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Curiously Carmen

The Boathouse – White Rock

August 22, 2019

It’s been a few years since I have been to White Rock! My parents wanted to go, so the fiance and I took them there for an afternoon. On that particular day, it was cloudy so it was quite dead. Adding to it, the boardwalk has been closed all year since it was destroyed in the storm. 

I had a restaurant in mind but like most restaurants that day, it was closed. Probably only half the restaurants were open along the main stretch which was disappointing.

Picking a restaurant and having it fall through is hard for someone like me who has digestive problems and needs to look up the menu and plan what to eat beforehand. The Boathouse seemed suitable enough and we were  hungry so we came here despite the horrible reviews on Yelp. 

The Boathouse is probably one of the most popular restaurants along the main beach stretch, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell that day because the whole area was so dead. The restaurant spans an impressive three floors, with the top floor being a patio that has amazing water views. The third floor patio was closed so we got a seat outside on the first floor.

Tuna poke: I found my poke to be overpriced, but I really didn’t have any other option on the menu with my digestive problems. The tuna was cut in tiny cubes and tasted really fresh, so that was a relief considering the price and how dead it was in here! 

It also came with some fresh avocado, mango salsa, wonton crisps, rice, and salad. I personally would have liked more rice than salad but it wasn’t a big deal. Overall it was good, but not worth $25. 

Wild salmon BBQ burger: My parents split the salmon burger and said it was delicious. The wild salmon had a healthy, nice red colour to it and flaked off nicely. 

Clam chowder and salad: The chowder was a bit smaller than we were expecting, but my parents didn’t have any complaints about the taste. For $7, you could upgrade to a Caesar salad which they did. 

Smoked salmon hash: The fiance’s dish smelled amazing when it came to the table! The hash came with poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, potatoes, and cooked smoked salmon. We both thought it would be the cold smoked salmon but he enjoyed this version of it as well. 

He was pleasantly surprised with this dish and would get it again. It was super filling to the point where he decided to not get gelato afterwards! 

Overall, we came with low expectations due to the bad online reviews. But the food ended up being pretty decent. I did read a few saying that the fish and chips were bad so I’m glad none of us ordered those. This would be a restaurant that you come more for the patio views and people watching.

My only complaint would be that service was slow, especially considering there were only 3 other tables that afternoon.

Yay!

The Boathouse Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: brunch, food & drink, seafood, western

Blue Water Cafe

August 4, 2019

This review is a long time coming, because I have wanted to try Blue Water Cafe for a really long time. Each year for my birthday or anniversary, I suggest Blue Water but we always end up going somewhere else! 

Well, I finally got the chance to try Blue Water and it did not disappoint! Maki and Nigiri wanted to take us to a nice restaurant for a special occasion, little did I know it was actually the night the fiance would propose to me after our dinner. 

Blue Water Cafe is located in Yaletown. As the name suggests, they specialize in seafood. I found out that night they are part of the Toptable group restaurants, which include Elisa Steakhouse (across the street), Theirry’s, CinCin, West, Araxi, and more!

The inside of the restaurant had a classy and fancy vibe to it, yet was still welcoming and not pretentious.

Our server for the entire night was amazing, I wish I grabbed her name. She was so knowledgeable about all the dishes and paid attention to the little details. 

Bread: We started off with some complimentary bread! It was served warm and tasted fresh. The bread came with a seaweed infused butter, which was well liked by everyone. The seaweed gave the butter some umami taste. 

The other spread was a vegan lentil garlic mix, which Maki and I enjoyed but the fiance and Nigiri didn’t. 

Forgot to take a photo of the tower only, so you can have my face staring admirably at it as well 🙂

Blue Water seafood tower: The star of the show! We upgraded to the Blue Water seafood tower which came with extra items. All of the seafood was really fresh as expected! 

Top layer: The first layer came with chilled Dungeness crab, tuna tataki, and jellyfish. The crab was super fresh and meaty. The tuna tataki was spicy and had some crunch to it. The jellyfish was well marinated and included some imitation shark fin. 

Second layer: The second layer had jumbo shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, real crab California roll, and salmon tartare. 

