Curiously Carmen - Page 2 of 144 -

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.

Amorosa Pasta House

January 21, 2020 Leave a Comment

For our family Christmas dinner, my aunt suggested Amorosa Pasta House to try something different. I remember coming here probably 7-8 years ago, but don’t remember much of it.

Amorosa Pasta House is located in a random and not very convenient area in South Burnaby. It is your typical, neighbourhood restaurant that has probably been around for at least 20-30 years serving a large portions of Italian and Greek food. They don’t open these types of restaurants anymore!

The restaurant was quite clean and tidy. It had a warm, comforting atmosphere and seating was comfortable. Since there were 13 of us, we were given a section of the restaurant separated by a wall ledge.

Garlic bread: The garlic bread was an excellent choice from my uncle’s end. It was very garlicky, buttery, fluffy, and full of carby goodness. We ended up ordering another plate because everyone enjoyed it a lot, especially the monkeys (my two little cousins).

Pita bread: We had sooo much bread that night. Some of our orders came with a side of pita bread, so the server just gave it to us on one large plate.

House salad: Their house salad was a Greek salad but with a lot of romaine lettuce, probably because it’s cheaper. The salad came with a red wine vinaigrette sauce. The veggies were fresh and crunchy, but a few of us including myself didn’t really like the vinaigrette.

Caprese salad: Cola ordered a caprese salad, but it was disappointing. They poured way too much of the red wine vinaigrette over the salad, to the point where that was all you could taste.

Pescatore pasta: My parents split a pescatore pasta aka their seafood pasta. Unfortunately the noodles were overcooked and the sauce was very bland and watery. The portion was large, but the taste was not good.

Calamari entree: My uncle ordered the calamari entree, which came with rice, potatoes, veggies, and pita bread. The calamari was crunchy but I didn’t find it to have much flavour.

Chicken souvlaki: My chicken souvlaki was so disappointing and bad. The chicken was really bland and lacked any sort of grilled flavour… felt like I was eating boiled chicken on a skewer. I would not order this again. Ugh!

Carbonara pasta: The fiance ordered the carbonara pasta. It was quite strange because it was very saucy… almost like a carbonara pasta soup as you can see. Taste wise, it was meh…

Rack of lamb: My uncle’s rack of lamb, probably the best dinner dish that night considering the rest of ours were disappointing. The rack of lamb was very tender and flavourful. The meat fell off the bone as well.

Braised lamb: My parents also split a braised lamb, which was thankfully better than their awful watery, overcooked seafood pasta. It seems like the only dishes Amorosa does well is their lamb.

Tiramisu cake: For dessert, some of us split the tiramisu cake. Usually tiramisu is made with coffee, but they only made it with chocolate… whether that is a good or bad thing, I’m not sure. Anyways, the cake was sweet and chocolate-y.

Creme brulee: My uncle ordered the creme brulee. I wasn’t a fan of this as it didn’t taste fresh. The top sugar layer was not hardened and did not crack.

It seems like they just pre make it and take it out, but it would be nice if they freshly torched the top. The creme brulee tasted just like a custard instead.

The food was quite disappointing except for the lamb and garlic bread. The good thing about this place was that service was really friendly, attentive, and managed our large group well. I would not recommend coming here unless you like lamb.

Glowbal

January 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

Glowbal was a last minute decision for my birthday lunch with my parents! I picked Glowbal because it was one of the only places that still had a reservation spot available (whether that’s good or bad, IDK) and also because they had good lunch deals.

In addition, my parents don’t go to these types of restaurants often so I thought it’d be nice to go somewhere different for a change.

This was actually my first time at Glowbal, but I’ve been to other Glowbal Group restaurants such as Coast and Trattoria so I kind of had an idea of what to expect. Glowbal is located in the heart of downtown inside the Telus Garden building.

Another great bonus at Glowbal was that they offered a translated Chinese menu! You rarely see that at Western restaurants. This made it a lot easier for my parents to decide what they want.

Through the Chinese menu, we found out that one of their pasta dishes was actually a tomato sauce base which the regular English menu didn’t say (we confirmed with our server).

Complimentary soup: We each received a small cup of vegan, sweet potato and ginger soup to start. The texture was quite light but also a bit pureed, as if the chef couldn’t decide if they wanted a thick puree or light soup. It was gingery and warming.

Glowbal’s Ultimate Burger: I thought my dad would want one of the lunch deals, but he was in a #treatyoself mode and went all out with the ultimate burger. Ultimate burger it was, indeed. It came with a burger patty, short rib, bacon, mushrooms, deep fried mac and cheese, onion rings, and the usual vegetable toppings.

The burger was monstrous and overwhelming. Unfortunately, it was also disappointing because this was a case of quantity over quality. The burger patty was really dry and overly salty, which ruined the rest of the burger for him. For a $22 burger, you’d hope the main part of the burger was cooked right!

With that said, he did end up eating the rest of the things and was really stuffed after. I also had a couple bites and agreed that the patty was too dry and salty. The deep fried mac and cheese balls were delicious though.

Rigatoni pomodoro: As mentioned above, the English menu did not say this was a tomato base sauce yet the Chinese menu did. After confirming with the server, my mom decided to order this pasta which was part of their $14 lunch feature.

Although it was meatless, this dish was quite delicious. The rigatoni was cooked al dente and the sauce was very flavourful.

Philly cheesesteak sandwich: For myself, I picked the Philly cheesesteak sandwich! I found it to be underwhelming.

