curiouslycarmen, Author at Curiously Carmen

Bombay Kitchen and Bar

May 30, 2021

It has been awhile since we had Indian food! After looking up some restaurants online, we decided to try Bombay Kitchen and Bar for delivery. I haven’t heard of them before, but the restaurant is located on Commercial Drive.

Chicken biryani: I love my chicken biryani, but I always find it to be hit or miss. Unfortunately, the chicken biryani was a miss. It was pretty oily and dense, and lacked the fluffiness that is sought after.

On the plus side, the taste was flavourful and the portion was pretty big.

Chicken korma: Luckily, the chicken korma was much better and delicious! We had no complaints about it. The chicken korma was fragrant and tasty.

Tandoori roti: We ordered a tandoori roti to go with the chicken korma, since it didn’t come with rice. The tandoori was hot and fresh, and went well with the chicken korma.

Yogurt: Sorry, I’m not sure of the exact name of this! They gave us a free yogurt, which came in a pretty generous size. It was refreshing and cooled our mouths down in between bites of the biryani and korma.

There are so many places to pick from for Indian delivery these days, which is definitely not a bad thing! Bombay Kitchen would fall somewhere in the middle for me.

Pacific Poke – Commercial Drive

May 24, 2021

I love poke but I normally don’t get it from a restaurant, preferring to make it at home because it is actually really easy! We like to buy the sashimi from Fujiya, then add some simple seasoning sauces and toppings. However, I was browsing on SkipTheDishes one day when I saw that Pacific Poke was having a deal for free delivery and a free coconut drink. I was sold!

DIY medium combo: For the DIY medium combo, you get two scoops of protein and three scoops of toppings with a choice for the base. I chose the salmon and ahi tuna for the protein, seaweed salad/diced mango/basil tomato for the toppings, and traditional sushi rice for the base.

The salmon and tuna were fresh and tasty! The toppings were okay, I wish there were some more sweet toppings at no cost other than diced mango. I wasn’t a fan of the basil tomato so I wouldn’t get that again.

As well, the sushi rice was slightly sour due to the vinegar. There was too many different flavours going on (sweet, salty, sour) that they didn’t taste good mixed together, but that’s my fault for choosing this combination. I did better on my second visit!

DIY medium combo: The fiance was at work so I guessed what he would like. I picked the negitoro and spicy ahi tuna for his protein, cucumber kimchi/pesto pineapple/mango for the toppings, and sushi rice.

The negitoro was really good and I wish I ordered that for myself instead. The toppings were interesting but I wish they had some plain ones instead of the mix, such as plain cherry tomato, cucumber or pineapple.

DIY medium combo: On the second visit, I had a better idea of what combinations I would like. I got the salmon and negitoro for the protein, mango/seaweed salad/pesto pineapple for the topping, and brown rice.

This time, the flavours went better together. I preferred the brown rice over sushi rice because the brown rice didn’t add a sour vinegar taste. Normally I love sushi rice but it was just too many flavours going on!

DIY medium combo: On the second visit, the fiance picked negitoro and tuna for his protein, corn/seaweed salad/miso hummus for the topping, and sushi rice.

The miso hummus was unique and the fiance said he would order it again.

Cocopanda: We ordered this drink on both occasions! There was a promo where this drink was free over $25.

You have to be careful though because Skip automatically charges you for two drinks, and gives you one free. I realized this on the first order but we forgot on the second order, which was fine because we loved the drink a lot.

The cocopanda was a blend of coconut milk and coconut water, and was delicious. It’s pretty simple and easy to make, but delicious and refreshing. It wasn’t too creamy since they use half coconut milk and half coconut water.

Overall, we both enjoyed our two delivery meals from Pacific Poke. We will probably continue to order from them more often, especially since they have the printing with Skip

Minus Cake Boutique

May 19, 2021

Minus Cake Boutique is a dessert cafe that opened a bit over a year ago. They are located by Kingsway and Boundary Road, next to Sharetea. I actually haven’t noticed Minus Cake Boutique before, but have heard about it on social media. I always thought it was in Burnaby.

Screenshot from Google Maps, next to Sharetea

It was the fiance’s birthday (this post is super late because I haven’t been motivated to write food posts lately), and Sangria and Lager surprised us with an UberEats delivery from Minus!

Minus specializes in cake and bubble tea. The cake comes in a plastic sphere that sits on top of the bubble tea drink. I haven’t seen other cafe stores offer something like this yet.

