romantic Archives - Curiously Carmen

Riverway Clubhouse

March 12, 2020

Riverway Clubhouse is inconspicuously tucked away behind SW Marine Drive, almost by the Fraser River. They are owned by the City of Burnaby just like their sister restaurant, Burnaby Mountain Clubhouse.

We have been to Burnaby Mountain Clubhouse many times but my mom wanted to try Riverway Clubhouse this time, so off we went!

Riverway Clubhouse has a slightly upscale feel to it. The theme is modern and rustic, with very high ceilings. It would be really nice in the summer because the floor to ceiling windows overlook the golf course pond!

This place is also quite popular for weddings and fills up quickly! 😉

Clam chowder: My parents chose the three course menu for $35. My mom had no complaints with the clam chowder or garlic bread that came with it.

Prawn salad: My dad chose the salad for his first course. The veggies were very fresh! In addition, the prawns were crunchy and fresh with a sweet chili glaze on top.

Steak and lobster: My parents both ordered the steak and lobster for their main course. The steak could have used a bit more seasoning but the lobster was good!

Chicken strips: What kind of person orders chicken strips at a nice restaurant? Apparently this food blogger.. sue me! Chicken strips are life!

My chicken strips were amazing and I had no regrets. They came out piping hot and were very juicy. I was impressed that it came with 5 pieces! I ended up taking half of it home w fried for lunch the next day because it was quite big.

Fish and chips: The fiance enjoyed his fish and chips as well! The pieces of fish were fat and juicy. I find that sometimes with fish and chips, it is just a giant air pocket that makes the fish look big. Am I making sense?

Dessert: The dessert was an AYCE chocolate fountain with different items such as bananas, marshmallows, melon, apples, cookies, oranges, etc. It was fun to go up to the chocolate fountain and choose desserts. There was also some mini donuts and pastries too! Other tables had kids and they really enjoyed going up to the chocolate fountain.

Service was attentive and the atmosphere was calm and peaceful. They were playing Charlie Chaplin videos on loop the whole night which was entertaining!

If you’re looking for a quiet but nicer place to go away from the city, I would recommend Riverway!

Glowbal

January 18, 2020

Glowbal was a last minute decision for my birthday lunch with my parents! I picked Glowbal because it was one of the only places that still had a reservation spot available (whether that’s good or bad, IDK) and also because they had good lunch deals.

In addition, my parents don’t go to these types of restaurants often so I thought it’d be nice to go somewhere different for a change.

This was actually my first time at Glowbal, but I’ve been to other Glowbal Group restaurants such as Coast and Trattoria so I kind of had an idea of what to expect. Glowbal is located in the heart of downtown inside the Telus Garden building.

Another great bonus at Glowbal was that they offered a translated Chinese menu! You rarely see that at Western restaurants. This made it a lot easier for my parents to decide what they want.

Through the Chinese menu, we found out that one of their pasta dishes was actually a tomato sauce base which the regular English menu didn’t say (we confirmed with our server).

Complimentary soup: We each received a small cup of vegan, sweet potato and ginger soup to start. The texture was quite light but also a bit pureed, as if the chef couldn’t decide if they wanted a thick puree or light soup. It was gingery and warming.

Glowbal’s Ultimate Burger: I thought my dad would want one of the lunch deals, but he was in a #treatyoself mode and went all out with the ultimate burger. Ultimate burger it was, indeed. It came with a burger patty, short rib, bacon, mushrooms, deep fried mac and cheese, onion rings, and the usual vegetable toppings.

The burger was monstrous and overwhelming. Unfortunately, it was also disappointing because this was a case of quantity over quality. The burger patty was really dry and overly salty, which ruined the rest of the burger for him. For a $22 burger, you’d hope the main part of the burger was cooked right!

With that said, he did end up eating the rest of the things and was really stuffed after. I also had a couple bites and agreed that the patty was too dry and salty. The deep fried mac and cheese balls were delicious though.

Rigatoni pomodoro: As mentioned above, the English menu did not say this was a tomato base sauce yet the Chinese menu did. After confirming with the server, my mom decided to order this pasta which was part of their $14 lunch feature.

Although it was meatless, this dish was quite delicious. The rigatoni was cooked al dente and the sauce was very flavourful.

Philly cheesesteak sandwich: For myself, I picked the Philly cheesesteak sandwich! I found it to be underwhelming.

