Tangent Cafe

I’m a huge fan of this place since they changed owners and became the Tangent Café. The service is so much better, and the dinner menu is wicked! The Mee Ghoring and White Bark Mussels are great and I’d choose the coconut cream pie for my last meal!

Location: at the corner of commercial drive and 4^th/​5^th. It’s easy to notice
Parking: along the side street
Service: not much
Food: tried out their breakfast (bennies) at lunch time which is quite standard breakfast. Also tried out their burger at dinner. The burger is quite greasy. My whole napkin holding the burger was full of oil afterwards.
Price: regular café prices. Breakfast are roughly $ 10 – 15. $ 14 for a burger at night. If you want half and half for salad and fries, they charge you $ 1 extra
Ambience: They have live jazz music at night (or on a certain night. I went on Wed night and I could hear beautiful live jazz music) It’s good for small groups.
Overall comment/​tips: If you want to go to a café to enjoy some jazz music at night, it’s not a bad choice. Food-​wise is pretty standard café food. I think their breakfast/​brunch menu is better than the dinner menu.

One of the best breakfast spots in Vancouver. Unique selection and filling portions. Such a cool and down to earth staff!

Went back and tried their Asian dishes. Slightly spicier than what my wife and I were used to but still delicious. The Mee Goreng noodles are amazing (¹⁰⁄₁₀). We’re each going to order our own bowls next time. Also the Lentil Roti Canai was as amazing as the first time (¹⁰⁄₁₀).
Our male waiter was awesome, very attentive. Other waiters were not so great. Asked for side plates from waitress who delivered our food and she seemed to wander off and forget. Went up and asked our male waiter and he got them immediately for us.
Minor service issues aside, we’ll definitely be going back again.

Ive been here a few times, mostly for brunch. Their brunch is okay, nothing to brag home about. Granted I only had their classic breakfast. One thing I did find odd was that their scrambled eggs were more white/​pale yellow than the yellow you think that scrambled eggs were. I’m assuming they probably use more egg whites and very little yolk? I’m not a chef so I can be waaaay off.
Service was okay. Servers came by and checked on us once awhile.
I came here at night once, just for beer. I had their burger, it was delicious. The fries were to crispy and addicting. Instead of giving me ketchup on the side for a dip they gave me mayo. It’s like they read my mind, or they were like «this girl loves to dip her fries in mayo.» The beer selection seems to never change, just a few that seems to rotate out. Dagaard Burnabarium, Driftwood Fat Tug IPA, and I think Yellow Dog Shake a Paw IPA seems to be a few of the mainstays.
Unrelated to the service, however I wished that they had bigger signs of the smoking by laws posted some where. The last visit I was there, my boyfriend and I were seated by the window. We had 2 smokers smoking in front of the window… then later increased to 3. It put a small damper on our meal.

Been here twice
Servers are not attentive. no water refills, and I’ve had to go stand by the payment machine both times I have been here to get someone to ring me up. The staff also seem super annoyed that they are working… I don’t really know what to say about that.
No substitutions on dishes is a pretty lame policy considering peoples food sensitivities.
Want something from the cool looking lunch/​dinner menu posted in the window… well… the lunch menu doesn’t start until 3:00… so you can only have breakfast… until just before dinner.
All in all it feels like the general attitude of the place is that you should feel lucky your eating here… which is weird cause the food mostly sucks, the beers are expensive and small and the service blows.

A good place to go to for brunch with a few friends. The staff are friendly and fun. The lineup is reasonable and the atmosphere is great. There’s a lot of people chatting and having a good time. It’s not overly loud so you don’t have to yell to your friends when speaking.
The food selection is good and taste great. You get your eggs the way you want it and it is done exactly how it should be. Some places are a hit & miss when it comes to how the eggs are done. The coffee is just right and doesn’t have that burnt taste/​smell that you may get from other places.
A good place for food, drinks and to hang out with friends.

Love this place! They are usually very attentive and nice. Reserved a table via email — super convenient! Been here lots, and always delicious food and nice little selection of good craft beers.

