Curiously Carmen

Obanhmi

May 16, 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.

I’ve seen Obanhmi on Uber Eats for awhile, and was always curious about it… But for some reason, we always ended up getting our usual delivery places instead. However, this pandemic has made me try new delivery places to keep me out of boredom, including Obanhmi!

We ordered four banh mis which was enough for lunch and dinner. The banh mi were nicely labelled and came in a cute, branded paper bag.

Meatball banh mi: The fiance chose a meatball banh mi. If you are ordering for more than 1 meal, I would recommend eating this first because the meatballs were quite saucy and juicy so it would make the bread soggy if you waited too long.

The meatball banh mi was absolutely delicious! The meatballs were tender and juicy. Cooked in a tomato sauce, they had a slight hint of sweetness to them as well. I will warn you that this is a bit messy to eat because it is saucy and the bread got a bit soggy.

Lemongrass chicken: I actually used to only order cold cut banh mi, until I tried lemongrass chicken banh mi at Thai’s Saigon Bistro and Basil Garden and was converted! We actually tried to order this a couple weeks prior, but their lemongrass chicken sub was sold out and that was the main reason I wanted to get it.

The lemongrass chicken banh mi did not disappoint either! The chicken had a nice, grilled flavour to it and was juicy and tender. This hit the spot perfectly! My only complaint would be that it was a tad bit too salty.

Classic cold cut: A classic cold cut banh mi brings me back to childhood! My mom used to buy these for me quite often because she worked close to Bale. So nostalgic! I actually didn’t even realize until a few years ago that there were different types of banh mi like lemongrass chicken or beef. I thought that only the cold cut version existed!

This was like biting into childhood! It was a solid cold cut banh mi and because it only has cold ingredients, this was the only banh mi where the baguette wasn’t soggy. My favourite part of a cold cut banh mi is the Vietnamese meat pate. So delicious!

Sate beef: The last banh mi we ordered was the sate beef! This was a flavour bomb explosion as well. The sate beef was aromatic and delicious. Just like the lemongrass chicken, my only complaint would be that it was slightly too salty.

All in all, Obanhmi was an excellent choice and we would definitely order again! All of the banh mi were delicious even though a couple of them were on the salty side.

The prices are pretty reasonable too, about $6-7ish I believe for a sub. The baguette sizes were also larger and longer here compared to other banh mi places I’ve tried.

Angelcolor Circle Lens Contacts Review

May 12, 2020

Coloured contacts and circle lens are very common in Asian countries! A lot of people wear these daily in Asia and it’s becoming quite popular here in Canada too.

What are circle lens? Circle lens contain a black or brown ring (or circle) around the iris. This effect makes your eyes appear cuter, rounder and brighter. Circle lens can also be coloured lens as well. For example, you can have a grey coloured lens with a black circle around.

I had a brief stint back in 2012 with Acuvue purple lenses and I remember those feeling super uncomfortable and dry for me. However, coloured contacts have come along since 8 years ago so I hoped for the best!

I wear contacts very occasionally, perhaps a handful of times a year. I’ve tried to wear them in the past more often but my eyes are quite dry so they’re uncomfortable. My eyes seem to be okay if I wear dailies occasionally though.

With that being said, I never got into the coloured contacts or circle lens trend until my latest trip to Japan. Maki recommended Angelcolor so I kept my “eyes” out for this brand in Osaka! There are many contact lens booths and stores that sell these. However, I found it hard to find prescription ones. I had to go to many stores before finding one with my prescription.

There aren’t many (or any) stores in Vancouver or Canada that sell Japanese brands such as Angelcolor, so your best bet is to buy them online. Maki recommended Rakuten and the pricing is the exact same as in Japan.

The only thing is that you have to pay for shipping which is $20 ish dollars (they only offer express shipping hence why it’s pricier)

I chose the bambi series in the color almond. It is a brown contact with a black circle!

Wearing Angelcolor circle lens in the colour “almond”

Here is a pic of me with them on. Appearance wise, I didn’t find these too dramatic or noticeable. I thought that the brown would slightly lighten my eye colour but it didn’t which was disappointing.

I would prefer something more noticeable so I would go lighter for my next order. It did give my eyes a rounder appearance which looked cute!

My eyes without circle lens for comparison

To be honest, I was a bit wary and doubtful that these circle lenses would work out for me because of how sensitive my eyes are to contacts.

