Curiously Carmen

Special Announcement: I’m Engaged!

August 2, 2019

This post is a bit different and more personal than my other reviews! Why? Because I am engaged as of July 26, 2019! The boyfriend will now officially be referred to as the fiance on my blog… And then eventually husband!

He has always been one of my biggest supporters of this blog. The first one to read my posts without asking, or helping me proofread if I thought my grammar was incorrect.

When we first started dating 6 years ago, our first date was spent watching airplanes. The airport viewing park became one of our favourite places to go for date night. We loved feeling and hearing the roar of the powerful airplanes above.

On July 26 2019, we came back here again except this time was a biiit more special than the past visits. My other half, best friend, and love of my life got down on one knee and asked if I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

As he put my ring on for the first time, an airplane flew by just over us and made the moment even more special.

Tanzanite gem stone underneath the ring – Aka my birthstone 🙂

It’s still hard to remember to call him my fiance, but I am so happy, and excited to be starting this new chapter of our lives.

(Special thanks to Maki and Nigiri for helping the fiance plan!)

Brown Bites: Snow Angel

August 1, 2019

Brown Bites is a mini series on my blog featuring places the boyfriend has tried without me, so it wouldn’t be my own review. 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!

While hanging out with Macaroni and Cheese one night, Cheese felt like having dessert so the boyfriend went with him to Snow Angel.

Snow Angel is a new Korean dessert place specializing in shaved ice! It is in the new apartment complex on Dawson Street by Brentwood.

Traditional bingsoo: The boyfriend’s bingsoo came with yogurt powder, mochi, red bean, walnuts, and vanilla ice cream. The bingsoo had a nice, milky flavour.

There was also a generous amount of red bean which was appreciated! The mochi was mango flavoured and delicious too.

Mango and pomegranate bingsoo: Cheese ordered the mango and pomegranate shaved ice in a to-go cup. This was the single size serving, I believe you can also get a larger one for sharing as well!

He enjoyed everything except for the pomegranate, which was too much of a sour contrast with the rest of the cup. Some people may like the sour contrast but he personally didn’t. It also came with a scoop of ice cream on top which was nice!

Overall, they both really enjoyed Snow Angel and would like to come back to try the other flavours. Thanks for reading another installment of Brown Bites!

Jin Jiang Shanghai Restaurant

July 29, 2019

Jin Jiang is a restaurant located close to Metrotown, underneath the Best Western Hotel. My family recently had dinner here to celebrate my dad and aunt’s birthdays!

Although Jin Jiang is located in the same building as the hotel, parking is separate. The restaurant has reserved parking underground, while the hotel parking is located on the ground level outside.

The layout of the restaurant was quite awkward. There was a giant wall in the middle of the restaurant. The restaurant also felt quite cramped as many tables were jammed close to each other, and also due to the random wall in the middle.

Braised bean curd with mushroom: The braised bean curd was a chilled dish that also had some wood ear mushroom. There was no complaints about it.

Deep fried chilled fish: I have no idea what the official name for this dish was, I couldn’t find it on the menu. Anyways, it was quite unique. The fish is deep fried first, and then marinated and chilled in sauce.

Since it was marinated afterwards, it wasn’t crunchy anymore but it was still good. The pieces of fish were pretty big too, although some of the meat wasn’t fully marinated.

Spinach & peanut: ? I’m not too sure what the exact name of this was… When I looked up the menu for the review, it was described as “wild beg as bean curd” ??? which was definitely not what we ordered! It was definitely crushed peanuts!

Anyways, this was a refreshing and clean dish to start off our dinner. The spinach was minced too. I ended up adding this to my rice after and it was yummy.

Cuttlefish with salted vegetables: This was the most disappointing dish of that evening! No one enjoyed it. The picture on the menu was completely different than what was served.

Found a pic of the on the menu…compared to what we got…. LOL

The cuttlefish was very bland, like they just boiled it. The salted vegetables did not pair nicely with the cuttlefish and it was just odd. I don’t think we ended up finishing it because no one wanted to eat it, LOL! A bad case of expectation vs. reality.

Stewed mix meat with pork blood hot pot: This hot pot came with an assorted mix of organs and intestines. They do not mess with spice here! The hot pot packed a lot of fiery spice. We ended up getting some bowls of rice to eat the spicy sauce with.

Dried cauliflower with sausage: This dish packed a lot of heat due to the Sichuan peppers, which numb your mouth.

Braised pork knuckle: The braised pork knuckle ended up being my favourite dish of the night. There was a lot of tender braised meat, which was very flavourful.

There was also some spinach underneath. I haven’t tried a dish like this but would order it again.

