drink Archives - Curiously Carmen

Brown Bites – Boba Essence

March 17, 2019 Leave a Comment

Brown Bites is a mini series on my blog featuring places the boyfriend has tried without me, so it wouldn’t be my own review. Why the name Brown, you ask? It is named after the Japanese LINE character, Brown. Brown is a cute, shy, emotionless cartoon bear but secretly full of love, and we adore him to pieces!

One night while hanging out with Maki, Nigiri, and Burger, we were craving bubble tea (what else is new? bubble tea is life) so we decided to order delivery.

My stomach was acting up (again, what else is new?) so I opted out that evening. I didn’t miss out on much because they were all quite disappointed with this place!

The actual store is located in Olympic Village. It is one of the only bubble tea shops in this area. Since we ordered delivery, I can’t comment on the store or service.

Roasted milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend ordered this, but was disappointed. While it had a decent tea flavour, it was wayyyy too sweet to enjoy. The straw was too small for the pearls, so he had a hard time getting them.

Oolong milk tea with pearls

Hochija milk tea with pearls

Earl grey milk tea with grass jelly

The rest of them did not enjoy their bubble tea either, commenting that it was way too sweet.

When I asked everyone if they would have it again, everyone said they rather go order from somewhere else. If they were in Olympic Village and happened to walk by, then possibly if the bubble tea craving was strong enough. Otherwise, there are a lot more and better options in Vancouver for bubble tea.

Glad I opted out for once!

ZenQ – Burnaby Location

March 10, 2019 Leave a Comment

ZenQ is a Taiwanese dessert chain that opened in the Vancouver area a bit over a year ago. Since their first store (I believe in Richmond?), a few other locations have opened up around town. I live closest to the Burnaby location and went once last year, but thought it was time I write about it.

This post also contains a delivery order with Maki, Nigiri, and the boyfriend! (my stomach was acting up that night so I didn’t order anything, sad).

The location is clean and new, less than a year old. Surprisingly, there aren’t many bubble tea places along The Heights so they don’t have much competition. Parking is easy to find and free along the streets.

Hot grass jelly pudding with Q balls and pearls: Grass jelly is made from a Chinese plant, with other herbs added inside. The result is a healthy dessert, usually served cold with other toppings such as syrup, pearls, mochi balls, or ice cream.

I ordered the plain one when I had a sore throat, but this time, I ordered one with toppings! My go-to is the hot version with Q-balls, pearls, and red bean. The Q balls are chewy, mochi balls which come in yam, sweet potato, and matcha flavour.

The pearls add a nice sweetness and more chewiness to the grass jelly pudding as well! This is such a guilt free dessert and I am still able to eat it with all my digestive problems, which is a win for me!

Milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend really enjoyed his milk tea. There was a strong black tea flavour and not diluted at all, which is evident of their quality.

Cold grass jelly dessert: This is from a separate delivery order with Maki and Nigiri. It was the cold grass jelly with vanilla ice cream, mochi, and pearls. It looked delicious and they didn’t have complaints about it.

Jasmine green milk tea: While Maki and Nigiri ordered a food item, the boyfriend went with the Jasmine milk tea. He noted the strong Jasmine flavour and quality this time too.

ZenQ has been around for a year now, and I suspect that we will be back more often, whether it’s for dine in or delivery!

The grass jelly is high quality and made in store, while their teas are fragrant and delicious. What’s not to love about it?

Baker and Table Cafe

February 23, 2019 Leave a Comment

Baker and Table Cafe has been on my radar ever since it opened two years ago. I always make a mental note to try it when we are in the Fraser St. area, but the restaurants we usually go to (Deer Garden or Angel) are sooo filling that I end up forgetting about going.

It’s no secret that the boyfriend and I love Japanese food and culture. Despite going to Tokyo only 3 months ago, we miss Japan a lot and can’t wait to go back! To get our Japanese grocery fix, we go to Fujiya often.

On one of our grocery trips, I noticed Fujiya carried some mochi melonpan from Baker and Table (weekends only)! I took my chance and bought all 4 buns that they offered. My stomach was not happy with me but sometimes I want to try new things.

A melonpan is a type of Japanese bun. There isn’t any melon in it per se, the name originated from how the bun looks like a melon. Pan is the Japanese word for bread.

These are the four melonpans that we bought! The flavours that day were matcha white chocolate, black sesame, London smog chocolate, and matcha red bean.

Matcha white chocolate melonpan: The matcha flavour was pure, strong and earthy. It reminded me of matcha treats in Japan, because they do not sweeten their matcha as heavily as in North America (I’m looking at you, Starbucks).