There could have been more sliced beef inside, and the beef wasn’t as tender or moist as I would have hoped. But the fiance enjoyed it and asked if I wanted to trade since he liked it a lot. That was fine with me!

Original benny: The fiance ordered the $12 benny special before trading dishes with me. The original benny came with Canadian back bacon and the usual hollandaise sauce and potatoes.

The benny was decent, no complaints about it! For $12 considering Glowbal’s pricing and atmosphere, it was a good deal although not the most amazing benny we’ve had.

We ended off with a complimentary birthday dessert plate, which was delicious! I don’t recall the desserts anymore (sorry, I should have written this review earlier or wrote it down somewhere) but they were great. It made up for my lacklustre Philly sandwich.

All in all, the food was not overwhelmingly delicious, but not the worst either which seems to be the case for other reviewers too. It was nice to go somewhere different and fancier with my parents. Service was great and attentive, and the birthday dessert was a nice bonus.

If you’re wanting to go somewhere more upscale without breaking the bank, I’d recommend coming here for the $14 lunch special or $12 benny (pricing as of Jan 2020) but don’t be expecting an amazingly delicious brunch – just an average one with nice atmosphere.

Trafiq Bakery

January 15, 2020 Leave a Comment

I am slowly catching up on reviews from the holidays! I’ve been eyeing Trafiq for awhile because I’ve heard great things about their cakes.

Since my birthday was coming up, I wanted to try a cake from Trafiq and fell in love with the Pretty in Pink cake from the website.

While trying to order the cake online a few days prior to my birthday, the website kept saying out of stock and they don’t answer their phones.

I figured I might as well check out this place for lunch and have a slice of the cake before placing the order! Cola accompanied me for lunch, and I enjoyed it so much here that I came back a week later for lunch!

Trafiq is always bustling, busy, and loud. You place your order at the till, which can be a bit of a wait because of how busy it is. I found their ordering system not very efficient. They could benefit from having two cash registers because there is always a line.

Seating is also not very comfortable, with the tables a few inches from each other. If you’re looking for a quiet place, this is not the cafe to go to. Tables are usually occupied but turnover is quick, just keep an eye out and have one person sit at the table while the other places the order.

DIY sandwich: I ordered a custom sandwich. At the beginning of the line up, there is a piece of paper where you circle the choice of bread, meat, sauce, cheese, and toppings. I chose focaccia bread, chicken breast, pesto, guacamole (at no extra cost!), Swiss cheese, sprouts, and arugula.

The sandwich was delicious! Thick focaccia bread slices, flavourful grilled chicken breast, and fresh veggies inside. I have no complaints about the sandwich.

DIY croissant sandwich: Cola ordered a custom sandwich as well. I don’t remember what exactly she got, but she also enjoyed her sandwich a lot.

Pretty in pink slice: The Pretty in Pink cake is their version of a strawberries and cream cake. This was sooo good. It came with layers of vanilla cake with airy strawberry mouse. Vanilla sour cream was also added, which sounds a bit weird but went well with the vanilla cake and strawberry mousse.

The cake was light with the perfect amount of sweetness. The cake was finished in a pink, white chocolate glaze which gave it the cute pink colour!

Needless to say, I placed my cake order that day. I added my own touch to it with some star candles from Michael’s, and LINE Friends characters, Brown and Cony.

DIY sandwich: I came back the following week for lunch, where it was equally as chaotic. I ordered a similar sandwich to my first visit, except I switched the bread from foccacia bread to cranberry pecan bread.

The sandwich was equally as tasty this time. The cranberry pecan bread was delicious too!

All in all, Trafiq is a delicious choice for cakes and sandwiches. The only negative is how chaotic and busy it is in there all the time! They are also too busy to answer their phones so don’t even bother trying to call to place a cake order like I did.

Xing Fu Tang

January 11, 2020 Leave a Comment

A Xing Fu Tang recently opened up in North Burnaby! Replacing 820 Sweets, Xing Fu Tang is located across from Gilmore Station.

One thing I do not like about Xing Fu Tang is how small and limited the menu is. I also found their drinks to be on the expensive side, and smaller than other bubble tea places.

Brown sugar pearl milk: This is probably their most popular drink. They are known for their brown sugar pearls, which you can see behind the glass pane.

The drink was delicious! The brown sugar pearls gave it a bit of caramel flavour. It was really smooth and easy to drink.

Bunny jelly mango smoothie: My options were quite limited because I didn’t want to have a milk drink to myself, and it was also too late for caffeine. I settled on this drink but it was quite disappointing.

The main reason was because I didn’t feel this drink was worth $7! It was just a blended mango smoothie and I don’t think it was even made with real mango.

The bunny jelly was a cute touch but still didn’t make it worth the price. It had a light, evaporated milk flavour to it, similar to those Chinese goldfish jello desserts during Chinese New Year.

Strawberry pearl milk: I found this to be overpriced and meh for what it was. Their pink pearls were no where as good as the brown sugar ones.

Grapefruit green tea: I didn’t try this, but it was a better value than the mango smoothie and strawberry pearl milk. We saw the staff freshly squeezing the grapefruit, and it came with some fresh grapefruit slices.

All in all, I would only recommend this place for their brown sugar pearl drinks. The other drinks did not seem worth the price and were meh. The cup sizes here are also smaller.

It would also be nice to have some soy milk option because there are a great number of Asians who are lactose intolerant! I’m glad to see other places are starting to have soy or almond milk options, and I hope Xing Fu Tang will follow soon.