seafood Archives - Curiously Carmen

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

January 24, 2019 Leave a Comment

Joe Fortes been around for awhile now! Thirty years to be exact. The last time I came here was about five years ago, when I used to work downtown so it was convenient to go to their happy hour.

This time, we were doing some shopping with Maki and Nigiri so we stopped here for some food!

We went during the holiday season, hence the pretty Christmas lights in the restaurant! It felt very cozy and warm in here.

Lobster and shrimp roll: Nigiri ordered the lobster and shrimp roll. It looked delicious and he had no complaints about it. The roll also came with a nice healthy bed of fresh salad.

Clam chowder: There was a bit of confusion with the clam chowder. Originally, the boyfriend had ordered this for $13. Then, we realized that Maki got her Blue Plate special (pictured below) AND a clam chowder for $20… which didn’t seem that worth it for my boyfriend to get the chowder onlyfor $13. For only $7 more, he could have added a pretty big portion of fish!

Anyways, we flagged down our waiter (which took multiple times) to ask if the change could be made for him. They were accommodating and it made his lunch feel more worth the price.

Panko crusted haddock: From Monday-Friday, Joe Fortes has a Blue Plate special which is a $13 food item. If you come during a weekday, I would highly recommend getting the special because it’s such a good deal.

Maki and the boyfriend had no complaints about it. The haddock was served with some tomatoes, asparagus and some sort of dairy sauce on the bottom.

Onion rings: Prior to upgrading his meal (see story above), the boyfriend ordered onion rings too. The onion rings were disappointing and he wouldn’t get them again.

The batter was very thick and doughy, and not that crispy. He felt very gross after eating a couple, and did not finish it despite Maki and Nigiri helping too.

Our waiter mentioned that Boxing Day was one of the busiest days of the year, which we had no idea! Because of that, service was really lacking and hard to waive him down. I’d come back on a less busy day, and probably on a weekday if possible to order the Blue Plate special!

Travel: Tokyo Eats – Part 1/3

December 1, 2018 1 Comment

After 5.5 years of talking about our dream trip to Tokyo, the boyfriend and I finally brought our dream to fruition this past week! It was surreal being back in Tokyo for the second time and I can easily say that it is my favourite city in the world. We stayed a total of 8 full days, plus 2 half days for travelling.

In these 8 days, we ate a lot and did not come across a single meal that we didn’t like! Here are some of the restaurants/chains that we visited, and I would recommend giving a try. I’m not going to list every single restaurant we ate at because the post would be way too long!
7-11: Our trip started with 7-11 food – yes, you heard that right! The 7-11 convenience stores in Japan are nothing like the greasy junk food served in Canada/USA. They have everything ranging from onigiri, salad, udon bowls, curry rice bowls, steamed dumplings, ice cream…. and more!

The go-to was the onigiri, which was approximately $1-2 CAD each depending on flavour. These are great to store in your bag for the day, and I bought a couple to snack on before going to Tokyo Disneysea as well.

Sukiya: Sukiya is a major quick meal chain in Tokyo. I saw a Sukiya every few blocks or so in Shinjuku! They specialize in beef rice bowls, aka gyudon. I came in here not knowing what to expect, but I actually really enjoyed it.

It is a very filling rice bowl, with lots of sweet, seasoned beef, and mayo. They also added some small pieces of sour, preserved veggies to balance it out.

The total cost was about $7 CAD for a delicious and super big meal. It is very popular during the lunch rush, where you can see lots of salarymen enjoying a quick lunch before going back to work.

A Happy Pancake: I have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet tooth, but A Happy Pancake was definitely on our radar! We went to the Harujuku location and waited for about 20 minutes around 2pm. They are known for their incredibly fluffy and thick Japanese pancakes!

Each pancake is freshly made and there is a window where you can see them making it. The pancakes definitely did not disappoint. I have yet to see something like this in Vancouver, so you should definitely give them a try while in Tokyo.:

Matsunoya: Matsunoya is another chain restaurant, although I did not see it around as much as Sukiya. We passed by one of the Matsunoya locations every day on the way to the subway, and decided to finally try it. They serve gyudon as well, but seem to specialize in katsu aka fried meat.

We ordered both the pork and chicken katsu to compare, and they were both delicious! Very crispy and the curry sauce was delicious as well. Matsunoya was also pretty cheap!

Kaisen Misakiko: We visited this sushi conveyor belt restaurant in Tokyo Dome City for lunch! It was reasonably priced and our favourite nigiri were the different types of tuna.

There are two layers of conveyor belts. The bottom belt offers the standard nigiri. The top belt has the nigiri that you specially order on the iPad and comes delivered on a shinkansen style plate, how cute! The colour of the plate corresponds to the price – usually, there are about 5 different plate colours at a restaurant.

Well, there’s part 1! Stay tuned for part 2!

Osaka Sushi – Multiple Visits

August 26, 2018 1 Comment

This review is a long time coming! The boyfriend and I discovered Osaka Sushi on Skip The Dishes because they offer free delivery on orders over $20. Osaka Sushi is our go to for nights that we feel like ordering delivery because the food is consistently fresh, delicious, and the price is not bad.

After ordering this for many months, I figure that it was finally time I do a review on this place!

This is a combination of many visits! We usually alternate between these items.

Scallop roll: Scallop rolls are usually meh to me and aren’t my first choice. However, I always order them at Osaka. The scallop is consistently fresh and has a nice snap to it.

Salmon & mango roll: One of my favourite roll combinations – salmon and mango! The salmon is pretty standard, but the mango is always deliciously ripe and sweet.