This place has a great vibe, tasty food and a very good beer selection. We were there for an evening meal and there are lots of food options, with both eastern and western menu items. We stuck to the Eastern section of the menu, which is cleverly labeled «East». I ordered the Sambal Green Beans, with rice and chicken and it was very good and the spice level was pretty right on for me. My dining companion ordered a noodle dish called Mee Goreng, which looked fantastic and apparently was. The food prices are reasonable in my opinion, $ 11-​$ 14 for entrees. I also like that they clearly state the volume served in their beer glasses, which varies according to the beer type, rather than calling everything a pint — because if it isn’t 20oz, it isn’t a pint (in Canada anyway).

Place is fantastic. Excellent beer selection. unlike St Augs across the road with 50 different taps, the Tangent has a small selection of great beers. You can’t go wrong.
The Malaysian menu is killer as well. All winners.
Live music, and not a TV playing Sports Center in sight. They are doing it right.

In Vancouver it’s not hard to find new restaurants popping up every other week with menus that seek to reinvent classics. A lot of those are fun, cheeky and downright cool. Tangent Café isn’t that. And that’s exactly why I love it. Tangent is your classic brunch spot: eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast — all done well. No crazy jus this, no citrus sabayon that. You can get eggs done your way, a meat side, hashbrowns, and choice of toast starting at $ 10. Or you can order something more such as a classic benny, or a brie omelette.
The service is always friendly, the wait times always reasonable.
Best of all, the atmosphere is just perfect. Lots of chatter all around, high chairs plentiful for busy tots in the families. Everyone is relaxed and in a good mood. What better way to start off a Saturday or Sunday morning?
Tip: they have a good beer selection too!

Ambiance décontractée, musique live qui en valait vraiment la peine, le Tangent Café est un endroit super agréable! Le personnel est charmant! Je n’ai pas testé la cuisine. Seulement les frites, que je né conseille pas nécessairement (même format et même goût que celles du Mcdo). Un endroit idéal pour prendre un verre et profiter de la bonne musique!

Moderate brunch lineup on a weekend. It was sunny out so we toughed it out. Once in we both liked the décor — kind of a mix between 70’s pressed arborite on the walls and hipster moderne. Service was good. The waitress crinkled her nose when I asked/​demanded not to pay for eggs that I am sensitive to.
I ordered the Montréal Smoked meat and hash with multi-​grain toast. My friend ordered the crab cake Benedict. Pot of tea. He liked his.
Now mine:
Multi-​grain Toast — pathetically bad. Okay okay. redundant. Well, it tasted bland and right out off a forgotten Safeway shelf.
The hash: Dull and dry as the Okanagan desert. Oh hang on, the desert is not dull.
Service: Good.
Price: Ridiculously expensive. $ 30 before tip and with the $ 1.30 removed for the eggs.
Yelling «We won’t go back!» (canned music was loud making people yell). Go to Yolks instead.

Le Tangent Café est un lieu agréable pour un brunch. Les oeufs bénédictines au saumon étaient bons, les pommes de terre un peu trop cuites. Le rapport qualité /​prix vaut le coup. Serveurs sympathiques !

Tangent Café offers quite a variety of food from Malaysia or «the West» — enough to safely say there is something safe and familiar for everyone. «Safe» is a good word to describe the food as there is nothing extreme here — probably nothing actually spicy-​hot, so order curries and such with no fear.
Some vegetarian options but it is not immediately clear which are vegan.
Roti Canai ($ 5) flaky pan-​fried Malaysian flatbread with a side of either lentil curry or chicken curry for dipping
— Very salty chicken curry (with no chicken chunks — which is normal), but this was probably a fluke as someone who had been to Tangent Café before said her curry that time wasn’t quite so salty.
— Lentil curry was very thick, almost like a paste. Easier to scoop this up onto your roti with a fork.
— Two discs of really decent roti canai that came fresh. Very flaky and still chewy-​fun.
— Portion is a bit light compared to other places that serve this, such as Banana Leaf. For a really decent one with very good portions at a good price, get the 2-​piece roti prata at Amay’s House.
Beef Rendang ($ 14) beef slow-​cooked in a spicy curry & finished with coconut milk
— Pale-​looking curry with basically no spicy heat. Tasty-​spicy, but not hot spicy, which means it is not as rich as it could be if you’ve had it done with no-​holds barred spicy-​hot authenticity.
— OK portion with a bowl of rice and a portion of sambal green beans, making it a decently sized meal.
Amaretto-​Banana Flambé Roti ($ 6) with vanilla ice-​cream
— Totally NOT what we thought it would be, especially given the name. Maybe it was flamed in the kitchen (big MAYBE), but there was definitely no fire at the table.
— Banana (and presumably the amaretto as well) was wrapped in roti like a fat spring roll which looked like it was nicely deep fried into a moderate brown colour.
— Pretty tasty.
— Price for portion is slightly low, combined with expectations set too high for a table show involving fire.
— Came with a few grapes and some strawberry.
On Thursdays and Sundays there is live entertainment. We went on a Thursday and it was packed even before the live jazz at 8.30pm, though patio seats were probably more available. You can hear the music well enough from the outside, plus you have the benefit of being more able to hear what the rest of your dinner party is trying to tell you.
Larger parties (6+?) should make a reservation. Apparently for smaller parties, no reservations are taken.

