Curiously Carmen

Atlas Steak and Fish

May 2, 2021

I’ve heard good things about Atlas Steak and Fish for a few years now, ever since they opened inside the Grand Villa Casino. However, there were other upscale dining options I wanted to try so I didn’t end up going until now. After having delicious buck-a-shuck raw oysters at Ebisu’s happy hour, I started to look up other places that offered buck-a-shuck.

I came across Atlas and suggested that we come here and try their happy hour. It ended up being a good decision because the day after, the government announced that all indoor dining was suspended again. Who knows how long I would have had to wait to get my raw oyster fix?!

Atlas Steak and Fish is located inside the Grand Villa Casino, on the second floor. The casino has ample parking and since it is closed due to the pandemic, we had no problem finding parking. The whole building was pretty quiet, even the hotel portion.

The hostess at the front was snippy and had a pretentious vibe. When we approached the table, she asked in a snippy tone if we had a reservation, which we didn’t. Thankfully our server was a lot nicer and not pretentious at all.

Chips: We didn’t know this but during happy hour, they offer complimentary chips. They were delicious, thick cut, and well seasoned. Towards the middle, the chips were soggy though. The chips were nice to nibble on while waiting for our food.

Prime rib sliders: The prime rib sliders were delicious! They were small but packed a lot of flavour. The bread was buttery and soft, while the prime rib was so tender and juicy. The fragrant truffle mayonnaise sauce elevated the delicious burger even more.

Handrolled meatball marinara: We came for the raw oysters, but the fiance couldn’t resist ordering this as well because he loves his meatballs. The meatballs were delicious as well. They were tender and seasoned well with crushed herbs inside.

Raw oysters: The star of the show! The oysters were amazing and satisfied my craving. They were juicy, briny, and very fresh. There is a minimum order of 6, and a maximum of 24 per table. After finishing these, we wanted to order more but unfortunately they were sold out for the day!

I’m glad that we came near the beginning of happy hour and were able to have some. That shows how popular the raw oysters are, we noticed each table had ordered them too. Our server also told us that they tend to sell out on Sundays because the new order comes on Mondays.

The happy hour raw oysters are an incredible deal at $1/per oyster. Come here if you love raw oysters. The only negative was that they came out pretty slow. We ordered two rounds and each time, it took a while.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal at Atlas Steak and Fish. The main attraction, the raw oysters, were delicious and the other sides we ordered ended up being great too. We will definitely be back here for our oyster fix and I’m glad we don’t have to go far for some satisfying oysters.

Samurai Sushi – Fraser Street

April 28, 2021

I love my Samurai Sushi! I usually get pickup from the Cambie location, but this time, we went to the Fraser Street one. Since I haven’t written a review on this location, I thought I would share the visit.

Samurai Sushi is quietly located by Fraser and 49th. It is easy to miss without the sign because the place is so small. As with both Samurai Sushi locations, they do primarily takeout, even before COVID. It’s quite cramped in here and I wouldn’t want to eat in here.

The wait here was quite long that day. I called when they opened at 11am, and they said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I ended up waiting for 30 minutes which was slightly annoying.

California roll: As usual, the California roll was extremely big and filling. No complaints about it. For the price and size, you can’t really say anything bad about it! I usually save this for later because of how big the portion is, and because California roll doesn’t have raw fish so it can last longer.

Chopped scallop roll: The chopped scallop roll was good as well. The roll was jam packed with fresh, snappy scallop.

Salmon roll: My favourite roll of the day! The salmon was fresh, fatty, and flavourful.

Negihama roll: We weren’t sure if they had negihama here, but turns out they did! The negihama roll was also very fresh and delicious.

Negitoro roll: The negitoro roll was delicious as well.

Our visit this time was consistent with previous meals from Samurai. Samurai is a reliable, no-frills spot for consistently fresh sushi, big portions, and cheap prices. It’s not as fancy and food snobs may look down on it, but personally, I love my Samurai Sushi and will continue to order from here.

Wang Ga Mah

April 25, 2021

I was looking to try a Korean restaurant that I haven’t been to yet, for the sake of this blog. I came across Wang Ga Mah and it looked good, so we went to try it for dinner one day. After our visit, the government banned indoor dining again. I was going to wait until the restrictions are lifted to post but I did a poll on Instagram and looks like you all prefer to read it now!

Wang Ga Mah is in Hanin Village where HMart is, and has a homestyle, simple feel to it. The restaurant is quite dated and could use a facelift, with everything looking like it was from the 90s.

Nonetheless, we all know not to judge old looking restaurants because often times, they are delicious. There was relaxing classical music playing as well, which was nice.

Seolleong-tang: I had a hard time deciding between this beef bone soup and the ox tail one. I really wanted the stone bowl rice but it is an additional $3.00 here, so I decided to go with the cheaper soup noodle option. Our go-to Korean restaurant is Jong Ga across the street, where they have stone bowl rice at no additional cost.

