• About / Contact
  • Work With Me
  • Food & Drink
    • asian —>
      • chinese
      • indian
      • japanese
      • korean
      • malaysian
      • taiwanese
      • thai
      • vietnamese
    • brunch
    • coffee and tea
    • dessert
    • fusion
    • happy hour
    • italian
    • greek
    • mexican
    • pub
    • seafood
    • steakhouse
    • vegetarian/vegan
    • western
  • Travel
    • Canada ->
      • Kelowna
      • Sunshine Coast
      • Victoria
    • Japan ->
      • Himeji
      • Kamakura
      • Kobe
      • Kyoto
      • Osaka
      • Tokyo
    • Mexico ->
      • Cancun
      • Isla Mujeres
      • Playa Del Carmen
    • USA ->
      • Las Vegas
      • Los Angeles
      • New York City
      • Seattle
    • Europe ->
      • London
  • Beauty
    • beauty events
    • body
    • eyes
    • face
    • costumes
    • hair
    • lips
    • nails
    • skincare

Curiously Carmen

Samurai Sushi – Cambie

June 22, 2020

Samurai Sushi is a classic in Vancouver, known for their super cheap ginormous rolls. I’ve had take-out here many times for family gatherings over the years, but have yet to write a review on it which I found a bit surprising!

It’s been awhile since I’ve had Samurai Sushi, I want to say maybe at least a year? I totally underestimated how big their normal rolls were. I remembered that their house rolls were huge, so we only placed a half order, but the normal rolls were GINORMOUS!

This ended up being our lunch and dinner because the pieces were so big with so much rice.

House roll: The house roll is what Samurai is known for. They were the size of my palm! Taste-wise, the salmon, tuna, avocado and tamago were fresh and yummy, but the imitation crab meat wasn’t. The crab meat, which took up majority of the roll, was a bit dry.

Salmon roll: The salmon roll was decent, with no complaints. The salmon pieces were quite big.

Negitoro roll: No complaints about the negitoro roll either.

Here is my palm for comparison. I wasn’t joking when I said the house roll was huge!

California roll: This doesn’t look that big, but this is one of our large plates that normally serve steak. So yeah, it was actually really big. Again, the imitation crab meat was a bit on the dry side but the avocado was ripe.

Spicy tuna roll: There was so much food that I didn’t end up trying the spicy tuna roll. The fiance enjoyed it though, and said the tuna tasted fresh.

Scallop roll: We were quite impressed with the scallop roll! The roll was bursting with scallop. In addition, the scallops tasted very fresh too.

Overall, Samurai Sushi is a major bang for your buck restaurant. Sushi rolls do not get bigger or cheaper than this. It is all about quantity here so if you want large, filling portions of sushi, come here!

I feel like most Chinese or Asian people in Vancouver have been here or have had takeout at large family gatherings. If you know, you know 😉

Samurai Sushi House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, japanese

Riddim & Spice

June 19, 2020

Another day, another delivery review to keep this little spot on the internet going and to make sure my writing skills are still being exercised. The fiance and I were in a mood to try something different and new. While looking online for local Black restaurants to support, I came across a plethora of Jamaican food.

We’ve had Jamaican food about 5-6 years ago at Lions Den Cafe which I never wrote a review on. I remember that my jerk chicken was delicious but it was cold inside and thinking they microwaved it. Apart from that, 8-9 years ago, I used to frequent The Patty Shop which is a very tiny hole in the wall serving Jamaican patties. I went there multiple times but don’t go to that area as much anymore. I had forgotten completely about that shop but now I want to go back and see if the Jamaican patties were as good as I remembered!

Anyways, after taking a look at Jamaican restaurants available for delivery, we placed an order for Riddim and Spice. Their restaurant is located on Commercial Drive.

Jerk chicken: The jerk chicken was a bit disappointing in that there was no spice at all. The chicken was moist, tender and fell off the bone but it lacked the spicy kick I was expecting. Instead, the chicken was more on the sweet side with a sweet chili glaze on top or something. It was flavourful and would have been good if the dish wasn’t called jerk chicken, but I was expecting some spice to it.

The jerk chicken also came with some rice and salad. The rice was fluffy, and cooked with herbs, and was subtly spicy. It was different than other rice I’ve had before but it was good. The salad was nothing special, just a side of greenery for health.

Fried red snapper fish: The second main dish we ordered was a fried fish. The fish was seasoned well but we found it to be very salty. I only took a few bites because it was so salty! The portion of fish was also a bit small, it probably could have used another filet.

