Curiously Carmen

Simba’s Grill

June 6, 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.

Simba’s Grill is an African restaurant I have seen and heard of a few times from other bloggers thoroughout the years. I had been interested in trying it but I rarely go to the Denman area so I forgot about it.

I’m not sure if they moved locations or opened up a second location, but there is one in East Vancouver now! After a quick Google search, this location opened in January of this year and the Denman location doesn’t pop up anymore (nor is it on their website).

Anyway, Simba’s Grill serve East African dishes (the owner is from Kenya). As it was our first time trying this cuisine, we were very excited!

Kuku choma: I ordered the BBQ chicken breast, which came with saffron rice. It was so delicious! The chicken was juicy and flavoured with many spices and herbs. There was a very generous portion too. In addition, the saffron rice was fluffy and fragrant. The portion was HUGE!

My only complaint would be that I wished it came with some vegetables, as it was just meat and carbs. If I was writing this review 2 years ago, I wouldn’t have cared about the veggies but I actually enjoy eating veggies now and crave it LOL! We ended up making a side salad ourselves to get some greens in.

Mishkaki: The mishkaki was a marinated beef kebab also served on saffron rice. There were 3 skewers which was really generous! The cubed beef was tender and cooked to a medium rare. This was a flavor explosion and was so good. The fiance was in love with every bite.

As with my dish, the mishkaki didn’t come with any veggies as well. I wonder if this is just a delivery thing or they forgot because I saw some veggies on Google with dine-in photos.

Sauces: Our order came with 6 different sauces, which jazzed up our food even more! We were able to switch the flavours up with the sauces and they all complimented each other. My favorite was the mango chutney (bottom left). At first, it is a bit sweet and fruity but then suddenly you get a spicy kick.

The other sauces included a tamarind hot sauce (top left) which had a mild spice. The red one was there spiciest of all (bottom middle) and it was quiet fiery. There was also a purple-ish one, the texture looked like a blueberry puree (bottom right) but it was spicy and a bit sour.

To cool things off, there was a thick yogurt sauce (top middle) with the texture of tzatziki without the garlic flavor. There was also some sort of chopped coconut sauce (top right) with preserved veggies. Both of these sauces were necessary to combat the heat of the spicy ones!

African food is not that popular in Vancouver, but after trying these dishes, I definitely want to try other places! This doesn’t speak for the entire continent, but if I was to describe East African food to someone who’s never had it before, I would describe it as a mix between Indian and Middle Eastern.

All in all, we loved our delivery meal at Simba’s Grill and would re-order again. I can’t say how authentic it is since it’s my first time having African food, but the food was so flavourful and portions were huge. I’d love to go to the restaurant as well when we finally go to eat out again!

Blackball Dessert – Kingsway Location

June 4, 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.

Blackball Dessert is a Taiwanese dessert chain that made its way to BC last August, in Richmond. I wrote a review on their Richmond location and have been there multiple times since writing about it!

I noticed that another Blackball had opened up closer to us in Vancouver, so we placed a delivery order. I’m not sure if it was because we ordered delivery or not, but it was disappointing and not the same as our previous visits to the Richmond location.

One thing I really liked about Blackball was that you could customize their dessert bowls. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that on Doordash. The price was also steeper than I remembered, at almost $9 for a small dessert bowl.

Taro balls grass jelly: Since I wasn’t able to customize, I picked an item that seemed closest to what I’d normally order in person at their Richmond location.

When the dessert bowl arrived, I was surprised at how small it was for the price! I found it disappointing and not worth the price. As mentioned above, I don’t remember how much I paid before, but I don’t recall it being almost $9. I definitely wouldn’t have gone to the Richmond location multiple times for that price point and small size, so I think they’ve increased the price since. I was curious to see the price in Richmond, but unfortunately I couldn’t find a recent menu pic with prices online.

