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About May Globus

Vancouver City Editor May Globus is obsessed with the sartorial and all that surrounds it: art, design, culture, music and film. Oh, and she really likes writing about it, too. A left coast girl at heart, her Sweetspot finds just might show why the westside really is the best side.

Big Girl in Little China

the view from vancity Vancouver (Jul.21.09)

It's hard to break out of your little bubble sometimes, especially when that little bubble pertains to the neighbourhood in which you live and the joints you typically haunt week in and week out.

An impromptu dinner invitation this weekend at the Chinatown design studio of Anthony Castro and Scott Walhovd of 212 (well, more like on the building's rooftop for a hibachi barbecue) drew me out of my usual Yaletown-Kits-Downtown-Main Street-Gastown pentagon and into an entirely different 'hood that I've shamefully overlooked all these years.

Chinatown has so much more to offer besides BBQ duck, paper fans, red bean pastries and mangosteens:

1. A cool, edgy vibe akin to Brooklyn or the LES (the 212 rooftop was enclosed with graffiti walls).

2. The night market. Where else would you find apple-shaped iPod speakers in lime green for $15?

3. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

4. The Fresh Market. Safeway, who? Get your meat, veggies and fruit for a fraction of the cost.

5. Hon's Wun Tun House. If you don't know what hot and sour soup is, be prepared to taste and love it here.

6. The soon-to-be-opened, renovated Royal Unicorn Cabaret (stay tuned for more details!). Its dance parties will be epic once again.

Xie xie, Chinatown!

Tags: May Globus, city editors

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