This dish also came with the salad and rice, no complaints about that.

Jamaican patties: We ordered a chicken patty, and a beef patty. However, it seemed like they messed up and gave us two beef patties as it didn’t seem look like chicken.

I will leave you to figure out if these are 2 different patties are the same… We ordered beef and chicken but they both look like beef? (See above pic)

The patties were alright, I remember them being better at The Patty Shop. The outside crust was flakey and buttery. But there wasn’t much filling so the patty was quite flat, instead of being plump and filled.

Overall, we found Riddim and Spice to be meh and was expecting better. Nothing too great happening here. I’m no authentic Jamaican food expert but I feel like there are other places in town that are better.  

Riddim & Spice Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink

Jenjudan – Two Visits

June 16, 2020

Jenjudan was recommended to me by Jerky (No, he is not a jerk, I give nicknames based on my friend’s favorite foods and he loves the Korean BBQ jerky from Costco haha). With so many bubble tea places popping up, it is honestly so hard to keep track of!

But I’m glad Jerky introduced Jenjudan and it has quickly rose to one of my new favourites. These are 2 reviews based on delivery.

Lactose intolerant pals, you will be happy to hear that Jenjudan offers soy milk replacement! There are so many places that don’t offer this so I jump at the chance when I see it. This also shows that they care about their customers needs.

Brown sugar pearl milk: This is such a treat for me because so many places don’t offer soy milk replacement. The drink was absolutely delicious. The pearls were caramelized from being cooked in the brown sugar. In addition, they had a soft and chewy texture. I’d definitely order this again!

So many places out there (Blackball, Xing Fu Tang, Ding Tea, to name a few) have such small portions. I was happy that this was not the case here, the size was pretty big.

Lemon chrysanthemum tea: Since the fiance wasn’t feeling like having caffeine or ordering the same drink as me, he settled on this drink. Even though my brown sugar pearl milk was delicious, this was even more delicious!

You could really taste the quality in the tea. There was a fragrant, floral aroma to it as well. The lemon flavour was faint but went really well with the chrysanthemum tea.

One of our favorite bubble tea drinks is Sharetea’s lemon aloe vera, which is hard to beat. But I’d say that this drink was comparable, if not even better than one of our favourites!

We enjoyed our first visit so much that we ordered again a couple of weeks later. I was a bit disappointed to see that they were not clear cups, #foodbloggerproblems! I wanted to show you readers what the drink looked like but we will have to make do with this. I took a picture of the top so at least you can see a bit of the drink.

Thai milk tea: The Thai milk tea was alright, but we had better at Bai Bua. For that reason, the fiance would prefer to stick with the other drinks.

Brown sugar pudding with pearls: I ordered this with soy milk again and it was delicious, although not completely dairy-free because there was pudding inside.

The pudding made the drink even more creamy, while the brown sugar gave it a smooth, rich caramel taste. In addition, the pearls were soft and chewy.

I am more of a pearl lover than pudding lover, so I would probably just order the brown sugar pearl but it was nice to try the pudding!

All in all, I’d highly recommend Jenjudan. The drinks are made with quality, there are soy milk options, and the portions are decent.

A bonus is that they are environmentally friendly with their plant based straws, I’ve never seen that at bubble tea places!

Kingsway Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: coffee and tea, food & drink, taiwanese

Ignite Pizzeria

June 12, 2020

Disclaimer: In light of COVID-19, I just wanted to say that I am doing my part by social distancing and only going out when necessary. This is a review based on contact-less delivery.

We are now in phase 2 which means restrictions are slowly lifting. It is crucial that we still limit our social circle, and wear masks when out. Yes, you may feel fine but you could be passing on the virus to someone who is immunocompromised or elderly that may not survive this virus. I know it’s summer and we want to go out and enjoy the sun, but let’s all remember to be safe and protect those most vulnerable.


Last weekend, the fiance and I were craving pizza, but not fast food pizza (although fast food pizza is delicious too!). After a great experience with Straight Outta Brooklyn pizza, we decided to look for another pizza place on DoorDash.

We browsed a few options and ended up choosing Ignite Pizzeria. However, we were a bit disappointed with it and should have gone with another place instead.

When our pizza arrived, it came in an unsealed box without a bag. In normal, non-COVID times I wouldn’t have thought twice as that is usually how pizza is delivered. But during a global pandemic, we would have felt more safe if the pizza had a sticker sealing the box or was in a stapled bag like most delivery places we order.

