The Hide Out Cafe

Tahi Chicken wrap, Tukey Bacon wrap, Black Bean Baja wrap, Mango Chicken wrap


Restaurant: The Hide Out Cafe
Cuisine: Eclectic/American/Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch

Last visited: August 30, 09

Area: New Westminster, BC

716 Carnarvon Street

Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5

Service: 3

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• GREAT quality and tasting wraps in Vancouver/lower mainland
• Homemade sauces.dressings and soups, but pre-made wraps
• Baked goods come from bakery (not homemade)
• Lunch combos available
• Hidden location
• Breakfast all day Saturdays
• Relaxed/Casual/Self-service
• Menu changes frequently, call ahead to confirm menu
• Some vegan soups
• Really need to fix their website - links are expired
• Catering available
• Eat in/Take-out
• Closed at 6pm
• Closed Sundays

**Recommendation: Soups (changes daily/weekly), Mango Chicken wrap, Thai Chicken wrap - call ahead to confirm menu.

Talk about local gem in New Westminster! I'm rarely in this area, but if I am - I'm going to The Hide Out Cafe. I may not trek out here just for this wrap, but I do crave it and am very tempted to make the drive out. The wraps are THAT good - fresh and simple ingredients and they're just made so well. The soups are also really fresh and also made in house. The location is quite hidden and you wouldn't even notice it unless you were referred to it or are familiar with that area. It's not even on the main downtown strip - it's across from the law courts.

It attracta people working nearby and it gets busy at lunch time. It seems like a place suitable for students and it's self-service - order and pay at cashier type eatery. The baked goods are almost all imported from another bakery - so I wish they did sell some homemade stuff because it looks like a place that should. Freshly baked pies are on their menu - but they NEVER have any and very rarely make them. They'll admit that too. Everything I've ordered has always been good. They also sometimes serve nachos; the menu changes whenever they want so you never know what you're going to get.

They have an upcoming Thanksgiving wrap so I'm looking forward to trying that.

My only complain about their wraps is the way they stuff them. They don't mix all the ingredients together so that the veggies stay crunchy; and they are pre-made and put in the display case so they need to ensure they don't get soggy from the sauce and dressings. You have to eat it from left to right or right to left. The wraps are rectangular and they grill them off before serving them. In order to get a bite of everything you need to take a couple bites until you complete the row, otherwise you'll get only the chicken, or only the veggies. You need to get a combination of everything. If they weren't pre-made they could mix all the ingredients together.

On the table:

• **Mango Chicken Wrap 5/6
  
• White chicken breast, feta, mango, red and green pepper, spinach, mango dressing and sweet chili sauce.

• This is awesome! It's sweet, savoury and very mildly spicy. They use fresh mango but I couldn't really tell because it was overpowered by the feta. I wish there was a little more mango in the wrap. The mango dressing is almost like a mango chutney mixed with sweet Thai chili sauce. The wraps are served warm so the feta melts and becomes creamy as it mixes into the sweet sauce. Really fresh ingredients. Not too much stuffing so that they fall apart, but they're the perfect size. They hold really well and they're not soggy, the tortilla is grilled which adds this perfect nuttiness and soft but also crunchy baked/grilled texture.
• **Thai Chicken Wrap 6/6
  
• White chicken breast, purple and green cabbage, green and red bell peppers, cilantro, onions, carrots, rice, sesame oil and peanut sauce.

• Ok this is one of my favourite wraps...ever. I've taken a few people here and this is everyone's' favourite. Better than the Mango Chicken wrap. HOWEVER it's one of their summer features so they have replaced it with the "Lamb Souvlaki Wrap"...they said that they will bring the Thai Chicken wrap back, but they like to switch things up. AND if it's requested enough they will bring it back earlier.
• This wrap is so good because of the combination of ingredients as well as the sauce. The peanut sauce is more of a vinaigrette than a peanut satay sauce. It's a bit thinner and more acidic and the sesame oil really comes through. It's tangy and savoury at the same time. They balance all the ingredients really well. The cabbage slaw stays crunchy even after it's grilled. That's what I love. It's a warm wrap but the veggies are not overcooked at all.
• The rice is just plain rice and it's seasoned with the sauce. The rice is more of that long grain white rice than Chinese style rice. It's cooked perfectly and gives the wrap another dimension of texture. Try this - you won't be disappointed.
• **Smoked Tomato with Corn Soup 5/6
  
• Homemade, and so creamy and flavourful. For me it was more of a chowder than a soup. It was hearty and filling and quite rich. There was celery, carrots, onions, tomato, corn and potatoes. I wish there was more corn though, they skimped out on that.

• It had a smokey taste and it tastes like they put cream cheese or sour cream in the soup as well. It was really really good. It had that sour cream/cream cheese taste and texture to it.
• Red Lentil (Vegan) 4/6
• Homemade again. also quite tasty. It tasted a little Indian - Indian for Westerners if I can say. There were onions, celery, carrots, and lentils and other spices and herbs. The lentils were really cooked so that it was almost a puree and broke down in the soup.

• This was very good and they really give you the flavour of the ingredients rather than watered down soup. It was very heavily lentil based, which is expected, but I would have appreciated a bit more of the other ingredients.

For your benefit as the menu isn't on the website, here are some additional wraps they offer but I haven't tried.

• Turkey Bacon Wrap
  
• smoked turkey, bacon, provolone, avocado, roasted red pepper, spinach, and sun-dried tomato pesto aioli
• Black Ban Baja Wrap
  
• rice, black beans, corn, cilantro, lime, tomato, assorted spices, chipotle sour cream, spinach, red and green peppers, mixed herbs and a four cheese blend