Curiously Carmen

Dolar Shop Hot Pot – Burnaby (Multiple Visits)

January 11, 2023

Dolar Shop is one of my favourite places to go for hot pot, although I don’t go too often as it is on the pricer side. My last review on the Dolar Shop was a few years ago, at the Richmond Lansdowne location. Earlier in 2022, they opened up a location in Burnaby and we have since been a handful of times!

This post is a combination of a few visits!

What I like most about Dolar Shop is that everyone gets their own individual pots and choice of soup base. I find that most restaurant soup bases are quite oily, thus prefer to do hot pot at home.

Visit 1: During the summer, we came here to celebrate Smore’s birthday and had a feast! I was too busy chatting and only took one photo that time, oops. I went with the mushroom broth, which was a lighter and clearer broth but still very flavourful.

You can also do a combination of two broths for a higher price, which some of us did.

Their signature Dolar Shop soya sauce is also quite good. When you are first seated, the server will prepare a customized sauce dish for you.

There is also a sauce and snack bar, which you can create a second bowl of sauce with more ingredient options.

Visit 2: A few weeks later, the husband and I came ourselves for the lunch promotion! It was the first time we tried it, but have heard good things from Smores. The lunch promotion is usually available for a limited time, and offers a much cheaper lunch set.

A lunch set starts at $30 and goes up to $45 if you want the fancier cut beef. It’s still a bit pricey but not as much as dinner or the regular price.

Chicken mushroom/pork bone broth set: I am not sure what the actual name is, and the website doesn’t list the lunch promotion sets as they change. But I ordered the same pork bone/mushroom broth as the visit above.

The lunch set comes with an individual-sized portion of meat (I went with chicken), and an individual-sized portion of veggies.

The veggie platter also comes with their a couple of shrimp pate balls which is my favourite item on their menu! There are also a few quail eggs, imitation crab meat, and spam.

The husband ordered one of the beef lunch sets. I believe he chose the mid-tier beef so his set was about $40~ if I remember correctly.

If you are unsure of spending full price on dinner, the lunch set is a great option to give Dolar Shop a try first as all the items are the same! I believe they stopped the lunch promotion in the fall, but I started to see it again in December.

Also, be sure to check whether the Burnaby or Richmond location is offering the lunch set as they usually don’t offer the promo at the same time.

Visit 3: A few months later, we decided to come here for my birthday! During this holiday season, I have been obsessed with hot pot for some reason and am constantly craving it. We actually had plans to go to Zakkushi but I switched it to Dolar Shop!

Clearly, I suck at taking photos whenever I come here… This is the only photo I took. This time, I went with the exquisite silver broth, which is also light but very flavourful! You can also pick between having chicken and tripe with this broth, so it’s a great value. The chicken was very juicy and flavourful, and was the same as the lunch set.

We also ordered one veggie plate, which turns out is the same plate as the lunch special!

My photos during all these visits are quite limited, and I feel like this post is all over the place. The conclusion to this post is that the Dolar Shop is consistently delicious, and one of my favourite hot pot restaurants! I would recommend trying the Dolar Shop, especially when they have their lunch promotions!

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba – Metrotown

January 4, 2023

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.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant

December 28, 2022

Earlier this year, the husband and I went to the Sandbar Seafood Restaurant to celebrate our dating anniversary! The Sandbar is part of the Sequoia group of restaurants, which also includes Seasons in the Park, Cardero’s and the Tea House in Stanley Park.

We both really like Seasons, so had some high expectations for the Sandbar!

Parking in Granville Island is free after 6pm, which was a pleasant surprise! The Sandbar is nestled between shops in Granville Island and can be easy to miss. The entrance is on the ground floor, and the main restaurant and seating area is up a flight of stairs.

The ambiance was nice, with live piano music as well. There was also a nice view of the water and downtown skyline.

The sandbarge: The sandbarge was a smaller version of the seafood platter. We both aren’t really big fans of lobster so we went with the cheaper option. The oysters were fresh and tasty. The ahi tuna and Dungeness crab also tasted fresh.