Shanghai thick noodle: The Shanghai noodles were alright, nothing much to complain about. We ordered this for the monkeys who couldn’t eat the spicy dishes. They were on the oily side though.

Xiao long bao: The XLB here were alright, not the best but still passable. The skin was thicker, usually a thin skin is more desirable. The broth was strangely sweet. There was a good amount of meat inside.

Overall, the dishes were hit or miss. I wanted to have some Shanghai noodle soup, but sadly they don’t offer their noodle soup dishes at dinnertime. I wish that was stated on the menu because I was excited for it.

I wouldn’t come back here willingly and definitely not my first choice… but if someone else wanted to, I would reluctantly. I’d definitely pick Shanghai River or Wang’s over Jin Jiang for Shanghai food.

Nay…

Marcello’s Ristorante & Pizzeria

July 26, 2019

Marcello’s is one of the staple restaurants along Commercial Drive! I’ve been here a few times in the past, and wrote a review on their takeout last summer.

My experience here has always been positive so I was happy to come back when I was invited by the restaurant for dinner!

Marcello’s is located on corner of Commercial and Kitchener. The restaurant layout is long and a bit narrow, but it still fits a good number of people and suitable for larger groups.

Although it fits large groups, there is a cozy, rustic Italian vibe in here. You can also see their impressive oven which was built as a statue of a man’s face – the man’s mouth being the oven.

Since it was a nice summer evening, we sat on the patio which had many tables too.

Focaccia bread: We started with the focaccia bread, which was an excellent choice! The focaccia bread was freshly baked and served warm. The outside was crispy, while the inside was soft and doughy.

It was so heavenly, and the herbs made it taste even better! I don’t have focaccia bread often, but I’m definitely going to get it more with Marcello’s focaccia bread being the standard.

Prosciutto pizza: My pizza was called the prosciutto, but in the description, it said ham instead of prosciutto which was fine with me!

There was a very generous portion of ham on the pizza, which was much appreciated! The ham was a bit bland and could have used more salt, so I sprinkled some salt and pepper on it.

There was a generous portion of mushrooms as well which gave the pizza more flavour.

Con salsiccia pizza: The boyfriend went with the con salsiccia pizza, which came with spicy Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese.

He really enjoyed his pizza! The mozzarella cheese was thick and cheesy. Meanwhile, the spicy Italian sausage packed a good amount of spice. This pizza would be good for spice lovers!

I would recommend trying Marcello’s, one of the classic restaurants on The Drive. I am still thinking of that focaccia bread!

Yay!

Media event, meal was sponsored by restaurant. Opinions are own.

House Special Modern Vietnamese

July 23, 2019

House Special is a restaurant whose name I have seen tossed around on other food blogs. While looking for a place to have dinner with Latte, I suggested we try this place. It had good reviews but I left feeling disappointed unfortunately.

House Special is among one of the recent surges of modern Vietnamese dining in the past few years, a concept that isn’t really that popular in Vancouver. Most Vietnamese restaurants are small, hole in the wall, family run places.

But I’ve seen House Special, CoM Vietnamese, Anh and Chi, Do Chay, DD Mau, just to name a few, open up which are different than what we are used to!

Anyways, House Special is located in Yaletown. I was quite surprised walking in because I have been in this space before! House Special replaced Malt and Marrow, where the boyfriend and I stopped for a drink after biking 4 years ago. I never wrote a review since we just had a beer.

They have a patio with communal tables but Latte and I sat inside. It was still pretty early and didn’t get busy yet. Service was attentive and quick.

Spring roll: Latte started with a spring roll, which she had no complaints about. It looked fresh and crispy!

Vietnamese coffee: Latte also ordered a Vietnamese coffee, which she enjoyed.

Pho: I decided to try a staple, which tells a lot about a restaurant. It’s hard to mess up pho, isn’t it? Well somehow they did end up messing it up.

The noodles came stuck together in a lump at the bottom of the bowl. Usually noodles are precooked which is completely fine, but it would have been nice for the kitchen to quickly stir out the noodles before serving.

After stirring and trying to loosen the lump of noodles, they were unfortunately soggy and way too overcooked.

The broth was pretty standard, but the soggy, overcooked noodles were very distracting and ruined the pho for me. There was an average amount of beef inside but the beef balls were on the small side.

Bun bo hue: Latte’s bun bo hue noodles were also overcooked and soggy like mine. Bun bo hue contains a different type of noodle than the pho so I guess they overcook their noodles here. Latte enjoyed the soup though, and it had a good amount of spice.

Overall, the dishes left not much to be desired. It was a forgettable experience to me and I was expecting more.

Nay!