Now that the weather is springlike, I finally got out on a photo walk this afternoon and made my way all over the Lower Lonsdale area, down to the Pier, in to The Quay, up through the plaza by the John Braithwaite centre and back home by way of the little playground between 1st and 2nd just West of Chesterfield.
On my travels I got a chance to stop by the new Kantine Urban Cafeteria – the newest great concept in urban dining taking the place of the old Angelina’s Cafe that didn’t seem able to make a go of it. The location – 210-150 West Esplanade (upstairs from Shopper’s Drug Mart) – doesn’t lend itself well to walking traffic, but this concept (and super funky branding!) just might be cool enough to really catch on with the local office community.
According to Martini Boys, the man behind the new Kantine restaurant is Paul Mon-Kau, who also brought North Vancouver The District Social House on Lower Lonsdale. While I didn’t get a chance to eat there this time around, what I really fell in love with was the simplicity of the space. The interior is lovely and clean looking with funky orange chalk boards highlighting their daily specials. I also seem to have a soft spot for that plaza where Kantine is located.
Kantine Urban Cafeteria offers an assortment of soups, stews, paninis, salads and pastries and caters mainly to the local lunch crowd; that’s not to say, however, that you shouldn’t make your way there for lunch on a sunny weekend or a quick dinner after work. Definitely cheap-eats pricing here – I mean, the listed specials were a Breakfast Burrito with a Coffee for $3.25 or a Panini, Chips & a Pop for $7. That’s a great deal right there, and that’s just the start: They promise “10 Meals under $10 ready in under 10 minutes”.
As a bit of a techie and, well… a marketer, what I really like about what Mon-Kau is doing is the fact that not only is the branding beautiful and modern, but Kantine Urban Cafeteria has its own blog AND you can even place your order at Kantine online! It’s only natural they’d also offer free WiFi. Now if they started accepting orders via Twitter that would really be on the edge.
As I said, I didn’t get a chance to eat there yet, but here are a couple of reviews of Kantine from Foodpages.ca. I’m going to bet the food is good; I’ve only heard great things about The District, so Mon-Kau’s team obviously knows what they’re doing.
Kantine is open 7 days a week and also offers catering. Next time you swing by Esplanade Plaza, stop in and enjoy a quick bite that doesn’t break the bank.
