Curiously Carmen

Good Day Good Time Tea

April 28, 2020

Good Day Good Time Tea is yet another addition to Vancouver’s rapidly growing bubble tea shops. I can barely keep up with the new shops that are opening! I found out about Good Day Good Time Tea via Maki and Nigiri, who know all the delicious bubble tea places.

This post is the combination of two delivery orders! For the first order, I decided to have a mini photoshoot for these drinks =P. I was bored and in need of some fresh air after not leaving the house for a week.

Mango pomelo sago: The mango pomelo sago is one of their new releases. This was the drink that sold me with this place, despite their mix-ups on our other drinks as you’ll read about soon.

The mango pomelo sago drink is made with coconut milk. Does it taste as good as it looks? Yes, it does! Fresh mango is used, in addition to fresh pomelo pieces.

The drink is made in layers, with the bottom layer being chopped mango, sago, then fresh mango slush with mango pulp, pomelo pieces, and topped with rich coconut milk. I am not sure how the coconut milk manages to stay on top without mixing into the drink, but it sure makes for a beautiful Instagram shot. Just make sure to mix the drink fully before you drink.

This drink was actually the reason we placed a second order the following week. I found that the drink was a bit better the first time. The pomelo pieces were not ripe enough and too sour on the second visit.

Oolong milk tea: The fiance ordered the oolong milk tea, but unfortunately they messed it up. At least, we are pretty sure they did because if this was their normal flavour, it would be awful!

The oolong milk tea was very watery and unsweetened. In addition, it was not milky at all. We ended up getting a refund for this drink from Uber because it was not drinkable.

Guava lemonade: To qualify for free delivery, we ordered another drink for later. Well, since the oolong tea was not good, the fiance ended up drinking this instead. The guava lemonade was light, simple and refreshing. Not bad and would order again!

Grapefruit yakult: Another mess up from Good Day Good Time on our second order. We had ordered a strawberry kiwi smoothie, but this was delivered to us instead.

In the end, we didn’t really mind because the grapefruit yakult ended up being very tasty. There was a delicious balance of grapefruit and yakult. It was a refreshing drink and took me back to childhood because I used to drink a lot of yakult!

Dragonfruit yakult: The fiance ordered a dragonfruit yakult this time, and they did not screw up his drink again so yay! I haven’t seen this on a menu before so I found it unique.

The drink came with dragonfruit pulp and seeds, and you could also taste the yakult. He really enjoyed this drink and it redeemed the messup of the oolong milk tea in the first order.

Good Day Good Time could improve on their consistency and organization, but I understand they have only been open for two months, and trying to operate a new shop with COVID-19 must be tough.

Both of our orders had errors, whether they messed up a drink or gave us the wrong drink. However, I am willing to overlook these issues as growing pains, because the mango pomelo sago and yakult drinks were delicious and great quality! We will still be ordering from them and I have trust they will improve.

Sal Y Limon – Revisit

April 25, 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.

For the fiance’s birthday, we had plans to go out for dinner but coronavirus said otherwise! Sal Y Limon is one of the fiance’s favourite restaurants, so we ordered delivery here instead and he was very happy with it.

I wrote a review on Sal Y Limon three years ago when we first tried this place, so I thought I’d write a revisit post. We’ve been here countless times since my first post!

Pierna: The pierna is the slow roasted pulled pork burrito, and the fiance’s go-to burrito. The burrito came jam packed with tender seasoned pulled pork, rice, beans, cabbage, jalapeno, sour cream, and aioli. It was delicious as usual!

Shrimp burrito: For myself, I ordered the shrimp burrito! I’ve ordered this in the past many times, and it is consistently delicious. Again, the burrito was jam packed and bursting with deep fried shrimp, rice, beans, cabbage, jalapeno, and aioli. The menu said that sour cream is also included, but I couldn’t taste any.

The deep fried shrimp in the burrito was fresh and crunchy as well! Meanwhile, the shrimp itself had a snappy bite to it and wasn’t overcooked.

Fish burrito: The fiance also ordered another burrito for the next day, because why not? After the pierna burrito, the fish burrito is his second favourite. The fish is deep fried with a black pepper batter.

Sal Y Limon is consistently delicious and very filling. It is a decent spot to get your Mexican craving fixed. The tacos are really good here as well! When this whole pandemic is over, I would recommend getting take out or delivery still because it gets quite busy here, and it is hard to find seating as you have to seat yourself.

Dive In Dessert Bar

April 22, 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.

A long time has passed since I have had bubble tea! I would like to say at least two months. We have been trying to save money and spend less on eating/drinking out. Since I’m always blogging about food, it probably doesn’t seem like we have cut down but I must say, it has been very successful as proven by our dramatically lower credit card bills!

But the bubble tea craving hit over the weekend, and we decided to try Dive In Dessert Bar since they were offering free delivery on Uber! Dive In Dessert Bar is located on Commercial Drive and opened a year ago. I believe they are Korean-run as a lot of their menu focused on bingsu aka shaved ice.

After doing a quick Google search, older menu photos didn’t feature bubble tea options so it seems like this is a newer addition!

Our order arrived in a timely manner and was packaged with care. Our drinks had cling wrap in addition to a lid, so that there was less risk of spillage.

In addition, they left a sweet note on our cup holder!

Brown sugar bubble tea with soy milk: Not many bubble tea places have non-dairy replacements for brown sugar drinks! I was quite happy to see that they offered soy and almond milk options (for an additional 0.50 cents).

My drink was delicious! There was a sweet caramel taste due to the brown sugar. The pearls were chewy and tender, due to being gently cooked again in the brown sugar. I really enjoyed this drink and would order it again, without a doubt!

Classic milk tea: The fiance went with a classic milk tea! There was a strong milk tea flavour and was the perfect amount of richness and sweetness. He would also get this again.

The size was also bigger than most places, as you can tell with my hand for scale.

Basque burnt cheesecake: To qualify for free delivery, we also added a cheesecake! I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and prefer savoury food items, but this was one of the few times that I was craving something sweet.

The cheesecake was absolutely heavenly. It was light yet creamy, and was not dense. The burnt top added an extra element of flavour to it.

Dive In Dessert Cafe was delicious, and I would definitely “dive in” again! I’m already looking forward to the next order we place. Another great find during social distancing!

Also, if you know of any other places other than Chunyang, Ding Tea, ZenQ, and The Alley that have brown sugar drinks with non-dairy options, please let me know!

Sushi Garden – Revisit

April 18, 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.

For cheap and reliable sushi, my mind wanders to Sushi Garden, Sushi California, and Nanaimo Sushi to name a few. You can’t really go wrong with any of those places. It has been awhile since we had sushi, so the fiance suggested that we order from Sushi Garden for dinner!

I wrote a previous review on Sushi Garden almost 1.5 years ago, so I thought it was time for an updated post.

Negitoro roll and negihama roll: The fiance’s go to rolls. As usual, these did not disappoint! The tuna and onion was fresh and there was a decent amount inside the roll.

Chopped scallop roll: Another one of our go-tos. The scallop was fresh and flavourful. There was a lot of scallop, to the point where it was bursting out of the roll! No complaints there.

I found it to be slightly watery inside, as if they added some water to the mayo because the sauce was quite thin and runny. In addition, the roll was chopped unevenly but that wasn’t a huge deal to me. It was still a delicious roll and I would happily order it again.

Alaska roll: I love Sushi Garden’s Alaska roll! The avocado was ripe and buttery, topped with a slice of salmon sashimi and the signature Alaska roll sauce.

Chicken karaage: I may be weird, but I prefer chicken wings over chicken drumsticks. I was happy to see that all the chicken karaage were chicken wings!

The chicken karaage was seasoned well and very juicy inside. No complaints at all!

Salmon nigiri: The salmon nigiri was disappointing. The salmon texture was fresh, but there wasn’t much salmon taste to it.

All in all, Sushi Garden is a great and cheap place to go to satisfy your sushi cravings. It has been around a long time and I personally have been coming here for years!

Travel: Kyoto Eats

April 15, 2020

During our trip to the Kansai region of Japan earlier this year, we stayed in Kyoto for 3 days! Since we were only here for 3 days, we picked a very central location to stay at. You can read my review on the hotel, Grand Bach Hotel Kyoto, here! A major plus was that we were close to so many food options such as Nishiki Market and Teramachi Street!

Here’s some of what we ate during our time in Kyoto! I didn’t include all the places we ate at because I don’t remember the name of or didn’t take a picture (gasp!).

Freshly Baked Melonpan: Yes, this is the name of the food stand! Melonpan is a popular type of Japanese pastry which is a bun topped with sugar in the shape of melon, hence the name. I saw the Freshly Baked Melonpan stands quite a few times throughout the trip, and it did not disappoint. The melonpan was warm, fresh, and so delicious. You can also add soft serve!

Sugi Honey Shop: This was located in Nishiki Market, where there are tons of food stalls! Although this place specializes in premium honey (which was very good, by the way), they sell soft serve on the side drizzled with their honey. We really enjoyed the yuzu honey soft serve and came twice during our 3 day visit!

I contemplated including this place because this was the only picture I had (why didn’t I take a picture of the soft serve?!), but in the end, I want to look back at my posts and remember this lovely shop!

Yakitori Kanazawa: Since we were a mere 20 footsteps away from Teramachi Market, the fiance looked up some yakitori places around there and picked Yakitori Kanazawa. Props to him because it was a great find! The yakitori was juicy, delicious and full of that grilled, smokey flavour.

One of the chefs/waiter (it was a very small place, probably only fit 10 customers) was really funny and liked to scare customers. He would talk normally and then all of a sudden, scream AH!!!!! which was startling to us, but then entertaining as we saw him do it to other customers, LOL!

Katsukura: Oh my GOD, the best meal we had in Kyoto! We still talk about Katsukura to this day. Katsukura specializes in tonkatsu. The tonkatsu was so delicious and the best we’ve had so far. I ordered a set that came with shrimp tempura above. Just writing about this makes my mouth water and I’m hungry again.

A Happy Pancake: A Happy Pancake isn’t new to us, as we tried the location in Tokyo in 2018. We were happy to see a location in Kyoto and came here for lunch before heading back to Osaka. A Happy Pancake is known for their fluffy pancakes. The pancakes were delicious here as well but be prepared to wait! Luckily we came right when they opened so there wasn’t a line yet.

To be honest, I didn’t enjoy Kyoto as much as I thought I would because the city was over crowded with tourists. I don’t want to be one of those people who complain about tourists because I am also one, but it lacked an authentic vibe to me. However, the food was really good and memorable.

I enjoyed the quieter cities of Kobe and Kurashiki more. I published my post on Kobe earlier this week, which you can read here. I will be publishing a post on Kurashiki soon!