I recently spent a week test driving the Honda Pilot Trailsport 2025 suv around Vancouver while trying some dishes at some of restaurants and more.

It was the Les Dames BC chapter annual fundraiser and we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Fable Kitchen, it had been years since I had been to this Kitsilano eatery and everything was so good.

We started off with some Whiskey Sour Mocktails (instead of the wine pairings) along with a Smoked steelhead trout tartare Amuse Buche and some of their house-baked Focaccia with roasted garlic tarragon butter.

Loved the Chickpea Fritter with Vegan curry mayo, pickled red onion, arugula; and this was followed by their signature Duck Meatball with Parmesan Foam, Tagliatelle.

The Halibut was steamed and came with blistered tomatoes, potato puree, romesco sauce; for dessert we had the Basque Cheesecake with blueberry Foam, cookie crumble, sour cream ice cream, and blueberry gel.

The next night I drove out to the Metrotown area of Burnaby to attend the relaunch party of Trattoria by Italian Kitchen (4501 Kingsway) that was packed full of people enjoying delicious food and drink. Here Corporate Chef Dennis Peckham was holding a platter of the tasty Carbonara Bites.

I tasted some of their delicious pizzas, pastas and more.

I enjoyed driving this TrailSport that features the TrailSport-exclusive orange stitching adds a sporty flair to the interior on the seats, steering wheel and other trim pieces.  A 10-way power driver’s seat is really cushiony and comfortable as are the headrests . Both front seats are heated across and. Honda has also done a great job with the leather-wrapped heated steering wheel. Above it you find a partially digital display with a 7-inch digital screen with nice, easy to ready info, graphics and speed limit sign info. 

The TrailSport also features second-row reclining captains chairs. They are cushiony, but on the smaller side as there is a pass-through area between them to the third row.

The next day we drove out to Langley for the day of exploring.

Started off with brunch at Grounds and Greens, a fairly new plant-based eatery in Fort Langley.

Started off with a couple of coffees, for me it a Cortado with oat milk and for Lawrence it was his usual Americano. For brunch they offer a wide selection of bowls, as well as toasts, baked goods and more and it’s all made in-house by the passionate team.

I had the Influencer Bowl, a tasty bowl with lentil & almond rice, roasted sweet potatoes, crispy tofu, snap peas, spinach & arugula salad, cilantro & pumpkin seed pesto, cherry tomatoes, vegan parmesan & soy mayo; while Lawrence had The O.G. with coconut yogurt, homemade granola, banana, fruit compote & coconut flakes.

We also tried a selection of their baked goods, all were good, but our favourites were the Carrot Cake cookie, S’mores cookie and the Monkey Business muffin; we also had the Pistachio croissant and the White chocolate pistachio tahini cookie.

This is a great spot for everyone whether you are vegan or eat everything.

Our next stop nearby was located inside the Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada you will find Tradish’s at The Ancestor Cafe where Chef Sarah Meconse Mierau and her team serve up delicious Indigenous fare.

We started off with a selection of their refreshing drinks, I had the Saskatoon berry and sumac lemonade, Lawrence had the Smokey juniper cherry.

It’s all about bannock tacos and more here and it’s all made in-house by the team. As it happened the day we visited there was a special event taking place and the cafe was featuring Caribbean Indigenous fusion food in addition to their regular menu. I had the tasty Caribbean jerk chicken bannock taco, while Lawrence had the Elk bannock taco.

We picked up some of their popular medicinal jams getting the Raspberry Dandelion and the Blackberry Sage.

For only $9 for adults you can get admission into this historic park and you need to pay the admission in order to visit this cafe.

Next up it was dinner at a new Langley based winery, Otter Trail Winery that opened 5 months ago which has a gorgeous view of their vineyard. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner sitting inside with the large wine tasting bar that surrounds the room amidst the view outside through open air doors on a warm dry evening.

Started off with their house-baked Focaccia and their olive oil balsamic dip that’s made with  balsamic and chilli, parmesan and herbs.

The Meatball Buratta is one of the star dishes with its braised meatballs in tomato sauce and warm burrata; and the Spinach Salad with it’s port & mustard vinaigrette featured their own blueberries from the vineyard and for crunch the cajun maple meringue walnuts were divine.

The Black Cod dish was spectacular as was Prawn Ravioli with a white wine cream sauce with a hint of garlic and shallots.

The Blueberry Cheesecake was delicious with their own blueberries; the Fruit Pavlova was a special dessert feature that should be made permanent, it was very good.

The Pilot is terrific on cargo space in the back with the third-row seats up.  The cargo space features a reversible, dual-lever cargo floor, four tie-down anchors and cargo area bag hooks. You pull the straps on the back of the third-row seats to unlock and fold them down, this was a great feature.

The next day Lawrence and I along with our friends Kenji and Alan met up for a delicious Thai lunch in the Fraserhood neighbourhood at Zab Bite (4197 Fraser), the restaurant specializes in Thai E Sarn cuisine.

Lawrence and I shared some of the delicious Spring Rolls, Red Curry chicken, Crispy roti, and Pad See Ew. It was an incredible meal and we all can’t wait to return.

I also like the hidden trunk space that is located under the back cargo area where you can hide valuables.

By: Richard Wolak

Disclosure: Honda Canada provided me with the Honda Pilot Trailsport 2025 suv  to test drive, and photograph. As always, all opinions and photos are my own.