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General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - Printable Version

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RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - goggolor - 12-17-2015

Andrew Coppolino just tweeted about Bao Sandwich Bar, a bao/bahn mi place now open at 62 Balsam Street in Northdale (same building as the new location of Bogda).


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - Markster - 12-17-2015

The Tweet.
Also, apparently this person is @WatRegionEats

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/baosandwichbar">@baosandwichbar</a> ... check 'em out folks.</p>&mdash; Andrew Coppolino (@WatRegionEats) <a href="https://twitter.com/WatRegionEats/status/677507669444399104">December 17, 2015</a></blockquote>

Also, from the site:
Quote:Located in the heartstrings of the Waterloo University District, Bao sandwich bar specializes in the popularized concept of Vietnamese sandwiches and Taiwanese steamed buns, known as Bánh mì and Gua Bao.

Well that's an interesting way to phrase that.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - plam - 12-17-2015

(12-17-2015, 12:13 PM)goggolor Wrote: Andrew Coppolino just tweeted about Bao Sandwich Bar, a bao/bahn mi place now open at 62 Balsam Street in Northdale (same building as the new location of Bogda).

Will have to try & compare to Givral near the Kitchener Market. Givral is most often good (although there is the occasional miss, e.g. bread not toasty enough).


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - goggolor - 12-17-2015

(12-17-2015, 01:07 PM)plam Wrote:
(12-17-2015, 12:13 PM)goggolor Wrote: Andrew Coppolino just tweeted about Bao Sandwich Bar, a bao/bahn mi place now open at 62 Balsam Street in Northdale (same building as the new location of Bogda).

Will have to try & compare to Givral near the Kitchener Market. Givral is most often good (although there is the occasional miss, e.g. bread not toasty enough).

From the looks of it (and some reviews I've seen online) Bao Sandwich Bar is closer to Bahn Mi Boys in Toronto, a more upscale/expensive place. There's no beating Givral for $3 sandwiches.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - plam - 12-17-2015

(12-17-2015, 02:17 PM)goggolor Wrote:
(12-17-2015, 01:07 PM)plam Wrote: Will have to try & compare to Givral near the Kitchener Market. Givral is most often good (although there is the occasional miss, e.g. bread not toasty enough).

From the looks of it (and some reviews I've seen online) Bao Sandwich Bar is closer to Bahn Mi Boys in Toronto, a more upscale/expensive place. There's no beating Givral for $3 sandwiches.

Sounds like it from the menu too.

Not that there's anything wrong with this, but once I was at Banh Mi Boys. They ask you for your name so that they can call out your order. But there were three people ahead of me with my name, so I supplied "Minh" (typical Vietnamese name) and that totally confused the cashier. Shoulda tried Nguyen.

The food is indeed novel and well executed though.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - panamaniac - 12-17-2015

The McDonalds in Market Square will be closing at the end of January.  You know your food court is in trouble if the McDonalds can't make it!
The good news, I guess, is that Downtown will be (for now, at least) a McDonalds and Timmies-free zone!


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - Coke6pk - 12-17-2015

(12-17-2015, 08:11 PM)panamaniac Wrote: The McDonalds in Market Square will be closing at the end of January.  You know your food court is in trouble if the McDonalds can't make it!
The good news, I guess, is that Downtown will be (for now, at least) a McDonalds and Timmies-free zone!

I don't go into Market Square often... but when I do, McD's seems to be the busiest place in there....

Coke


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - TMKM94 - 12-18-2015

That's unfortunate, not really surprising though I'm surprised anything is still open in the food court. I think it's a shame they put trios college on the main floor. IMO they should have moved the food court to the main floor and put trios college upstairs. I'm assuming not many people go to Market square to shop, there will be even less when the Athletic direct shoe store closes I assume the remaining 3 or 4 stores will close with in the year. 

