Boy, haven't met up with Mijune in awhile, she is always travelling! So before we headed to our dinner destination, we made a pit stop at TV Dinner Market & Cafe for a quick pre-dinner bite (and to catch up). For those who aren't familiar, TV Dinner Market & Cafe is a quaint little spot on West 3rd at Burrard that offers a variety of ready-to-heat meals from some of the best vendors in the city. In addition to that, they also have sandwiches (breakfast and lunch), cookies and coffee for those who want a quick meal to go or dine-in.
Despite having dinner plans already, we couldn't resist ordering lots including a few breakfast sammies. The Brisket Breakfast Sandwich featured a soft brioche bun with an over easy egg, beef brisket, pickled onion, garlic aioli and aged cheddar. Sure, this was "only" a breakfast sandwich, but believe me, it was fantastic. House-made and practically melted in my mouth, the brisket was meaty while not all that fatty. Hence, it was even more impressive that it was so tender and soft. The free-range egg was so perfect being custardy and runny. Crunch and acidity were provided by the pickled onions.
As much as the brisket breakfast sammie was delicious and textually-pleasing, the Longanisa Breakfast Sandwich was even better. The sweet and meaty patty was tender and nicely grilled. I think the silky custardy texture of the egg yolk went even better with the Longanisa. Some meats just go better with runny eggs right? This had the same aged cheddar, soft brioche bun and garlic aioli, but instead of pickled onions, we found caramelized ones. Although you might think that sweet on sweet may have not worked, I thought it did. It was a different kind of sweetness from the onions, it had more richness and some smokiness.
For ours sandwiches, we had a couple where I tried the Rueben first. This was a classic combination of house-made corned beef and sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and thousand islands dressing on Point Grey Bread. Again not rocket science, but another well-constructed sandwich with quality ingredients. The bread was beautifully toasted while the corned beef was buttery and meaty with restrained saltiness. The sauerkraut added some crunch with a balancing tanginess. Those house-made chips were super light and nutty.
We also had the Bulgogi Cheesesteak which was packed with thick-sliced sirloin, gochujang mayo, provolone and sauteed kimchi/onions/peppers. As you can imagine, this was one robust and zesty-tasting sandwich. We had the meatiness of the bulgogi that had sweetness while complimented by the creamy spice and tang from the mayo. Add in the extra tang, spice and aromatics from the veggies and kimchi, there was a lot going on. This all sat on a grilled tellara bun that held up to all of the ingredients and provided a firm crunchiness.
- Many of the components are made in-house
- Simple done right
- Also many take-away meals available
The Bad:
- Parking is hard to find if you drove
- Fairly limited dine-in menu, but keep things simple right?