Herbs and Spices Café – More than a Café, It’s a Filipino Cuisine Adventure

Starting and opening a restaurant from scratch in Vancouver is a Herculean task. It’s not a simple business. It entails hard work and you have to know the different components of it. However, as an entrepreneur, you’re bound not to know everything which is why you hire the right people to help you with the restaurant. The restaurant business is very volatile — it’s like a rollercoaster ride. Now, it’s a different ball game altogether when your goal is to not just open a restaurant, but specifically, a Filipino upscale restaurant in the heart of downtown Vancouver. It can be highly rewarding but it is not without its challenges.

With Filipinos being the third largest foreign-born group in Canada, it is about time our Filipino cuisine become mainstream just like Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian cuisines. But why is it that the Filipino cuisine still has not become quite a culinary mainstream just like its’ Asian counterparts? Perhaps it’s because Filipinos are great in adapting; you put a Filipino in any part of the world and he/she will surely adapt to whatever culture that place has. Perhaps another reason is the lack of non-governmental gastrodiplomacy – we need more Filipino-Canadian restaurateurs to aggressively market and promote our Filipino cuisine to the international community.  This has become my family’s, specifically, our Mom’s dream: to promote the beauty and deliciousness of our very diverse cuisine to the Canadian culinary stage. Thus, Herbs and Spices café was born.

Established in May 2017, Herbs and Spices Cafe was bought and rebuilt by a family of Filipina-Canadian women. These women turned their visions into realities through their passion for food, beverage, service and finance. These women are not intimidated by things they do not know; instead, they learn through everyday experiences. They persevere, they work smart and they lean on each other. Herbs and Spices Cafe is more than a cafe bistro in Vancouver. It is the daily real-life adventures of Filipina-Canadian women who support each other through thick and thin. The café has only been opened for 21 months and already it has gone through a lot of changes. First of all, it changed from its original basement location at 666 Park Place, Burrard St. to a ground floor location which overlooks a beautiful courtyard inside the Cathedral Building at 925 West Georgia St. It’s been an internal joke amongst our team that we have transitioned from “666” basement of hell to the Cathedral close to the Anglican church next door, we’ve been uplifted! Changing restaurant location is not a walk in the park. Imagine moving houses but 10 times more difficult because you have commercial equipment to take with you. It was like we started all over again. However, the difficulties was all worth it. The change in location has done wonders for Herbs and Spices Café – we get more foot traffic now. We’ve also kept our trademark décor: classic black and white.

Our menu is prepared by highly experienced Chefs – Charlie Lopez and Nelia Pingol Lopez – they were a part of the opening team at Seasons in the Park, Sharks Club, Cardero’s, Tea House and Hotel Georgia. They also had the incredible opportunity to cook for Former US President Bill Clinton during a state visit to Vancouver. We’re very fortunate that we have great Chefs – Chef Charlie and Chef Nellie (a husband and wife team) – are dedicated perfectionists when it comes to Filipino taste and food presentation. At Herbs and Spices Cafe, we work as a family, as a team. It’s very important to have the right team. Our kitchen team are very passionate, they sing while they work, they’re inspired. That’s what matters. We’re like one big family. We all share the same vision – to promote Filipino cuisine to everyone here in Vancouver.

Herbs and Spices Café is not just here to serve Filipino Fusion cuisine. We are here to serve as a voice, as a platform for bringing Filipino cuisine to the hearts (and stomachs) of the international community. We chose the downtown location because there aren’t really any Filipino restaurants in downtown. We have quite a selection of Filipino food in our menu (Beef Caldereta, Beef Kare Kare, Lechon Kawali, to name a few). We also offer Filipino lunch buffet on Mondays. So far, most of our non-Filipino guests have been so receptive to our cuisine. They like our Chicken Adobo in Ube Pandesal, they are attracted to the colour purple of our bread and the delicious taste of our chicken adobo. Our non-Filipino guests love our Lechon Kawali, our beef caldereta, and our beef kare kare. They are intrigued with our pancit (Filipino noodles) and our daing na bangus (deep fried milkfish belly). People also love our take on Filipino street food – fish and squid balls – presented on a bed of lettuce. Our all-day Filipino breakfasts “Silogs” (Longsilog, Tapsilog, Bangsilog and Tocilog) are becoming favourites among our non-Filipino regulars. They find our home-made longaniza savoury and delectable.

Herbs and Spices Café is open Mondays to Fridays from 7am to 3pm. We offer Filipino lunch buffet on Mondays from 11:30am to 2:30pm for only $15+ tax.  We also offer International lunch buffet on Fridays from 11:30am to 2:30pm for the same price, $15+tax. We have combo quick meals on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We also open for brunch on Sundays from 9am to 3pm.

Serving Filipino fusion cuisine is just the icing on the cake, our true business philosophy is built on the strong desire to promote Filipino cuisine at its best.