The shrimp were fresh with a nice snap. I love my shrimp and had most of them that night! Everyone else enjoyed the clams, mussels, and creamy oysters. The real crab California roll was delicious too. The salmon tartare came in a marinated sauce with fresh, fragrant dill. 

Bottom layer: The final layer of our seafood tower feast came with spicy tuna roll, more clams, mussels, oysters, jumbo shrimp, and scallop ceviche. 

The spicy tuna roll was delicious and had a spicy kick to it. The scallop ceviche was very fresh too! 

Wagyu beef meatballs: This was a special feature that day! Since it had cheese, I didn’t have any but the others really loved it. They all said it was the most tender meatballs they’ve ever had! 

Lobster bisque: The fiance ordered a lobster bisque as well, which was heavenly. It arrived at the table in an unique way, with the solid ingredients first.

The soup was then poured into solid ingredients which melted the dairy block (sorry, unsure of the exact name). This was a creamy, delicious amazing choice. 

Truffle risotto: This was another feature, but unfortunately disappointing and least favourite. The truffle taste was barely there. 

Overall, Blue Water Cafe surpassed my expectations and I really wish I came here sooner. I am a huge seafood lover and all the seafood dishes were executed with quality and care. 

The service was amazing and although it was a fine dining restaurant, there was no pretentiousness here. I will definitely be back for the seafood tower!

Blue Water Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, seafood

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House – Revisit

January 24, 2019

Joe Fortes been around for awhile now! Thirty years to be exact. The last time I came here was about five years ago, when I used to work downtown so it was convenient to go to their happy hour.

This time, we were doing some shopping with Maki and Nigiri so we stopped here for some food!

We went during the holiday season, hence the pretty Christmas lights in the restaurant! It felt very cozy and warm in here.

Lobster and shrimp roll: Nigiri ordered the lobster and shrimp roll. It looked delicious and he had no complaints about it. The roll also came with a nice healthy bed of fresh salad.

Clam chowder: There was a bit of confusion with the clam chowder. Originally, the boyfriend had ordered this for $13. Then, we realized that Maki got her Blue Plate special (pictured below) AND a clam chowder for $20… which didn’t seem that worth it for my boyfriend to get the chowder onlyfor $13. For only $7 more, he could have added a pretty big portion of fish!

Anyways, we flagged down our waiter (which took multiple times) to ask if the change could be made for him. They were accommodating and it made his lunch feel more worth the price.

Panko crusted haddock: From Monday-Friday, Joe Fortes has a Blue Plate special which is a $13 food item. If you come during a weekday, I would highly recommend getting the special because it’s such a good deal.

Maki and the boyfriend had no complaints about it. The haddock was served with some tomatoes, asparagus and some sort of dairy sauce on the bottom.

Onion rings: Prior to upgrading his meal (see story above), the boyfriend ordered onion rings too. The onion rings were disappointing and he wouldn’t get them again.

The batter was very thick and doughy, and not that crispy. He felt very gross after eating a couple, and did not finish it despite Maki and Nigiri helping too.

Our waiter mentioned that Boxing Day was one of the busiest days of the year, which we had no idea! Because of that, service was really lacking and hard to waive him down. I’d come back on a less busy day, and probably on a weekday if possible to order the Blue Plate special!

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, seafood

Travel: Tokyo Eats – Part 1/3

December 1, 2018

After 5.5 years of talking about our dream trip to Tokyo, the boyfriend and I finally brought our dream to fruition this past week! It was surreal being back in Tokyo for the second time and I can easily say that it is my favourite city in the world. We stayed a total of 8 full days, plus 2 half days for travelling.

In these 8 days, we ate a lot and did not come across a single meal that we didn’t like! Here are some of the restaurants/chains that we visited, and I would recommend giving a try. I’m not going to list every single restaurant we ate at because the post would be way too long!
7-11: Our trip started with 7-11 food – yes, you heard that right! The 7-11 convenience stores in Japan are nothing like the greasy junk food served in Canada/USA. They have everything ranging from onigiri, salad, udon bowls, curry rice bowls, steamed dumplings, ice cream…. and more!

The go-to was the onigiri, which was approximately $1-2 CAD each depending on flavour. These are great to store in your bag for the day, and I bought a couple to snack on before going to Tokyo Disneysea as well.

Sukiya: Sukiya is a major quick meal chain in Tokyo. I saw a Sukiya every few blocks or so in Shinjuku! They specialize in beef rice bowls, aka gyudon. I came in here not knowing what to expect, but I actually really enjoyed it.

It is a very filling rice bowl, with lots of sweet, seasoned beef, and mayo. They also added some small pieces of sour, preserved veggies to balance it out.

The total cost was about $7 CAD for a delicious and super big meal. It is very popular during the lunch rush, where you can see lots of salarymen enjoying a quick lunch before going back to work.

A Happy Pancake: I have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet tooth, but A Happy Pancake was definitely on our radar! We went to the Harujuku location and waited for about 20 minutes around 2pm. They are known for their incredibly fluffy and thick Japanese pancakes!

Each pancake is freshly made and there is a window where you can see them making it. The pancakes definitely did not disappoint. I have yet to see something like this in Vancouver, so you should definitely give them a try while in Tokyo.:

Matsunoya: Matsunoya is another chain restaurant, although I did not see it around as much as Sukiya. We passed by one of the Matsunoya locations every day on the way to the subway, and decided to finally try it. They serve gyudon as well, but seem to specialize in katsu aka fried meat.

We ordered both the pork and chicken katsu to compare, and they were both delicious! Very crispy and the curry sauce was delicious as well. Matsunoya was also pretty cheap!

Kaisen Misakiko: We visited this sushi conveyor belt restaurant in Tokyo Dome City for lunch! It was reasonably priced and our favourite nigiri were the different types of tuna.

There are two layers of conveyor belts. The bottom belt offers the standard nigiri. The top belt has the nigiri that you specially order on the iPad and comes delivered on a shinkansen style plate, how cute! The colour of the plate corresponds to the price – usually, there are about 5 different plate colours at a restaurant.

Well, there’s part 1! Stay tuned for part 2!

 

 

 


Filed Under: food & drink, Japan, japanese, seafood, Tokyo, travel

Osaka Sushi – Multiple Visits

August 26, 2018

This review is a long time coming! The boyfriend and I discovered Osaka Sushi on Skip The Dishes because they offer free delivery on orders over $20. Osaka Sushi is our go to for nights that we feel like ordering delivery because the food is consistently fresh, delicious, and the price is not bad.

After ordering this for many months, I figure that it was finally time I do a review on this place!

This is a combination of many visits! We usually alternate between these items.

Scallop roll: Scallop rolls are usually meh to me and aren’t my first choice. However, I always order them at Osaka. The scallop is consistently fresh and has a nice snap to it.

Salmon & mango roll: One of my favourite roll combinations – salmon and mango! The salmon is pretty standard, but the mango is always deliciously ripe and sweet.

Chicken teriyaki roll: This is another one of those rolls that we don’t normally order… but it’s delicious at Osaka! Even with delivery, the chicken batter is never soggy. The chicken is always juicy and fresh. They drizzle some teriyaki sauce on top. You can see how much chicken is in each roll!
Negitoro, negihama, ahi red tuna roll: The boyfriend loves his tuna sashimi, and usually orders an assortment of tuna rolls. They are always fresh tasting.

Wild salmon & toro sashimi: After ordering their delivery so many times, we took my parents here for lunch. We tried the wild salmon & toro sashimi along with the items above.

The toro sashimi was so incredibly soft and buttery. It was so delicious! The wild salmon was also very fresh too.

Osaka Sushi has competition with Uomo Sushi and Tentatsu Sushi, which are on the next block. We used to love Uomo Sushi but have found that it’s gone a bit downhill over the past year, so we are glad that we discovered Osaka Sushi.

I hope that Osaka Sushi will be a reliable choice moving forward and not go downhill like Uomo did.

Yay!

 

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


Filed Under: japanese, seafood

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Hello!

Hi and welcome to Curiously Carmen! I am Carmen, the girl behind the blog. You can read more about me here!

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