drink Archives - Curiously Carmen

Suika – Updated Visit

September 5, 2016 1 Comment

Suika was one of the first blog posts I’ve ever written! Two and a half years later, I am back with an updated post on one of my favourite restaurants in Vancouver. For Valentine’s Day this year, the boyfriend and I decided to just go somewhere familiar and tasty. We’ve been here a few times already, since we both love it here.
Suika shirley temple, $4.80: I love the drinks at Suika, and decided to order this since it’s been awhile! The Suika shirley temple comes with calpico (Japanese yogurt drink), fresh watermelon puree, soda, and lime. This was deliciously sweet, with the watermelon tasting very fresh. Unfortunately, I found out that calpico may contain milk, so I decided not to chance it and ruin our dinner and ended up only drinking half of it. I know, how sad =( The boyfriend had the rest and he thought it was pretty good.
Sashimi salad, $11.80: I don’t even know why I like sashimi salad so much, when I don’t even like regular salad. It must be the sesame/miso/garlic style dressing that Japanese restaurants use that I like so much, coupled with fresh seafood! It’s such a clear and healthy, yet delicious dish. Everything in this salad was delectably fresh, including the sashimi and the greens!
Tuna tataki, $7.20: My must order recently is the sashimi salad, and the boyfriend’s is the tuna tataki! This was very delicious with the inclusion of the home made chili oil but it wasn’t extremely spicy.
Ebi mayo, $9.80: We liked this the last time we came here, so decided to order it again. Unfortunately, the batter was really bland and tasteless. The batter also did not taste that fresh as well, it was a bit soggy.
Kakuni bibimbap: After cracking an egg and stirring it around for you, it is recommended to let this sit for 3-5 minutes to let the stone bowl cook the rice, making it crispy! We’ve ordered this in the past and it was delicious this time as well. We found that this had a salty fish flavour even though we only saw beef. However, the boyfriend does not like the taste of salty fish so he didn’t eat that much of it.

We were actually getting pretty full at this point and ended up packing half of this back home.
Tokyo oxtail ramen, $9.80: I always get this when I come here because it’s so delicious! It is very flavourful and comes with a chunk of oxtail, that has a fair amount of tender and flavourful meat. The noodles were nice and bouncy as well!

We ended up packing some of this back too, as we were too stuffed by the end of our meal to fathom finishing it.
Aburi toro battera, $12.80. Lightly pressed fatty tuna with avocado, sesame seeds, and home made soy dressing. We haven’t ordered this before here, but man, was this DELICIOUS!

The lightly torched fatty tuna went really well with the creamy avocado and soy dressing. I let the boyfriend have most of this because he loves tuna, and wasn’t too satisfied with the bibimbap due to the salty fish.
We were looking forward to their frozen grapes, but they didn’t have it this time! =( We got candies instead. I forgot what flavour they were (I’m assuming watermelon?) but they were pretty good.

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Suika and it never disappoints us. Most of their food is consistent (albeit the ebi mayo) and service is always quick and efficient. I would recommend trying Suika if you haven’t already! It’s a good place to go with a group of people and split the tapas over drinks.

Oh, another thing is that they’re usually fully booked with reservations on the weekend, so I would definitely recommend making a reservation before coming here.

Yay!

CHOP Steakhouse & Bar – Richmond, BC Location

August 26, 2016 Leave a Comment

For the boyfriend’s birthday, he wanted to have a good ol’ piece of hearty steak. Since we usually go to The Keg for steak, he wanted to try a new place so we went to CHOP Steakhouse & Bar in Richmond! The restaurant is connected to a hotel, and easiest to get to by car.

There are also other CHOP restaurants in Canada! From my knowledge, CHOP is currently a small Canadian chain.
I had made reservations on Open Table for an early dinner, at 6 pm. When we arrived, the parking lot was completely full! We ended up parking on the hotel side, which was still a really quick walk. The outside of the restaurant looked pretty modern and posh.

