Curiously Carmen

Tap & Barrel Olympic Village (Re-visit)

August 18, 2018

I’ve written about Tap & Barrel in the past, and thought it was finally time for an updated post four years later! The Olympic Village location is one of my top places to go in the summertime because the view is great and it is located in my favourite Vancouver neighbourhood. After eating here, I love taking a walk down the seawall and around the area. If you’re a tourist or showing people around the city, I would recommend this place for their view and vibe.

It can get quite busy here in the summer, especially on the patio. Latte and I came on a weekday evening a bit before 6pm, and there was already a line up for the patio. If you don’t want to wait as long, you can get a spot inside. A month later, I came back here with the boyfriend and we sat inside because it was super hot that evening.

Pineapple and pulled bacon flatbread pizza, $16.95: This came with a good amount of pulled bacon and pineapple, as you can see from the picture! It was delicious, the sweetness of the pineapple balanced out the pulled bacon. I would describe the pulled bacon more like a pulled pork though. I liked how the pizza was not greasy or oily.

Spicy tuna burger, $17.95: This isn’t something I would normally order but it sounded pretty good, so we split this as well. The tuna burger came with seared ahi tuna, sesame lemongrass panko crust, avocado, cucumber, crispy onion, pickled shallots, spicy miso mayo. The burger was not that spicy. Everything in this burger went well together and I’m glad that we got this! Tap and Barrel also has good fries so we enjoyed this immensely too.

While the view and food was great, the service was lacking which is what I find the only bad thing about Tap and Barrel. It was hard to flag down our waiter and we didn’t get much service during our dinner. It was a struggle to get our drinks filled and to get the bill. The patio was completely full so I understand the lack of service, but I think they could benefit more by adding a couple more waiters. I would still come back for the atmosphere and food though. Compared to CRAFT which is across the street, Tap and Barrel has better prices and also a water view.

Yay!

The Union

August 17, 2018

While looking up a new place for Cola and I to try, I came across The Union. I am a fan of fusion restaurants and the menu sounded delicious, so I suggested that we meet here! The Union is located in Chinatown on Union Street. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to Chinatown and it’s crazy to see how much has changed in this area. Every time I come here, there’s a new store, restaurant, or building that wasn’t here before.

It was a happy surprise when we got here and found out it was wings Wednesday! Her friend also joined us last minute upon hearing that it was wings Wednesday and seeing the unique flavours they offered.

Matahari, $5.00: This was a non-alcoholic cocktail made out of guava juice, apple juice, lime, and ginger. After seeing guava, I knew I had to give it a try! It was delicious and I would recommend if it if you like guava flavour. Guava was the main taste but you could taste hints of the lime and ginger, which made it taste less sweet.

Jeow som, $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): The chicken wings were marinated in a very unique blend of spices… cilantro, lime, garlic, fish sauce and bird’s eye chilies. It was a bit spicy but enjoyable. I’ve never had fish sauce marinated chicken wings but surprisingly it went well with everything else. This is why I love fusion restaurants!

Roja grande $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): Spanish paprika, vinegar, cumin, and syrup glaze. Out of the 3 flavours of wings that we ordered, we all found this one to be the most underwhelming. We could mostly only taste the cumin.

Korean gochujang $10.00 (Wednesday special, originally $15): Korean spicy chili glaze, sesame seeds. I can’t recall if this was super spicy or not, sorry! This is why I need to write the reviews right after my visit. -_-

Tom Kha Mu, $16.00: This was a bowl of fusion noodles, when I first saw it on the menu my mind was set! It came with lemongrass pork meatballs, coconut chicken broth, egg noodles, and chili oil. I really enjoyed this bowl of noodles and it was very unique. The lemongrass pork meatballs were juicy and had strong lemongrass flavour in it. The coconut chicken broth was very creamy and there was a hint of spice from the chili oil. The next day, I tried to re-create the coconut chicken broth myself because I couldn’t stop thinking about how delicious it was (Incase you’re wondering, it was a success although I might have added a bit too much lemongrass)!

I found the chicken wings to be meh… while it sounds cool and unique on the menu, they weren’t amazingly delicious. I also found them not to taste super fresh. However, I would come back to have the Tom Kha Mu. I would be interested in trying the other fusion noodles. The prices are a bit higher at $16-18 for a bowl of noodles, but judging on the quality of the Tom Kha Mu, it would be worth a try!

Yay!

Sugar Lab

August 16, 2018

Matcha and I both had matching days off, so we decided to meet up for dessert! She suggested Sugar Lab in Burnaby by Royal Oak, which we both never went to before.

We got there right when it opened at 2pm. There were other people who came right at 2pm so the spots at the small cafe filled up pretty quickly. I would imagine it’s even busier during peak times such as weekend evenings!

Mango crepe cake, $8.95: This was the second time that I’ve had crepe cake, which seems to be quite popular these days. Compared to the crepe cake at L’Otus Cake Boutique, the slice at Sugar Lab was a tad sweeter and creamier. There was a lot of fresh mango in each layer which was great too.

Strawberry with ice cream shaved ice, $8.75: Shaved ice is a good alternative to ice cream because it is less fattening and sugary. Just like the mango crepe cake, there was a generous portion of fresh strawberries. It came with vanilla ice cream and was drizzled with some condensed milk too.

I prefer the Korean style shaved ice that has some milk in it (such as at Passion8 or My Frosty), because the one at Sugar Lab is literally just ice and it is not creamy. Good thing there was a lot of fresh strawberries to make up for it. The portion size was pretty big and we left some ice because we were starting to get full and a bit cold from it.

Sugar Lab is a good option for Asian desserts. They put a generous portion of fresh fruit in their desserts and the service was quick and friendly too.

Yay!

Marcello Ristorante & Pizzeria

August 15, 2018

At one of our hangouts, we decided to order some pizza and stay in. Macaroni loves Marcello, so she went to go get take out for the five of us. This is going to be a short review with only the photos because I don’t remember which pizzas we ordered and Macaroni does not have the receipt anymore!

Probably my shortest review ever! For 5 people, 3 pizzas was a good amount and we were all satisfied. I can say for all of them that they were delicious. The dough was also light and chewy! It’s a good and healthier alternative to Pizza Hut or Dominos, and wasn’t too expensive when the 5 of us split the cost.

Yay!

Introduction to LINE!

August 13, 2018

This post will be different than my usual food and beauty posts, and a bit more personal! I would like to introduce LINE characters here, as I am absolutely in love with the characters.

It all innocently started last year when the boyfriend and I were introduced by Maki… and now it’s gone into a full blown obsession between the two of us. I’d probably argue that he is more obsessed than I am currently!

Anyways, you’re probably thinking what on earth is LINE? It is a Japanese messaging app, probably equivalent to the popularity of Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger in North America. What makes LINE special is that they have developed cute characters/mascots.

The main ones are Brown (an expressionless brown bear in a relationship with Cony), Cony (a fun bunny in a relationship with Brown), Moon, James, and Sally.

Not many Canadians use LINE and it is definitely more popular in Asia (especially Japan, where LINE is their main messenging app). The bad thing is that there are no LINE stores in Canada, so I can’t buy any of their merchandise in person. The only LINE store in North America is in New York City, and they recently opened up a brief pop-up store in Los Angeles. So, I usually just browse longingly and follow many LINE Instagram accounts.

A great website that I have been using lately to browse LINE products is Wikibuy. Wikibuy compares prices of different websites and also shows you if there’s any current coupons. Since the prices for LINE products vary so much in North America (most LINE products that ship to North America are from ebay/personal sellers so they set their own price & shipping cost), Wikibuy helps me find the cheapest products.

Here are some cute LINE products that Wikibuy has found for me, and helped me compare from other websites:

Wikibuy comparing the prices of your desired product – I would not buy a toothbrush for $28, which is why I only window shop!!! (Mobile version)

Wikibuy is very responsive and simple to use. It is well developed and it also includes an option to link your Amazon Prime because shipping costs are usually different from Prime. The downside is that they are currently only offered in USD.

You can use Wikibuy to compare makeup, electronics, household items… basically anything you could think of!

This post is sponsored by Wikibuy.