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Desi Turka Indian Cuisine

September 20, 2020 Leave a Comment

Indian food is only something I’ve been having for the past two years or so. Turns out I have been missing out for most of my life because it is so fragrant and delicious! I am wanting to try more Indian restaurants to review so please let me know if you have any favorites.

We originally had plans to get Red Robin’s with Sangria and Lager, but last minute I saw an ad for Indian food and began craving for it. Fortunately, everyone else was down for Indian too so we found a place that did delivery near their place, Desi Turka.

Desi Turka is located on the border of New West and Burnaby. We ordered delivery so we didn’t go into the restaurant, but it seems like they have some dine in specials during the week.

We each picked an entree and shared everything!

Chicken biryani: I absolutely love my chicken biryani, and it is what I usually order. Some places can be hit or miss though so I was hoping Desi Turka would be the former. The portion was huge! The takeout box was jam packed to the brim, as evident in this photo.

The chicken biryani was absolutely delicious and writing about it is making my mouth water. The basmati rice was incredibly fluffy and fragrant with all the spices and herbs they used. The chicken was juicy, tender and very flavourful although there could have been a few more pieces.

I’ve had biryani at other restaurants that was so oily that you couldn’t tell the rice was fluffy. I’m happy to say this was not the case and this dish was perfect.

Goat curry: Lager loves his goat, but Sangria and the fiance are vehemently opposed to goat. I am neutral so I had some of the goat curry. The curry was very flavourful and fragrant, and good to mix with our naan bread and rice.

Goat meat tends to be tougher than beef or pork but I found it to be alright. I personally wouldn’t order a dish to myself but if it was on the table, I’d have some.

Butter chicken: Sangria picked the butter chicken. The butter chicken was more mild in spice and less fragrant than the biryani and curry. It was creamy and had a silky smooth, well rounded flavour to it.

I personally prefer my Indian food to be more spicy and fragrant, but the butter chicken was delicious!

Chicken korma: The fiance picked the chicken korma and it was also delicious. He couldn’t have enough of it! Chicken korma is made with a creamy sauce and is less spicy than curry. The chicken was also very tender and juicy in this dish.

Vegetable samosa: We were pleasantly surprised when we saw that we got two samosas instead of one! This was absolutely delicious and fragrant with all the different herbs and spices used.

Garlic naan: The garlic butter naan bread was so good! It was thick and chewy, perfect for dipping with the goat curry, butter chicken and chicken korma. The garlic complemented the sauces in the other dish well.

Roti bread: The roti bread was forgettable and meh. The garlic naan was a lot better.

We were really happy with Desi Turka. The food was delicious, flavorful and the portions were big. Too bad they don’t deliver to our area or I would get it more regularly.

iSushi

September 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

iSushi is a new sushi restaurant that opened recently on Rupert and 22nd by Lucky Plus Chinese Restaurant, across from the old Oscar Cafe (RIP Oscar Cafe, you are so missed!).

This restaurant used to Kimura Japanese restaurant, which I visited many years ago, and then was briefly replaced with the brunch spot Ham and Eggman’s for a year.

While looking for a place to eat (and a new place to review), the fiance suggested iSushi so we went to get pickup.

From my brief visit of picking up takeout, the staff was very friendly and nice. In addition, they had relaxing classical music playing. It was really soothing and relaxing, I almost wanted to stand in there a bit just to listen to it, haha.

Salmon roll: The salmon roll was disappointing. The rice was packed very tightly and was very dense and wet. The salmon sashimi itself inside was good, but the rice ruined the roll for me.

Negitoro roll: Same thing was above with the salmon roll.

California roll: California roll is one of the main staples in a Japanese restaurant, and you can’t really go wrong with it right? Well clearly I did because this was also disappointing. The imitation crab meat was chopped up into very small pieces and it had a crumbly, dry texture to it.

Chopped scallop roll: Finally, a roll that I liked! The chopped scallop roll was decent, with plump and fresh scallops.

House roll: The house roll came with imitation crab meat, salmon, tuna, tamago, avocado, and tobiko. Again, it would have been a tasty roll if it wasn’t for the imitation crab meat (which was half the roll) being chopped up into tiny pieces and being crumbly and dry.