There were lights on the ground that would illuminate really nicely should we have come after dusk.
We were quickly seated, and the restaurant was pretty empty, save for a few other tables. Other parties ended up coming in as well, but it was nowhere as busy as The Keg would be. I guess this place isn’t really located in a residential neighbourhood or an entertainment district either, which explains the quieter venue!

We didn’t mind the quietness, as we were seated in a little corner of the restaurant that had a nice view of the statue pictured above! Our table also had this really big, modern wire ball lamp above our table. It felt a lot cooler to sit here than at the other tables 😉
It was an special occasion, so of course drinks were ordered!

Caesar, $6.99: The boyfriend’s go-to drink, after beer. He really enjoyed the caesar. The celery stalk inside the drink was really long, it went all the way to the bottom of his cup! Although I don’t normally like caesars, I found this one pretty tolerable to drink so that is saying something =P

Pink lemonade, $7.49: This girl loves her fruity cocktails. The pink lemonade came with lemonade, raspberry liquor, soda, and a scoop of raspberry sorbet on top. I absolutely loved this drink and couldn’t stop sipping it. You could barely taste the alcohol, it tasted like a raspberry lemonade instead. The drink tasted better with the sorbet mixed inside.
Tuna tataki, $14.95: As an appetizer, we decided to order the tuna tataki because the boyfriend looooves tuna tataki. Unfortunately, this dish was really disappointing. The tuna was pretty hard on the outside and tasted as though it had been prepared awhile ago and left in the fridge.

It also did not melt in our mouths the way delicious tuna sashimi should. Other than the lack of freshness, the fried onions and sauce were both really flavourful.
Bread, complimentary: The bread was served nice and warm, with no complaints!
Filet mignon, $39.95: On to the main course! I had my heart set on the prime rib, but changed my mind last minute and ordered the filet mignon, cooked medium rare. The filet mignon came with a red wine reduction, and I chose fries as my side.

Due to my dairy restriction, I had asked our server to double check that the steak was not slathered with butter or another dairy product prior to cooking. She had assured me it wasn’t, but after a couple small bites, I could definitely taste butter. I asked her again and she suddenly had this ‘OH CRAP’ look on her face and brought it back right away, LOL. Turns out they do cook the filet mignon in butter.

Because of this, they had to bring it back to the kitchen and made one without dairy. I actually liked the plain filet mignon more because I like my steaks very simple, usually only with a dash of salt and pepper. If the steak is any good, you don’t need to drown it in seasoning and sauce.

It was cooked a nice, medium rare and was sooo incredibly tender and delicious.
Rib eye, $37.95: Unlike how I was set with the prime rib before changing my mind last minute, the boyfriend stuck to his original decision and ordered the rib eye. When we were looking up the menu a few nights prior, he knew immediately that he wanted the rib eye!

The rib eye was cooked a perfect medium rare as well, and was extremely tender and full of fragrant spices. The boyfriend enjoyed the rib eye a tremendous amount, and thought it was the perfect dish to have on his birthday! Woot!
Mini birthday dessert bite, complementary: I had called in requesting a birthday dessert for the boyfriend. After confirming with our server, they brought over the mini birthday surprise! She was nice enough to give us the option of a complementary full dessert due to her dairy mistake above, but the boyfriend was already too full at this point and I am unable to help him eat this =(

However, we appreciated the offer and this was a reflection of the great service we received throughout our meal, although service was a bit slow in the beginning.

Overall, we had a lovely evening here for his birthday and really enjoyed our first visit. CHOP is a great option for steaks, and I would definitely recommend trying it. Compared to The Keg, CHOP has a more modern, young, and hip vibe while The Keg is more classic.

Yay!

Midam Cafe

August 11, 2016 Leave a Comment

Originally, my friends and I had plans to try G-Men in Richmond, but we could not find parking. We ended up going to Aberdeen Mall to eat instead. You may think that resorting to food court food is pretty atrocious compared to a restaurant, but Aberdeen’s food court is amazing.

Continuing our streak of bad luck that night, we wanted to try a dessert place in Richmond but it was packed. We decided to just go back to Burnaby, as my friend had told us about Midam Cafe many times.

