robert Quinnell and David Keeler curate a collection of lovely home accessories and lifestyle toys for those who like high design but not high noses. Local designer Shereen de Rousseau’s sterling and beaded jewelry channels a feminine rock ’n’ roll vibe, while the atelier’s signature line is a decorative ceramic collection from Italy’s Rina Menardi. A new shipment just arrived last month, so get ’em while they’re hot.

Sleep: Loden Vancouver hotel

For a while, it was a close race as to which would happen first: cold fusion or the oft-delayed opening of Vancouver’s Loden hotel. Luckily for visitors, the Loden is finally opening its doors this fall. And it was well worth the wait for a city starved for small, modern hotels. The 77-room property is nestled in tony, residential Coal Harbour but is close enough to frenetic Robson Street to satisfy those craving the crush of fellow shoppers. Anchoring the hotel is the much-hyped Voya dining room, helmed by Marc-André Choquette, former executive chef in Lumière’s hallowed kitchen.

Relax: Nefér Spa

In the Egyptian pharaohs’ quest for eternal life, they soaked in wine baths to avoid bacteria and inflammation. While it didn’t exactly work for them, you can try oenotherapy yourself at Nefér Spa Boutique, near the Stanley Park seawall. Hand-carved in Italy, the spa’s monolithic marble bath (marble is reputed to possess healing properties of its own) is filled with warmed Bordeaux wine, to which owner Nina Gart adds her own blend of ingredients, including mineral salts. Let the serum release its antioxidants while you gaze at the twinkling heavens (a.k.a. LED lights on the ceiling). The not-so-divine intervention sadly comes when the lights go back on.

(Amanda Ross is a Vancouver-based writer and the editor-in-chief of HomeSpa magazine.)

TOP PHOTO: O'MARA & RYAN / PING'S CAFÉ
49TH PARRALLEL: BARRETT JONES  / 49TH PARALLEL COFFEE ROASTERS