Dynamite roll: The dynamite roll was tasty with no complaints. The tempura inside still had a bit of crunch to it.

BC Roll: Over the years, we’ve found that BC roll can be hard to master and varies greatly among restaurants. The salmon skin has to be grilled enough and be fresh so that it is delicious, otherwise you’re just eating soggy salmon skin. Fortunately, the BC roll here was good and the salmon skin was crispy with an enjoyable grilled flavor to it.

Overall, there were some hit or misses here. With a plethora of Japanese restaurants in Vancouver, ISushi would not be high on my list.

However, I realize they have only recently opened and possibly figuring out their groove still so maybe they will improve their techniques. There is definitely room for improvement.

Mr. Chu Tea and Coffee

September 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

I found myself in South Surrey again, but this time in the White Rock neighborhood! Latte and I decided to finally have our picnic day here and since Mr Chu was across the street from Emilio Finatti Pizza, it was the perfect time to stop by and grab a bubble tea to enjoy at the beach as well. I heard about this place before and read good reviews about it!

Mr Chu is a popular bubble tea shop located in White Rock. The shop was closed to customers due to the pandemic, with the cashier taking orders and payment at a table that blocked off the door.

We came a bit after they opened, and a line was already forming so I expect they do get quite busy. There aren’t many decent bubble tea shops in this area either.

Mango slush: After verifying that the mango slush was dairy free, I was good to go. The mango slush was delicious and really good quality. It was blended very well and smooth. Meanwhile, the mango tasted real or at least made with frozen mangoes instead of a syrup. I had the mango slush at Gong Cha recently and it did not compare, Mr Chu was better!

In addition, the pearls were sweet and had the perfect, chewy consistency. They tasted very fresh. It was the perfect mango slush and I would happily order it again.

Mango calpis slush: The fiance ordered a similar drink, a mango calpis slush. He found it delicious as well and had no complaints about it.

Roasted oolong milk tea: Latte has been here a few times and went with the roasted oolong milk tea. She had no complaints with her drink and enjoyed it as well.

Mr Chu is a delicious spot to get decent bubble tea in White Rock. There aren’t many good bubble tea shops in South Surrey compared to Vancouver, Burnaby, or Richmond for example. I wouldn’t purposely drive all the way here just for Mr Chu but it’s really good for the location. It would be comparable to other bubble tea shops in Vancouver.

Ms Frizzle & Magic School Bus DIY Costume (No sewing required)

September 15, 2020 Leave a Comment

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll know that the fiance and I do DIY costumes every year for Halloween. It’s my favourite tradition of ours, and always so fun to look for materials and plan out the costume! Last year, we went as Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus! As with all the costumes, no sewing is required.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t planning on writing a post and did not end up taking photos of the various steps involved. On the plus side, the costumes were fairly easy to make.

Let’s start with the Ms. Frizzle costume!

Supplies needed for Ms Frizzle costume:

Black dress – I got mine from Old Navy
Felt paper in various colours
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Sharpie
Orange wig (optional) – I got mine from Amazon

Instructions:

I chose to go with her outer space outfit. Using the sharpie, draw various planets and shapes with the felt paper such as stars, circles for planets and suns, and triangles for the sun rays. Feel free to mix and match different colours. Make sure the shapes are big enough so that you could see them from far away and in photos.
After drawing the shapes, use scissors to cut them out.
Lay out the black dress on a flat surface. Test out the layout of the planets and stars and where you’d like to put them.
Once you’re happy with the positioning, use the hot glue gun and glue everything down! Glue down the outer area and edges to ensure that none of the felt paper droops down.

Supplies needed for Magic School Bus costume:

Giant rectangular cardboard box that you can comfortably fit inside
Smaller rectangular cardboard box that is the same length as the giant cardboard box
Yellow paper roll from Michael’s (or yellow paint)
Duct tape
Construction paper: black, red, blue, orange, light blue
Sharpie
Glue stick
Cardboard knife

Instructions (Again, sorry for the lack of photos! I wasn’t planning on writing a post last year and didn’t take any photos in the process)

