Curiously Carmen

Ebisu – Revisit

July 22, 2018

A couple years ago, I did a review on my first visit to Ebisu. Since then, Ebisu has become one of mine and the boyfriend’s place to go for happy hour. We have brought numerous people here to try it because we love it so much! I figured it was finally time to do a revisit post of the go-to items.

The location that we go to is the Broadway one. There is metered street parking which is easy to find at night. If you’re lucky, you can also score one of the free street parking spots!

Virgin strawberry slush, $4: I don’t order a drink each time, but when I do, I always get the strawberry slush. It is sweet like strawberry syrup and has bits of strawberry pulp throughout. It doesn’t taste super artificial because they add some strawberries in there.

Chicken karage, $5.99: This is the boyfriend’s must order. The chicken karage is always AMAZING. It always comes out piping out and fresh. The batter is crispy while the inside is very juicy. Squeezing the fresh lemon slice on top makes it taste even better!

Takoyaki, $5.99: The takoyaki is my must order. Just like the karage, it always comes out fresh. The outside is crispy while the inside is nice and doughy.

We ordered this at the Richmond location once and it wasn’t as good and crispy.

Salmon and avocado roll, $4.25: Ebisu has higher prices for Japanese food, but the happy hour is very cheap and affordable. The salmon and avocado roll is always fresh. The avocado is ripe and buttery too.

Ebisu happy hour is an amazing deal compared to their regular prices. We’ve been to dinner here as well, but find that happy hour is the way to go because it’s cheaper. It’s a good place to enjoy some snacks with friends after a long work week!

Also, if you’re into drinks, Ebisu has quite the drink selection! They have many different types of cocktails which we see other people drinking. The downtown Ebisu is more popular for getting lit though, because the Broadway location closes at 11, and last call is 10-10:30.

Sekai Udon Bar

July 18, 2018

Tofu was in town and had some limited time to catch up with me! Since Tofu’s city does not have Uniqlo yet, she wanted to check it out while in Vancouver. Also, she wanted to try Uncle Tetsu’s but we only had a couple hours so sadly, couldn’t make it.

Anyways, since she mostly wanted to just go to Uniqlo and we only had a couple hours, we grabbed a quick dinner at Sekai Udon Bar inside the mall. Sekai Udon Bar makes their own udon so I was quite curious as to how it would taste.

This restaurant used to be an AYCE sushi place which wasn’t that good. It was so long ago since I went to the AYCE place so I can’t remember if it was renovated after Sekai opened up.

Spicy tuna roll, $4.00: We ordered a couple of rolls to share. The first was a spicy tuna roll. The spice was not marinated inside the roll. There was just some hot sauce put on top which isn’t as good. Anyways, the roll was pretty average.

Salmon avocado roll, $4.00: There was a generous portion of salmon inside, while the avocado was ripe and buttery.

Nothing special or super appealing about the rolls, but for $4.00 each it was pretty decent!
Niku udon, $7 (small size): There are two different sizes of their udon bowls – either small or regular. Since we were sharing some rolls, we both got a small size. Portion wise, it was perfect!

Now, the star of the show… the udon! The udon was chewy and denser than most places. Noodles are my favourite food ever (apart from chicken strips) and these get an approving yes! They also have frozen udon that you can buy.

The broth was light and clear, as you can see from the photo. This dish was simple yet comforting and delicious.

Curry udon, $8 (small size): Tofu ordered the curry udon. Compared to mine, the sauce was pretty thick. The menu described it as a soup but I think it was more like a sauce. She didn’t have any complaints about it.

I’m glad I tried Sekai because I found it to be pretty decent. The prices were on the low end too, which is always great. I wouldn’t drive here just to eat it, but if I was at Metro and wanted some food, I wouldn’t mind coming here.

Yay!

Hart House

July 15, 2018

It was a special occasion and the boyfriend and I decided to celebrate by going out for a nice dinner. After doing some research, we both wanted to go somewhere quiet and intimate. It seems that we are both drawn towards nice restaurants in parks such as Seasons in the Park, and the Fish House which is sadly closed down now.

Hart House is located in a historic mansion that was slightly changed to meet the needs of a restaurant. On the evening that we went, it was a beautiful day and the ambiance was what we were looking for. Since it was a weekday evening, it wasn’t too busy (but the food still took forever).

Bread: Some complimentary bread to start. It was warm and toasted, and kept our starving stomachs somewhat full until our food came.

Mussels and clams, $21: Finally, our appetizer arrived! We got mussels and clams in a garlic, roasted pepper and tomato cream sauce. Everything about this dish was amazing. There was a decent amount of mussels and clams which tasted fresh. The sauce was so delicious and we used some for the leftover bread.

A bonus was the smoked ham hock which was tender and full of savoury flavour. I liked that the ham hock was the lean portion instead of fatty.

Soup, free: After we were done the appetizer, the waitress came by and gave us some complimentary soup. Although it was in a small cup, the flavours were not small at all! There was the same tender ham hock inside, just like the mussels and clams. We noticed outside that there was a wedding rehearsal, so we were thinking perhaps they had some leftovers.

Seafood pasta, $19: I just can’t stay away from seafood, can I? Haha! My pasta came in a garlicky sauce with crab, mussels, and clams. The flavour was a bit flat but after adding some pepper and salt into it, it tasted a lot better! Again, the seafood was very fresh, nothing to complain about here.

Hart house burger, $21: When looking up the menu online, the boyfriend knew that he was ordering this after seeing ‘truffle aioli’ as the sauce. He was not disappointed with his burger at all. Just look at how towering it is! It came with AAA beef AND pork belly. This dish doesn’t seem like something that a fancy restaurant would serve, but it was quite delicious.

My only complaint about the Hart House is that the service and food was soo0o0o0 sloooo00w. We were there for almost 3 hours because it took so long for the appetizer to come, and then the entrees to come. Other than that, the food itself was really delicious and we left satisfied.

Yay!

Sushi Day

July 11, 2018

Biscotti and I were looking for a place to order lunch from one Friday, and came across Sushi Day on Yelp (Or was it Skip the Dishes, can’t remember). Both of us haven’t been here before and seeing that it was close by and the reviews were good, we decided to give this place a try!

Sushi Day is located at Park and Tilford plaza in North Vancouver. The restaurant is quite small so it is easy to miss. Walking in, I’m glad that we ordered take out because it was CRAMPED! There’s probably about 4-6 tables all closely together.

Tuna & salmon sashimi, $12.95: Right away, I noticed the quality of the salmon sashimi. The price point of $12.95 is more than I’m used to for sashimi, but after eating it, I could see why. Both tuna and salmon sashimi were very fresh and delicious. I’m pretty sure they only use wild salmon and tuna here.

Tamago roll, $3.50: It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had tamago, so I ordered this. No complaints about the tamago roll!

Inari roll, $4.50: I’ve never ordered inari roll before, which is a sweet tofu skin roll. I’ve only had it wrapped up as a triangle before, which I really enjoyed. Anyways, turned out that we over ordered and I was too full to try some of this. But Biscotti had no complaints about it.

Popcorn shrimp roll, $13.95: This was very intriguing on the menu, so we decided to give it a try. Good thing we did because it was so delicious! The roll was made up of prawn tempura, while the outside had popcorn shrimp and was heavily drizzled with a sweet chili sauce.

This is definitely a ‘Westernized’ roll and definitely not a traditional Japanese roll but it was really good. Not healthy for you though since it’s deep fried and super saucy, but it’s good to try different things sometimes.

Salmon and avocado roll, $5.50: To balance off the unhealthiness of the popcorn shrimp roll, we also ordered this. The salmon was super fresh and delicious like the sashimi above. The avocado was ripe and buttery too.

Double crunch yam roll, $9,95: The double crunch yam roll was really good. It had the same sweet chili sauce as the popcorn shrimp roll. The inside had deep fried yam and avocado. Then, it was topped with another layer of deep fried yam. If yam is your thing, you should definitely try this roll.

We definitely over estimated and ordered wayyy too much food for both of us. This meant that I was able to bring some back for dinner! Sushi Day was a great find. They are more on the pricey side, but the quality of the sashimi and rolls really show. I would recommend getting take out since the restaurant is so tiny and cramped.

Yay!

Food: Boston Pizza (Multiple visits)

July 8, 2018

When it comes to chain restaurants, Boston Pizza is probably the one that the boyfriend and I go to the most. It seems like these days, chain restaurants are given a bad reputation but I personally like chain restaurants because they are reliable and satisfying.

We’ve been to Boston Pizza so many times but I have yet to write a review on it! This post is a collection of many visits and our go-tos whenever we come here. We like to alternate with different items on the menu, depending on what we’re feeling that day.

Chicken strips and fries, $12.50: I will never stop ordering chicken strips. Chances are that I order this, almost every visit. Do I get sick of them? No, never, it’s not possible to get sick of chicken strips. The chicken strips are always delicious. They come piping out, seasoned well, and are juicy. They come with fresh fries, and your choice of plum or sweet and sour sauce. To make it somewhat healthy, the dish comes with a few vegetable stalks which are always fresh and crunchy.

Pizza burger: Is it calorie wise? Nope. Is it good? Yes. The pizza burger was one of the boyfriend’s great discovery. It goes up a level from your regular burger. The patty is encased in pizza dough, cheese, and pepperoni. This is definitely one of those treat yourself after a long week, or cheat meal burgers and I would not recommend getting this often if you want to fit in your clothes, LOL!!!

Meateor pizza, large (on promotion for $27, normally $35): On one of our visits, all the pizzas were on sale- a large pizza for the price of a medium. The meateor pizza was full of meat and so delicious. The pizza dough was nice and thick too.

The large pizza is definitely way too much for two people. It’s probably best split with four people. We ended up taking half of it home.