curiouslycarmen, Author at Curiously Carmen

Jethro’s Fine Grub – Fraser Street Location

May 18, 2015

Hi all!!

I have driven by this place many times, and always see it completely packed. I’ve also heard it was really good so I decided to finally check this place out for brunch. After reading the reviews, I was prepared on what to order and what not to order.

This place was also featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive Ins, and Drives which automatically gives it a higher rating BUT a lot of people said it was very disappointing and did not meet their expectations. So, I came here with low expectations but somehow we left still feeling disappointed and unsatisfied.

We came after the lunch rush around 1 pm, and luckily did not have to wait. The restaurant is pretty small and cramped with very plain decor. Actually, there’s not much decor than the big chalkboard wall. They could really use some decor to make this place feel more comfortable and welcoming.
Started off with the corned beef hash with poached eggs, served with my choice of rye bread. Nothing in this dish really stood out to me and it was really meh, especially the corned beef. The corned beef also came out in little tiny, dry crumpled pieces.
The second dish was a lot better, though – smoked salmon eggs benedict with potatoes. The eggs benny was flavourful, with a rich hollandaise sauce but the potatoes were lacking in flavour. They were also very dry and starchy, they could have peeled off more of the potato skin as well.

Yes I know that some restaurants leave the potato skin on and I do enjoy potato skin, but all my tongue could taste or feel was potato skin and nothing else.
Continuing on to even more mediocre-ness, was our side of sausages. They were your typically greasy, oily breakfast sausages that you would expect at a free 3 star hotel breakfast. Good if it’s free, but I wouldn’t want to have to pay for these.

But at this point, we finished it all since there wasn’t anything good other than the smoked salmon benny.

Lastly, we ordered a side of pancakes because I read that it was a “must order” and it was their specialty. If this is their “specialty”, then clearly it needs some work because these were really mediocre and disappointing as well.

They had a rich buttermilk flavour to it, but they weren’t fluffy at all. All of the pancakes were also a bit burnt. You would try to cut it up but the burnt bottom part would stick to the plate and it just became a mess. To add to this, the inside looked a bit undercooked so they probably cooked it on too much high heat, resulting in a burnt exterior but raw interior.

Needless to say, our visit was really disappointing and we probably won’t be coming back. There was no sense of quality preparation in any of the dishes except for the smoked salmon benny. We had already braced ourselves that this place wouldn’t be amazing, but I didn’t think it would be THAT disappointing, especially for a restaurant that had been featured on The Food Network.

-Carmen

Nay.

Royal Seoul House – First time trying a Korean set lunch!

May 14, 2015

Hi everyone =)

If you’ve been following me for awhile now, you may have noticed that I’ve never food blogged on Korean cuisine before. I can count the number of times I’ve had Korean food on one hand! It’s not that I hate Korean food, but it’s not really convenient for me to try good Korean restaurants, nor do I know which ones are good.

But, here is my first Korean post and my first time trying a Korean set lunch! Please read this review with a grain of salt… this is probably my third or fourth time eating Korean so I’m not the most knowledgeable in how it tastes, or what authentic Korean tastes like.

Last month, I had plans to eat a Korean set lunch with some old coworkers but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it last minute =( I heard that it was really good and really filling, so I suggested that we try this place out to my friend a few weeks later.
Walking in, I absolutely loved the decor and interior of this place! It felt like I was in an olden day movie set. The restaurant was very spacious and clean as well. You could tell that it was weaning towards being an old restaurant, but they put every effort in making sure everything was clean and robust.

I asked for a private booth, where we had to take our shoes off before entering. You could slide the doors closed if you wanted to as well. I haven’t eaten in one of these private booths for awhile, but I do enjoy dining like this =)
For the set lunch meals, there are two that you can pick from. After looking at the pictures and description, we decided to go with the $15 menu because we wanted to try the grilled fish, and it wasn’t offered in the $20 menu.

Mul kimchi – This was described on the menu as “watery plain kimchi”. Couldn’t have described it better than that! The kimchi flavour was really diluted due to the water, but the veggies were still very fresh and crunchy.

