steakhouse Archives - Curiously Carmen

Seasons in the Park

June 8, 2017 Leave a Comment

The boyfriend and I usually don’t go to fancy restaurants, but it was a special occasion so we decided to try out Seasons in the Park! We go to QE Park occasionally in the summer, and I’ve always wondered how the restaurant up there was.

We had plans to go to another nice restaurant but that didn’t go through, so it was a pretty spontaneous decision to come here (we decided to come here half a hour before). I was Yelping and this placed seemed like the perfect atmosphere that we were looking for.

After calling to see if a reservation was possible (HAH!) since we both hate waiting, we weren’t too surprised when they were all booked for the night. But, they did leave some space for walk ins and the patio was completely walk in.

I didn’t really want to sit on the patio because it seemed cold outside, but we were ensured that the patio was heated. We were seated next to a roaring fireplace which kept us warm and cozy the entire evening! Not all the seats have the fireplace, and the views are slightly better without the fireplace blocking.

Throughout our visit, the patio was full and offered pretty views of downtown and the park. We still had the buzzing, city atmosphere but with the seclusion and intimate vibe being among the trees in the park.
Bread, free: Standard complimentary bread. The bread was nice and chewy instead, and served slightly warm with a side of butter.
Calamari, $13.50: We normally don’t get appetizers to save money and our appetite, but it was a special occasion. We were glad we ordered this because it was really good. It came with a very generous portion of calamari, with crisp and fresh batter. The calamari was seasoned with a variety of herbs which made it really good.
Alderwood grilled BC salmon, $29.50: The salmon was DELICIOUS. It flaked off nicely, and had a slightly grilled taste to it. So good. I just wanted to eat the whole thing.
New York Striploin, $42: My entree was the striploin, cooked medium rare! It was very juicy, tender, and flavourful. If I recall correctly, it usually comes with some sort of sauce or butter, but I asked for only salt and pepper with it. I’m a big believer in eating steak with good ol’ salt and pepper because I find it tastes so much better when made simply! Am I the only one who prefers steak this way?

Oh right, my veggies and potatoes. The steak was so good that I forgot to talk about the rest! The string beans and carrots were fresh and crunchy. The tomato was baked and slightly dusted with cheese. The roast potatoes were too filling and starchy for me after having the bread, calamari and steak, so the boyfriend finished it instead. However, they were really flavourful as well.
Close up of my medium rare steak! WordPress needs to have an emoji keyboard so I can insert the drooling and heart eye ones here!
Mac and cheese, $7.00: Wow, I didn’t realize how much food we ordered until writing this post. For $7, this was a really good value and good size. The mac and cheese was baked with four types of cheese. The boyfriend said it was really comforting, with very stringy and delicious looking cheese.

All in all, we had a lovely experience at Seasons in the Park and we would gladly come back. The atmosphere and food were perfect. I’m so glad we picked this place out despite it being last minute! I would highly recommend coming here for a special occasion, or taking out of town visitors. The view is beautiful on a sunny day, and you can also walk around QE Park before and after dinner!

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!

Del Frisco’s, New York City

May 12, 2016 Leave a Comment

After going to Rockefeller Center and enjoying the view at the top, my mom and I were pretty hungry! We didn’t have a place planned, so I just Yelped a place nearby and found Del Frisco’s, a small upscale steakhouse chain found in the US. We were both in the mood for steak so we decided to try it out!

Del Frisco’s was located in a big office building and we definitely felt a bit under-dressed for a fancy restaurant. Everyone eating was decked out in their full business suites, meanwhile here were two tourists, LOL. However, we didn’t feel as if we were treated differently and the staff were very nice and accommodating throughout our meal!
Complimentary bread: To start, we were given a nice loaf of warm bread to munch on. The bread was fluffy, soft and came out lightly toasted. No complaints here!
Wagyu beef french dip, $23: Originally, my mom and I were going to share this because it sounded amazing! However, after telling my server about my dairy restriction, she told me the wagyu beef is smothered in butter before getting cooked. Sigh.

So, my mom ended up eating this herself. There was a LOT of beef inside the sandwich, to the point where she was almost unable to finish it. She said it was very tender and delicious though, and the horseradish dip went well with the beef.
Prime steak salad, $25: I wanted to try the steak, but I didn’t want to pay $50 for steak at lunch so I went with the prime steak salad. That way, I was still able to try their famous steak! The salad normally comes with blue and Parmesan cheese, and dressing. Obviously I wanted to have the dairy component, but due to my stupid and frustrating restriction, and risk of getting super sick I had to order without it.