Combo Pandan Pineapple Coconut Cake: This was delicious! The drink was a fizzy kiwi lemonade, with fresh kiwi pulp inside. I really enjoyed the drink and it was good quality. The pandan pineapple coconut cake was equally as delicious as well.

The cake was part mousse, and part regular cake (sorry I don’t know the term….lol not a baker). The flavour of the cake was Asian style, light and slightly sweet. The pineapple and coconut went really well together and I would get this again.

Brown Sugar Hojicha Mochi Cake: The second dessert Sangria and Lager ordered for us was a chocolate style one! The drink had high quality, smooth chocolate in it. I would describe it as a high quality chocolate milk.

The hojicha mochi cake was delicious as well! There were some pieces of chewy mochi inside. The hojicha flavour was strong and delicious too.

All in all, we really enjoyed the surprise from Minus Cake Boutique and am glad that Sangria and Lager introduced us to it. I would recommend it as the perfect birthday treat, you get a bubble tea and personal sized cake on top! The quality of the cup and plastic sphere were sturdy, so no worries about the sphere falling off.

Siam Le Bien Thai Cuisine

May 12, 2021

A couple of months ago, I noticed a new Thai restaurant pop up in Burnaby Heights, Siam Le Bien. It’s been awhile since we had Thai food, so I suggested ordering some takeout from here.

Previously, this restaurant space was occupied by Jane’s Restaurant for many decades so I was surprised to see that it was finally gone. I believe there was also another short lived Thai restaurant that was briefly here after Jane’s Restaurant. It is located next to Kamamarui Ramen and the fire station.

Ordering for pick up was quick and easy. Service was friendly when I went to go pick up the food.

Pad thai with chicken: I don’t normally order pad thai but for some reason that day, I was feeling like having it. I used to not like pad thai but it has grown on me since. My taste buds have definitely changed over the years!

The pad thai was pretty meh and disappointing. The chicken meat was on the dry side and the noodles were clumped together. It was also very salty, to the point where I didn’t want to eat it anymore. On the plus side, there was some tofu in there which I enjoyed.

I saved half for lunch the next day and added some plain shrimp, unseasoned egg and cilantro to it, which helped to dilute the saltiness of it. But overall, it was meh.

Green curry with beef: The green curry was better than the pad thai, but also too salty to be enjoyable. This is coming from someone who loves savoury and salty food! It was alright but we had better green curry elsewhere.

Overall, our meal from Siam Le Bien was meh and does not leave us wanting more. I feel bad saying that because opening a new restaurant during COVID is not easy. Both of the dishes were way too salty and left us thirsty. I was hoping to have another good Thai restaurant in this area, but I will stick with Chad Thai a few blocks down.

Ricky’s Country Restaurant

May 9, 2021

Ricky’s Country Restaurant has been around forever. Honestly, I am surprised that they haven’t shut down yet and are still running. We came here many years ago and it was meh. There are definitely better brunch restaurants out there!

However, let’s stop with my negativity. The fiance and I were looking for a brunch delivery one weekend. We were really hungry and we saw that Ricky’s had the fastest delivery time and also free delivery, which were the 2 reasons we picked Ricky’s and not elsewhere. We were pretty meh about it. You’re probably wondering why we even chose this place then?! Haha!! Good question….

Ricky’s Country Restaurant is located inside the motel by Boundary and Lougheed. There is also a newer Ricky’s Cafe that opened a few minutes drive away in Brentwood’s SOLO district where I went pre-COVID and it was pretty meh.

Traditional benny: The fiance was craving an eggs benny, so he decided to try the traditional one. The most important part of an eggs benny is the hollandaise sauce, it’s what makes or break the eggs benny.

The hollandaise sauce was very buttery and creamy and the fiance enjoyed it. I had a bite and it was too rich for me, I could probably have only a couple of bites before it would be too much.

Unfortunately, the egg yolk was a bit overdone as you can see in the photo so that was disappointing. The hash browns were not bad and still a bit crispy despite being delivery.

Chicken strips: I love my chicken strips, and haven’t had them here before so I decided to try it. Ricky’s makes their chicken strip batter differently, and I didn’t like it this way. The batter was flaky, like tempura. The menu described it as “Southern style” chicken strips.

Nonetheless, the chicken strips were juicy and seasoned well. I would have preferred the batter to be made the usual way.

Our brunch from Ricky’s was alright. It was okay in a pinch, but it wouldn’t be a place to crave or go to often when there are so many other good brunch spots. The food this time was better than I remembered it to be when we came here many years ago at least.