Burnaby Heights’ Neighbourhood Dining Showcase is back for another year.
Locals and those visiting the area are invited to explore the restaurants in Burnaby Heights from August 8 to 18, 2024; taking advantage of special promotions and discounts. This is Crave the Heights, a 10-day dining event showcasing the variety of cuisines available to the Heights neighbourhood, coupled with performances from local bands and musicians.
This is a great opportunity to try something different and to discover something new. Check out the list of participating restaurants, cafes, and dessert shops with the link below.
The following is what we had, deciding to dedicate a day of eating to The Heights. Everything below we shared between two, and we found each of great value, with enough food to fill.
For Sunday brunch we stopped at Peaked Pies, known for their individual sweet and savoury pies. And named for the topping you can pile on top of each.
Their Crave the Heights special is “An Apple a Day”, a three item combo for $29.25.
The main is a Chicken, Apple & Brie pie filled with chicken breast, sliced apples, and brie in sage and thyme infused cream sauce. The crispy, golden pie crust was my favourite part. Whereas I could have used more chicken meat. I wished that I got more sweetness from the apple, and that the sharp creamy texture of the distinct cheese came through more.
This is with the addition of the “peak”, which I highly recommend. It is a scoop of mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and gravy, and it is what you mostly taste. Not a compliant, but I just would have liked to enjoy the unique filling more.
If you didn’t want your pie this heavy, you can choose the Spring Salad as your side instead.
And to drink you get your choice of cider from the local Windfall cidery, having to choose between 3 canned varieties. We went with their rose one, although in hindsight should have gone with the dry as a more complimentary pairing.
And for dessert, thus making this combo a full meal, you get a Mini apple crumble pie. The same soften cinnamon and sugar apple filling you would expect from a classic Americana pie, but topped with a crispy sugary crumb instead. This was a great, nostalgic way to end the meal.
For lunch we went to The Butcher’s Block, not realizing we had such great southern style bbq available to us in The Heights. And the best way to get a taste of what they are about is with their Butchers BBQ Craver’s Platter. This is their Crave the Heights special for $45. A full assortment of Smoked Beef Brisket, BBQ Chicken, Smoked Pulled Pork, and St. Louis Side Ribs; accompanied by a side of their Vinegar Slaw, and two pieces of Cornbread.
The brisket was so tender and fatty that the meat melts. The bbq chicken was my favourite, with the tender texture of rotisserie chicken, but finished with crisp char edges. The pulled pork was on the drier side, so I would have liked a gravy or dip on the side to help give it some moisture. And the ribs were perfection, the right balance of fatty and lean for an enjoyable chew that had you pulling meat from bone.
I have never had vinegary coleslaw like this before and appreciated how it gave you the necessary acidity to balance out all the heavy meats. Although at the same time made for a lighter bite, acting like a breath of fresh air in between.
Similarly, the cornbread was a nice cakey accompaniment to help change the taste and add longevity to the meal. It was moist and spongy, with its sweetness running parallel to the honey barbecue flavour in the marinades above.
Two of us ate our fill and still had leftovers. At $45 total, this was a reasonable $15 per meal.
And for dinner we visited Siam Le Bien for their Thai cuisine, for very first time. Here they have a $30 three course meal for their Crave the Heights Special.
You have your choice between 3 options for both appetizer and entree, plus a dessert.
For appetizers we went for the Chicken Satay over Vegetarian spring roll over the Tom Yum Prawns. We figured you can get a spring roll any where. We were leaning towards the prawns, but figured we would get it in the pad Thai below so opted for the skewers instead.
The chicken was grilled dry and tough. A hint of curry on its own, but more exciting with a dip into the peanut dipping sauce with a little spice. The sauce is what makes it.
As I already mentioned, for entree we went with the Pad Thai Prawns over their Green Curry Chicken with jasmine rice, and the Crispy Porchetta with induced Tom Yum sauce turmeric garlic rice. But honestly it was a tough decision. We played it safe, having never been to the restaurant prior. Although I would have liked a good green curry; however, given the chicken above it was not worth the risk. The table to our left ordered the crispy fried pork and it looked amazing. It had us considering trying to change our order or placing an order fro one, for another 3 courses.
In the end, we had no regrets with the classic pad Thai. This was everything I expected. Gummy noodles with a tangy on the tip of your tongue flavour, and spice at the back of your throat. There was a total of 6 large prawns, which is much more than you get with from other pad thai dishes. I especially liked how much freshness and crisp the raw beansprouts provided.
And for dessert we had what is essentially a banana spring roll. Deep Fried Banana served with Vanilla Ice cream. The wonton wrapper gave it a savoury quality, that you can’t help but compare to a regular spring roll; especially coming with the same fried oil flavour. Here, the melted ice cream was helpful as a dip and is what gave the spring roll a needed sweetness to push it into the dessert category.
In closing, Crave the Heights is a great way to get you down and into North Burnaby, trying out some restaurants you might not otherwise get to; and potentially finding a favourite. Only available from now to August 18th, be sure to visit soon to save!
