The Diamond Vancouver is located on the second floor at Maple Tree Square in Gastown. It is kiddie corner to Six Acres, Chill Winston and L’abattoir. The Diamond is a great place for cocktails, happy hour and night cap. The Diamond, co-owner Josh Pape also owns Wildebeest with co-owner James Iranzad. Josh Pape was a bartender at Chambar previously and James Iranzad owns Abigail’s Party and Cartel Taco.

The ambiance at The Diamond is cozy and has an old school vibe with brass, brick wall and aged windows. Cocktails and highballs are skillfully handcrafted and there is a good selection of wine and beer.

I welcome Absinthe, Campari, Vermout, and Bourbon during Happy Hour (on a Tuesday that feels like another Monday. Though the drinks are wonderful, though I can’t seem to say the same about the food. We ordered an assortment of Prawn ceviche, four cheese dip and some hand-cut salsa and chips. All seemed very standard, bland and felt more from a branded jar at your local grocery store. French Fries are missing from the menu and would be a great additional – especially with some homemade ketchup! Nonetheless, nothing a great tasting Bicicletta or Moscow Mule can’t forgive.

Bicicletta #2 $10: Campari, Italian Vermouth, Gerwurztraminer, Grapefruit Twist. A boozy drink semi bitter but delicious. I do like an Old Fashioned finish from time to time.

Moscow Mule $15: lime juice, vodka, ginger beer. The Diamond uses premium Absolut Vodka hence the slap in price tag. This is a perfect summer drink. It can be easily made at home too with this simple Moscow Mule Recipe.  I also recommend the Isabella: sparkling wine, mango and ginger basil. Or the Penicillin.

Tricycle Grapefruit Radler: Try this sweet / sour combination of a Radler from Parallel 49 Brewing Co. Pours a cloudy peach color with bittersweet profiles of grapefruit and less apparent beer lager base. Surely I could polish a few without feeling like I’m drinking booze. 3.0% alcohol slightly more than my favorite Grapefruit Stiegl Radler.

After a few drinks, are you grammatically correct? Cheers to a good night!

The Diamond – Cocktails & Supper
URL: di6mond.com
Cuisine: Lounges, Bar, Mexican
Hours

Mon Closed
Tue 5:30 pm – 1:00 am
Wed 5:30 pm – 1:00 am
Thu 5:30 pm – 1:00 am
Fri 5:30 pm – 2:00 am
Sat 5:30 pm – 2:00 am
Sun 5:30 pm – 12:00 am

6 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1E7
(604) 568-8272

Ilan Cafe Bar (formerly Jem Bar and Lounge), is a chic relaxed bar in the hoods of LKF (Lan Kwai Fong) in Central, Hong Kong. We stumbled here on a quite Monday night (God, how great it is to be on vacation), late after dinner. Normally, we’re told they have live acoustic music here.

The streets were quite and we were thankful for being able to sit down, enjoy a hookah (or three) without being rushed, pushed, or bulldozed over.

A glass of Riesling always goes well during those hot summer January

Green apple is always a crowd favorite for some water pipe action.

Don’t forget to check-in with Foursquare to unlock a free shooter.

Another great place for great scenery and hookah is at Vibes, at The Mira Hong Kong Hotel.

Ilan Cafe Bar
URL: http://ilanhk.com/
Cuisine: Bar, Hookah
Hours
Mon – Thu: 5:00 pm – 1:00 am
Fri: 5:00 pm – 3:00 am
Sat: 7:00 pm – 3:00 am

8 Wo On Lane, Lan Kwai Fong (D’Aguilar Street) | 香港中環蘭桂坊和安里8號地下
Central, Hong Kong
+852 2521 8585

Booking.com

6:45: we just arrived at Pok Pok Portland, I asked Nancy if it was jam action PACKED with people waiting for a table, what should we do? She answered, we’ll wait… It better be good…

6:50: I’m in a pretty good mood, there’s a bit of a wait… 1.5-2 hours. Should be sooner than expected. At least they have a bar (Whiskey Soda Lounge Portland) across the street, which serves the same Ike Vietnamese Chicken Wings as Pok Pok. Looking forward to it.

7:15: Ordered viet coffee, it’s weaksauce but that’s ok… There was more ice than actual coffee. Not the best caffine if you need to stay awake! They are probably better with cocktails. The “drinking vinegars“ was pretty good… I guess… If you like lychee syrup. Please stir vigorously to mix the saturated sugar.

Plaa Lek Thawt Krob 3: Deep fried dried anchovies with sri racha sauce. I wasn’t expecting much of these little fishies. I wasn’t even expecting them to be small. But seriously, TINY is an understatement. I can easily buy a pound bag of these in Chinatown for less.

Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings (regular or spicy) 12.50: Same wings as the infamous chicken wings across the street at Pok Pok. We ordered spicy. So what is the big deal or the hype anyways? Basically some wings marinated in fish sauce, heavy soy, very salty that is charred and even slightly dry. I can’t believe we waited for 2 hours to try this. FML

8:15: We tried to inquire about the status of our table. Our server was rude and told us, “it says 1.5-2 hours, just wait!” We drove for all this way from Vancouver for 6 hours, reading reviews it was good, waited for this long… we debated whether we should call it quits and leave. Alas, we stayed till the bitter end.

8:30: Servers came by repeatedly asking if we were still working on the wings and want to kick us out. It’s windy and cold and the place wasn’t packed. Clearly I am not in the position to wait outside for my table across the street to clear up.

8:50: it is 2 hours, we were about to leave. Grab pho or McDonald’s for all I cared. Another server came by and told us our table was ready. Our wait was not 1.5 – 2 hours. Please gauge using the longest time on the slip!

Kudos, for Pok Pok Portland to utilize a bar location across the street to lock in customers. Once you’re in so deep, you do wonder if it’s worth it to leave or just to tough it out. I’ve learnt my lesson, to move on… Sometimes it’s simply not worth it.

Whiskey Soda Lounge was alright on its own. Not the best, but I suppose it’s a swanky place for the area it is in. Havana (Commercial Drive) or The Union Bar (Chinatown Strathcona) in Vancouver beats this any day!!

Now let’s see if Pok Pok Portland PDX lives up to its name. We heard this restaurant Pok Pok is one of the best in town. (Actually there’s another in NYC too)

We are waiting for a table and it’ll take 2 hours… We are tired, starving but we Nancy is dedicated to try. If Pok Pok disappointed, I’m going to be so chocked, I might flip the table.

3131 SE Division St
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 232-0102
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