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Curiously Carmen

Sushi Yoi

January 24, 2020 Leave a Comment

Sushi Yoi is one of the only sushi restaurants in North Burnaby that I haven’t been to yet, until now! They are located just beside Madison Center, but are still considered to be part of the mall so you can park underground.

The restaurant is not that big, but seating was still comfortable and didn’t feel squished. They seem to do a lot of delivery and take out, there were many customers and delivery people coming in and out.

Salmon and mango roll: I love my salmon and mango roll! Unfortunately, I found the mango to be bland, quite hard, and crunchy… Meaning they used a bad part of the mango. The salmon was good but I still found this roll to be disappointing.

Salmon sashimi: I also ordered a salmon sashimi which was alright. The pieces were on the thinner cut. Some of the skin wasn’t cut off properly either.

Avocado combo: It’s quite fitting that Avocado ordered the avocado combo! I pick such suitable nicknames!

The combo came with a tuna avocado roll, salmon avocado roll, and an avocado roll. The avocado looked ripe and better than my roll.

Chicken teriyaki rice: Jerky ordered a lunch combo. He had no complaints about this.

Masago and chopped scallop nigiri: The lunch combo came with your choice of two nigiri. They were quite filled with toppings!

Sushi Yoi is a simple, no frills, Korean run sushi restaurant. Although my two items weren’t the best, I wouldn’t mind coming back for other things if someone suggested it.

It is a convenient restaurant in the area as Brentwood doesn’t have as many sushi restaurants as The Heights, but it wouldn’t be a restaurant I drive across town for.  

Sushi Yoi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Filed Under: food & drink, japanese

Sushi S

November 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

Sushi S is an inconspicuous restaurant in the small plaza (not sure if there’s a name?) with No. 1 Beef Noodle House on Willingdon. I’ve been there a couple of times for takeout only, so have yet to write a review. My coworkers and I came here for lunch, so I thought I would finally write a post on it!

The parking lot in this plaza is really awful. It’s always cramped and not enough spots. I would recommend parking along the residential streets although those homeowners are probably going to hate me for suggesting this, whoops.

Salmon sashimi: One of my coworkers and I shared a salmon sashimi. The salmon tasted very fresh and was delicious! I’d order it again.

Appetizer tempura: Since my stomach problems have temporarily gone away, I have been taking advantage of this and eating things I normally can’t…. aka fried food!

The appetizer tempura came with one piece of prawn, zucchini, and yams. They were all very fresh and crispy with a satisfying crunch.

Chopped scallop roll: The chopped scallop roll was filled with fresh scallop, to the point where it was almost overflowing. This was delicious and I had no complaints about it!

Dynamite roll: The dynamite roll was a bit on the small side. The shrimp and yam tempura inside weren’t as crunchy and fresh as the appetizer tempura, so I wonder if they use the leftover pieces for the rolls.

Now, onto the dishes that my coworkers ordered!

Chicken teriyaki donburi

Alaska roll combo

Vegan veggie roll

Salmon oshi

There are so many Korean owned Japanese restaurants in Metro Vancouver. I would rank Sushi S higher on the scale. The sushi is fresh and the prices are decent.

Service could be improved though, it was a bit hard to get service. I’ve also been here for takeout a couple of times and the staff weren’t friendly.

Sushi S Japanese Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Filed Under: food & drink, japanese

Jinya Ramen Bar

October 30, 2019 Leave a Comment

It has been a long time since I’ve been to a ramen place! After coming back from Vegas, the fiance was craving some ramen. We haven’t been to Jinya Ramen yet so he suggested we try it out!

As expected with most ramen places, there was a wait. After putting down our phone number, we were told that it would be about a 30 to 40 minute wait so we went across the street to Wal-Mart to kill time. I received a text about 30 minutes later saying that our spot was ready.

Jinya tonkotsu black ramen: The fiance went with his go-to broth, tonkotsu. This particular bowl came with thin noodles, but in retrospect, he would have preferred the thick noodles instead.

The broth was rich, fatty, and flavourful aka everything you’d expect in ramen. We found it to be over priced though, at $17 at the time of writing. For comparison at Ramen Gaoh, a bowl goes for $12.

So although it was delicious, we felt that it wasn’t really worth the price, and some other Yelp reviewers have said that too.

Jinya bun: They were advertising the Jinya bun, so why not give it a try? I enjoyed it more than my entree. The steamed bun was very soft. The chashu was very tender and melted in my mouth.

In addition, the cucumber gave the bun a nice, refreshing crunch. The Japanese mayo was the cherry on top – I love Japanese mayo!

Tokyo curry rice: I was craving some Japanese curry, so I decided to get the Tokyo curry rice. It was delicious, but tasted like something I could easily cook at home for a much cheaper price. They probably just use the Japanese curry packets.

