curiouslycarmen, Author at Curiously Carmen

Deer Garden – Richmond (Venezia Plaza)

October 5, 2020

I’ve written about all the Deer Garden locations (Fraser Street, Burnaby, other Richmond location) so far, except for the second location in Richmond on the second floor of Venezia Plaza!

Usually, our go-to location is the Fraser Street location but since we were going to Richmond, we decided to go here instead.

I’ve been to this location a couple times over the years. From what I remember, parking is usually horrible, cramped and busy in this plaza (as with most Richmond plazas…) but things have quieted down due to the pandemic, I am assuming. There was no issue finding parking this time.

DIY noodle soup: I went with my usual DIY combo, which hasn’t changed for many years now. For those who haven’t been to Deer Garden, you pick your soup base – most have no MSG, two toppings, noodle choice, and drink.

I went with the century egg and parsley soup base, pork sausage, extra fresh beancurd, and Korean crystal potato noodle. You can also add on a small appetizer as well.

As usual, everything was delicious and super filling. My only complaint was that the century egg could have been tastier. There was a bit of an old, cupboard taste to it.

For my drink, I went with a lemon ribena. It was recommended to me by Latte and was refreshing and delicious.

DIY noodle soup: The fiance went with the peanut chili soup, luncheon meat, beef brisket and egg noodles. Over the years, we’ve gone to many soup noodle places but Deer Garden consistently has the best peanut chili soup. The milk tea was fragrant and strong as well.

Deer Garden is consistently delicious and reliable, no matter which location you go to!

Cafe Xu Hue – Two Visits

October 2, 2020

After going to Hoang Yen a couple of times with Avocado, she suggested that we try Cafe Xu Hue, which also has a delicious seafood noodle soup but with tapioca noodles.

I was intrigued because I’ve never had tapioca noodles and wasn’t sure what to expect, but she loves coming here for their tapioca noodles! I love my chewy tapioca balls aka pearls in bubble tea, so I figured that tapioca noodles would have the same chewy texture. I was excited to try!

Cafe Xu Hue is located on Kingsway, by the new TNT. The storefront is really small and easy to miss.

Going inside, the restaurant was quite small with a loud fan underneath our table. Half the tables were removed due to the pandemic and it felt clean and safe in there.

One thing to note here is that the menu is quite small. This is all there is to the menu!

Pho ga: Since Avocado was going to get the seafood noodles, I thought I’d try something else to review. They didn’t have a beef noodle soup, so I picked the pho ga which was a chicken noodle soup.

Since we came here for the tapioca noodles and this came with the usual rice noodles, I asked to substitute for an additional cost.

The chicken broth was light but still very flavourful, with a hint of garlic. Although it was simple and clean, it was a comfortable bowl of noodles.

The tapioca noodles were delightful. They were thicker and shorter than I imagined, but very chewy and enjoyable.

My only complaint, and I’m not sure if it’s because I got the bottom pieces of the bag or something, but near the end of my meal, some pieces were so short that I had a hard time finding them in my soup. The picture above were the longest stands of noodles I had.

Banh canh cua bot luc: Avocado usually orders the crab meat soup here, and this time was no different. I had a sip of her soup (before we started eating and with a clean spoon – being safe and responsible during the pandemic!!!) and loved it. The broth had depth to it and was so flavourful. The soup tasted like crab, so if you’re a seafood lover you’d enjoy this. There was also a hint of spice to it as you can see with the chili flakes.

Bun bo hue: A few weeks later, I took my mom here since she likes bun bo hue. The bun bo hue here was seriously amazing. The broth had so much depth with the perfect amount of spice and lemongrass flavour.

I only had a few bites, but this was my favourite bowl here so far and I am definitely coming back here when I crave bun bo hue.

Despite having a small menu of only 9 items, Cafe Xu Hue was delicious. I would describe bit as a small, no frills, family run Vietnamese restaurant that has been around for awhile.

With so many Vietnamese restaurants in the city, the thing that sticks out to me and the reason why I would come back, are the tapioca noodles that I haven’t seen elsewhere. and the mouthwatering bun bo hue.

If you know another place that has tapioca noodles, please let me know so I can try it out too!

RedBeef Noodle Kitchen – Chinatown Location

September 30, 2020

Ever since RedBeef Noodle Kitchen opened their first location in Kitsilano, they have taken the Vancouver Taiwanese food scene by storm! I wrote a review on the first two visits last year, and have been many more times since.

I was happy to see that another RedBeef location was opening in Chinatown! Well, also a bit sad because they replaced Rhinofish Noodle Bar, which lasted about 3 years and was delicious too.

I noticed that they were doing delivery, so we decided to order and see if the latest location has the same mouthwatering food as the Kitsilano location.

(If you’re wondering how I got the photo when I ordered delivery, my mom was in the area so I asked if she could take a photo for my blog!)

Signature beef noodle soup: I went with my usual order here, their signature beef noodle soup. I was happy to see that they separated the noodles and soup broth for delivery, because no one wants soggy noodles that have soaked up all the broth.

There was a good amount of fresh, crunchy vegetables and preserved vegetables too.

The broth and noodles were equally as delicious, although the broth was on the saltier side. The broth was well rounded with depth. I picked the thin cut noodles which were cooked perfectly.

The star of the dish was the beef though. Seriously, you must try the beef here. The beef was incredibly tender, soft, and flavorful. Their beef noodles are hard to beat because of how amazing the beef is. Writing this is making me hungry.