Combine the two boxes with duct tape. The giant box will be where your body fits into and the smaller box will be the front of the Magic School Bus.
Wrap and cover the two boxes with the yellow paper roll. Alternatively, you could use yellow paint and paint everything but that takes longer as many layers are likely required to make the paint opaque.
Use a sharpie and trace out where you will cut the holes on the top and bottom of the giant box for your body to wear.
Use a cardboard knife and cut out the hole at the top and bottom of the giant box. Save this cardboard for the rear view mirrors.
Cut out various shapes with the construction paper for the front windows, side windows, car lights, eyes, grill, etc and glue to the boxes. Refer to the picture for the shapes.
Use a sharpie to draw grill lines for the grill.
Using the cardboard that was cut out for the body holes, draw rear view mirrors on the cardboard.
Cut out the rear view mirrors on the cardboard.
Use the yellow wrapping paper and wrap the mirrors.
Glue the mirrors on the large box.

There you have it! The Ms. Frizzle costume is a lot easier and faster than the Magic School Bus.

I hope this was helpful in your Halloween costuming. If you do end up using this guide, show me the result via email, hello (at) curiouslycarmen (dot) com.

Here are the links to previous costumes as well:

🎃Mickey and Minnie
🎃Firefighters – (Not on the blog, but also did Gyrados and Pikachu costume that year, which has an instructions post)
🎃Monsters Inc Mike and Sully
🎃Salmon nigiri and sushi chef
🎃Soap and loofah
🎃The Incredibles

Happy costuming!

Chun Fun How – Two Visits

September 14, 2020 Leave a Comment

Chun Fun How is yet another Taiwanese bubble tea chain that has reached Vancouver. I am seriously losing track of all the new bubble tea places opening up! This place caught my eye though because of their beautiful, floral cup designs. This post is a combination of 2 visits.

I finally got the chance to try this place when we stopped by Bin 4 Burger Lounge to pickup takeout for a date night picnic. I suggested that we stop by here since it was only a 5 minute drive from Bin 4.

Walking in, I saw the pretty Instagram corner with a beautiful, floral backdrop and a lush chair. They also had a row of tables but those were closed off due to the pandemic.

I was happy to see that they had many options on their menu.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of their pretty cups. Seriously, major kudos to whoever designed these! They even have a special Vancouver edition cup as you will see with my order.

Sugarcane jade tea: This was not something that the fiance typically orders, but it ended up being a very great choice because it was absolutely delicious. This drink was also on their top 5 menu. Reviews online warned that their drinks came very sweet, so he ordered this half sweet and it was perfect. I would also agree with reviewers that their half sweet is like regular sweetness.

The jade tea flavour was strong and fragrant. The sugarcane gave it a smooth, well rounded sweetness. There was a lot of depth in the drink, from the jade tea to sugarcane.

I normally stay away from caffeine because my body is very sensitive to it, but I couldn’t stay away this time and had more than a few sips.

Wintermelon tea with pearls: I went with my usual, wintermelon tea. The wintermelon tea was great too, no complaints about it. Unfortunately like most places, they don’t allow you to adjust the sweetness here but I enjoyed it anyways.

The pearls tasted fresh and were delightfully chewy and sweet.

Wintermelon lemonade: I came back a second time with Maki, because she wanted to try this place as well! Since I ordered a wintermelon tea last visit, I thought I’d try the wintermelon lemonade.

Wintermelon tea has a light flavour and is easy to be overpowered if mixed with other teas or juices. Such was the case, this mostly tasted like lemonade so I wouldn’t get it again.

Herbal grass tea: Maki ordered this at 80% sweet. Although it is a herbal tea, there is still caffeine in it. She noted that the drink was extremely herbal with a slight bitterness to it. It would be a good drink to have if you are feeling “yeet hay” aka inflamed. She thought that most people would enjoy the drink at 100% sweet instead.

The drink also came with herbal jelly, which was not mentioned in the menu but a nice surprise! The herbal jelly was also very herbal tasting and you could taste the quality in it. Health in a cup.

Wintermelon oolong tea: Can we take a moment to appreciate this dinosaur cup? It’s so awesome. Anyways, Nigiri ordered a wintermelon oolong tea, which sounded good. However, he found it to be just alright.

Overall, we were impressed with Chun Fun How and would definitely come back. Their beautifully designed floral cups are not just a gimmick, their drinks were actually good quality and we would come back regardless if they had floral cups or not.