Chicken teriyaki roll: This is another one of those rolls that we don’t normally order… but it’s delicious at Osaka! Even with delivery, the chicken batter is never soggy. The chicken is always juicy and fresh. They drizzle some teriyaki sauce on top. You can see how much chicken is in each roll!
Negitoro, negihama, ahi red tuna roll: The boyfriend loves his tuna sashimi, and usually orders an assortment of tuna rolls. They are always fresh tasting.

Wild salmon & toro sashimi: After ordering their delivery so many times, we took my parents here for lunch. We tried the wild salmon & toro sashimi along with the items above.

The toro sashimi was so incredibly soft and buttery. It was so delicious! The wild salmon was also very fresh too.

Osaka Sushi has competition with Uomo Sushi and Tentatsu Sushi, which are on the next block. We used to love Uomo Sushi but have found that it’s gone a bit downhill over the past year, so we are glad that we discovered Osaka Sushi.

I hope that Osaka Sushi will be a reliable choice moving forward and not go downhill like Uomo did.

Yay!

Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar

August 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

Maki and Nigiri’s bridal party was meeting up for a venue tour, so we decided to meet up at Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar beforehand for lunch. I have never been here but Maki and Nigiri love this place, so I was quite excited to try it. It is located on the first floor of the Sutton Place Hotel which was very convenient for our group of eight.

This is definitely an upscale place, do not come here dressed in sweatpants or something. However, there was no pretentious vibe and we had good service throughout the lunch.

Corn bread, free: We were given a basket of corn bread to start! It was devoured quickly because corn bread is delicious. This one was nice and buttery too.

Fries, $7: The fries were pretty standard, nothing to complain about.

Smoked tomato pizza, $17: This was a simple pizza with mozzarella cheese, basil, olive oil, and sea salt. It tasted like a healthy pizza and there was a good amount of gooey cheese and fresh basil. You can’t really go wrong with a simple pizza.

Beef carpaccio, $19: I didn’t have any of this but there wasn’t any complaints on it.

House smoked salmon pate, $14: The salmon pate was definitely one of the table’s favourite! We kept passing this around because it was so good. What made it so delicious was the smoky and grilled flavour of the salmon. After running out of the crackers, we used some bread to eat the rest of the pate.

Albacore tuna tartare, $19: I believe this was the tuna tartare?! I don’t remember LOL. However, it was really good. There was a variety of unique elements which complemented each other perfectly.

Seafood tower for 2 people, $65: We ordered the seafood tower for 4 people, but they gave us the tower for 2 by accident which was fine for us. For the ten of us, each of us were able to get a few pieces. The tower came with wild sidestripe shrimp, albacore tuna tataki, read island mussels escabèche dungeness crab louie, snow crab legs, wild shrimp, local oysters. All of the seafood was SO fresh and delicious!

Raw oysters, market price: I can’t remember the price of each oyster. I’ve only had raw oyster once 6 years ago, which did not really sit well with my stomach so I never tried again. So this would have been my second time. Fortunately, it was prepared a LOT better here because it was delicious. We were all happily slurping away and ordered another plate because it was so delicious!

Yum! It was such a delicious lunch. It was nice to go out and try a fancier place. Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster has really great and fresh seafood. If you’re a seafood lover, I would highly recommend it! They also have a happy hour which is cheaper. I would like to try that out one day too!

Yay!

Hart House

July 15, 2018 Leave a Comment

It was a special occasion and the boyfriend and I decided to celebrate by going out for a nice dinner. After doing some research, we both wanted to go somewhere quiet and intimate. It seems that we are both drawn towards nice restaurants in parks such as Seasons in the Park, and the Fish House which is sadly closed down now.

Hart House is located in a historic mansion that was slightly changed to meet the needs of a restaurant. On the evening that we went, it was a beautiful day and the ambiance was what we were looking for. Since it was a weekday evening, it wasn’t too busy (but the food still took forever).

Bread: Some complimentary bread to start. It was warm and toasted, and kept our starving stomachs somewhat full until our food came.

Mussels and clams, $21: Finally, our appetizer arrived! We got mussels and clams in a garlic, roasted pepper and tomato cream sauce. Everything about this dish was amazing. There was a decent amount of mussels and clams which tasted fresh. The sauce was so delicious and we used some for the leftover bread.

A bonus was the smoked ham hock which was tender and full of savoury flavour. I liked that the ham hock was the lean portion instead of fatty.

Soup, free: After we were done the appetizer, the waitress came by and gave us some complimentary soup. Although it was in a small cup, the flavours were not small at all! There was the same tender ham hock inside, just like the mussels and clams. We noticed outside that there was a wedding rehearsal, so we were thinking perhaps they had some leftovers.

Seafood pasta, $19: I just can’t stay away from seafood, can I? Haha! My pasta came in a garlicky sauce with crab, mussels, and clams. The flavour was a bit flat but after adding some pepper and salt into it, it tasted a lot better! Again, the seafood was very fresh, nothing to complain about here.

Hart house burger, $21: When looking up the menu online, the boyfriend knew that he was ordering this after seeing ‘truffle aioli’ as the sauce. He was not disappointed with his burger at all. Just look at how towering it is! It came with AAA beef AND pork belly. This dish doesn’t seem like something that a fancy restaurant would serve, but it was quite delicious.

My only complaint about the Hart House is that the service and food was soo0o0o0 sloooo00w. We were there for almost 3 hours because it took so long for the appetizer to come, and then the entrees to come. Other than that, the food itself was really delicious and we left satisfied.

Yay!