Curiously Carmen

Chad Thai – Revisit

This is the fourth time Chad Thai has been featured on my blog now! I’ve enjoyed going here each time, and always make a note to come here more often, but I don’t crave Thai food as much as I do with other places.

I usually write re-visit posts after 2 years, so I figured it was time for an update. It’s hard to believe that 2 years has passed, it seems like a year or less because 2020 was just a blur and we can pretend it didn’t happen. You can see my first, second, and third post. I’ve been a few times in between the reviews too.

Recently, a new Thai restaurant opened up a couple blocks away from Chad Thai, Siam Le Bien, which the husband and I didn’t enjoy as much. You can click to read my review on it.

I haven’t been here since the pandemic though. They seem to have some sort of shower curtain (?) to separate the takeout and dine in orders. When Jerky and I first arrived for lunch, we thought maybe they weren’t doing dine in but they were.

Thai chicken noodle soup: I ordered this during my previous visit and remembered that it was light but delicious, so I decided to give it a try again. It did not disappoint! The broth was light and clear, but flavourful. Thai chicken broth tastes different and I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it was good.

The chicken breast inside the noodle soup was also juicy.

Lunch combo: Chad Thai had some reasonably price lunch combos that come with a side. I don’t remember what he ordered, but he enjoyed it. I think it was some sort of curry with pork.

Crispy wonton: The side for Jerky’s lunch combo that day was the crispy wontons. They are deep fried wontons with marinated ground chicken and veggies. The wontons were crunchy, and Jerky enjoyed them.

Chad Thai has been a reliable staple in this area! If I’m craving Thai food, my two places to go are either Chad Thai or Bai Bua. Both have not disappointed during my many visits.

Chad Thai Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sopra Sotto – Commercial Drive

I have been hearing good things about Sopra Sotto for awhile now! There are currently two locations – the original location on Commercial Drive, and a second location in North Burnaby. Martini and I went to the location on Commercial Drive.

Walking in, I was not expecting the restaurant to be this nice! I really liked the decor inside, and how spacious and airy it felt.

We came on a nice summer evening, so the entire front of the restaurant opened up into a spacious patio. I wish I took a photo of the patio!

Rucola e prosciutto: After making sure they had dairy free options for the pizza, I ordered the prosciutto and arugula pizza. Our server couldn’t guarantee that the usual sauce for this pizza was dairy free, so she suggested I change it to a tomato sauce, which was fine with me. The pizza was delicious and came packed with prosciutto and arugula.

My only complaint was that this pizza was overpriced. As I’m currently writing this, the price was $22 (maybe my blog will still be around in 10 years and this is considered a reasonable price lol but in 2021 this is high). The vegan cheese was an additional $2.00 which I don’t understand because I assume the mozzarella and grana cheese normally used is the same, but whatever, many places charge an additional for vegan.

As mentioned above, the server suggested replacing the sauce with a tomato sauce. She did not say that there was also an additional charge, so I was surprised to see it on the bill. If I knew, I probably would have just asked for no sauce. I wished that she would have told me before putting the order in, I didn’t think that tomato sauce would be extra.

After tip and tax, this pizza was $30+!

Diavola: Martini ordered the diavola pizza, which came with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Italian salami, and basil. Compared to my pizza, it looked pretty measly and could have used more toppings. She found it to be okay but thought there could be more toppings.

We also ordered a couple of drinks, but I forgot what they were now since we came in July.

Overall, I enjoyed the vibe of Sopra Sotto, although we found it to be overpriced. Our server was nice, but I wish she would have gave a heads up about the extra cost for tomato sauce (Normally tomato sauce on pizza is not extra?). I would still come back occasionally mostly only for the ambiance, especially in the summer with their patio.

Sopra Sotto Pizzeria Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Lunch Lady

This review is a long time coming, because I have been wanting to try this for a year ever since they opened last summer. For Smores’ birthday, we finally decided to try it!

Lunch Lady is located on Commercial Drive, and it’s one of those restaurants where you have to make a reservation to get in. It is inspired by the food carts in Vietnam, and apparently there is some sort of far away distinction with Anthony Bourdain. For the sake of this review, I looked it up and apparently the owner of this restaurant met a Vietnamese street food vendor in Saigon nicknamed the Lunch Lady. Apparently she was so inspired by the Lunch Lady that she opened this restaurant with influences from the Saigon place. Anthony Bourdain liked the food cart in Saigon, hence the somewhat association.

The Lunch Lady has got pretentious vibes written all over it. They try really hard to seem like “casual, hole in the wall” street food, but it drips of pretentiousness. For one, the prices are definitely not hole in the wall. Secondly, the vibe going in is supposedly casual, but most of the customers were very dressed up. It reminds me of the “no makeup, makeup trend” where girls try really hard to look effortlessly natural, when in reality it took them 1 hour to achieve the look. Thirdly, what kind of casual, hole in the wall place hires a live singer? Lol!

With that out of the way, Iet’s get onto the food!

