Have you ever walked by the corner of W4th ave and Yew St., and seen this adorable cafe that's always busy and all decked out in the prettiest turquoise colour? 

That would be the 49th Parallel cafe.

During the day time, the huge windows all along two of their walls give the cafe a gorgeous, bright, airy feel. Every time I've encountered it during the day time, it was very busy. 

I also came here once when it was night time, and it was quite the opposite. A lot less busy, it gave off a nice cozy feel to it. 

 The first time I had one of their drinks was actually when my friend bought me a cup of their Venezuelan Coffee to go. 

It. Was. Delicious. 

To be fair though, I don't think I can give the best advice on coffee just because I'm not really a true coffee drinker. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE coffee. I need at least a cup everyday. 

But I'm one of those coffee drinkers that takes their coffee with lots of cream and even more sugar. Now you may say that people just take their coffee differently, but to me, I feel like the true coffee lovers are the ones that take it black. 

So whether you want to take my word for it, it's totally up to you. But holy mother of god, it's soooo good. 

But be warned, it is quite a sweet coffee beverage.

The description on the menu says something along the lines of "carmelized milk reduction, espresso, textured milk" 

Check out their website here : http://sh.st/i0hKH

Today was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day in Vancouver, so my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk down to Noodle Box on W4th ave for lunch. Because we see each other pretty much everyday, we don't really go on "dates" as often anymore. So when we do, I treasure them dearly. 

We've actually been to Noodle Box together once before (we usually try to eat things in the area we haven't had before) when we were "seeing each other". The other time that we had came, there was a massive line up, and the little storefront was jam-packed with people. This time however, being 4 in the afternoon on a Wednesday, there were barely any one in the restaurant, and we got our food in record time.

Last time we were here, we had ordered the Black Bean and Garlic noodle box and also some chicken kebabs? Don't remember exactly what they were called, and forgot to check if they still had it on the menu (sorry ): was way too hungry). This time, we spotted something new on the menu, and Ryan decided to give it a go.

This was Ryan's noodle box, and it's called the Spicy Peanut Noodle Box. On the menu, it is described as so : "It's absolutely ridiculous how good this dish is. Rich and creamy Indonesian peanut sauce mixed with ribbon noodles, Asian greens and then more roasted peanuts." Not gunna lie, this was pretty much a perfect description. The sauce in this noodle was creamy and absolutely mouthwatering-ly good. I personally think it really captured the Indonesian Peanut sauce, while putting it's own fusion, noodle box spin to it. The ribbon noodles were also a great match for this dish. the slightly softer noodle with more surface area really soaks up the sauce and makes for one damn amazing noodle box. Usually Ryan and I prefer our foods quite spicy, but we both agreed that both our noodles were just the right amount of spicy for it's flavour; we both decided not to add in more spicy sauce like we would usually. 

And then comes my noodle box. Being the reminiscent little girl that I am, I decided to take a walk down memory lane, and reorder the Black Bean and Garlic noodle box. I ordered it with medium spiciness, just 'cause I didn't want to push it for my first meal of the day. As good as Ryan's noodles were, I had absolutely 0 regrets reordering this dish. It. Was. Fucking. Amazing. If it wasn't for the slightly higher than normal prices for noodles, I would honestly come here every single day. SO GOOD. The description for my dish on the menu was : "There's depth to the flavours in this one. Hokkien noodles, garlic, peppers, Asian greens, sprouts, black bean sauce with just a bit of sesame." Nailed it. Seriously, Noodle box nailed it. I cannot WAIT to go out to TNT and pick up the materials I need to recreate this dish. I literally was craving another bowl as soon as I forked the last sprout into my mouth. You should've seen our bowls. Squeaky clean. 

The great part of Noodle Box is not just their food, their friendly employees, but also just the overall vibe of the place. Raw canvas art on the walls, wooden furniture, concrete walls and floors... It just had this awesome industrial, raw, and simple feel to it. Which some how complimented its simple but amazing rich and flavourful dishes perfectly. Not to mention the cook with the tattoo sleeve jamming out to the music that was blasting, in plain sight. It was just such a chipper environment to be in on a warm weekday afternoon.