There could have been more sliced beef inside, and the beef wasn’t as tender or moist as I would have hoped. But the fiance enjoyed it and asked if I wanted to trade since he liked it a lot. That was fine with me!

Original benny: The fiance ordered the $12 benny special before trading dishes with me. The original benny came with Canadian back bacon and the usual hollandaise sauce and potatoes.

The benny was decent, no complaints about it! For $12 considering Glowbal’s pricing and atmosphere, it was a good deal although not the most amazing benny we’ve had.

We ended off with a complimentary birthday dessert plate, which was delicious! I don’t recall the desserts anymore (sorry, I should have written this review earlier or wrote it down somewhere) but they were great. It made up for my lacklustre Philly sandwich.

All in all, the food was not overwhelmingly delicious, but not the worst either which seems to be the case for other reviewers too. It was nice to go somewhere different and fancier with my parents. Service was great and attentive, and the birthday dessert was a nice bonus.

If you’re wanting to go somewhere more upscale without breaking the bank, I’d recommend coming here for the $14 lunch special or $12 benny (pricing as of Jan 2020) but don’t be expecting an amazingly delicious brunch – just an average one with nice atmosphere.

Botanist

December 30, 2019

For my birthday this year, the fiance took me to Botanist. I’ve seen and heard good things about Botanist before, so I was quite excited to try it!

Botanist is located inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel, so you already know it’ll be an upscale dinner. The restaurant itself was really pretty and airy, with a modern yet nature-y feel to it.

We were seated in the garden area, surrounded by lush draping leaves and vines. Our server told us that a gardener comes everyday!

After we were seated, I was given a birthday card signed by various staff members! It was a thoughtful touch.

Bread: We started with the complementary bread. It contained some sesame seeds in it, which gave the bread a bit of a crunchy texture. The texture was dense and chewy, similar to a pretzel. There was also a generous slab of butter.

Treebeard: The fiance ordered the treebird, which came with Douglas Fir gin, Oaked rye, cedar, birch sap, and smoked tea. Needless to say, there was a very strong woodsy and smoked flavour to it. It wasn’t my cup of tea but if you’re a fan of gin or hard liquor, you’d enjoy this.

No bad days: I ordered a mocktail, which was just the same quality. This drink was made with grapefruit juice, rose (not the wine) and lemon. The flavors and together really well and I also appreciated the fact that there wasn’t any ice. One of my pet peeves is when restaurants fill the glass with ice and you’re barely getting any drink!

Foie gras: For one of our starters, the fiance wanted to try the foie gras. It had a smooth texture similar to tofu. The taste reminded me a bit of fatty beef.

The foie gras was very rich so it also came with a sweet churro and pastry tart to cut the richness. The churro and pastry seemed strange at first, but it really complemented the taste of the foie gras.

Hand cut tagliatelle: This was delicious! If you’re a mushroom lover, this dish is not to be missed. The tagliatelle was a bit thick, chewy, and cooked al dente.

There was a lot of fresh mushrooms inside and it was simply DELICIOUS! The tagliatelle also came with two pieces of thinly cut and dried piave cheese.

Duck breast: I ordered the duck breast and it was amazing. The duck breast was tender and juicy inside while slightly crispy on the outside. A brown butter sauce was poured on top which complemented the duck breast. I don’t know how they come up with these combinations but they know what they are doing because it was delicious.

After having the tagliatelle, I was also spoiled with more fresh, delicious mushrooms in this dish too! In addition, I fell in love with the mushroom sauce. The sauce was light and fluffy but full of mushroom flavour.

Olive oil poached halibut: The fiance ordered the halibut, which was a great decision as well. The halibut flaked perfectly and tasted very fresh. It was a simple dish but still enjoyable. There was also a salty crunchy topping on the halibut which we weren’t too sure of what it was.

Surrounding the halibut in a circle, the dish also included some pork agnolotti, which is the Italian version of a dumpling. It was a nice addition to the halibut. The pork was juicy and flavourful inside.

Apart from the agnlotti, the circle also included some deep fried fish skin, which was very very very fishy! There were also some two root vegetables, salsify and rutabaga.

The dishes at Botanist were executed very well and we left full and happy. Although some items seemed random, they actually complemented the other flavours very well. The chefs know what they were doing here. I would definitely recommend Botanist for a special occasion.