I found these surprisingly comfortable to wear! They were very moisturizing and breathable. The circle lens themselves were very thin and light since they are dailies.

At some points throughout the day, I forgot I was wearing them because of how comfortable it was. Of course there were some moments where it felt uncomfortable so I made sure to always have eye drops with me but most of the time I couldn’t feel them.

Contact Lens Shop LOOOK: Angelcolor 1day Bambi Series [1 Box 10 ... — I would pick chocolate next time instead of almond as I’d like a lighter colour.

I would recommend the Angelcolor brand for their 1 day contacts. There are so many circle lens brands out there that it is overwhelming to pick. But coming from someone who has dry eyes and can’t wear contacts for a long time, I was very happy with these and will be placing another order when I run out!

Comebuy Bubble Tea

May 8, 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.

After not having bubble tea for two months, we are on a roll with trying other bubble tea places lately! You can read my reviews on Dive In Dessert Bar and Good Day Good Time. Comebuy was the latest addition to our bubble tea adventures, but we found it to be meh.

There are two Comebuy locations currently. We ordered delivery from the Burnaby location inside Crystal Mall, there is also a location in downtown!

One minor complaint I have is that their drink stickers were not labelled in Chinese, and not English. Especially if you have a large group order with many drinks or ordering delivery, not being able to read the label is confusing. I understand that their staff can read Chinese so it’s easier for them, but it would be better to have both languages on customer-facing products so they can tell which drink is which.

We ordered four drinks to reach the free delivery minimum, and saved two for the next day!

Sweet rose drink with basil seeds: I was happy to see that there were more than 2 drink options that didn’t have caffeine or dairy! This drink sounded delicious, so I gave it a try. I also added pearls to it.

The drink was alright. Nothing special or extraordinary. The pearls were cooked well and chewy and I liked that there was a decent amount of basil seeds.

Lychee delight: The fiance loves his lychee, so he had to get this when he saw it on the menu. His drink was also alright, nothing special about it.

The lychee jelly that they used here was a bit different than most as you can tell from the photo but he didn’t mind.

Neptune milk tea: The milk tea was pretty disappointing. I could already tell looking at the colour that it probably wasn’t going to be that good.

The tea flavour was very light. In addition, the drink also wasn’t milky enough. It wasn’t as disappointing as Good Day Good Time‘s milk tea, but we still weren’t impressed with this drink.

Grapefruit lemonade: The last drink we tried was the grapefruit lemonade. Again, it was alright. Nothing particularly good or bad about it.

All in all, the drinks that we ordered were alright (except for the milk tea). It was a forgettable experience and not a place where I would be craving their drinks anytime soon.

With so many bubble tea options in the Lower Mainland these days, Comebuy does not sit high on my list but I wouldn’t mind getting it again if someone wanted to go!

Travel: An afternoon in Himeji, Japan

May 4, 2020

Himeji is a popular day trip destination because of the UNESCO World Heritage site, Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle has been on the fiance’s bucket list for many years now. During our first Japan trip in 2018 that was 5 years in the making (due to school/new jobs/timing/money/etc), this was already on his list but we were only staying in the Tokyo area so we didn’t get to come.

This time, during our trip to the Kansai region, we knew we had to make a stop to this breathtaking, magnificent castle.

We came here with a friend from Tokyo, who flew down and spent a weekend with us. The three of us went to Kobe on the Saturday, and then to Himeji and Kurashiki (which I’ll also be writing about) on the Sunday!

Here is what we did in Himeji for a few hours, before taking the train to Kurashiki. We did not do much except eat and go to Himeji castle, but it was a fun few hours here.

Getting to Himeji: With the exception of 3 days in Kyoto, we stayed in Osaka (you can read my hotel review here). From Osaka, we took the Shinkansen to Himeji which was about a hour, and met our friend at the station in the late morning.

Brunch: The Himeji area is known for grilled anago, which is a type of saltwater eel. I’ve only ever tried unagi, which is a freshwater eel. We went to a small shop by Himeji Station recommended by my friend’s friend who lives here, Sumiyaki Anago Yamagi.

The restaurant was quite popular as evident with the lineup even prior to opening hours. It was a warm, comforting and filling lunch.

Himeji castle: We slowly made our way to the castle! My breath was taken away when we approached the castle. It was a beautiful, stunning sight, meticulously crafted with so much detail.

My tip is to not take photos right after you cross the street to the castle. A lot of people were gathering here taking photos, because like myself, they were probably stunned of the magnitude of how beautiful the castle was. However, be patient and walk an extra few minutes to get your pictures!

After paying the entrance fee, off we went into the castle! All guests are required to take their shoes off, wear slippers, and put it in a plastic bag to carry around with you throughout the castle. I thought the plastic bag was a bit wasteful but in Japan, they tend to use a lot of plastic bags and packaging.

The castle is very easy to navigate as you just follow the signs. You start on the first floor and slowly make your way up. There are no washrooms available so be sure to use it prior to entering the castle.

Each floor has signs and displays for what it was used for, along with hidden storage areas and closets. I will also warn you that the stairs are very steep and narrow so be careful! There were a couple of times where I thought I was going to slip and fall (but I didn’t).

View of Himeji from the top floor of Himeji Castle

When you get to the top floor, you are greeted with a beautiful view of Himeji. My first thought was imagining this castle back in its prime, overlooking what was farm land and villages.

It took us roughly a hour to get through the castle at a leisurely place. Apart from the castle, you can also walk around the area which features smaller houses where staff lived, etc.

We didn’t feel like going through that area since it would not compare to the beauty of the castle that we just witnessed, so we took some photos outside of the castle and walked back to Himeji Station to go to our next destination, dessert!

Dessert: Another Himeji specialty food item that I did not know about was imagawa-yaki. This is a waffle cake usually stuffed with red bean. It was recommended by our friend, so we had to try it out! We went to Gozasoro at Himeji Station, one of the most popular stands for this dessert.

We bought both the red bean and white bean cakes, and they were delicious! The cakes were made fresh so it was piping hot. It was lightly crispy on the outside but soft inside.

Usually, this is the part when people head back to Osaka or Tokyo. However, we decided to go in the opposite direction, and take a hour train ride through the Japanese countryside to the city of Kurashiki.

Next stop of the day: Kurashiki, Japan – Stay tuned for another post!

Kurashiki is not a well-known city in Japan among international visitors, but I wanted to go after seeing beautiful pictures of their preserved historic district, Bikan Historial Quarter. Stay tuned for my next travel post on Kurashiki, you don’t want to miss it!

Straight Outta Brooklyn Pizza

May 1, 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.

Straight Outta Brooklyn Pizza is located right beside Sal Y Limon and seeing that the latter is one of the fiance’s favourite restaurants in town, why would we go next door? They also have two other locations in Chinatown and Downtown, but the one in East Van is their original location.

Well, we finally tried the East Van location for delivery recently, when I wanted to review a restaurant we haven’t been to yet! Blogging gives me something to do while social distancing, as evident by my outdoor bubble tea photo shoot in my previous post, LOL.

Straight Outta Brooklyn Pizza specializes in New York style pizza. I am no pizza expert and will happily eat any type of pizza, but for the sake of this blog, I looked up what New York style pizza was.

New York style pizza is a thin crust pizza, sold in large, wide slices. Most people like to fold the pizza slice in half and eat it that way.

I didn’t try New York pizza while in NYC but I guess I tried it in Vancouver instead!

Pepperoni pizza: You really can’t go wrong with with a good ol’ pepperoni pizza. Usually I prefer a meat lovers pizza, but the toppings looked more scarce on the meat lovers. Meanwhile, there was so much pepperoni on this pizza that we got this instead.

The pizza slices were huge! To give you an idea, the pizza was a large and cut in 4 slices. I only had “one” slice of each. 😉

The pepperoni pizza itself was tasty. There was a generous amount of tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. I used to not like thin crust pizza, but it is growing on me! Funny how our taste buds change over the years.

I ended up folding the pizza slice in half for the true New York pizza experience. It was easier to eat this way and still delicious!

White pie: The white pie was delicious! This pizza came with mozzarella, smoked provoline, ricotta, grana, garlic, and oregano.

The oregano was the cherry on top of a deliciously cheeeezzyyyy pizza.

All in all, we were very satisfied with the two pizzas and had more than enough leftovers. The prices are slightly higher than your fast food pizzas, but the quality is there. Straight Outta Brooklyn was a great find!