After a few bites, we were greeted with the chewy mochi! It was delicious. Although there wasn’t much white chocolate taste, it was still a delicious bun.

Black sesame melonpan: Next up was the black sesame! The first few bites didn’t have much sesame flavour, but once we got to the center of the bun, there was a lot of black sesame paste.

As with all of them, the texture was fluffy and soft. So delicious!

Matcha red bean melonpan: Compared to the matcha white chocolate melonpan above, the red bean one was a lot neater to eat. I let him eat all of this because of my digestive issues.

This is one of the boyfriend’s favourite combinations, and he quite enjoyed it.

London smog chocolate melonpan: Last but not least! I also let the boyfriend eat all of this because of my stomach problems. I was surprised that he enjoyed this one the most, I thought surely he would have loved the red bean matcha most!

The reason why he liked this one the most was because it was the sweetest. This is probably the most ‘Western’ one of them all because of how sweet it is!

All in all, we enjoyed all the melonpan that we bought that day. I didn’t eat as much as I would have wanted due to my digestive issues, but I did enjoy the bites I had (and surely suffered after lol).

Time to go check out their actual cafe and try more things! They also offer lunch and dinner things too. Another cool thing about Baker and Table is that they are a peanut free facility, for those with peanut allergies.

Now, they just need to add some non-dairy versions so I can enjoy more of their pastries! They have a vegan waffle which I would love to try!

45 Degree Bubble Tea House

October 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

While hanging out with Cola and the monkeys downtown, Cola suggested we grab some bubble tea here. 45 Degree Bubble Tea House is a small little cafe off West Pender, close to Stanley Park and the seawall. It was pretty quiet when we came on a weekend afternoon.

I was planning on getting bubble tea that evening with friends, so I didn’t order anything here but the rest of them did.

Milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend got his usual, a regular milk tea with pearls. It was fragrant and one of the better milk teas he has had. He said that the pearls were fresh and chewy as well.

Lavender milk tea: Cola ordered a lavender milk tea, which she had no complaints about.

Strawberry slush with pearls: Monkey 1 had the strawberry slush, which she enjoyed.

Mango slush with coconut jelly: Monkey 2 had the mango slush, which she enjoyed too.

Since we were in the area, 45 Degree was convenient and we would probably go back should we crave some bubble tea!

Yay!

Earl’s – Happy Hour Revisit

September 29, 2018 1 Comment

Over the weekend, we met up with Macaroni and Cheese for happy hour at Earl’s. We have been here a couple times before, but I didn’t write about it since we ordered the same things as the first post I wrote last year.

Drinks: The happy hour specials at Earl’s are definitely a great value. We each ordered a drink, which I forgot to take a photo of. I had the rose sangria which was sweet and sugary, reminiscent of a pink lemonade. However, I would recommend ordering it with light ice because half the wine glass was ice!

Earl’s Chorizo Nachos: At first, we weren’t sure whether or not the nachos would be enough for 4 people because it seemed pretty cheap ($10 compared to most places, where nachos are $15+). Luckily, it was a good portion for snacking and we all enjoyed it.

The nachos reminded us of chili, like if you put chili over some nacho chips. There was a lot of chorizo sausage and a decent amount of ripe avocado, but it could have used more cheese. It was a good choice and I wouldn’t mind sharing it again.

Margherita pizza: Last time when Cocoa ordered this, it was disappointing but Macaroni was craving some pizza that day, so we all shared it too. It looked sad and small, but taste wise, it wasn’t bad.

The price increased from $3.50 to $4.00 since last year which is not surprising as the cost of materials and living continue to rise. However, if the price keeps on slowly creeping up, it definitely would not be worth it based on the size.

Yam fries: Surprisingly, I’m not a huge fan of yam fries so I didn’t have any. However, the rest of them did not have any complaints about it.

Garlic fries: I forgot to take a photo of the garlic fries! Last time, I remember that the garlic fries were disappointing and not garlicky at all. Well, this time, it was a lot better because there was a huge amount of crushed garlic! We ended up ordering another bowl of these to share, and all wounded up with garlic breath afterwards! LOL!

As in my last post, I mentioned that the happy hour items are a bit hit and miss… in this visit, we enjoyed all of the dishes, which is making me think that they are inconsistent. For example, the garlic fries last time barely had any garlic, but this time, there was a huge amount. I would say don’t come with extremely high expectations because you won’t know if they’re having an off day or not.

I find service here spotty too, it is either really good, or really slow.

But if you just want a place for cheap drinks, then Earl’s is the place to go!

Yay!