Curiously Carmen

Sushi Loku

December 28, 2018

Sushi Loku has been on my to-try list for probably two years now! The RT group was deciding on where to eat for dinner before our Christmas gift exchange. I suggested Sushi Loku since it was close by to our next location, Macaroni enjoyed it, and because I can finally check this place off my list!

It is in a quieter area of East Van, by Fraser and Broadway. Not many other restaurants near here but this area seems to be getting a bit of a face lift now with new condos being built. Parking was easy and free which is always a plus.

We ordered tons of stuff, so I am not going to include everything! As with eating with friends and ordering lots of food, sometimes I get caught up in other conversations that I forget to ask about each single item they ordered.

Salmon and mango salad: My work had a late Christmas lunch that afternoon, so I wasn’t really that hungry by the time we got to Sushi Loku. However, salmon and mango is one of my favourite combos so I ordered this!

It did not disappoint. The salmon was lightly torched and came with pepper and salt. The mango chunks were big and sweet. It came with ponzu sauce which went well with the salmon and mango.

Right when I finished everything, the boyfriend realized that the side of sauce (not pictured) was sesame oil. I thought it was just extra ponzu sauce so I didn’t end up using any, whoops!

Salmon and tuna sashimi: Reviews kept pointing out how fresh and big their sashimi was, so Cocoa and I shared this plate. It did not disappoint! Both of the tuna and salmon were fresh and juicy. In particular, the tuna was buttery soft!

Chicken teriyaki roll, chopped scallop roll, negitoro roll: The boyfriend ordered us usual rolls. A basis of comparison that we like to use is with Osaka Sushi. There wasn’t as much filling in these rolls compared to Osaka Sushi, so he found it to be only average here.

Oshisushi scallop: Cocoa’s delicious looking aburi sushi. When this came to our table, we all instantly smelled the parmesan cheese… mmm!! It came with scallop, prawn tempura, miso mayo sauce, and of course, the melted cheese on top.

Crazy girl roll: Is Cheese secretly a crazy girl inside? Well, maybe he’s a bit crazy ordering this when he is lactose intolerant LOL!

It came with cream cheese, avocado, smoked salmon and crab meat. The sauces were teriyaki, sweet chili and spicy mayo. He had no complaints about it and it looked delicious!

Salmon roll, dynamite roll, and gyoza: Last but not least, Macaroni’s order! She’s been here before and said that their gyozas are pretty good.

All in all, it was a decent meal at Sushi Loku with no major complaints!

Yay!

Cozmos Cafe + Bistro

December 23, 2018

Instead of our usual delivery order, we decided to try out Cozmos Cafe one night because they had free delivery. I remember hearing good things about the place from Jerky, and Cozmos Cafe has been around for many, many years now so it should be pretty decent right?

Since it was a rainy Friday night, it took awhile for Cozmos to confirm and make our order. Usually delivery takes about 40-50 minutes, but we ended up waiting about a hour and 10 minutes this time. But I do know that Friday and Saturday nights are peak periods so it’s not a huge deal.
Chicken souvlaki: Upon opening the box, the chicken souvlaki was a sad sight because of how small it looked. However, it was only around $13 so I wasn’t expecting a huge piece of chicken anyways. Normally, chicken souvlaki platters are around $18 which come with two skewers.

What made up for the size of the chicken, was the taste! It was juicy with a slightly grilled flavour and lots of herbs. The rice and Greek salad was pretty standard, no complaints.

The only disappointing part was the small and shriveled up potatoes. They were a bit overcooked and saved by the tzatziki sauce. The tzatziki sauce was refreshing and there was a generous amount of it.
Beef burger and fries: There were two things that made this burger special – curly fries and foccacia bread! We were delighted that they offered curly fries as a standard, it’s been years since we have had curly fries!

The burger itself was tasty. The patty was juicy and slightly charred taste. It came with lettuce, tomato, barbeque sauce and the boyfriend added cheese for an extra $1.

The foccacia bread went well with the burger too. It was seasoned with herbs and so delicious!

Our first experience with Cozmos was positive, even though delivery took longer but that’s expected during peak hours. Another selling point is the free delivery!

Yay!

Shift Kitchen and Tapas Bar

December 20, 2018

During our weekend getaway to Sunshine Coast 1.5 years ago (whoops, very late post), one of the restaurants we checked out was Shift Kitchen and Tapas Bar. Why am I writing this post so late? Because a) I thought I wrote about this already but didn’t, and b) I need some content for le blog.

Anyways, Shift Kitchen is a pretty small restaurant in a plaza. It reminded me of Rogue Kitchen in Vancouver, but a shrunken version of it.

Caesar: The boyfriend started off our dinner with a caesar, which he enjoyed.

Chicken strips & salad: I don’t care if people think chicken strips are for kids only, I will still continue to order them! Anyways, my chicken strips were pretty decent. They were a lot better than the ones I ordered at Lighthouse Pub the night before, also on Sunshine Coast.

Burger: The boyfriend ordered a pretty big and filling cheeseburger that he enjoyed. It came with a side of fries too.

Overall, our meal at Shift Kitchen was enjoyable and service was friendly. It had a city vibe which we weren’t looking for because we could get that in Vancouver, but that is not the restaurant’s fault at all.

Travel: An afternoon in Kamakura, Japan

December 17, 2018

On one of our days in Tokyo, we wandered out of the hustling city center and visited the small seaside city of Kamakura for the day. We actually weren’t planning on coming here, nor have we even heard of Kamakura, but our friend offered to take us around since he grew up near here!

Kamakura is about 1.5 hour away from Tokyo via the subway. We arrived around 12pm and spent about 5 hours there. It was a good amount of time for us to check out the main sights.

Here is an itinerary of our afternoon spent! Hopefully this will help you plan an afternoon there too.

Lunch: Even though Kamakura is a smaller city, there were plenty of restaurants to pick from. For lunch, I would recommend eating shirasu don- tiny, sardine like fish. They are a Kamakura speciality and are caught locally, so it is super fresh!

You can have shirasu cooked or raw. Our friend prefers it cooked, so we listened to his expert local advice and loved it! It is a plain and simple dish but full of savoury flavour. There is a bit of egg and onion as well.

Many restaurants offer shirasu-don since it is a Kamakura specialty. There are usually picture stands posted outside restaurants, so just pop in and try it.

Elevated walkway to
the Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, with traffic on both sides

After lunch, start making your way slowly to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangū shrine. There is a nice, elevated pathway to walk along leading directly to the shrine.

Our friend told us that it’s really beautiful during the cherry blossom season!

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū: This is the main shrine in Kamakura and probably the reason why you’d like to visit! Spend some time walking around the shrine, there is also a pond and other small areas to check out.

Hōkoku-ji bamboo forest: This is about a 15-20, non-uphill walk from the shrine. The sidewalks are a bit narrow so you will have to walk single file, but traffic is very calm and reserved. There is also a small entrance fee of about 300 yen, or 500 yen for green tea & a cookie.

I really enjoyed the bamboo forest. There are different pathways and also other greenery in the forest.

It was calm, quiet and a nice nature break from the city landscape of Tokyo (which I loved btw).

After spending about a hour here, we took the bus to Kamakura station (or you can also walk but our feet were sore) and then the train to Yuigahama station, the coastal part of Kamakura next to the Pacific Ocean.

Kamakura Matsubaraan: This is a quaint little restaurant specializing in fresh soba noodles. It gets quite popular and usually you need a reservation. Since we were still full from lunch, we went to their cafe instead. Our friend ordered delicious scones, the boyfriend had a coffee, and I enjoyed some apple juice.

Yuigihama Beach: A quick, five minute walk and you will see Yuguihama Beach. Since it was their winter season, there weren’t many people but apparently in the summer, it gets quite busy here.

We came at the perfect time: sunset (about 4 pm). It was so beautiful and the waves were so calming. I wish we could have stayed longer and walked along the beach more, but the Big Buddha park closes at 5 so we were on our way.

Big Buddha: This is probably the second most popular attraction in Kamakura, next to the temple. The Big Buddha is probably about a 7 minute walk from the beach. There is a small entrance fee for this as well. They close at 5pm so be sure to get there by 4:30pm!

So, there was our few hours in Kamakura! I really enjoyed Kamakura and thought 5 hours was a suitable amount of time. It was a nice change of pace and we got to enjoy some cultural and historic aspects of Japan.

Townhall Public House

December 13, 2018

The bridesmaid duties continue! This time, we went with Sangria to pick our her wedding dress! Before we went though, she suggested that we have brunch at Townhall since we were kind of in the area.

The first time I went was with Sangria as well, probably about 4 years ago now? And then I took the boyfriend once after that too. They are pretty popular for their cheap brunch.

Townhall is located just on the border of Burnaby/Coquitlam/New West, before the IKEA Coquitlam. There is also a large, free parking lot which was convenient for us although both cars missed the entrance (it’s kind of oddly situated).

It was cozy and warm, perfect for a rainy December day. You seat yourself at an available table or hightop table. Our server was pretty prompt in greeting us after sitting down, and service throughout was friendly and frequent.

House special, $5: Yup, you read that right… $5! Where are you able to get a $5 brunch these days in the Lower Mainland?! No wonder their brunch is always quite busy.

Anyways, the house special comes with toast, fried potatoes or fresh fruit, eggs, and sausage or bacon.

Obviously I wanted to indulge in fried potatoes, but my stomach is very unpredictable so I played it safe and went with the fruit. The pineapple oddly had no flavour, just texture… we think because it had been soaked in the brine for so long. The oranges and grapefuit were freshly cut and were good though.

For $5, there isn’t much to complain about at all! Definitely worth the price.

Veggie omelette, $8: It was J’s first time here, so she split the veggie omelette and breakfast skillet with Sangria. The veggie omelette came with mushrooms, peppers, onion, and feta cheese.

They also decided to get fresh fruit instead of the fried potatoes, because the breakfast skillet comes with potatoes already.

Southwest skillet, $8: The last time K came here with Sangria, the skillet actually came in a skillet. This time, it was just served in a bowl.

Maybe I’m just comparing it to the White Spot skillet, but it looked underwhelming. But it’s also half the price of the White Spot skillet so can’t really complain about that! I forgot to ask the girls how it tasted but they didn’t have any complaints about it.

Overall, Townhall is a decent option for a cheap, no frills brunch. They did make a mistake on Sangria’s mom’s order, however they were quick to fix it.

Yay!