Anyways, the dessert itself was not bad, just small portion for the price. The pearls were chewy with a nice sweetness. The taro and yam balls were tasty as well. Blackball has won awards for their grass jelly in Taiwan, and it was good as well. I’m not a fan of Asian bean desserts (gasp!!!!) so the fiance happily ate that part.

Brown sugar pearl with fresh milk: Again, this drink did not seem to be worth the price. It was quite small as you can see in the photo.

Taste wise, the fiance enjoyed it but thought it was very small for the price. There are so many other places that we could have gone to for bigger size for the same price or even cheaper.

I really did enjoy Blackball’s Richmond location when they first opened last summer so I had high hopes for this location. However, after trying their Kingsway location, it seems like the prices have gone up and do not reflect the value anymore.

By the way, I pride myself on my honest reviews. There are a lot of food influencers out there who only focus on the good… to the point where I have never seen a negative review on a restaurant before and I don’t trust their reviews. So rather than seeing me as picky or complaining, I hope you can see that I’m keepin’ it 100% 😉

Copa Cafe – Vancouver location

May 31, 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.

Copa Cafe is a popular Hong Kong style restaurant chain in Vancouver. They have 3 locations in Vancouver, Coquitlam, and Richmond. This post will focus on the Vancouver location on Cambie Street!

My go-to meal at HK style cafes is always the spaghetti bolognese. Seriously, I’ve been ordering this dish since I was at least 7 years old and have not stopped! (Minus when my digestive problems act up and I can’t have dairy.) However, I remembered that the Copa in Coquitlam used a thin type of spaghetti which I did not like so I ordered something different this time.

Fried rice noodle w beef: Admittedly, I have no idea if this is the right English name for the dish. I only know it by the Cantonese name, “gon chau ow hau” so this is a rough description!

This isn’t exactly a HK style dish, but I was craving it after Cola was talking about it. It hit the spot perfectly and was so delicious. There was a smokey flavour from the wok, aka ‘wok hei’ which is very hard to replicate at home! In addition, the was also a generous amount of tender beef slices.

The portion was also absolutely huge! This was enough for dinner, and lunch the next day. It’s definitely a great value and delicious as well.

The only con is that it was on the oily side, but I would still order this again if I’m craving a solid gon chau ow hau (it feels too weird writing it in English to me!).

House special baked pork chop: This is one of the fiance’s go tos at HK style cafes. He really enjoyed this dish. There was a very generous amount of tender pork chop. As you can see, the entire top layer is the pork chop!

The rest of the dish was delicious too. The fried rice underneath, tomato sauce, cheese… Yum. The fiance couldn’t finish this either and had a lot leftover the next day. Again, great value!

We were really satisfied with Copa Cafe. This is comfort food for us and it was delicious. They seem to have bad reviews but personally, our food was delicious and the portions were enough for 2 meals!

Mello

May 25, 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.

When I heard about Mello donuts earlier in the year on social media, I knew I had to check them out (well via delivery because we are living in strange times)! Mello is a Korean-owned donut shop in Chinatown that recently opened in December. You may remember UYU, a soft serve shop in Gastown that closed down a few years ago. The owner of UYU is the same as Mello!

Mello specializes in brioche donuts! Brioche donuts are similar to your usual donuts, except they contain more butter, eggs and less water.

The fiance and I picked a few flavours to share on our anniversary. Our stomachs were very happy that day, as we also had Ask For Luigi! I had to do a big workout the next day for all the unhealthy (but delicious) food consumed but it was a day for celebration (at home due to the pandemic).

Vanilla brioche donut: I wanted to try a regular vanilla donut to compare with their other fun flavours. Yes, the brioche donuts stand up by themselves LOL! The donut itself was absolutely amazing and I fell in love at first bite. It was light, fluffy but with a rich and sweet flavour.

The filling was akin to a custard. The custard flavour was very Asian-style: light, a bit sweet and not too dense. It balanced out the brioche donut perfectly.