Porridge – I imagined the porridge to be different, perhaps like a congee? This was a sweet potato/pumpkin porridge. It was delicious, very sweet and had a thick consistency to it.
Clockwise from top right:
Tangsooyeuk – This was my first time trying Korean style sweet and sour pork, I’m more accustomed to the Chinese style. When comparing the two, the Korean style one was crispier, since the pork pieces weren’t entirely covered in the wet sauce. Talking about sweet and sour, this one was more sour and tangy.

Tangyungchae – Chilled mung bean jelly mixed with vegetables. It had a thick, crunchy texture – kind of like eating cartilage. This dish was nice, light, and refreshing.

Jogi-gui – I didn’t even know this it was fish on the plate until my friend pointed it out, it looked like some sort of yam tempura to me. I absolutely loved this dish! The fish flaked perfectly off, and it had some sort of delicious marinated mayo on the top. I wished we had more of this!

Green salad – Honestly, I didn’t touch the green salad until the end because I wanted to try all the new foods in front of me. I was actually so glad that we saved this, because the crunchy vegetables were really refreshing and helped with cool down the spicy foods afterwards. All the veggies were really fresh and came with a vinaigrette sauce.
Three kinds of mini pancakes – Nothing too special about the taste here, but they weren’t bad, either. The one in the back was a fish pancake, followed by seaweed and zucchini. The fish and seaweed one were more doughy and wet, while the zucchini one resembled tempura.

So Bulgogi – The beef bulgogi was very sweet and full of flavour. There was a generous amount of beef and we loved how juicy the meat was.

Cuttlefish with veggies in spicy sauce – I am a big fan of seafood, so naturally, I loved this dish as well! The cuttlefish was fresh and crunchy, and served with veggies in what tasted like a kimchi sauce base. This dish was also served cold.

Steamed soft pork bacon – The pork was amazingly tender. It was cooked so well – simple, yet delicious. We savoured each bite of this dish, which had a hint of smokiness to it.
Soy bean paste soup – Okay, the name of this dish doesn’t sound too enticing in English, but it was delicious. Perfect on a rainy day when you want a nice warm bowl of spicy soup. Not for the faint of heart, this bowl packed a generous amount of spice so proceed with caution! We ate this with a bowl of steamed rice and cold salad (see above) to keep ourselves from getting too hot.

I loved the soup so much that the next day, I told the boyfriend and we made a spicy soup stew at home because I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Jogi gui – We chose to order the $15 menu because of this pan fried fish, the $20 did not offer it. I love fish, but unfortunately this dish was a tad disappointing. We expected two pieces since that’s what the picture in the menu showed =(

It had a very strong fishy taste to it – yes, I know that a fish is supposed to have a fishy taste, but this was too strong. In Cantonese, we call that taste “sang”. There also wasn’t much meat and a lot of sharp bones to unpick, which took a lot of effort!
Nearing the end of our meal, our service was a lot slower as they were just starting to clean up from the lunch rush (we were done around 1:30-2 pm). Since my friend and I weren’t in a rush, we just sat and talked for a bit, letting our food digest.

After about twenty minutes, we agreed that they had forgotten our dessert drink. We rang the bell on the table and the waitress seemed confused because she thought we got it already.

The dessert ginger drink was very sweet and served chilled. It literally just tasted like ginger with a lot of sugar. I know that ginger is really good for digestion, which is probably why it’s served. Since I don’t really like super sweet drinks, I only drank 1/4 of mine because I still wanted to try it out =)

All in all, I really enjoyed my first Korean set lunch experience! The food was great, friendly service, and I loved the decor of the place. I’m glad that I got the chance to try a lot of new dishes that day!

What are some good Korean places in Vancouver? Let me know in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Beta5

May 10, 2015

Hi everyone!

Last month, the boyfriend and I were heading back from somewhere (I forget now) and I suddenly had the idea to stop by Beta 5 and finally try their famous cream puffs!

Beta 5 is tucked away and hidden in an industrial part of the city. We weren’t sure that we were in the right place, but I felt confident because my fellow food bloggers had said it was pretty hidden. There isn’t much in that area, but I did see some of my favourite food trucks parked there which was pretty cool!

