Curiously Carmen - Page 2 of 153 -

Joey Burnaby – Happy Hour

July 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

Good ol’ Joey’s, many good times were had here. I’ve written a couple of reviews over the years on Joey’s, but thought I’d write another one on their happy hour.

I don’t think I’ve gone to happy hour the whole year due to the pandemic, how much I’ve missed happy hour. Sangria and I usually go to Cactus Club, but we found out that they changed their happy hour to 2-5pm so we went to Joey’s instead.

Sangria: Sangria and I started off with a sangria each. This was a pretty good deal at $5, but there was barely any alcohol in it. My Asian flush is pretty bad, I always get red after a few sips of alcohol… and my tolerance is low as well. In addition, Sangria gets red after drinking too.

However, we both felt nothing nor did we taste any alcohol in this. So while it was a delicious drink, it was more like a juice.

California Chicken Club: It’s been awhile since I had their chicken club, and it did not disappoint! The chicken club came with grilled chicken breast, cheese avocado, bacon, and arugula. I’m a huge fan of arugula in burgers and pizza, and it was fresh and crispy here.

Sushi cone: I’ve had the sushi cone many times and loved it, so Sangria decided to try it. The sushi cone came with prawn tempura, avocado, spicy mayo, and tobiko. The regular price is a bit pricey and not really worth it, so ordering it at happy hour is a better choice.

Yam fries: The yam fries came out piping hot and fresh! Sangria had no complaints about this.

Even though Joey’s was not our first choice for happy hour, we left pretty satisfied. The service was very attentive and friendly as well. Joey’s never disappoints.

Kaisereck Deli

July 13, 2020 Leave a Comment

Kaisereck Deli is one of the food stands inside Granville Island Market. The fiance and I decided to get some takeout from the market and enjoy it outside (and pray that pigeons don’t steal our food). Granville Island was pretty quiet that day, because they rely on tourism to stay busy.

Social distancing signs, directional arrows and hand sanitizer was set up inside, and people were following the rules. There were also security guards outside taking count in case it got too packed in the market.

After walking around the food stands, we decided on Kaisereck Deli which served German food.

Ordering was a bit confusing. The line was split into two: one for sandwiches, the second for German sausages and perogies. Since we were getting both a sandwich, sausage, and perogies, we were directed to two different ordering counters.

It was fine since it wasn’t busy that day, but I could see that it could cause confusion during peak periods as you’re potentially budging and moving around.

Kaiser club: I was not sure on what to get, but after hearing the two customers ahead of me both ordering the Kaiser club, I decided to as well. It was an excellent idea!

The Kaiser club came with turkey, bacon, cheese, crisp lettuce and tomato on a ciabatta bun. Everything tasted fresh and was quite good, one of the better club sandwiches I’ve had. The only con was that it was pretty expensive, but not surprising considering it was Granville Island.

Perogy plate: The fiance and I also split the perogy plate, which came with assorted perogy flavours and a sausage of our choice. We picked the turkey sausage. They specialize in sausages and the turkey sausage did not disappoint! The sausage was juicy and big with a nice grilled flavour.

The perogies were disappointing though. They were the mini type, which wouldn’t have been an issue but they were tasteless and bland. We ended up bringing this home and added some sauce to make them more enjoyable.

Overall, Kaisereck Deli is a decent choice inside Granville Island Market minus the perogies. I wouldn’t make a trip to Granville Island purposely here for it, but it would be a nice lunch option by the dock.

Silver Tower Cafe Restaurant

July 10, 2020 Leave a Comment

Silver Tower is a longstanding Hong Kong style restaurant in Richmond. The fiance used to frequent this place with his coworkers when he used to work in Richmond, and often talked about how delicious it was. After meeting a wedding vendor nearby in Richmond, we didn’t know where to have dinner so he suggested this place.

Normally, this parking lot and area is really hard to find parking! We were really surprised to see a few spots open in this parking lot, which Silver Tower also shares with Matsuyama next door. The street parking was also empty which is unheard of for a weekend!

Half of the restaurant tables were closed off, marked with red X tapes on the tables. I think it’s quite cool to capture photos like this to look back on, we are living in such strange times right now.

We also had to sanitize our hands and write down our name and phone numbers for contact tracing. I personally don’t mind as it’s more responsible if we were around new COVID cases!

Spaghetti bolognese: My go-to meal at HK style restaurants. Silver Tower’s version did not disappoint either! It was delicious and the portion size was decent as well.

Baked pork chop: The fiance’s baked pork chop was delicious too. There was a generous portion of baked pork chop on top of the rice, which was crispy and flavourful. The rice underneath could have used more flavor and more egg.