I think if the food court were moved to the main floor the food court would do a lot better especially if there was a few full size restaurants like a Milestones or Jack Astor's or something with street access. I hope another McDonald's reopens in a condo development at King and Breithaupt


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - MidTowner - 12-18-2015

(12-17-2015, 08:34 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: I don't go into Market Square often... but when I do, McD's seems to be the busiest place in there....

Is the Subway still there? When I worked downtown, whenever I'd go in the Subway and McDonald's would have long line-ups, and the others (I think one was a mall-type Chinese place) would be free of clientele.

I agree with all of TMKM94's comments: the food court is so out of the way that it is destined to struggle. It should be on the ground floor. I don't personally care for any of the restaurants mentioned, but that's the type of thing that would be a draw: Crabby Joe's across the way has always been very busy. Something like that (a Kelsey's or a Montana's or any of those identical places) with street access in Market Square would likely do very well.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - jamincan - 12-18-2015

I've never stepped into Market Square, so I don't know if this would even be possible, but it would be nice if they redeveloped it so that units are street-facing, and then convert the internal space to office use. Basically get rid of the mall entirely. It would be a much more attractive building for tenants and I imagine the developer would reap the reward.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - BuildingScout - 12-18-2015

(12-18-2015, 02:29 PM)jamincan Wrote: but it would be nice if they redeveloped it so that units are street-facing, and then convert the internal space to office use. Basically get rid of the mall entirely. It would be a much more attractive building for tenants and I imagine the developer would reap the reward.

This. That mall is the ugliest most out of place thing ever and it is one of the most hideous use of brick I have ever seen, one that is replicated across the dozens of such malls built across Canada by the same group of people, all of them downtown, inward looking, undersized and struggling.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - panamaniac - 12-18-2015

(12-18-2015, 03:12 PM)BuildingScout Wrote:
(12-18-2015, 02:29 PM)jamincan Wrote: but it would be nice if they redeveloped it so that units are street-facing, and then convert the internal space to office use. Basically get rid of the mall entirely. It would be a much more attractive building for tenants and I imagine the developer would reap the reward.

This. That mall is the ugliest most out of place thing ever and it is one of the most hideous use of brick I have ever seen, one that is replicated across the dozens of such malls built across Canada by the same group of people, all of them downtown, inward looking, undersized and struggling.

I'd like to see the Frederick St street façade turned out to face the new LRT station, but I wouldn't get rid of the atrium space - if nothing else it could house a nice coffee bar!  Maybe even a small winter garden.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - MidTowner - 12-18-2015

(12-18-2015, 03:12 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: This. That mall is the ugliest most out of place thing ever and it is one of the most hideous use of brick I have ever seen, one that is replicated across the dozens of such malls built across Canada by the same group of people, all of them downtown, inward looking, undersized and struggling.

No doubt. These malls that were inflicted on Canadian downtowns were a terrible idea. The sooner they go, the better. The ones that are doing marginally better are all increasingly street-oriented. An indoor mall like Market Square downtown just makes no sense.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - KevinL - 12-18-2015

(12-18-2015, 08:41 AM)MidTowner Wrote: Is the Subway still there? When I worked downtown, whenever I'd go in the Subway and McDonald's would have long line-ups, and the others (I think one was a mall-type Chinese place) would be free of clientele.

The Subway (and the Chinese place) are still there, as is a decent shawarma spot and a little convenience store.

I think they kept the food court upstairs because that's where it always was; they did not have to rebuild the amentities and connections as the mall got reconfigured to put in the gym and college.


RE: General Food, Dining and Nightlife News - TMKM94 - 12-19-2015

(12-18-2015, 08:41 AM)MidTowner Wrote: I don't personally care for any of the restaurants mentioned, but that's the type of thing that would be a draw: Crabby Joe's across the way has always been very busy. Something like that (a Kelsey's or a Montana's or any of those identical places) with street access in Market Square would likely do very well.

I was just using those restaurants as an example I have never been to Milestones and only been to Jack Astor's twice I was just thinking of places that might be interested in opening another location in KW. I would prefer something that isn't in KW yet like Applebees or TGI Friday's.