The inside was a lot nicer looking than the exterior. Beta 5 is a pretty small place, there is no room for customers to sit down and order. I think this is because they are mostly a neat little chocolate factory, but decided to open up a small area for customers to come in and buy their goodies.

There were beautiful, pristine displays of their many different kinds of award-winning chocolates. I was lucky enough to try a few pieces as one of our clients had brought it in to the office before.
We ordered the salted caramel and passionfruit coconut cream puffs. Both of these came to approximately $9. If you buy four, it is 0.50 cents cheaper for each but we didn’t feel like ordering more. You place your order with one of their friendly workers, who types it down in an iPad. Shortly afterwards, another worker will bring out your cream puffs from the kitchen.
The salted caramel cream puff had a rich caramel flavour to it, but it wasn’t overwhelming sweet. The texture of the creme puff was fluffy and perfect, with a generous amount of filling.
We both liked the coconut/passionfruit cream puff a lot more than the salted caramel! The coconut and passion fruit flavours complemented each other perfectly and had a very smooth flavour. The boyfriend absolutely fell in love with this one and continues to rave about it to this day.

At first, the boyfriend was hesitant to come here as he wasn’t convinced that a cream puff could be THAT amazing, but did he change his mind after having the coconut/passionfruit one. He was even more enthusiastic about them than I was, and wanted to go back to buy more! I told him I was right and he should be glad that he listened to me 😉

Have you tried Beta 5 creme puffs yourself?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Longtail Kitchen – Modern take on Thai street food

May 8, 2015

Hi everyone!

I’ve been hearing many great things about Longtail Kitchen on social media, and decided that it was finally time for me to try it out.

Longtail Kitchen is a sister restaurant of the very popular and successful Thai restaurant, Maenam. I actually didn’t know that Longtail was a Thai inspired eatery until reading the reviews and their website!

Longtail is located inside the River Market at New Westminster Quay. I haven’t been to New West for awhile, and don’t remember seeing this building the last time I was here… but basically, the bottom floor is like an upscale food court. You won’t find any greasy, old looking stands here (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but instead more local and new eateries.
At Longtail, you order and pay at the front, then the staff will bring your food to you. This was our first meal of the day at around 3pm, so we were pretty hungry! We sat at a table right next to the window wall (? Is there a specific term for these??) which I’m pretty sure they open up so people are able to sit outside in the summer.

You are able to see a bit of the Fraser River and the boardwalk, but unfortunately I was too short and my eye level hit right where the white window pane was and couldn’t see anything. =( You can see the picture above to understand what I mean.
The boyfriend ordered the green curry with chicken. When it arrived, we could smell the delicacy and aroma of all the spices that went into this dish. The green curry had a strong, rich coconut taste to it. The chicken was very tender and juicy as well. It came with a rice bowl side, we were hoping that it would be coconut rice but sadly it was just plain rice.

For myself, I ordered ‘Mama Cheung’s laksa’, which I don’t see on the menu anymore, so I guess they rotate their menu frequently to ensure freshness of all the food items! The laksa came with a seafood curry broth, chicken, fish cakes, prawns, veggies, and noodles.

I was expecting the curry to have a fishy taste to it due to the seafood broth, but it was very mild. Again, the curry was rich and spicy. The prawns were big and juicy, and had a nice snap to it- a sign of freshness. I saved the tofu puffs for the end so that they would be saturated with the curry! Everything tasted extremely fresh and made with great quality.

The laksa soup was so good that I drank all of it, I wasn’t even thirsty afterwards! That is a wonderful sign and says a lot about how it was prepared 😉
Another cool thing to add about Longtail is that they also offer some Thai cooking products to bring home! We spent some time looking at what they sold, as we haven’t heard of some of these products before.

Needless to say, we found ourselves savouring every single bite and were glad that we made the trek out here! One thing to add though, was that the portions were a bit smaller than what we were used to. But it is understandable, they use quality and fresh ingredients and the prices aren’t bad for how delicious everything was.

Which would you rather order – chicken curry or laksa soup?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

Joyeaux Cafe

April 30, 2015

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 (for 2015 prices) 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!