Salt and pepper popcorn chicken with rice: The fiance went with a rice dish. The popcorn chicken was delicious and flavourful, although we had to pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes to get them crispy again.

The rice bowl also came with a marinated egg, tofu, and a minimal amount of veggies. The marinated egg didn’t have much flavour in it, but it was not bad. They probably could have added more than a single piece of broccoli.

I’m happy to say that we found the Main Street location consistent with the Kitsilano location. I’m sure that we will be ordering delivery again with them and will probably go for dine-in at some point.

There are also two express locations in New West and Richmond, which have a smaller menu and are more for takeout/delivery.

If you are a fan of Taiwanese food, RedBeef is a must try. They are currently at the top of my list for Taiwanese food!

Presotea

September 28, 2020

The Brentwood area has gone under significant changes in the past few years. The Amazing Brentwood is nearing completion, and there are many trendy restaurants slated to open there soon. There is also a new option for bubble tea in The Amazing Brentwood, Presotea. I’ve been hearing about this place for a couple months so we finally went to go try it out.

We weren’t quite sure where Presotea was located in The Amazing Brentwood and there didn’t seem to be a map installed yet, so we walked around for a bit before we saw it. The best place to describe Presotea would be on the ground level, so you don’t have to walk up any stairs. It is closest to the corner of Lougheed and Willingdon. I hope these somewhat vague instructions can help someone, lol!

The menu was pretty expansive, spanning two pages. There were a lot of options for caffeinated and non-caffeinated drinks.

Watermelon slush with pearls: The watermelon slush was a seasonal drink, available in the summer and until watermelon goes out of season. The watermelon was fresh, and I found the drink to be really refreshing on a hot summer’s day (oops, I wrote this post back in August and didn’t publish until now).

The slush was blended well, with no ice chunks inside. In addition, the pearls were delightfully chewy and fresh!

Genmaicha milk tea with white pearls: The fiance ordered the genmaicha milk tea and enjoyed his drink as well. The drink had a stronger milk taste than tea. The tea could have been a bit stronger to give the drink more tea flavour, but it was still enjoyable.

He ordered white pearls with his drink. I’m not sure what the difference between the regular pearls and the white pearls were.

We left satisfied with Presotea and would come back if we were in the area, but it’s not a place I would purposely drive to because there are so many other bubble tea shops closer that I’d pick first.

However, it’s a great addition to the Brentwood area and the service was really friendly and nice.

Seiza Japanese Restaurant

September 25, 2020

Seiza Japanese Restaurant is a relatively new Japanese restaurant that quietly opened in early 2019. Previously, this space was occupied by Zipang Provisions, also a Japanese restaurant, for 10+ years.

Maki and I were doing some bridal dress shopping and I found Seiza close by to one of the shops we were going to. Neither of us heard about Seiza but the atmosphere and food looked good, so we stopped by for lunch before our appointment.

This area of Main Street is quite busy, with many restaurants and shops. We were lucky to find street parking quite easy that day though.

Walking in, the restaurant was tastefully decorated with a modern but warm vibe. We immediately noticed these dolls that they had in certain tables. It was a very clever and fun way to show which tables were closed due to the pandemic!

Each open table also had it’s own large bottle of hand sanitizer which we appreciated as well.

Seafood udon: The seafood udon came with a decent portion of shrimp, salmon, scallop, and other seafood that I forgot. The star of the show was definitely the broth though.

The broth had a robust umami flavour to it, but there was also a well rounded sweetness to it too. It was a combination of savoury with a hint of sweetness. I enjoyed it and couldn’t stop sipping on it. It was a satisfying bowl of udon with a delicious and unique broth.

Salmon roll: The salmon roll was pretty meh. I found the salmon to be on the dry side, but I think that’s because they use wild salmon which tends to be leaner. The roll came apart easily too. I would skip this roll next time.

Negitoro roll: While perusing the menu prior to coming here, my eyeballs were shocked to see that their negitoro roll was almost $8! (Pricing as of 2020). Normally, negitoro rolls go for about $4-$8 so it was double the price here.

Maki was curious as to why the negitoro roll here was so much pricier, so she decided to order it. It turned out to be a disappointing choice because there was nothing special in the roll. The negitoro roll wasn’t extra fatty or melted in our mouth either so the price was not justified. We’ve both had way better elsewhere.

Toro nigiri: On the other hand, the toro nigiri was delicious! The toro tasted fresh, was very fatty and melted in our mouth.

Scallop nigiri: Maki enjoyed her scallop nigiri as well. She said it was fresh and delicious.

Sexy salmon roll: The sexy salmon roll description on the menu does not match what we ordered, but I remembered Maki ordering a sexy salmon because I joked about it being “sexy” haha. So, I’m not sure if they updated it or what.

The sexy salmon roll was delicious! Essentially, the roll was a salmon nigiri but with some real crab meat underneath, a delicious citrus sauce, and tobiko.

The sweet citrus sauce and the salty tobiko added more dimension to the roll. Meanwhile, the soft crab meat and the crunchy tobiko elevated the textural element too. The salmon was also fresh and delicious. Overall, a really good roll with a mix of different flavours and textures complementing each other well.

Our visit to Seiza was enjoyable and I wouldn’t mind coming back. I just wouldn’t recommend getting their simple rolls because our salmon roll and negitoro roll were disappointing.

Instead, I would recommend getting their nigiri or special rolls. Seiza is pretty quiet, I don’t hear or see much about it on social media and there was only 1 other table during our visit on a weekend during prime lunch hours. But, it’s worth visiting among our huge selection of Japanese restaurants in Vancouver!