The Keg – North Burnaby Location – Revisit

May 22, 2019

The Keg in North Burnaby was one of my first ever blog posts, over five years ago! Since then, The Keg has been one of the go-to places with my parents for special occasions. We come here at least 2-3x a year, so I figured it was time for an update post!

This location is located next to the Costco in North Burnaby. There is a big, free parking lot but we still find it hard to find parking, depending on the time of the year or if it’s Mother’s/Father’s day.

Prime rib, medium rare, 8 oz: This is my parent’s go-to! Their prime rib is always amaaaazing. It is tender and cooked to a perfect medium rare. Just looking at the picture makes me salivate.

That night, they got the grilled vegetables, but the double baked potato or mashed potatoes are quite delicious too. The angle of my photo makes the steak look small, but it’s a filling portion.

Tuna steak: I usually get the prime rib too, but my digestive problems were at its peak that week so I wouldn’t have been able to handle a rich and juicy steak or that much red meat. How sad right? So, I decided to play it safe and order a tuna steak. This was my first time ordering a non-beef item at The Keg.

The tuna steak was very small and not that filling. I found it to be a bit dry too. For the portion and price, the steak was definitely the better value and I felt pretty ripped off by this. But what can I do? Hopefully next time, my stomach will be in better condition so I can have the prime rib.

Baseball top sirloin: The boyfriend went with the baseball top sirloin that night! It was also a 8 oz, but looked smaller because it was thick. I believe it’s called a ‘baseball’ sirloin because it’s thick and could easily fit in the palm of your hand like a baseball would.

He enjoyed the sirloin a lot and had no complaints. Since this is such a thick cut, they can only cook it to a medium rare.

Service here can be a bit hit or miss here, depending on the day that you come. But the steaks are consistently delicious and it is a good place to come for a special occasion!

Carmelo’s Ristorante Italiano

September 11, 2018

Following an eventful and happy day of Sangria and Lager’s proposal (congrats to them!!! YAY!), we had a celebratory dinner at Carmelo’s in West Vancouver because it was near Whytecliff Park, where Lager popped the question.

It was a top secret mission and Lager entrusted me to finding a nice but reasonably priced place to eat afterwards. I relied on the likes of Yelp and Google Reviews which has not failed yet!

Since we were unsure of how long we would be at Whytecliff, Lager suggested that we make a late reservation to give us time if necessary. At first, the restaurant told us they didn’t have any earlier times but ended up calling back to offer us a spot 1 hour earlier than our reservation time which was perfect for us.

Complimentary bread: We were given two baskets of bread among the 7 of us. There were two types: your regular baguette style bread, and another type which had different types of herbs. I enjoyed the latter because I could taste some rosemary, along with others.

It came with an unique whipped butter, which one of us guessed was infused with red pepper? We aren’t really sure but it was tasty and we cleaned it all up!
Ricotta cheese on toast: As an appetizer, Steak and Sushi both shared the ricotta cheese on toast. They said it was simple and easy to recreate at home, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. Look at how much ricotta cheese is on each piece!
Canadese pizza: One thing that the boyfriend and I disagree on is whether or not pineapples belong on pizza. I’m going to risk losing some readers by saying that I believe pineapples belong on pizza!

Anyways, since we were sharing, I suggested we get the Canadese pizza because he would like it more than a pizza with pineapples. Relationships are about compromise :).

Anyways, the pizza was tasty. You can see their oven freshly baking the pizza to perfection. It was cheesy, and had a satisfyingly amount of toppings.
Lobster and crab ravioli: This was the daily special which Lager could not pass up! It sounded delicious and a few of us considered ordering this, but in the end, only Lager did.

He had no complaints about it. The sauce was rich and creamy, making it pretty filling.
Linguini Alle Vongole: Sangria’s linguini came with clams, garlic, white wine, and cream. It looked very delicious, and she said it was really good!

I completely failed in taking pictures of everyone else’s food! We were all too busy having fun and it was only until I sat down to write this post, that I noticed there wasn’t a picture of the spaghetti and meatballs that we shared. =(

Carmelo’s is a very cozy, intimate and romantic restaurant (without the pretentiousness that could sometimes come along with these types of restaurants). I would like to highlight the impeccable service that night. Our server and bussers kept coming around every 5-10 minutes, filling our water, clearing plates, making sure everything was okay.

They were all super friendly and made a happy occasion even better. I was very impressed! Carmelo’s would be a great place for date night. You could also take a stroll at Ambleside Beach which is a block down afterwards.

Yay!