The prawns were disappointing and nothing really special about it. Overall, we found the seafood platter alright but not the best we’ve had.

Cedar plank salmon: Due to my ongoing stomach issues, I wanted something lighter and clearer. This dish was pretty disappointing and nothing special. I would have thought that the cedar plank would give the salmon a more grilled and smoky flavor, but it was pretty plain.

I could have definitely air fried the salmon myself and it would have tasted the same. For a seafood restaurant, I expected a bit more.

Linguine vongole: The husband’s linguine was delicious and the highlight dish of the evening. There was a lot of juicy clams and the pasta sauce was great. The portion was pretty big and he was really satisfied after.

The food came out painstakingly slow that night as well. Overall, we found the Sandbar to be alright. I would recommend this place more for the atmosphere but not really for the food.

Fisherman’s Terrace Seafood Restaurant

December 27, 2022

I can’t believe I haven’t been to Fisherman’s Terrace yet, it seems like one of the staple dim sum restaurants in Richmond. The husband has been hearing good things about their dim sum lately, so he wanted to go try it out!

Fisherman’s Terrace is located on the top floor of Aberdeen Mall. It was really busy when we went, so we had an idea that it was probably going to be delicious. Make sure you get here early to avoid waiting!

This post is a review of our first visit, which was really good! Unfortunately, we came back a second time a couple months later and that visit wasn’t as good. A couple of items we ordered before were sold out and didn’t taste as good.

Garlic spring rolls: The garlic spring rolls were delicious! They were fresh, crunchy, and had a nice garlic taste to it. The prawns inside tasted fresh and snappy too. These were a great start to our lunch.

Shrimp dumpling: My favourite dim sum dishes are all shrimp, I am not sure why. The shrimp dumpling was pretty good too. They were plump and filled with fresh, snappy prawns.

Curry cuttlefish: The curry cuttlefish are another favourite. The cuttlefish here were pretty big and tasted fresh, with lots of curry flavour.

Steamed sticky rice: I think we actually packed the entire dish to go because we were getting so full from everything.

Bean curd wrap: The husband loves his bean curd wrap, but it’s hard to find one he really likes. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a fan of the filling in this one.

Overall, our first visit to Fisherman’s Terrace was great but the second visit wasn’t as good. I think we’d be back again if craving dim sum in Richmond though.

The Flying Beaver Bar and Grill

December 24, 2022

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays! It has been awhile since I’ve updated here. I recently went back to school again (on top of working full time), and volunteering. Any spare time I have is spent resting, spending time with loved ones, or reading. But I do plan on keeping this blog and will try to update! Honestly, I have thought of closing it down as people barely read blogs anymore but I really like my little corner of the internet here. And if you’ve been here since the beginning (almost nine years next month!), thanks for sticking around!

One sunny afternoon earlier this year, the husband and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and have a late lunch at the Flying Beaver. We have been here a handful of times over the years, and it is always a good time!

The Flying Beaver is located at the small seaplane terminal at the airport, a few minutes drive from the main terminal. They do not have their own parking lot, but there is a big paid parking lot across the street. There is also a shuttle bus but I am not sure how that works.

On sunny weekends, there is usually a wait to get in, as everyone wants to take advantage of the beautiful weather and seaplane views. Luckily, since there was only 2 of us, there wasn’t a wait!

Calamari: We decided to split a calamari as an appetizer. The calamari was crispy, piping hot and fresh. I believe it normally comes with a ginger-based sauce, which we requested without since the husband does not like ginger.

Chicken strips: I am the biggest chicken strip fan, so I wanted to try their chicken strips! Unfortunately, they were pretty underwhelming here. They were juicy and crispy, but didn’t have that much flavour.

Beef dip: The husband’s beef dip was a lot better than my chicken strips! It was very flavourful, and came with a lot of beef inside the baguette. I’d probably order this next time instead.

The service was quick and friendly throughout our meal. The food is pretty standard and nothing special to write home about, but come for the seaplane and river views on a sunny day!