“FieldTrips” is either a day trip or a few days where I visit food areas of interest which may include farm visits, producers, wineries, restaurants and/or other places that people can visit. This is about offering Vancouver Foodster readers a chance to get out of town and take a “Field Trip” for the day or a few days to explore, learn, taste and experience.
Field Trip to Langley and Fort Langley
Heading to the Fraser Valley is something that I do fairly often, the drive is approx 45 minutes from Vancouver making it an easy trip to visit some of the local farms and other sights. This time around I spent the day eating my around the different areas of Langley and Fort Langley.
Lawrence joined for this day trip and we started the morning with breakfast on the outside patio at Hilltop Diner Cafe in East Langley which borders Aldergrove. The popular diner has been around since 1946, it went through some ownership changes over the years, most recently taken over last summer by a local who used to frequent the diner growing up.
I had the legendary Cinnamon Swirl French Toast along with an order of Hash browns and an Apple juice; while Lawrence had an Apple Fritter Sandwich and a half order of the Tomato Eggs Benny and a Coffee.
As they are famous for their pies we couldn’t resist giving a couple of slices a try. For both of us our favourite was the decadent Cookies and Cream Pie; we also had a slice of the Lemon Meringue.
With a short time to spare between meals we headed over to the new Willoughby Town Centre to walk around and see some of the new restaurants and shops.
After a short drive we were in the Walnut Grove neighbourhood for lunch at Down to Earth Plant Parlour a plant-based eatery that offers lunch during the weekdays, brunch on the weekends and an Italian focused dinner that runs Thursday – Saturday evenings.
As we were in for lunch, we got a table on their outside patio and we started off with some refreshing beverages. I had the Tropical Blue Smoothie while Lawrence had a Mango Arctic Soda.
We then shared their popular Enchiladas that was filled with Artichoke, Broccoli + Kale, shredded cheese, refried black beans, topped with red mole sauce, cured onions, spiced pepitas , queso fresco, avocado crema and dirty quinoa; along with their ‘Prawn’ + Soba Salad with Black Table Farm Kale, Roasted Yams, Charred Corn, Lemon grass “prawns” Pea tips, Shaved Radish, scallions, cucumber, spicy peanut dressing.
After lunch we headed over to Willowbrook Mall to cool off inside the air conditioned mall before driving North to Fort Langley village where we did some more walking.
We then had a wonderful dinner on the patio in the inside courtyard at Saba Café and Bistro.
I had visited a couple of times previously for coffee and breakfast with friends, this time around it was a dinner visit. The word Sabà derives from old Hebrew and though it has many translations, their interpretation of it plays on the words plenty, or plentiful. The mission is to find passion and richness in the simplicity of everyday life. Inspired by the flavours of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, the food offers a combination of flavours, colours and memories that mirrors our travels around the world.
Lawrence and I started off with the delicious Burrata with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil finished with balsamic glaze and Maldon sea salt, served with crostini. We then enjoyed the Lamb Popsicles Ras al hanout seasoned lamb popsicles in a creamy coconut curry.
We then moved on the entrees having the Halibut that was pan-seared and served with coconut jasmine rice and seasonal vegetables. Finished with lemon caper butter; along with the Warm Moroccan Salad with roasted seasonal vegetables finished with chermoula. Served on a house-made hummus with a pistachio crumble and fresh pea shoots; we added 3 scallops to this dish as it was one of the extra add-on options. We ended the meal with some Peppermint Tea and the Flourless Chocolate Torte.
There are many new restaurants and cafes located throughout both Langley and Fort Langley with patios that you can visit over the summer or beyond.
Disclosure: Thank you to Tourism Langley for the assistance and for hosting us, all photos and opinions are mine.
By: Richard Wolak