Beef carpaccio: The beef carpaccio came with picked onions, fresh herbs, peanuts, and lime vinaigrette. At first glance, the toppings look overwhelming and you can’t even see the beef, but everything went together very well. The fresh herbs, peanuts, and lime vinaigrette complimented each other perfectly. It was a great start to the meal.

Garlic fried noodles: This is definitely more of a fusion than authentic dish. The garlic fried noodles came with garlic XO butter, and topped with parmesan cheese. I only had a few bites but it was delicious, and the 3 of us really enjoyed it. The noodles were very garlicky and the butter made it taste even better! It is quite an oily dish which is why I didn’t have too much of it with my stomach problems.

Beef noodle soup: With my stomach problems, I decided to stick with the pho. I also wanted to try a pho because if you mess up a pho dish, you are a crappy Vietnamese restaurant! It was a bit more pricey than your typical (actual) hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurants, and the taste was alright. The noodles were also wider and flatter than your standard pho, but I didn’t mind it.

House special fried rice: This was the only disappointing dish of the evening! For starters, it was quite small. Secondly, it was really lackluster and something that you can easily cook at home. It was a very basic fried rice and nothing special about it.

In conclusion, the food at Lunch Lady was good but I was not a fan of the vibe, as explained in the intro. It seems like they want to be fancy, but at the same time, they want to be a “hole in the wall” and associated with the simple deliciousness of Vietnamese food carts. You can’t really be both.

I haven’t quite figured out if I want to return because I enjoyed the food, but it felt pretentious to me. It’s a place you go if you want to be seen as cool and hip, but also without trying too hard because it is inspired by street food after all (with the prices of fancier places).

Sushi Mori – South Surrey

There are currently three different Sushi Mori locations in the Lower Mainland. Back in June, I came with Latte to the South Surrey location. This location is located inside the Peninsula Village, a large strip mall with plenty of parking.

Walking in, the restaurant was nicely decorated with fake cherry blossom trees! It was also quite spacious and they also had the private booths where you take your shoes off. I love these booths but we sat at a regular table since it was only 2 of us.

Assorted nigiri combo: Latte ordered the assorted nigiri combo, which came with a California roll and 7 pieces of nigiri.

Salmon sashimi: We decided to split a salmon sashimi, but a half order would have been enough! The salmon sashimi was fresh and tasty.

Chopped scallop roll: I was not a fan of my chopped scallop roll. The scallop was mushy, and did not taste fresh. I didn’t end up finishing this because it seemed suspicious.

Salmon mango roll: I didn’t really enjoy this roll either. The mango was not ripe and overall, I found it to be meh.

Bluefin tuna roll: I don’t normally see bluefin tuna on the menu of casual Japanese restaurants, so I decided to order it! I found it to be alright. It tasted fresh, but it wasn’t fatty enough for my liking.

Seared nigiri: Latte also ordered one of the seared aburi. I don’t really remember much about it so I guess it wasn’t that bad or that good!

Sushi Mori was a miss for me, but they have a huge menu so I would be willing to come back here to try other things if I was in the area with Latte. There aren’t many Japanese places around here to pick from which is the only reason I’d come back.

I ended up getting an upset stomach a couple of hours later, probably from the chopped scallop roll because it did not taste fresh. I would probably get something cooked like an udon, or a cooked roll instead if we came back.

Sushi Mori Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

La Glace Ice Cream

After dinner at Yuwa, we decided to go over to La Glace for some ice cream. It was perfect timing because Maki had mentioned this place to me a few days prior, and she really enjoyed it.

La Glace is located in the same small plaza as Yuwa. The space is very girly and cute, something out of a French bakery.

They were closed for dine in when we went, but there were a couple of patio tables and benches around. It got pretty busy and lined up around 7pm, with many families coming here after dinner perhaps.

They have some really nice ice cream to-go jars. They would make for really nice jars to keep afterwards!

Coconut pandan (vegan): I’m not vegan, but I can’t have dairy. Many places have started to offer more vegan/dairy-free flavours in the past couple of years which I am definitely not complaining about. Maki had tried the coconut pandan flavour before, and really liked it. I take it as a good sign when regular ice cream lovers enjoy vegan flavours. The coconut pandan was delicious. It was made with coconut milk, so the ice cream was creamy. I would definitely get it again.

Cookies and cream (vegan): I don’t normally see a vegan cookies and cream, so I decided to order a second scoop. It’s been 2 months since the visit so I don’t remember exactly, but I THINK I found it to be only alright. I think it was not rich enough. I definitely remember liking the coconut pandan one more.

I don’t remember what everyone else ordered, but here are the photos! I tried checking the website but their flavours vary each month.

The husband and Aero both ordered the same flavour. Unfortunately, Aero found a strand of hair in her ice cream. They replaced it with a new cup.

Despite this failure of a blog post of forgetting 1) how I liked the cookies and cream scoop, and 2) what everyone else ordered, the takeaway is that we enjoyed La Glace hahaha.

I wouldn’t make the drive purposely to come here because there are many other ice cream places closer that I enjoy (Elephant Garden Creamery and Earnest Ice Cream to name a couple), but if I was in the area I would come by again.

La Glace Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato