Curiously Carmen

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba – Metrotown

Happy near year everyone!

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba is a popular Japanese restaurant that has since opened a few locations since their first one in downtown in 2018. They specialize in mazesoba bowls, which are dry noodles covered in sauce, and do not have the usual Japanese dishes such as nigiri or sushi rolls.

There is currently a downtown, Brentwood, Lougheed, and Metrotown location, with more to probably come. I had previously wrote two reviews for the downtown location, which you can read here.

This review is for the Metrotown location in Station Square.

Station Square has really transformed over the few years, with many new restaurants and stores. I still remember the very old Station Square with the Red Robins, Japanese restaurant, and TD bank, anyone else?

The Station Square location was pretty spacious, and there was also plenty of parking available near by.

Usually when we come to Kokoro, I order the vegan ramen as my stomach can’t really handle the oily and greasy sauce. This time, we noticed that Kokoro had a couple newer items on the menu that we didn’t see during our previous visit.

In particular, the new salmon avocado bowl looked pretty clear for my stomach so we decided to head over one night after shopping at Metrotown.

Zenbu mazesoba: The husband loves the pork belly here, so naturally he ordered the zenbu mazesoba! This bowl comes with pork, a slightly boiled egg, runny egg yolk to mix, seaweed, and bamboo shoots.

He found it delicious, with no complaints. If my stomach was able to handle the richness, I would have ordered this as well.

Salmon avocado donburi: Here is where my mistake happened… We had both assumed that this would be a bowl of plain rice. However, I was surprised to see that this was actually a mazesoba as well, meaning they also used the same rich sauce.

As I am writing this review and on the website while typing this, I just noticed now that there is a salmon avocado donburi and a mazesoba. I think they probably gave me the wrong one. At the time, we had assumed that it was our mistake in thinking this comes with plain rice, so I didn’t return it. Instead, I just ate the salmon and avocado one top, and gave the rest to the husband.

The salmon and avocado itself was fresh and tasty, but I was disappointed that I misread the menu at that time (although I realize now six months later that the kitchen probably messed up haha).

Kokoro is probably the top (and one of the only places in Vancouver?) for mazesoba bowls, and I can see why it’s popular. Although I can’t have their mazesoba bowls, I don’t mind coming for the vegan ramen if someone wanted to eat here.

Gram Cafe and Pancakes – Brentwood

The husband and I have been eyeing Gram Cafe since they opened in Canada. We loved the fluffy pancakes in Japan, having been to A Happy Pancake in both Tokyo and Kyoto. Fluffy pancakes aren’t as common in Canada, so we were excited to try it when Gram Cafe finally opened at the new Amazing Brentwood!

Gram Cafe is a chain cafe from Japan, which originated in Osaka. They have been slowly opening up a few locations around Vancouver. This review will be for the Brentwood location. At the time of writing, there is also one in Aberdeen Center and in East Vancouver on Kingsway.

Gram Cafe is located on the street level of the Amazing Cafe, entering through the outside. It is across from Sephora and H&M. As a general rule, I try not to visit restaurants immediately upon opening (usually I like to wait a few months for the restaurant to iron out the kinks) but we were too excited this time around.

The cafe was tastefully decorated and felt spacious. However, I found the chairs to be a bit uncomfortable.

We ended up waiting a really long time for our pancakes. I also noticed that the table next to us, who were here first, did not receive their pancakes until after us (when they ordered the same thing). This wasn’t that surprising considering it’s a new place, and more on that soon below.

Fluffy pancakes: I went with the fluffy pancakes and ordered whipped cream and strawberries as sides. I found the fluffy pancakes to be alright, but definitely not comparable to the ones in Japan. They weren’t as jiggly here, when I shook my plate the pancakes didn’t jiggle. Taste wise, they were not bad. For the price, I probably wouldn’t order again. 

Apple and tea cream pancakes: Surprisingly, the husband didn’t get fluffy pancakes! He changed his mind last minute when he saw the Earl Grey whipped cream, which the fluffy pancakes didn’t come with.

As mentioned above, the wait was really long for both our dishes. To add to it, my pancakes came about twenty minutes before the husband’s. At first, I only had a bite but then my food was getting cold and I was getting hungry, so we ended up sharing it together. Also as mentioned, even though we sat down after, the table before us didn’t get their fluffy pancakes first.

The husband thought that the pancakes themselves were nothing special, but the Earl Grey whipped cream was delicious.

All in all, Gram Cafe definitely had some growing pains to experience as with most new restaurants, so I won’t be too harsh on them. By now, it’s been half a year since they opened so hopefully the wait and flow has improved. Although decent, we both found it to be overpriced for what it was. I think we will save our fluffy pancakes experience when Japan opens up to tourists again (without having to go on a group tour).

Ogenki Sushi

Happy holidays everyone! Blogging has fell on the back burner lately. Things have been busy for me, and when I do have some time, I spend it reading instead of writing. I started reading a lot this year ever since I received an e-reader last year. I was shocked when I reached 100 books a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t read this much since I was a teenager.

If you’re into reading, check out my reviews on GoodReads or my Instagram stories! I read thrillers, rom-coms, mystery, horror, young adult, historical fiction, and memoirs.

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Anyway, back in September, I met up with Pepperoni for sushi. She had recently been to Ogenki Sushi and enjoyed it. I’ve passed by Ogenki Sushi many times but haven’t went before.

The restaurant was barren and quiet when we went on a weekday evening. I also remember it being cold inside. The space is divided into two rooms with a wall in between. We were seated in the second room which was harder to get service.

Chicken udon: I was craving something warm and filling that night. The chicken was pan fried which I was not expecting as most Japanese places boil the chicken inside udon. Not that I am complaining though!

The udon was decent and satisfied my udon craving.

Salmon avocado roll: The salmon avocado roll was delicious! The avocado was perfectly ripe and creamy. An unripe avocado can ruin the roll and I’m glad this wasn’t the case!

Dynamite roll: Pepperoni loved the dynamite roll last time, and ordered it again. She had no complaints about it.

King roll: This is one of Ogenki’s specialty rolls that Pepperoni also loved during her previous visit. The king roll came with prawn tempura, cucumber, and cream cheese inside. It was topped with avocado, unagi sauce, mayo, and tobiko.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit to Ogenki Sushi and I’m glad Pepperoni suggested it! I would be down to come back again.

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

Kanadell Japanese Bakery

Kanadell Japanese Bakery is a place that I’ve seen a lot this year, and was wanting to try it. They started out in local farmer markets, and have opened up a storefront earlier this year.

I follow them on Instagram and their baked goods tend to sell out each day, so the hype is real.

Back in the summer, Maki and Nigiri were kind enough to bring some of their pastries over for us to try!

Matcha melon pan: I love melon pan! Melon pan is a type of Japanese bun. There isn’t any melon in it, but the outer layer resembles a melon hence the name.

The matcha melon pan was delicious! There was a light matcha flavour and it wasn’t too sweet. The bread was enjoyably soft and fluffy.

Earl grey melon pan: This was my favourite melon pan that we tried that day. The earl grey flavour was fragrant and floral.

Regular melon pan: This is their regular melon pan, which is just brushed with sugar I believe. The matcha and earl grey melon pans were better, but I also didn’t mind the regular melon pan. The regular melon pan doesn’t have caffeine unlike the other two, so this is a better choice if you can’t have caffeine.

Fresh bread: Maki and Nigiri kept raving about their fresh bread, saying how delicious it was. They were absolutely right. Their loaves of bread were the most pillowy and soft bread I’ve ever had. This bread was good enough to eat plain. I recommend eating this within 2 days or else the bread wouldn’t be as pillowly and soft. Bread seems so simple, but the bread was my favourite out of all the things we tried that day.

My only complaint would be that I wish it was sliced!

Bear bread: I’m not really sure what this was called, so I’m just going to call it the bear bread. Kanadell is known for their cute, cartoon style bread. This was alright, but forgettable compared to the loaves of bread and melon pan. It wasn’t bad, but there are better pastries to try here.

Kanadell Japanese Bakery did not disappoint. I will definitely be back, especially for their fresh bread loaves. I understand the hype for this place!

Sushi California – Downtown

A couple of days prior to my wedding in August, Cola and I spent an evening downtown getting our nails done for the big day and going for dinner after. Cola suggested Sushi California because she knew I was eating lighter food prior to the wedding to avoid any stomach distress on the day.

I didn’t know that there was a Sushi California in downtown, but it is near Burrard Station and opened a bit prior to COVID in Feb 2020. The restaurant is quite spacious and looks more upscale than the other Sushi California locations. They are usually busy during the day. When we went in the evening, it was pretty quiet.

Plain udon: I was craving udon that day, and this did not disappoint. I love dashi broth and this was perfect. It was delicious, yet clear and light. Usually I order this with beef or chicken, but since we split a salmon sashimi, I decided to go with a plain one.

Salmon sashimi: I love Sushi California’s sashimi because of how fresh it is, and how big the portion is. The downtown location was no different!

Salmon aburi: Cola ordered a salmon aburi, unfortunately I don’t remember the exact name. She had no complaints about it.

Special roll: Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of this roll that Cola ordered! I took a look on the website, but there are so many different varieties of special rolls that I gave up looking. The inside had imitation crab meat and prawn tempura, topped with salmon sashimi.

Salmon nigiri: Omg, I don’t know or remember what the name of this special salmon nigiri Cola ordered was called either. Why am I writing this post?! Lol. Anyway, a picture will do.

Despite my failure in remembering the dishes that Cola ordered, we both enjoyed our dinner at Sushi California. August was a crazy month, and it was nice to go out for dinner and try a place I haven’t been to. I’d definitely come back to this location again if I was in the area.