Despite not having cheese and dressing, I found the salad to be really good! The steak was very tender and amaaaaazing. There was also a great amount of ripe avocado, which made the salad more creamy and filling. The only complaint I have would be that the leaves didn’t look or taste that fresh. Some of the leaves were quite wilted so I didn’t eat those ones.

Overall, we enjoyed our lunch at Del Frisco’s. Our server was very accommodating to my dairy restriction and went to confirm that that the dish could be made dairy free before placing the order. I really appreciated that.

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Flying Beaver Bar & Grill – Dine Out Vancouver Festival

January 24, 2016 Leave a Comment

Another Dine Out review! Luckily, the Dine Out menu here features the same dishes as the regular menu, so you can still read this review even if you’re not planning on doing Dine Out! I found this restaurant through social media, with many people saying that it was a really good deal.

After finding out that they have a waterfront view with seaplanes, we were sold! We love nice views and airplanes!
Prior to visiting this restaurant, we had never been in this area before and missed the turn from Vancouver to Sea Island. It is in a pretty quiet area, with nothing else here except for the smaller airport terminal for flights within the province.

The restaurant is also connected to a seaplane terminal, which was being advertised for leisurely private flights around Vancouver and Victoria. Maybe one day, I’ll afford to ride in one of those for fun!
This place is in such a random and quiet area that they offer a shuttle bus service! I thought that was pretty awesome. I’m not too sure on how often the shuttle service works and where they pick up customers from, though.

They offered a 3 course meal for Dine Out, and was $20 per person. Here is what we ordered:
Baja fish tacos: The boyfriend chose this as his starter. It was a pretty good taco, with a generous piece of fried cod inside. The veggies here were crunchy and fresh as well!
Steak bites: I wanted the clam chowder, but since it contains dairy, I chose to order the steak bites instead. I definitely did not regret my decision because this was delicious! The steak bites were cooked medium, and was slightly pink in the middle. It had a nice smoky and grilled taste, and was bursting with flavour. It was also really peppery, which I loved.

The dipping sauce was a chiptole aioli, which didn’t really complement or enhanced the savoury steak flavour. In fact, they didn’t mix well at all and was really random.
BBQ Pork Ribs w/ scalloped potatoes & cole slaw: The boyfriend loves his ribs, so this was an easy choice for him. The pork ribs were very tender and fell off the bone perfectly. There was a generous amount of BBQ sauce, giving the pork a lot of extra flavour too.

It came with scalloped potatoes, which the boyfriend was crazy about. He gave me a bite and I automatically regretted it (and simultaneously loved it) because I tasted a LOT of cream and cheese. It’s strange because now that I can’t have dairy, I am able to taste or smell the flavour of cream/cheese/milk more than before. It’s like my body is warning me even more now that I can’t eat it.

Anyways, that one small bite I had was really good and reminded me of what a sweet life I used to have – being able to have rich, dairy goodness without reacting badly and getting sick.
Seafood grill w/ veggies & jasmine rice: I love my seafood, so this was an easy decision for me! The skewer came with sockeye salmon, prawn, and Atlantic halibut. The skewer was pretty big and all the seafood was cooked well. The fish flaked perfectly off, while the prawns were nice and snappy.

It didn’t come with much seasoning (maybe just a bit of salt?) and had a nice grilled taste, just like the steak bites.

It also came with a ginger soy sauce, which I wasn’t a fan of. The ginger taste was too strong. It reminded me of a very strong honey ginger tea.

Adding the sesame string beans, I felt like I was eating a Chinese meal instead of Western =P The rice was slightly aromatic and came with some freshly ground pepper. There was a pretty generous amount of veggies and rice, as you can see!
Tiramisu w/ belgian chocolate: I wish I could have tried this, because the boyfriend kept saying how amazing this was with every bite that he had.

He said that it was very balanced, meaning that it wasn’t overly sweet but had just the right amount of chocolate and coffee.
Chocolate brownie w/ vanilla ice cream: I asked for the ice cream to be served on the side, so that I could enjoy the brownie without worrying about dairy contamination.

The brownie was served nice and warm. I didn’t find that there was much chocolate taste though – it was just VERY sweet.

I had four bites before it was too much. Sweet tooth people, this one is for you! I gave the ice cream and rest of the brownie to the boyfriend. Comparing the brownie to the tiramisu, he said the brownie was definitely a LOT sweeter.

