(aupetitcafe.com) – Main Street & 33rd, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada
How I heard of this place: Bayan recommended Au Petit yesterday (as one of my lunch options). Iman and Nolan suggested it in the evening when we were discussing the 101 best things to do in Vancouver.
Type of cuisine: Authentic Vietnamese cuisine, French-style sandwiches and French-style coffee.
Ambiance: Loud, slippery and cramped. A bustling, cozy, quaint, fixer-upper. You know it`s good because there is a line-up out the door and it doesn`t look that impressive so it must be good. Not a good first date spot, or a place you would take guests to, rather a place where you are no longer trying to impress. The room is small, with ten tables (seating up to four each), cramped into every space available for patrons to dine as others wait outside for a table to open up. Staff get people in and out as quickly as possible in order to satisfy all of their waiting customers before they run out of fresh-baked French bread for sandwiches and prior to closing at 7:00 p.m.
What I ordered: Wanting to take the recommendations of my dining companion, we ordered the Pho Tai ($7) with raw beef, noodles, onion and parsley, and black pepper and served with sprouts and lime wedges. We also ordered the spring rolls ($6) made with a hodge-podge of ingredients and then deep fried. Our final order to share was for the house meatball Vietnamese sub ($3.75) with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and jalapenos.
What I loved: Both my dining companion and I agreed that the spring rolls took the cake!
Why I loved it: I loved the hole-in-the-wall establishment that serves some of the best Vietnamese food I have sampled thus far.
Cost: Low ($4-$7 per entree)