There also wasn’t much ground chicken, which was disappointing. I liked that it was comforting and warm for that rainy evening, but again, it didn’t feel worth it for someone who makes Japanese curry at home often.

We left satisfied as the food was tasty, but both felt that it was overpriced for what it was. There are plenty of other ramen places in town which are just as delicious, but cheaper.

Jinya Ramen Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Nabebugyo

October 11, 2019 3 Comments

It was one of those nights where the fiance and I wanted to go out for dinner, but had no idea where. After an indecisive hour of debating and browsing, we stumbled across Nabebugyo.

Both of us were in the mood for hot pot so we decided to check this place out!

Nabebugyo is located on Cambie and 16th. I’ve driven past this restaurant many times throughout the years and have always wondered if it was good or not.

Nabebugyo specializes in individualized Japanese hot pot, otherwise known as shabu shabu. They only serve hot pot here – no sushi, sashimi, etc.

Shabu shabu: I decided to go with the traditional broth. My hot pot came with beef, mushrooms, cabbage, tofu, udon, and rice. I was told by the waitress that the broth would be plain, and asked if it was okay. I said yes but didn’t realize exactly -how- plain it would be.

The ‘broth’ was just boiled water with a piece of kelp inside. On the menu, it said the kelp was supposed to give the water a slight umami flavour. This was not the case though… It just tasted like boiled water.

To give it more flavour, I tried to cook all the rare beef first. That didn’t really help. The fiance ended up giving me some of his broth which was a lot better. It also came with ponzu and sesame sauce which gave it more flavour.

Sukiyaki hot pot: The fiance made a better choice than I did with the sukiyaki hot pot. His broth actually had flavour and wasn’t just water. It was a sweetened soy sauce broth which was yummy.

His ingredients were the same as mine, but he opted for pork slices instead of beef. He had no complaints about his hot pot.

Ice cream: At dinner time, they offer free ice cream. It was your standard ice cream, nothing special but nice to enjoy. Since I currently can’t have dairy, the fiance happily enjoyed both.

Overall, Nabebugyo was alright. Nothing extremely delicious, but not bad either. The portion was good, but I definitely ordered the wrong broth. It was way too clear for my liking.

But Japanese food is quite clear and healthy, and the waitress did ask if it was okay, so I have no one to blame but myself. I wouldn’t mind coming back, except I would order a different broth next time.

Yay!

Nabebugyo Hot Pot Cuisine Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Filed Under: food & drink, japanese

Sushi Ville – Revist

September 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

I came to Sushiville with Cocoa a bit over two years ago and wrote a review on it here. We were looking for a place to have lunch so I suggested coming back here since it’s been awhile. 

Something odd about Sushiville is that they have a very big sign on the wall warning customers of the wait. They say that they do not “prepare in advance like other sushi places do”, which doesn’t make sense to me because why wouldn’t you want your ingredients chopped up beforehand? But since we already knew about the long waits here, we were prepared. 

Tuna and salmon combo bento box: Cocoa’s bento box was a really good deal for the price. She comes here more often and said they used to have gyozas instead of edamame beans.

Anyways, the bento box came with 4 pieces sashimi, 3 nigiri pieces, edamame, tempura, beef teriyaki with veggies (no rice), and salad. The beef teriyaki reminded us more of a Korean style, with sweet galbi sauce instead of teriyaki. 

Cocoa enjoyed the bento box with no complaints. It was too much for one meal so she ended up packing some back. But a very good deal for the price, I wish I ordered this too! 

Scallop oshi: This isn’t something I would normally order, but Cocoa wanted it so we shared. It was quite pricey at $16 for the roll, hence why we split it! 

Although pricey, it was delicious. The scallop was fresh and tasted delicious when seared. The tobiko was crunchy and added a nice snap to it. The dry ice is a fun touch in the beginning and lasts about 7 minutes before it goes out!

House roll: I was disappointed with my house roll because it was pretty tiny. Usually, house rolls are larger than a normal roll. 

In addition, the tamago was the worst tamago I’ve had. It was a pale yellow/almost clear white colour, and very flavourless. The texture was also very rubbery. Gross. 

I also ordered a salmon and avocado roll, which they forgot about. Since they had that giant poster warning about slow prep time, I thought they were making it still but nope. I ended up just cancelling it cause I didn’t want to wait and because Elephant Garden is just next door, hehe. 

I have mixed thoughts about Sushiville, because some things were hit or miss. Cocoa comes here more often and noted the prices increased as well. 

But, they do have some positives. The dry ice displays they have are pretty cool and fun to boomerang for Instagram. I would say come here for the big bento boxes or special rolls for the dry ice only.

Yay…ish? Not bad enough to be a meh though.

Sushi Ville Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Filed Under: food & drink, japanese

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Hi and welcome to Curiously Carmen! I am Carmen, the girl behind the blog. You can read more about me here!

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