Curiously Carmen

Rocky Point Ice Cream

Rocky Point is such an underrated park, but I love it here! This park has many good memories for me, from family BBQ gatherings, to picnics with friends, or Ribfest. One of the most popular places in the park is Rocky Point Ice Cream!

On the way home from Coquitlam, the boyfriend and I stopped here because it’s been awhile. I was also craving some dessert.

It was not that busy on the night that we came by, but in the summer it can get really busy here. Rocky Point Ice Cream has that classic, ice cream shop scent… you know, the very sweet/rich dairy scent. Or is that just me who smells it?

Berry sorbet: I had my eye on the vegan chocolate, but that only vegan chocolate flavour was a chocolate blueberry fig and it was not good. So, I settled on the berry sorbet even though I didn’t really want sorbet because there wasn’t anything else.

I found the sorbet to be disappointing, but that’s because I was craving something richer with a coconut milk base. But that is in no fault of Rocky Point, just my personal preference that day.

Brown butter pecan: The boyfriend enjoyed his flavour unlike moi. It was their spin on the pralines and cream flavour.

I would recommend Rocky Point Ice Cream for their dairy desserts, but not their vegan/dairy free/sorbet things. Their prices are also a bit cheaper than the popular ice cream shops in Vancouver which is great!

Rocky Point Ice Cream Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Cartems Donuts

I remember having Cartems donuts maybe like 6-7 years ago when a friend brought them to an university club event. They were delicious! Since then, I haven’t had Cartems so Latte and I went to go check out the Main Street location one evening!

The Main Street location was quite spacious, with very high ceilings. There was a friendly, good vibe going on in there and it would be a nice place to study or get some work done.

The bottom row of donuts are always vegan, so they do have a large selection of vegan donuts (one of the reasons I wanted to come back since I currently can’t have dairy). I was surprised that Latte wanted a vegan donut, but that’s better for me because it meant we could share!

Tea: We both ordered a tea with our donut. I had the herbal strawberry mint which was fragrant and warming.

Citrus glaze donut: This was my favourite out of the 3 that we ordered! The donut was thick and fluffy. The citrus glaze was subtle and gave it a nice, sweet tang. I’ve never had a citrus donut before but the flavours worked well with each other.

Maple walnut donut: This one was good too, but it was more of a savoury donut. It was topped with crushed walnuts and I tasted a hint of black pepper.

Vanilla bean donut: This donut was also good! It was the simplest one out of the 3, so we really tasted the quality of the donut. The donut was delightfully fluffy and moist.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that citrus glaze donut, so I took the boyfriend here a few days later! We ordered 1/2 dozen to bring back and tried more flavours.

The funny thing was that I decided to keep it a secret that it was vegan, so that he wasn’t bias in his opinions!!! MUAHAHA!!!

From left to right:

Vanilla bean: Reviewed above

Citrus glaze: Reviewed above

Chocolate donut: A classic donut, you can’t really go wrong with chocolate. The boyfriend loved it!

Forgot to take a separate photo of it, so this will do!

Tropical mint: The only donut that we did not like that day. The taste was just odd… it was a bit sweet but you get this minty aftertaste. We ended up scraping off the tropical glaze on top so we could eat it as a plain donut.

Salted caramel: This was the only ‘regular’ donut we had (aka not vegan). Since it contained dairy, I couldn’t eat it. He found it to be a lot more dense and not as fluffy, so he didn’t like it as much.

At this point, I was laughing inside and couldn’t wait to tell him this was the only dairy donut – MUAHAHA!!!

Berry hibiscus: This one was just alright…. it was filled with jam inside. The berry hibiscus donut wasn’t as fluffy as the other ones.

After the boyfriend ate all the donuts, I mischievously told him that they were all vegan except for the salted caramel! He was quite shocked and never would have guessed.

Brown and the donuts!

Cartems Donuts are amazing and they have very creative flavours! I would definitely recommend stopping by. They have a huge selection of vegan flavours which are arguably better than the regular, non-vegan ones!

Cartems Donuterie Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Elephant Garden Creamery

Elephant Garden Creamery has been on my radar for a few months now! It opened up last September, right before it got cold.

One sunny afternoon, the boyfriend and I went to try this place and it ended up being one of our new favourite dessert places (for both regular and vegan ice cream)!

Elephant Garden Creamery is located on Commercial Drive, so parking is a bit hard to find. The decor is white and minimalistic with green plant accents.

It was quite warm in here, they probably could have dialed up the AC a little bit! We did have to wait a bit because there were only two people working.

I was a bit disappointed to see that there was only one vegan/dairy free flavour offered that afternoon when the website had a few more.

It seems like their flavours change a lot, so if you’re really set on one flavour, I would recommend giving them a call first to avoid disappointment. But, the one vegan/dairy free flavour they had ended up being delicious as you’ll read about soon!

Milk tea ice cream (top): The boyfriend absolutely fell in love with the milk tea flavour, and couldn’t stop raving about it. There was a strong, authentic, milk tea flavour (makes sense because this place is Asian-owned). He definitely wants to come back to order this flavour!

Malted chocolate ice cream (bottom): The boyfriend wanted to compare their malted chocolate with Rain or Shine’s much loved version. It was tasty, but the one here doesn’t have any honeycomb in it, so he preferred Rain or Shine’s version more.

Mango coconut sticky rice: My vegan ice cream was delicious! With vegan/non dairy ice cream, sometimes you don’t get that richness because stores don’t use coconut milk/cream. I loved that this was rich but also dairy free.

There was some delicious mango syrup (which did not taste artificial at all) thrown in as well. I loved it and would come back for this flavour! The boyfriend enjoyed this too and said it was quite impressive for a vegan flavour.

Our first visit to Elephant Garden Creamery was a success. I hope that we will be back more in the future, and I’m glad we have another ice cream place added to our list!

Elephant Garden Creamery Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Brown Bites – Boba Essence

Brown Bites is a mini series on my blog featuring places the boyfriend has tried without me, so it wouldn’t be my own review. Why the name Brown, you ask? It is named after the Japanese LINE character, Brown. Brown is a cute, shy, emotionless cartoon bear but secretly full of love, and we adore him to pieces!

One night while hanging out with Maki, Nigiri, and Burger, we were craving bubble tea (what else is new? bubble tea is life) so we decided to order delivery.

My stomach was acting up (again, what else is new?) so I opted out that evening. I didn’t miss out on much because they were all quite disappointed with this place!

The actual store is located in Olympic Village. It is one of the only bubble tea shops in this area. Since we ordered delivery, I can’t comment on the store or service.

Roasted milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend ordered this, but was disappointed. While it had a decent tea flavour, it was wayyyy too sweet to enjoy. The straw was too small for the pearls, so he had a hard time getting them.

Oolong milk tea with pearls

Hochija milk tea with pearls

Earl grey milk tea with grass jelly

The rest of them did not enjoy their bubble tea either, commenting that it was way too sweet.

When I asked everyone if they would have it again, everyone said they rather go order from somewhere else. If they were in Olympic Village and happened to walk by, then possibly if the bubble tea craving was strong enough. Otherwise, there are a lot more and better options in Vancouver for bubble tea.

Glad I opted out for once!

Boba Essence Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

ZenQ – Burnaby Location

ZenQ is a Taiwanese dessert chain that opened in the Vancouver area a bit over a year ago. Since their first store (I believe in Richmond?), a few other locations have opened up around town. I live closest to the Burnaby location and went once last year, but thought it was time I write about it.

This post also contains a delivery order with Maki, Nigiri, and the boyfriend! (my stomach was acting up that night so I didn’t order anything, sad).

The location is clean and new, less than a year old. Surprisingly, there aren’t many bubble tea places along The Heights so they don’t have much competition. Parking is easy to find and free along the streets.

Hot grass jelly pudding with Q balls and pearls: Grass jelly is made from a Chinese plant, with other herbs added inside. The result is a healthy dessert, usually served cold with other toppings such as syrup, pearls, mochi balls, or ice cream.

I ordered the plain one when I had a sore throat, but this time, I ordered one with toppings! My go-to is the hot version with Q-balls, pearls, and red bean. The Q balls are chewy, mochi balls which come in yam, sweet potato, and matcha flavour.

The pearls add a nice sweetness and more chewiness to the grass jelly pudding as well! This is such a guilt free dessert and I am still able to eat it with all my digestive problems, which is a win for me!

Milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend really enjoyed his milk tea. There was a strong black tea flavour and not diluted at all, which is evident of their quality.

Cold grass jelly dessert: This is from a separate delivery order with Maki and Nigiri. It was the cold grass jelly with vanilla ice cream, mochi, and pearls. It looked delicious and they didn’t have complaints about it.

Jasmine green milk tea: While Maki and Nigiri ordered a food item, the boyfriend went with the Jasmine milk tea. He noted the strong Jasmine flavour and quality this time too.

ZenQ has been around for a year now, and I suspect that we will be back more often, whether it’s for dine in or delivery!

The grass jelly is high quality and made in store, while their teas are fragrant and delicious. What’s not to love about it?

Zenq Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato