fusion Archives - Curiously Carmen

Remi Patisserie

December 27, 2020

Vancouver has been abuzz lately with the opening of Remi Patisserie’s storefront! Over the past year, Remi Patisserie has gained popularity by selling their pastry products in other cafes or on social media. They are a small shop located by Cambie and Broadway, and pre-ordering days in advance on their Instagram is highly recommended.

Maki and Nigiri told us good things about Remi Patisserie back in the summer, and really enjoyed it. They were nice enough to drop off some cake for us recently! It was the perfect treat and pick-me-up since the fiance and I were both feeling sick that week.

Maki and Nigiri picked out 3 slices of cake for us. While looking on their Instagram, I believe these are called tea rolls. They are more Asian inspired and reminded me of an elevated version of the Chinese swiss rolls from Asian bakeries that I grew up eating.

Thai tea roll: First up, we tried the Thai tea roll. At the time, we didn’t know what flavour it was… but knew that it was DELICIOUS and that we loved it. The roll itself felt dense and thick, but it was actually very soft and fluffy when bitten into.

In addition, the filling of the Thai tea whipped cream was delicious. There was a strong milk tea taste while the cream filling was light and delightful.

Matcha sesame tea roll: Secondly, we tried the matcha sesame tea roll. The matcha used at Remi Patisserie is organic and from the city of Uji in Japan. Again, this roll was delicious. Just like the Thai milk tea roll, the quality and flavour of the matcha was excellent. The matcha was nutty, strong and earthy.

The sesame added more nuttiness to the roll and highlighted the strong matcha flavour even more. The combination of the two was great.

Earl grey and salted caramel roll: Lastly, we tried the earl grey and salted caramel roll. Out of all three, this one was my personal favourite. The earl grey and salted caramel cream inside was so incredibly light and fluffy.

The tea flavour in this roll wasn’t as strong as the Thai milk tea or matcha, but I could still taste it. In addition, the salted caramel gave the roll an extra amount of sweetness.

Overall, we really enjoyed the pastries we tried from Remi Patisserie, and can see why they are so popular! The quality of the pastries is evident and it was so delicious. The texture of the tea rolls were perfect too.

As mentioned earlier, they reminded me of a fancy version of traditional Asian pastries. I would love to try more of their other desserts as well.

MILA

November 8, 2020

MILA is the newest addition to Vancouver’s vegan food scene that opened a couple months ago in early September. After hearing about it, Avocado and I knew that we had to check it out! I predict that this place will be very popular for vegans and non-vegans alike. Or should I say plant-based because that is the new trendy term for vegan these days? ?

MILA is located in Chinatown. The restaurant was easy to miss because there weren’t any signs except for a small one on their door. I recommend making a reservation because they are quite busy and have limited seating due to the pandemic. Despite it being busy inside, the tables were spaced out and we felt clean and safe in there.

While writing this review, I also found out that they are the sister restaurant to Virtuous Pie, a vegan pizza joint a few blocks away. Avocado and I also tried Virtuous Pie almost 3 years ago and we enjoyed it.

Walking in, we were greeted with loud music (not in an obnoxious way, they had some good lo-fi beats going on) and it was bumpin’ in there for a Sunday evening. It was not what we were both expecting with the dark lighting, music and all. We both thought it’d be a quiet, low-key place. To quote Avocado, it felt like a vegan Cactus Club!

The atmosphere could have easily been seen as hipster, pretentious and snobby (like our experience at Heirloom a few years ago).

If I sense that a place is pretentious, I likely won’t go back. However, that wasn’t the case with MILA. The staff were very friendly and there were no pretentious, hipster vibes detected which was a relief.

Aburi lox: This was one of the most popular items online, so we decided to give it a try. It ended up being our favourite of the evening! I wasn’t sure how I’d feel with carrot being a replacement of salmon, but this roll was delicious for a non-vegan like myself.

Admittedly, the carrot did not replace the texture of real salmon because it lacked the fleshiness of salmon meat (why does that sound morbid?). However, what it didn’t lack was taste. The aburi lox was an explosion of delicious flavour. The sauce on top was incredibly creamy and rich with a nice grilled flavour to it.

There was also more sauce in the middle with shiso leaf, which elevated the flavour even more. I didn’t even mind that this was carrot, that was easily forgotten because of how delicious everything else was.

Bao buns: The bao buns came with hoisin tempeh, pickled onion + cucumber, sambal aioli, cilantro, and crispy shallots. The buns themselves were warm, thick and puffy. I found that some of the bun stuck to the wooden bowl though, so I’d recommend removing the lid and letting it cool down before eating.

The bao buns were not bad either and we both enjoyed it. The sambal aioli and fresh veggies gave the bao buns a lot of flavour, but not enough for me to forget that it was vegan (unlike the aburi lox).

Mushroom and sausage tagliatelle: This dish was also highly recommended online, and I was super excited to try it! Avocado and I appreciated how they split the dish for us already when we told them that we’d be sharing everything.

The tagliatelle was cooked perfectly. The vegan sauce was made up of pistachio pesto cream. The flavours were great, and I also asked for some freshly cracked black pepper which elevated the dish more. My only complaint would be that they could have added more sauce because I didn’t find it creamy or saucy enough for a pasta.

All in all, we left really satisfied with Mila. The ingredients were high quality, and we enjoyed all of the dishes. Service was also friendly and attentive too.

I would definitely recommend this place for vegans! If you’re like Avocado and I who enjoy eating vegan food every so often, you’d probably enjoy it too.

If you’re a die-hard meat lover who refuses to eat vegan food, I would not recommend it because you could still tell that some dishes are vegan.

The Rise Eatery

June 28, 2020

It has been over 3 months since I have ate a proper meal at a restaurant! How crazy is that? The last sit down meal was at Do Chay with Avocado in March.

The Rise Eatery is an Asian-fusion restaurant inconspicuously located in the South Granville area, a block away from Kyo. The restaurant is located at the end of the shopping area so it’s a bit hidden.

The restaurant was about half full, with other reservations that night too. We had a server who was friendly, but slow and hard to flag him down at times.

Drinks: We started off with some drinks! Starting from the left, Jerky ordered the ‘Life’s a Peach’ which came with peach tea, peach puree, ginger ale, lime and rosemary.

In the center was my drink, Dark n’ Timmy. I’m a huge fan of ginger beer and this was delicious! The drink came with ginger beer, grapefruit juice, lime, vanilla, and a candied ginger. The grapefruit gave it some sweetness and rounded out the spicy flavour of the ginger.

The birthday boy Smores ordered a Lolliwood North, which came with bench 1775 sauvignon blanc, lychee liquor, elderflower soda, cranberry & orange-mango popsicle. The popsicle was a cute and unique addition!

Uni-Versal Pasta XO Edition: Smores has been here before and raved about this. After deciding between the pasta and the heart attack rice, I decided on the latter and regretted it because this was delicious! I had a bite (the first bite with a clean fork so no germ transmission going on here), and was in love.

This came with squid ink pasta, sea urchin cream, runny egg yolk, sauteed prawn, flying fish roe, and toasted seaweed. It reminded me of an elevated and fancy version of a mentaiko udon.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this dish the next day! I would definitely order this for myself next time because one bite was not enough.

Heart attack rice: My rice bowl came with grilled chicken, a runny egg, and chicken crackling cooked in chicken fat rice. I can definitely see where the name heart attack rice came from.

The rice bowl was delicious as well, although a bit oily but that’s to be expected. The grilled chicken was tender with a nice char flavour. So good! The chicken crackling was essentially deep fried chicken fat, which was too rich for me and my sensitive stomach so the fiance happily ate those pieces.

Shad thai: The only disappointing dish of the night. The sauteed fish noodles were very odd and not good… think of a springy, light fish ball but in noodle form. Some things should not be made into noodles, this is one of them.

The “noodles” came with a fish sauce, with a hint of sourness to it. The sauce was okay but the noodles were not good and ruined the dish. It also didn’t feel worth the $19 price.

Chicken seoul good: This was amazing! Korean style fried chicken with wild mushroom cream, truffle oil, and grated Parmesan. All of these things combined was a match made in heaven. The chicken was juicy and crunchy, and the mushroom cream and truffle oil went so well together.

The truffle oil scent was very aromatic too. The cherry on top was the melted parmesan. Sooo good.

All in all, we enjoyed our visit to The Rise Eatery. It’s a bit hidden at the end of South Granville, but very good (just don’t get the Shad Thai). They do Asian fusion very well and you won’t be disappointed with the uni pasta or fried chicken!

TAKO – Taqueria Korean

November 30, 2019

TAKO has been on my to-try list for a long time now! I suggested it to Latte for dinner, who has been a couple of times already and enjoyed it!

TAKO is quite unique in that they serve Korean Mexican fusion food- burritos and tacos with kimchi fried rice, beef bulgolgi, etc. It is located across from Rogers Arena and is pretty small.

During my visit, I noticed a majority of their customers ordered takeout or delivery.

Korean BBQ short rib burrito: This burrito was delicious and came with BBQ short rib, kimchi fried rice, veggies, sour cream, and cheese. The BBQ short rib was very flavourful, juicy, and there was a very generous portion of it.

The kimchi fried rice gave the burrito a bit of a spicy kick. The veggies were fresh as well. Everything went together so well. My only complaint would be that it could have used more cheese. I only had a couple of bites where I could taste it.

Busan taco: The busan taco came with deep fried shrimp with spicy mayo and chili sauce. The shrimp was crunchy, with a nice snap to it.

Seoul fried chicken: The fried chicken came in juicy, tender, bite sized pieces. It was piping hot and crunchy. We couldn’t stop eating this! We ordered the soy version instead of the spicy. The soy glaze was slightly sweet and delicious.

Beef bulgolgi burrito: After the amazing short rib burrito, Latte and I decided to get another one to share. However, after finishing the fried chicken and tacos, we were too stuffed to try this. Latte generously gave this to me since she’s been here a couple times already!

I had it for lunch the next day and it was just as tasty. The beef was very well marinated in the bulgolgi sauce.

I’m glad I finally tried TAKO and will definitely be back to try some other items!

The Union

August 17, 2018

While looking up a new place for Cola and I to try, I came across The Union. I am a fan of fusion restaurants and the menu sounded delicious, so I suggested that we meet here! The Union is located in Chinatown on Union Street. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to Chinatown and it’s crazy to see how much has changed in this area. Every time I come here, there’s a new store, restaurant, or building that wasn’t here before.

It was a happy surprise when we got here and found out it was wings Wednesday! Her friend also joined us last minute upon hearing that it was wings Wednesday and seeing the unique flavours they offered.

Matahari, $5.00: This was a non-alcoholic cocktail made out of guava juice, apple juice, lime, and ginger. After seeing guava, I knew I had to give it a try! It was delicious and I would recommend if it if you like guava flavour. Guava was the main taste but you could taste hints of the lime and ginger, which made it taste less sweet.

Jeow som, $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): The chicken wings were marinated in a very unique blend of spices… cilantro, lime, garlic, fish sauce and bird’s eye chilies. It was a bit spicy but enjoyable. I’ve never had fish sauce marinated chicken wings but surprisingly it went well with everything else. This is why I love fusion restaurants!

Roja grande $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): Spanish paprika, vinegar, cumin, and syrup glaze. Out of the 3 flavours of wings that we ordered, we all found this one to be the most underwhelming. We could mostly only taste the cumin.

Korean gochujang $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): Korean spicy chili glaze, sesame seeds. I can’t recall if this was super spicy or not, sorry! This is why I need to write the reviews right after my visit. -_-

Tom Kha Mu, $16.00: This was a bowl of fusion noodles, when I first saw it on the menu my mind was set! It came with lemongrass pork meatballs, coconut chicken broth, egg noodles, and chili oil. I really enjoyed this bowl of noodles and it was very unique. The lemongrass pork meatballs were juicy and had strong lemongrass flavour in it. The coconut chicken broth was very creamy and there was a hint of spice from the chili oil. The next day, I tried to re-create the coconut chicken broth myself because I couldn’t stop thinking about how delicious it was (Incase you’re wondering, it was a success although I might have added a bit too much lemongrass)!

I found the chicken wings to be meh… while it sounds cool and unique on the menu, they weren’t amazingly delicious. I also found them not to taste super fresh. However, I would come back to have the Tom Kha Mu. I would be interested in trying the other fusion noodles. The prices are a bit higher at $16-18 for a bowl of noodles, but judging on the quality of the Tom Kha Mu, it would be worth a try!

Yay!