vietnamese Archives - Curiously Carmen

Tasty Pho

February 26, 2017 Leave a Comment

When I was in my third year at university, my friends and I would frequently come to Taste of Asia for a cheap and delicious bowl of pho, although laden with so much MSG that copious amounts of water would not suffice. We came here so frequently that the servers recognized us, and we would often engage in conversations with them!

Unfortunately, they changed owners within the past year or so. Taste of Asia became rebranded as Tasty Pho, and they underwent renovations as well. It is no longer a hole in the wall style place but still seems to be family-run. There’s a brand new coat of paint, some big TV screens, new tables and new chairs.

The boyfriend and I came here twice in the last 4 months. Both times, it was because Wah Lun next door was really busy and we didn’t want to wait for a table. The service here is quick and it is never that busy, although the food is decent.

#28, Pho Tai, Nam, Sach, $7.95: This bowl of pho came with rare beef, flank, and tripe. There was a decent amount of meat and tripe. The broth was delicious and fragrant, although a bit more on the salty side. I loved that there was a lot of chopped green onions as well. Overall, very delicious and comforting.

Grilled pork and spring rolls w/ vermicelli, $9.50: The pork was very flavourful with a good amount of lemongrass flavour to it. They do a great job of grilling meats and it’s always very flavourful w a slightly grilled and sweet taste.

The spring rolls were fresh and crunchy as well. The side of veggies were also really fresh, just like my pho.
Overall, Tasty Pho does live up to its’ name and is pretty tasty! Out of the two other Vietnamese places we eat at in this neighbourhood (Coconut Tree and Thai’s Saigon Bistro), Tasty Pho has risen to the top of our list.

Yay!

Pho D’Lite

November 24, 2016 2 Comments

A new pho restaurant has popped up in Burnaby! Well, not thaaat new, but it opened in the past year beside the Whole Foods in the Solo district. The name of the restaurant is Pho D’Lite, such a cute and punny name!

After hanging out at one of my friend’s condos at solo (such breathtaking views up there!), the boyfriend and I were starving. We didn’t want to drive anywhere because we were that hungry, and warm, comforting pho seemed like the perfect option.
The restaurant was very clean, new, and spacious. In particular, we awed over the beautiful plate art wall that was behind us. It looks like they glued a bunch of Asian plates into a nice pattern. I can certainly spot some plate patterns that my family and relatives own!
P4, Pho Tai, Large, $9.95: There are many different pho combinations to choose from, as with most Vietnamese places. The boyfriend chose p4, which just comes with rare beef. There was a pretty generous amount of rare beef, as well as onions.
P7, Pho Nam Bo Vien, Large, $9.95: I ordered the opposite of the boyfriend, aka all cooked beef – beef balls and beef brisket. As with the other bowl, they were pretty generous on the meat toppings and onions.

The broth itself was comforting and flavourful, not too salty or light. Each of the bowls also came with a HUGE amount of noodles. In retrospect, I should have ordered the small because I did not finish the large bowl, especially with the generous toppings of meat.

Pho D’Lite is a pretty solid pho joint that I would definitely come back to if I was in the area. Service is quick and friendly, while the pho is comforting and comes with generous portions of both noodles and meat.

Yay!

Mr. Red Cafe

September 26, 2016 6 Comments

This visit should be officially named as ‘Two girls who knew they ordered too much, but everything is good here so they had to order a lot’.

I’ve been meaning to try Mr. Red Cafe for months now, if not almost a year! Every time we drive by, I make a mental note to try it but it never works out. Well, I was finally able to try it back in June! This is a review of their original location in East Van. Based on the success and popularity of this location, another one opened on Broadway Street earlier this year.

Mr. Red Cafe is not your typical Vietnamese restaurant! Their dishes and food are based on northern Vietnamese cuisine, which is slightly different from the usual which is the south.
Rare beef & beef ball pho: A $9 bowl of pho is more than I’m used to paying, but it was pretty good. I liked how it was not oily.

Even though they don’t use MSG, there was still the standard broth taste to it and I did not leave the restaurant thirsty! Overall, the pho was really great quality and the portion was big, with lots of meat, so I can see why they charge a bit more than normal.
Special beef noodle pho: Macaroni has been here a few times already, and this is her go-to pho each time. The broth is the same, but the ‘special’ part just means there is an assorted selection of meat. You can see the generous portion of meat that they serve, and how clear the broth is! We both really enjoyed our pho.
Sticky rice & mung bean dumpling: Most of the reason why I really wanted to try Mr. Red Cafe is because my friend, and fellow food blogger, Eatmunchlove, couldn’t stop raving about these. And they sounded delicious too! So, even though I had already ordered a pho, I couldn’t come here without trying these.

The inside of this filled with mung bean, pork floss, and green rice. I really enjoyed the chewy texture to these. I haven’t had green rice before so I’m not sure what it’s supposed to taste like, but it was salty and sticky as well.

I LOVE my savoury/salty foods and would pick salty over dessert, so I really loved this dish! The sticky rice makes it REALLY filling, and I felt sooo uncomfortably full after having the pho and one of these. So, I ended up bringing the second one home and my mom ended up eating it.
Banh mi: Macaroni already knew she would not be able to finish both the giant bowl of pho AND this sandwich, but she said it was really good so she had to order it anyways. She ended up taking half of it back home as well!

I had a bite of the banh mi, and it was incredibly delicious and oh so fresh. The bread was lightly toasted, while the veggies were super fresh and crunchy.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mr. Red and wish I had come sooner! Although the prices are slightly more than I’m used to for Vietnamese food, the quality and portion is very evident. The service was also quick and efficient, and the restaurant was clean and comfortable.

Yay!

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

Joyeaux Cafe

April 30, 2015 Leave a Comment

Hi there!

So, it has been a tradition where every Friday, my coworkers and I go source out new restaurants to try around our area. They started to appoint me each week seeing I’m the food blogger, but I didn’t want to always be the one that picked, we now take turns! One week, my coworker took us to Joyeaux Cafe for lunch as she had been here before and liked it.

Although I am in downtown quite often, I’ve always gone by this place without noticing. I didn’t know that it was an extremely popular lunch destination! We made reservations at 1:30pm to avoid the lunch rush, but it was still really packed. Seating there is very tight, so don’t be surprised if you have to share tables with other customers. Two of us came back a few weeks after, and we shared tables with others.

Walking into the restaurant, you first order and pay for your food. The cashier then gives you a number, and you’re proceeded to ~~fight the jungle~~ find a table. It gets a bit hectic in there during the busy lunch hours- you have been warned! The other workers then bring out your food in trays, and search for your number. All of the staff were really friendly and efficient though, so props to them!

On our first visit, I ordered the typical Vietnamese cold cut sandwich, or banh mi. At $5, the price was a bit higher than what I normally pay for a banh mi, but understandable since this place is in the downtown core. The bread was soft and fresh, and the banh mi came stacked with plenty of fresh ingredients as you can see!

All the veggies tasted really fresh and crunchy. They even went the extra step to crack fresh pepper! I was also really happy at the fact that they put Vietnamese pate, some restaurants I go to don’t include this.
Most of my coworkers that day ordered the lemon grass chicken special, which came with your choice of noodles/rice and spring roll/salad roll for $10. I had a bite of the chicken and again, it was really good. The chicken had a slight crisp on the outside, but was nice and juicy inside.

I’m not going to show all the food that we ordered since they were pretty much all the same thing… but this was the daily special again, but with vermicelli instead.

Joyeaux Cafe is a good place to go if you’re in downtown and craving Vietnamese food. The food is fresh, tastes great, and fast. It’s a bit more expensive than I’m used to, but I would gladly come here if I wanted good Vietnamese food in downtown! Extra points for serving their banh mi with meat pate!