I haven’t seen many places offer salt on the side for the soup noodles these days. I used to see that a lot a few years ago, but it seems like most places stopped. Without the salt, the soup was flavourless and definitely needed salt because the seolleong-tang broth isn’t as flavourful as the oxbone. The salt helped and gave it more flavour. There were also some slices of beef and crystal noodle inside.

When the stone bowl rice comes, I spread the rice evenly around the stone bowl and cover it for about 5-7 minutes while I eat the noodles and beef.

The stone bowl makes the rice crispy and super delicious, and then I spoon some of my soup to eat with the rice in the end. Delicious!

Ddukbaeki-bulgolgi: This dish was something that the fiance and I haven’t tried before, and he absolutely loved it! I would describe it as a beef bulgolgi but in soup form, if that makes sense. This was a noodle soup filled with lots of beef and crystal noodles. The broth tasted like beef bulgolgi. The fiance couldn’t stop raving about this for the next few days and would come back for it.

Overall, we had an enjoyable dinner at Wang Ga Mah and it was good to expand our options in Koreatown. We used to have a hard time wanting to try other Korean restaurants when we loved Jong Ga so much and felt like a wasted opportunity for not going there when in this area! Our top spot remains to be the small and homey Jong Ga, but Wang Ga Mah was good as well.

GUEST POST: Brown Bites – Donair Dude

April 21, 2021

Brown Bites is a mini series on my blog where the fiance writes guest posts or features places he has tried without me. 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!

Welcome readers, to another edition of Brown Bites. Today’s post features one of my favourite types of food: the donair. Donair Dude is a local chain that has a few locations scattered throughout the Lower Mainland. I heard about Donair Dude from Maki and Nigiri, who love this place and order from them frequently.

After a quick Google search and a scan of the reviews, I was sold and decided I would visit the next time I was in the area. As fortune would have it, my job brought me back out that way, and I decided to stop in and grab some lunch.

Here is a photo of the menu.

Beef Donair in a Pita Bread Pocket

I went with the shaved beef in a pita bread pocket. It was a massive portion and very customizable, similar to Subway. You are able to pick your choice of spreads, fresh toppings, and sauces. The donair beef was well-seasoned and tender, and the huge amount of fresh veggies they load into the pita pocket made it quite a satisfying meal.

My only complaint would be the beef was a bit salty. On a few other occasions, Carmen and I ordered chicken instead of beef and found we weren’t as thirsty after eating it compared to the beef.

Chicken Donair in a Tortilla

As mentioned above, we ended up trying the chicken, and found it delicious as well. The chicken was also well-seasoned and tender, and did not leave us feeling as thirsty after the beef. No complaints about the chicken, but I prefer beef in general.

Carmen ordered the tortilla on her first visit, but after trying my pita wrap, she preferred the pita wrap a lot more and would get that instead.

Donair Dude has quickly become a favourite for both me and Carmen. The menu is quite flexible, giving you the option to have the donair meat in a rice or salad bowl if you aren’t feeling like a wrap or sandwich. They even offer up some not so traditional dishes like donair meat poutine, which I definitely would like to try in the future.

Thanks for reading my guest post! Until next time. Now back to Carmen’s regularly scheduled programming.

Singapore Hawker

April 13, 2021

Singapore Hawker was recommended to me by a coworker. Seeing that his food recommendations are always on point, I knew I had to go! I found myself in Coquitlam one day and it was the perfect time to pick some up for lunch on the way back.

Singapore Hawker is located across from Coquitlam Center, next to Legend House. There is some street parking available outside of the restaurant.

Once inside, you place your order at the counter and wait for your food so it is more like fast food/food court style. I called the restaurant before I came and the food was ready by the time I arrived 15 minutes later.

Currently, the seating area is closed due to COVID. When I walked in, the restaurant smelled sooo good and I knew we were in for a treat later.

Roti canai: I love roti canai! The roti bread here did not disappoint, and was delicious. There was a nice chew to it with a slight sweetness. Flaked perfectly with some crispy pieces, the roti bread went well with the curry dip.

Hainanese chicken: Since trying Mamalee’s delicious Hainanese chicken, I had to compare Singapore Hawker’s version of it. The chicken also came with chicken oil rice and soup.

The boneless Hainanese chicken was juicy and tender. I found it more oily here than Mamalee’s, and they seemed to use more sauce here because I saw some sort of brown sauce under the chicken (sorry, not a Hainanese chicken expert). It was good and I would get it again.

I absolutely love my chicken oil rice and it did not disappoint. The chicken oil rice was very flavourful and there was a generous amount.

Kari lembu: The fiance requested the Malaysian beef curry, aka kari lembu. This was the full size, they also have a smaller size that comes with rice but we made some rice at home instead. This dish was delicious as well. The curry was very fragrant, flavourful, and packed a lot of heat. The beef chunks were tender and marinated well.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal from Singapore Hawker. Since we ordered the full version of the curry and also some roti bread, we had enough food for lunch the next day as well. Singapore Hawker is a great place for decent Singaporean food in Coquitlam.