Overall, Silver Tower is a decent choice for quick, filling, and cheap HK style food if you’re in Richmond. It has been around for a long time as evident by the exterior, but they seem to have renovated inside at some point. They are also open until 2am (not sure if this is the case during the pandemic) which may entice some people!

The Patty Shop

July 7, 2020 Leave a Comment

After a disappointing Jamaican food experience at Riddim and Spice, I was still craving a decent Jamaican patty. Fun and random fact, the Vancouver Rabbit Rescue is located in the Arbutus Ridge area as well, so we came by The Patty Shop after picking up some hay for the bunnies.

The last time I came here was probably 9 years ago, nothing has changed! While writing this review, I found out that The Patty Shop has been open for 40+ years, since 1979!

The Patty Shop is a very small shop. There is no room to eat inside, you just order and go. The prices were still pretty reasonable and you can also buy frozen ones for later.

Walking inside this shop was like a blast to the past. It doesn’t seem like much has been updated since they opened in 1979, but it was clean in there.

Also, keep in mind that The Patty Shop is cash only.

You can see how filled the patty was! The patty in the back got a bit squished from the car ride home though.

Chicken patty: My chicken patty was delicious! It was puffy with lots of filling and a nice shell outside. Even though I last came here 9 years ago, it was as good as I remembered. I’m not sure what type of spices they used, but it was very aromatic and delicious.

Vegetable patty: The vegan vegetable patty had a decent amount of filling as well. I would prefer the chicken patty though as I found it had more flavor and seasoning.

Curry beef patty: The fiance really enjoyed the curry beef patty. The curry flavor was strong and aromatic.

Beef patty: Compared to the curry beef patty, this one wasn’t as good but not terrible either. It was a bit plain after eating the flavor explosion of the curry beef.

It’s a shame that The Patty Shop is not in a convenient location for us, otherwise we would come more often! A neighbourhood secret and hidden gem for 40 years, I would definitely recommend stopping by for a delicious Jamaican patty.

Ramen Danbo

July 4, 2020 Leave a Comment

Ramen Danbo has been on my list for awhile now, because they offer both regular ramen and vegan ramen! I loooove ramen but unfortunately, had to stop eating it due to my chronic stomach problems. However, I wanted to see if vegan ramen would be any good, and I’ve heard really great things about Ramen Danbo.

The last time I had ramen was 2 years ago at Marutama, how delicious that was before my stomach problems went even more downhill (I did go to a couple of places like Jinya and Ramen Gaoh but didn’t order a ramen dish)!

Ramen Danbo is an authentic ramen shop with locations in both Kitsilano and downtown. The Kitsilano location was their first location outside of Japan!

One of the worst things about having ramen is the line up. Most authentic ramen joints are always lined up! Because we hate waiting in line, we went to the Kitsilano location about 10 minutes before they opened and were seated immediately.

The restaurant was pretty small as most ramen places are, and they removed half of their tables due to COVID. As with most restaurants, they have a QR code that you scan to see the menu.

Ramen Danbo has a lot of customization options: noodle thickness, noodle firmness, thickness of broth, amount of lard (if non-vegan), and amount of karadare (spicy sauce).

Vegan shio ramen: I chose thin noodle, firm, standard thickness, and a little bit of karadare.

I’m pretty sure I confused the poor waiter by asking for a slice of pork and egg with my vegan soup. Oops! Anyways, I found the vegan ramen to be absolutely delicious. The broth was very flavourful and creamy, with so much umami flavour.

I couldn’t get enough of it. It wasn’t as fatty as the fiance’s regular ramen, but it still satisfied my ramen craving and I’d come back. In addition, the pork slice was tender and soaked up the broth well. The soft boiled egg was a nice touch too, ramen eggs are delicious.

Personally, I prefer my ramen broth as simple as possible to enjoy the full umami flavour of the soup which is why I usually get the shio ramen. Because of that, I wouldn’t order the karadare again because the spiciness distracted the broth.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spice and hot sauce but I prefer my ramen simple.

Classic chashu men: The fiance went with the thin noodle, firm, strong thickness, rich lard, and no karadare. The broth was very flavourful and rich.

It was the perfect bowl of comforting noodles to warm your soul. However, he loves his ramen as rich and fat as possible (to the point where you’re drinking straight up lard LOL), so he would go up a level to the maximum amount of richness, aka the extra rich level.

The chashu ramen came with a whooping 6 pieces of pork as well.

We enjoyed our visit so much that we decided to try delivery. However, the delivery experience wasn’t as good.

The portion was smaller and although they only had firm noodles as an option, the noodles were pretty soft. I wouldn’t get delivery again and would recommend going to the restaurant.

We will definitely be back!