Not impressed w this place. Tried the beef hash and it was so dry i wondered if it had been sitting on the grill for 2 hours. Server disappeared after our food was served.
Won’t be back.

This restaurant is great. It’s got a lovely patio area, high ceilings, interesting lighting. The atmosphere is incredibly relaxed during the day, and the staff are all very friendly and personable.
I love that they have gluten free bread that doesn’t crumble as soon as you pick it up. I had the chicken club sandwich the last time I was there and it was delicious.
For those of us who can’t enjoy the diverse rotating beer menu, they have Lone Tree cider which is my absolute favourite.
Oh, and if you’re looking for a great brunch on the Drive — this is it. They serve an incredible brunch until late in the afternoons on Sunday. The hashbrowns are especially tasty!

Oh, Tangent Café, what can I say? You are one of the rare white whales of a restaurant that has never let me down.
The staff here are truly excellent. The bartenders (and some of the servers) are super knowledgeable about drinks. On many occasions I’ve just totally trusted them to bring me surprise drinks based on a brief description of my preference, and have never been let down. There’s also a wonderful rotating beer selection.
As for the food, the dinner fare is quite good; plenty of options for carnivores and vegetarians alike. However, it’s brunch where they truly shine. Do yourself a favour and go on a Sunday when you can get a double Caesar for six bucks and plate of the most delicious crispy waffles.
All in all, I’m very glad Tangent has managed to fight off the curse of that location and stay in business. Way to go!

Great place, went for brunch.
Get the chroizo scrambled eggs!

I seriously love this place and am super surprised by some of the low rated reviews… The food is fantastic — the Kari Ayam and Mee Goreng are particular favourites (with a delicious, crispy, perfect roti, of course), the beer choice is excellent (lots of local brews), and I think the pricing is absolutely on par with what you’d expect. You’re not going to get a full pint of local craft beer for $ 4 — drink PBR if that’s what you’re after! I’d rather pay $ 6 – 7.50 for something delicious :)
I love the live jazz they have twice a week, and their comedy nights I hear are super fun, too. There are a couple of staff who are a bit manic, but most are lovely, efficient, and engaged even during busy times. I’m delighted to see that they are getting really busy, although as a regular it does make me grumble to have to wait — but hopefully it means more staying power for them!
In short: what’s not to love? Craft beer, fun atmosphere, live music, and yummy food!

Went on February 10^th 2014.
Good breakfast with the MTL smoked meat option, food value for $$.
Good service.

Came here for some drinks at night, and to see how this place compared to the previous establishment (Sorry Babushka).
Parking is available on the side streets.
The feel is definitely hipster-​ish, with a large vintage clock in the back. Shelves are filled with many types of exotic booze — your street cred goes up a couple of notches when you breathe in the air. There is a nice large patio on the side.
Beer here is honestly quite expensive. My glass (not even a pint) of Monk’s Uncle was $ 7.50, and it’s from Seattle from crying out loud. Ugh. 3 stars instead of 3.5 or 4.
Decent atmosphere, but value can be found elsewhere.