It is a pretty hard place to find, located right under a flight of stairs and tucked into the corner with no visible signage. But it ain’t an Asian restaurant unless it has those features, amirite? 😉
Green tea float, $6.99: Essentially a green tea ice cream smoothie. Yes, it was as good as it sounded, judging from how Cheese was raving about it. I would have tried it too, but that’s just asking for death when you are extremely lactose intolerant.
Rice cake with bean flour & apple sauce: I wanted something sweet that day, which is usual for me because I would take savoury over sweets usually. Sadly, my options were limited seeing that I can’t have dairy, so I settled for the rice cake from the recommendation of the server.

This was a very odd dish, and was not my cup of tea. It wasn’t bad at all, but I was expecting the rice cake to be sweet. Instead, it was very salty and had hints of cinnamon flavour. I also didn’t taste the apple sauce at all. My friends tried it and they thought it was a bit strange too. Maybe we just aren’t used to Korean rice cakes, but it was nice to try something new! I would order this if I was craving something savoury.
Strawberry sorbet, $4.99: I wanted to order this, but was afraid there was dairy. Luckily, Macaroni ordered this and confirmed that there wasn’t any dairy, so I was able to try it. It was so delicious that I ended up ordering one myself (especially since i was in a sweets mode and my rice cake ended up being surprisingly salty). It reminded me of the strawberry slush at Milk and Sugar. I found it to be a bit chunky and not blended enough, but it was still full of fresh, delicious strawberry flavour.

Oreo milkshake, $4.99: The boyfriend ordered this and fell in love with the flavour instantly. It was one of the BEST milkshakes he’s ever had in his life. Macaroni and Cheese also tried it and confirmed the boyfriend’s thoughts – it was indeed THAT amazing and delicious. To this day, they still talk about how great this oreo milkshake is while I am left imagining how delicious and heavenly this is. Perhaps if I bring my dairy supplements, I can try this out for myself but I find that those supplements do not always work for me.

All in all, we enjoyed our late night visit to Midam and I can see myself coming here again for some late night snacks/drinks. One cool thing to note about Midam is that the place is completely decked out in NBA gear – there is a basketball hoop, jerseys, posters, pretty much a NBA lovers dream in here!

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Cat + Cafe = A visit to the Catfe

April 3, 2016 3 Comments

I got invited to the Catfe and seeing how popular it has been since opening two months ago in December, I decided to go and check it out!

Cat + cafe = catfe =^_^= There are many cat cafes in Asia, but Catfe is the first of its kind in Vancouver. In addition, all the cats at the Catfe are from the SPCA and are open for adoption. It’s a great way for potential pet owners to get a sense of what the cat’s personality is like, before adopting.
Of course, I forgot to bring my allergy pills! Yes, unfortunately I’ve been allergic to cats ever since I was a child. But cats are so cute! Luckily, my allergies only get really bad after two hours, so I just dealt with a itchy nose for the time being. My bad…

Catfe is located on the second level of Tinseltown. As you can tell from the picture, there is one main entrance (the full, clear glass door). The actual cafe where they serve food and where the cats are, are separated due to Vancouver’s health rules.

They have a LOT of cute cat themed merchandise for the cat lover in you! These would also make great gifts for those people in your life that have a huge affinity for cats. *insert heart eyes cat emoji here*
Vegan & gluten-free brownie, around $5: Many of their pastries are healthy and suitable for those with alternative diets. I ordered a brownie with peanut butter icing. The brownie was a bit on the dry side and lacked a chocolate flavour, but the peanut butter on top was delicious.

Let’s be honest here, you don’t come to Catfe for their food and drink. You come here to see the cute cats, so let’s enter the cat headquarters! I actually got pretty distracted by the cats and forgot about my brownie.

After washing my hands (a requirement before entering) and having a staff member go over all the rules with me (basically don’t be a jerk to the cats), I saw a big, brown sleepy cat on the counter, pictured on the top left. I am in awe at how he managed to snooze so deeply when there is so much going on around him. I wish I could do that too.

Many of the cats were sleeping when I went. Some were sleeping on the chairs, or in little shelves and boxes.