Cookies and cream: The fiance is a big fan of cookies and cream, so he had to order this donut! The cookies and cream is not a brioche donut, but under their ‘dipped donut’ category.

The cookies and cream donut was incredibly soft, springy, and fluffy. The crushed oreo glaze on top elevated the taste even further. If you’re a big fan of cookies and cream flavour, this is a definite must try!

Nutella brioche donut: This donut was delicious as well. Stuffed with a light but creamy Nutella filling inside, the brioche donut was as soft and fluffy as the others. The sugar coating gave it a sweeter taste although it was a bit messier to eat.

Chocolate dipped donut: The chocolate dipped donut was comforting because it reminded me of long john donuts that I used to get in elementary school. Although simple, it was still tasty and enjoyable!

Tiramisu brioche donut: Last but not least, the tiramisu brioche donut! This was an excellent pick from the fiance. The tiramisu filling had a strong coffee taste but the texture was light, like whipped cream.

The outside of the donut is dusted with a cocoa powder, which was the cherry on top of a delicious donut.

Cereal cookie: I read a few reviews saying that the cereal cookie was also a must try, so why not? This was the first time that I’ve seen cereal put on top of a cookie and it is actually a pretty genius idea.

The cookie itself was buttery and chewy. Meanwhile, the corn flakes cereal gave the cookie a fun crunch to it!

The cereal didn’t elevate the taste of the cookie, but gave it more of a fun, textural twist. It was good, but if you were to pick between their donuts or cookie, I’d pick the donuts any day.

Overall, Mello was delicious. You can really taste the quality of their donuts. They were delicately light and fluffy, with a slight chew to it and the perfect amount of sweetness.

Vancouver does not have many donut shops but I’m glad Mello has opened up. I will definitely be back!

Ask For Luigi

May 20, 2020

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

I know that you may want to go out and have fun, but it is crucial that we distance ourselves to slow the spread of the virus and flatten the curve before it gets worse. 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.

This year’s anniversary was a lot different than we expected, aka we did not expect there to be a pandemic! This did not dampen our plans though, thanks to delivery. Our original plan was to order Miku’s delivery platter but we realized a day before that Miku was closed on Sundays.

After looking around on Yelp, I suggested Ask For Luigi as it’s been on my list for many years now! This place was also highly recommended by friends and other food bloggers so it’s about time I tried it out.

Ask for Luigi is located off the beaten path in East Vancouver by the industrial area just before DTES. You would not expect a delicious, intimate Italian restaurant with homemade pasta here.

Admittedly, we are no pasta or Italian food experts. After Googling most of the terms on the menu (and playing the game of ‘is this a cheese, noodle or meat?’), we placed our order.

Penne bolognese, parmesan: I decided on the penne bolognese with parmesan but substituted with pappardelle noodle instead because I was craving wide and flat noodles that day.

My bolognese was so delicious. I could see what the hype about Ask For Luigi was after my first bite. The pasta was so cheesy and creamy with a delicious tomato sauce. There was a generous portion of beef inside as well.

The homemade pappardelle was cooked to a perfect al dente.

Pappardelle, boar rago, and pecorino: I’m not sure if the fiance or I had boar before, but it was similar to pulled pork with a slightly gamier taste.

Compared to my bolognese, the fiance did not like his dish as much because it wasn’t as cheesy or creamy. The cheese had a sharper taste to it. After a quick Google search while writing this, pecorino is a type of hard sheep cheese so that explains why (I looked up all the other dishes except this one because the fiance had decided on this already).

If he knew that this was made from sheep milk, he wouldn’t have ordered it. But if you’re a fan of gamey food, I’d recommend this dish.

Overall, we were quite impressed with Ask For Luigi. The quality of the homemade pasta noodles and dishes overall was evident, even in takeout boxes without the romantic Italian atmosphere.

I can see why this place is so popular and I’m glad that we finally tried it!