I realize this is a highly unlikely chance, but there are stories out there of delivery drivers coughing and spitting on food or property. Perhaps the restaurant is trying to be environmentally friendly, but to us, during a global pandemic, it made us feel iffy knowing our food could have possibly be tampered with. I asked the fiance if I was overthinking or being crazy, but he also agreed (which he doesn’t all the time) that during a pandemic, that seems a bit unsanitary.

It soured our first impression and we ended up heating the pizza in the oven again just to be safe.

So Fun(Ghi): This pizza came with tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami, and mushrooms. There was a decent amount of toppings. This was a thin crust pizza and the dough was soft and light. Out of the two, we enjoyed this pizza more.

Farmer: We also wanted to try a white based sauce, so we went with the farmer. This pizza came with alfredo sauce, mozzarella, chicken, red onions, sun dried tomatos, and pancetta.

While writing this post, I looked up the menu online for reference and just realized the menu said this pizza came with pancetta (aka pork belly)! I had no idea while eating it because it was so sparse! That was the theme of the pizza as we were quite disappointed with the lack of chicken on top. What little amount of chicken there was, was chopped in very small pieces.

Where is the chicken and pancetta (pork belly)? Lol

We were not impressed with this pizza because of how stingy they were with the toppings, but at least the alfredo sauce was tasty.

Overall, Ignite Pizzeria was disappointing. We had a DoorDash coupon so good thing we didn’t have to pay full price because it wouldn’t have been worth it.

It was quite forgettable to us and there are plenty of other pizza places out there that are better.

My rating: 2.5/5

Ignite Pizzeria Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: food & drink, italian

GUEST POST: Brown Bites – Western Lake Chinese Restaurant

June 9, 2020

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 to the latest edition of Brown Bites. Today I will be writing about Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant. Carmen and I came here before the pandemic started, and she forgot about writing this post because the photos were taken on my phone instead of hers that day.

Located in East Vancouver a little past the corner of Victoria Drive and East 33rd Avenue, Western Lake is a popular choice for dim sum and dinner. It used to be one of the go-to dim sum restaurants for my family, and would still be, if not for difficulty finding parking.

It was Carmen’s first time here so would it live up to the hype? Read on and find out.

Steamed Prawn Dumplings: A classic choice when it comes to dim sum, the prawn dumplings at Western Lake are on the larger side when it comes to prawn dumplings, and pack a lot of prawns inside.

The prawn filling is quite dense, and we both could not decide if this was a good or bad thing. Overall, not bad but not the best either.

Steamed Bean Curd Wraps with Fish Paste: This is one of my favourite dishes to order for dim sum, and the one at Western Lake is unique in that it uses a fish paste filling rather than the usual meat and veggie filling more commonly used.

Unfortunately, this dish was a no for Carmen and I. The fish paste filling was bland, and also quite dense. The one nice thing was the sauce that it came with was not too thick and gravy like.

Deep Fried Prawn Spring Roll: The spring rolls here were delicious and done well. The skin was light and crispy, and the prawn filling was not as dense as the one in the prawn dumplings.

Deep Fried Stuff Pork Dumplings: The deep fried dishes were on point. Carmen loves these but we normally don’t order it because it’s deep fried. However, she was having a random craving for these which is why we went for dim sum in the first place.

Similar to the spring rolls, the outer layer of the skin was crispy, the inside was chewy and sweet, and went very well with the savoury pork and shiitake mushroom filling.

Steamed Mini Sticky Rice Wraps with Dried Scallop: Another go-to dish for us when we go out for dim sum, the sticky rice wraps here were on the small side compared to other restaurants.

Taste-wise, this dish was also on the bland side, and Carmen mentioned the rice was a bit dry inside. We both did not like the inclusion of dried scallop, even though it makes the dish more fancy.

Overall, our visit was okay. I remember it being better in the past, but today’s visit was hit or miss. We would definitely give it another chance.

Thank you for reading my guest post. You can read more Brown Bites posts here. I will now pass it back to Carmen.

Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Filed Under: chinese, food & drink

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • …
  • 171
  • Next Page »

Hello!

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

Recent Posts

  • H&P Noodle House Burnaby
  • Travel: Harry Potter Studio Tour (Watford, UK)
  • Travel: The Resident Soho Hotel, London UK
  • North Noodle House
  • Grand Crystal Seafood Restaurant

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Partnerships

View my food journey on Zomato!

Archives

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2025

Copyright © 2025 · Young Blush Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in