—

For $20 each, this was a really good deal and I’m glad that we drove all the way out to this restaurant. Although it was pretty busy, service was friendly and attentive. I wouldn’t come back just for the food because I could probably get similar food a lot closer to where I live, but rather, come here for the nice view instead. It’s a breath of fresh air to be away from all the hustle and bustle of the city! I would love to come back when the weather gets warmer and enjoy some drinks and snacks on the patio.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Q Shi Q Japanese BBQ

December 12, 2015 3 Comments

When I first heard about Q Shi Q, I knew that I definitely had to try it. While trying to find a place to eat with a friend, I suddenly remembered this place and was so excited when he agreed to try it with me!
Q Shi Q opened its doors in late October, so it is still pretty new. It is located just on the border of Olympic Village, a walking distance from the pubs in OV and Earnest Ice Cream. Since this area is mostly industrial (for now), with an exception of new restaurants popping up here and there, it was really quiet in the evening and easy to find parking.

Q Shi Q was the only lit up building on the street, so I definitely knew I was at the right place. I’m predicting that over the coming years, this place will be populated with more restaurants and night life as Olympic Village continues to expand.
After finding parking effortlessly, I made my way into the restaurant. The exterior reminded me of a night club rather than a restaurant, as they had a small rope fence and waiting area.

I was greeted warmly by the owner, and this welcoming tone set the mood for the rest of the visit. Service was very friendly and welcoming, though our waitress was trying very hard to sell us certain items.
Pictured left is a cocktail made out of egg white, lemon peel, and ume (a type of delicious plum wine). The ume made it sweet and refreshing, but the lemon gave it a subtle sour taste as well.

Shouga soda, $2.50: It was very rich, strong and spicy, as ginger is supposed to be. At first sip, you are greeted with a strong blast of ginger that carries out throughout the drink. I drank this very slowly, and the potency of the ginger was lessened near the end of our meal as the ice cubes had melted.
Nana fries, $3: They have two types of fries, shio and nana fries. Shio fries are seasoned solely with sea salt, while nana fries are seasoned with 7 different spices. The fries arrived fresh and piping hot, and were absolutely delicious! I loved the seasonings, and there was a hint of spice as well.

These fries are a great alternative to your standard fries and I would recommend trying these! I would come back just for these fries. They start off salty, savoury, and spicy and end with a slight, well rounded hit of sweetness.
Lobster miso mayo skewer, $9.50: This was one of the daily specials that night, and came highly recommended by the server. The sauce tasted very well rounded and was slightly sweet and creamy, although there wasn’t any cream or dairy ingredients inside. I double checked because since I recently became lactose intolerant, so I have to be very careful and avoid dairy. =(

(Yes, I did a lab test which confirmed the intolerance, which can develop suddenly. Mine is bad so I have to be careful when I’m eating out now. Also, yes that means no more ice cream, cheesecake, cheese, etc unless I take pills but even those don’t help sometimes! Boo).
Skewers, any 5 for $11 (excluding specials): Q Shi Q has two standard flavours- oishii which is a blend of green onion, garlic, ginger, soy, lemon, and other things, and shio which is just sea salt. Pictured here are the oishii pork, oishii sirloin, kirashi sirlion, oishii chicken, and oishii tsukune.

While mid way through the pork skewer, I noticed that the pork was pretty pink in the middle so I stopped eating it. However, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. The lighting was pretty dark in there so maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me? But after the meal, I got a stomachache so it was probably from the under-cooked meat.

Other than that, the other skewers were pretty delicious and all had a nice hint of smokiness to them. My favourite was the oishii chicken, which was moist, juicy, and bursting with grilled and seasoned flavour. My least favourite was the oishii tsukune because it was a chicken ball skewer. It had a light and somewhat fluffy texture and did not have as much flavour as the oishii chicken.
Skewers, any 5 for $11 ( excluding specials): oishii salmon, two ponzu salmon, ebi fritter and broccoli

Just like the pork, I found the salmon to be undercooked. Some areas flaked off nicely and were a nice light pink but some parts in the middle did not look cooked. I ended up avoiding the areas that looked undercooked. Looking back, I’m not too sure why I didn’t just ask for them to grill it a bit more.

The ebi fritters were very small and had was composed of mostly batter instead of prawn. This was disappointing and I wouldn’t order this one again.

Considering the meat and two pieces of broccoli are the same price (any 5 skewers for $11), it is more worth it to get the meat. However, it is still important to eat veggies (says the girl who barely eats veggies) so we decided to order one broccoli skewer. It was fresh and crunchy, and tasted a lot better since it was grilled (can you tell I don’t like veggies?).

Matcha amasake parfait, $4: My friend ordered this for desert and was going to let me try some, but we were notified by our server that the rice pudding had cream and milk in it. However, my friend really enjoyed the dessert and said that the matcha was really strong and delicious!

All in all, we both enjoyed Q Shi Q except for that some meat might have been undercooked. The service was excellent, the atmosphere was great, and the food was very flavourful. It is a good place to hang out with friends and share some good skewers!
I took the boyfriend here the following week because I wanted him to try the nana fries! We ordered pretty much the same thing as my first visit.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen