Curiously Carmen

Earl of Sandwich – Las Vegas

November 1, 2019

I made a good choice before our trip to Las Vegas by asking a bunch of people for their food recommendations. Cola suggested Earl of Sandwich and it ended up being our favourite find of the trip!

We loved it so much that we ended up going 3 times that trip and bought some on the flight back for dinner! Earl of Sandwich was affordable, delicious, filling, but still contained good quality ingredients.

According to Google Maps, there are 3 Earl of Sandwich locations along the Strip. We only went to the one inside Planet Hollywood by the casino. It is not that big in there with only a few seats, but most people get takeout.

Tuna melt: I wasn’t feeling like beef or chicken that night, so I went with the tuna melt. It was an excellent choice on my end because it was delicious. There was a lot of tuna, mayo, and cheese. The sandwich was served hot which made it even more delicious.

I am not too sure about the type of bread they use, but it tasted very fresh and was toasted. When I looked on the website, it just said ‘artisan bread’. A similar comparison would be ciabatta bread, but thicker and softer.

French dip: The fiance went with the french dip, and he loved it as well. There was a very generous amount of roast beef. In addition, the hot sandwich came with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese.

The Full Montagu: On our second visit, the fiance tried the Full Montagu. This sandwich came with roasted beef, turkey, Swiss cheese, cheddar, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, and mustard sauce.

I ordered the tuna melt again and enjoyed it as much as the first time!

Italian: Luckily we both have big appetites so we ordered a third sandwich to split, giving me an opportunity to expand my Earl of Sandwich tastebuds. The Italian sandwich was a meat lover’s paradise, containing salami, capicola, ham, mortadella, Swiss cheese, Italian seasoning, and Italian dressing.

There was a very generous portion of meat as with the other sandwiches. The variety of meat kept the sandwich exciting and the Italian seasoning/herbs were a nice touch.

Chipotle chicken avocado: I ordered the chipotle chicken avocado as the last meal in Vegas. It did not disappoint either. The grilled chicken was juicy with a delicious grilled flavour to it. Meanwhile, the avocado was chunks were nice and ripe.

The chipotle sauce added a very slight spicy kick to the sandwich. Also, are you wondering why there is only half a sandwich? That is because the fiance was too hungry and forgot that I needed a picture for le blog before he dug in.

Out of all the sandwiches I tried (including the fiance’s), my order of preference would be: 1) Tuna melt, 2) Chipotle chicken avocado, 3) French dip, 4) The Full Montagu, and 5) Italian. That being said, I loved them all and wouldn’t mind having any of the 5 sandwiches again.

Earl of Sandwich was definitely worth trying. As mentioned above, it was cheap, filling, delicious, and made with quality ingredients. It is an extremely better version of Subway but at similar prices!

Jinya Ramen Bar

October 30, 2019

It has been a long time since I’ve been to a ramen place! After coming back from Vegas, the fiance was craving some ramen. We haven’t been to Jinya Ramen yet so he suggested we try it out!

As expected with most ramen places, there was a wait. After putting down our phone number, we were told that it would be about a 30 to 40 minute wait so we went across the street to Wal-Mart to kill time. I received a text about 30 minutes later saying that our spot was ready.

Jinya tonkotsu black ramen: The fiance went with his go-to broth, tonkotsu. This particular bowl came with thin noodles, but in retrospect, he would have preferred the thick noodles instead.

The broth was rich, fatty, and flavourful aka everything you’d expect in ramen. We found it to be over priced though, at $17 at the time of writing. For comparison at Ramen Gaoh, a bowl goes for $12.

So although it was delicious, we felt that it wasn’t really worth the price, and some other Yelp reviewers have said that too.

Jinya bun: They were advertising the Jinya bun, so why not give it a try? I enjoyed it more than my entree. The steamed bun was very soft. The chashu was very tender and melted in my mouth.

In addition, the cucumber gave the bun a nice, refreshing crunch. The Japanese mayo was the cherry on top – I love Japanese mayo!

Tokyo curry rice: I was craving some Japanese curry, so I decided to get the Tokyo curry rice. It was delicious, but tasted like something I could easily cook at home for a much cheaper price. They probably just use the Japanese curry packets.

There also wasn’t much ground chicken, which was disappointing. I liked that it was comforting and warm for that rainy evening, but again, it didn’t feel worth it for someone who makes Japanese curry at home often.

We left satisfied as the food was tasty, but both felt that it was overpriced for what it was. There are plenty of other ramen places in town which are just as delicious, but cheaper.

Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace – Las Vegas

October 27, 2019

A trip to Las Vegas is not complete without a meal (or meals) at the buffet! Although we would have loved to go to every single buffet in Las Vegas, the price would quickly add up!

After watching some Strictly Dumpling videos, we decided to go to Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace! Anyone else watch his videos?

We left so uncomfortable full and on the brink of stomachaches and regret… so much so, that we decided to skip out on the other buffet we had in mind the next day. We did not want to feel this uncomfortable again!

(If you’re wondering why don’t we just eat less, the answer is we are Asian and it is not in our blood when at a buffet. It would be a disgrace. LOL.)

Anyway, we were planning on going here for dinner before our Cirque De Soleil show. But there was a really long line up to enter already, and we didn’t want to rush the buffet or risk being late to the show. Instead, we came the next day for lunch.

It was a lot less busy at lunch and the offerings were still really good.

The carving station! You could choose from roast pork, beef brisket, prime rib, wagyu tri tip, and turkey. The meat was absolutely delicious and juicy.

This post will be mostly photo heavy. I’m not going to include every single food item because that would be too long of a post.

There was a lot of variety to choose from, and with many different cuisines featured.

I was surprised to see how much Asian food they had! Bacchanal Buffet had Chinese food (stir fry, fried noodles, rice, spring rolls, etc), dim sum, Japanese, and Thai.

I didn’t try any to save stomach space, because Vancouver’s Asian food is probably much better.

The chilled crab was a bit disappointing, and didn’t taste super fresh. They also didn’t crack the crab shell properly or give out shell-cracking tools. But the smoked salmon was amazing and I kept coming back for that.

Part of the Italian section, I didn’t take a picture of the other Italian section. I should have, because there was a really delicious garlic bread with truffle ricotta cheese that I couldn’t get enough of.

I liked the individual frying baskets that they had. They looked nice and also kept things more organized!

More breakfast/lunch items!

One of my biggest regrets here was loading up too soon on the lunch food, when I should have saved more room for dessert!

Unlimited ice cream! I was way too full at this point, but I did ask for a sample of the ube ice cream. I’ve seen it around in Vancouver but was a bit wary of ordering it. It reminded me of taro bubble tea!

As mentioned above, I only included about half the food items that were offered during lunch. I don’t want to make this a super long post. The quality of the food was alright, but a buffet is one of those rare things where quantity rules over quality.

All in all, it was a great deal at $40 USD per person for lunch. We were so full for the rest of the day that we only needed a light dinner in the evening!

I’d recommend going to Bacchanal Buffet! Next time, I would pace myself slower and save more room for dessert!

Eggslut Las Vegas

October 24, 2019

Eggslut is a quick serve restaurant whose name I have heard tossed around many times from friends travelling to Las Vegas or Los Angeles!

Well, we needed to see what the hype was about and paid a visit during our trip to Las Vegas!

Eggslut is located inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. We came prepared to wait, as the online reviews has warned us. The line was not too bad and moved pretty quickly though.

In total, we waited around 20 minutes on a weekday around 11:30am until we were able to order and pay. Then, we waited an additional 20 minutes for the kitchen to prepare the food. You can see from this picture how busy it is!

Fresh orange juice: I was feeling thirsty from all the junk I ate the previous evening, so I decided to try the orange juice. You could tell it was freshly squeezed and it was delicious, albeit pricey.

Sausage, egg, cheese: I had my eyes on the sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich. I liked that it was made with turkey sausage!

My breakfast sandwich was delicious and I can see why people line up for this! The sandwich was a perfect harmony with the gooey poached egg, cheese, turkey sausage, and sauce. The brioche bun was very fresh too.

Bacon: The fiance ordered the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. He enjoyed his breakfast sandwich and had no complaints about it either.

All in all, we enjoyed Eggslut. The total wait (20 min to order, 20 min for food) was reasonable and worth it, but we probably wouldn’t want to wait any longer. This comes from two people who hate waiting in line for any restaurant so take it with a grain of salt.

Also, maybe we are just big eaters but we didn’t feel full from one breakfast sandwich each. We should have gotten two breakfast sandwiches each instead!

The Juice Truck Cafe – Main Street

October 21, 2019

I’ve passed by The Juice Truck on Main Street multiple times on the way to Boiling Point, and have made a point to try it. The thing that stood out to me here was their vegan soft serve, which I haven’t had before. But if this is what vegan soft serve tastes like, I am never having it again!

The problem is that I’m always so stuffed after Boiling Point that there is no way I could possibly have dessert. Well, the fiance and I tried Nam Nam Noodle across the street so we came here afterwards!

The Juice Truck is most popular for their juices, but they also have some very healthy food items. It’s your typical modern, clean, conscious eating establishment.

Vegan pumpkin and cinnamon swirl soft serve: I was a bit disappointed to find out that they only had the pumpkin or cinnamon flavour. I was hoping to have a plain vanilla or chocolate instead. I ended up going with a swirl so I could try both of the flavours.

The vegan soft serve was made with a blend of cashew and almond milk as I was told by the staff. I found the soft serve to be disappointing and quite awful actually. It lacked the richness and creaminess associated with ice cream. If it was made with coconut milk, it would have tasted better because that is richer.

I didn’t end up finishing it because I was quite disappointed with it. If mud had a taste, this would be it…with a hint of cinnamon and pumpkin.

I would be willing to give it another shot if there was a vanilla or chocolate flavour perhaps, but I was definitely not sold this time.

Nay.