There was around seven cats when I visited Catfe. The number of cats vary each day, depending on if they have been adopted or not yet.
Here are some of the places for the cats to play. One of their entire wall is a wooden shelf for cats to crawl around in, or sleep in the holes.
They also have cat themed board games and children’s story books as well! It truly is a cat lover’s paradise here.
Hehe, a selfie with one of the sleepy cats. The chairs are cat themed too!
All in all, I think the Catfe is a great place for cat lovers. I wouldn’t recommend coming if you aren’t a fan of cats, because you are essentially paying $5 (with purchase from cafe) or $8 (no cafe purchase, just to see the cats) to see them.

Think of the Catfe as a cat shelter, but with average drinks/pastries, really cute interior design and better living conditions for the cats while they wait to be adopted.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Complementary media pass provided, I paid for the food. All opinions are own.

Coast Restaurant

March 6, 2016 4 Comments

Note: I wrote this review a year ago, last March. I came back here in May 2015 and didn’t really have a good experience, so I hesitated to put this review up. The service was really slow and un-attentive, while the food didn’t taste as good as the review I have written here below.

——

Back when I used to work in downtown, I had the pleasure of going to Coast for lunch. It was my second time here, and I suggested this place because I had a wonderful experience the first time I went. From the atmosphere to service to food, everything was exceptionally done (the second time I came which is what the review is based on, the third time was not good).

Originally, my cousin and I had plans to eat at Black & Blue for lunch, and I decided to read up on the menu before we went since I had a limited lunch break. I was a bit shocked at how abysmal the Zomato ratings were for that restaurant – I thought it was a good restaurant!

Since the Glowbal Group restaurants aren’t particularly cheap, we decided to be safe and go back to Coast, since it was good the last time we went. I was able to make a last minute reservation online without any problems.

The infamous circular oyster bar in the middle of the restaurant. I love the interior and ambiance of Coast. Some of the seating is a bit squishy and uncomfortable, especially during peak hours. You could be sitting almost shoulder to shoulder with the next table.
Sorry, I forgot what drink this was but it was one of their non-alcoholic cocktails. I tried to read their menu online, but none of the drinks there seemed to ring a bell so perhaps the menu changed.

I thought it was really refreshing, and wasn’t too sweet but had some strawberry pulp in it. If I was going to be picky, I would have liked it with less ice because I found that 1/2 the drink was ice.
My cousin and I decided to split all of our lunch items. We both weren’t that hungry since we had some light snacks before meeting up, so decided to split some items.

You can’t go to Coast without ordering their seafood.

First up on the left, was the spicy ahi tuna roll. For $12.95, it is a bit overpriced considering a lot of Japanese restaurants can serve this for half the price, but there is no denying that the quality was definitely there. The tuna was extremely fresh and melted in your mouth. It came flavoured with a mouth watering sesame yuzu sauce, and a hint of spice. There were small crunchy flakes on top which topped the cherry off in an amazing roll.
On the right, were the fish and chip cones. It came with cod tempura, greens, fresh tobiko, and rice wrapped in some sort of soy paper (???). Again, everything tasted delightfully fresh and the tempura was perfectly crunchy. I loved biting into the crunchy tobiko as well, which popped with flavour! The rice bed did a good job in filling me up as well.
Our last dish was the smoked salmon flatbread. Give me almost anything with smoked salmon and arugula, and I will eat it. Smoked salmon and arugula is probably one of my favourite combinations of food.

The flatbread was thicker than I expected, I was expecting some sort of thin crust pizza-variation for some reason. I’m not a fan of Neapolitan thin crust pizza (cue *GASP HOW COULD SHE?!* from everyone) so I liked this dough a lot more.

I came back here last May (see note above), and ordered this as well. Unfortunately, it was not as good as the flatbread was drenched in so much mayo that it we couldn’t taste anything else. This place isn’t as consistent as it used to be, so I’m unsure if I would come back especially since it’s not cheap dining.

Would have been a yay! but because of the second experience, it is a meh…

Thanks for reading!

Carmen