dessert Archives - Page 3 of 5

Crackle Creme

October 26, 2014

Crackle Creme is a relatively new cafe in Chinatown that specializes in creme brulee. As the Chinatown area slowly turns and adapts to modernization and hip places for the young, Crackle Creme definitely fits in perfectly. Nestled under a new apartment complex, it is located right on the edge of Chinatown by the Georgia viaduct.

After our semi-disappointing lunch at Pacifico Pizzeria, we decided to try our luck with this cafe. Sangria was back for Thanksgiving weekend, and she is a huge fan of creme brulee so it was the perfect opportunity to try this place out.
We went on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and the streets were quieter than I expected. Because of this, it was a bit harder to find Crackle Creme because I thought that it would be busier there on a weekend.

We finally saw the sign a few stores prior, and the logo of Crackle Creme was a bit hard to read too. You can kind of see it on the glass window there, but not really if you’re far away or if you’re not specifically looking for the place. We knew this was the right place because of the sign out front advertising their goodies, it was definitely not from the window.

Out front, they have a small area for customers to enjoy their creme brulee. The table space is pretty small and cramped outside, there is probably only enough room to fit your creme brulee, which is perfectly fine because that’s what they specialize in.

The table is more of a thin wooden slab no more than 15 inches long I think? Unfortunately, it was too cold that day so we didn’t get to enjoy the seats out here ~~and hipster watch teeheehee.~~
Crackle Creme was pretty small, and there was only one person working, we assumed it was the owner. The table space inside was pretty tight too, as with the patio seating. We liked how there was self serve mint water, but two of us had to use the washroom really badly but we were told there was no washrooms =( So we decided to not drink any more water LOL.

After deciding on a flavour, they then takes a pre-made creme brulee from the fridge, sprinkles some sugar on top, and torch it in front of you. We agreed that the service seemed a bit cold and unwelcoming.

Sangria decided on getting the earl grey creme brulee ($5). She has a major sweet tooth, and really enjoyed her creme brulee. The flavours of the earl grey were really pronounced, had a great custard texture to it, and was very sweet.
For myself, I decided on getting the matcha creme brulee. I was happy that there was a strong matcha taste to this and that the top layer did in fact, crack as the company name suggests 🙂 However, I am the opposite of my friend and don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and couldn’t end up finishing it as it was waaaayy too sweet for me. Sangria helped me finish half of it. I’m not sure if I’m biased because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but in retrospect, $5 for this seemed a bit overpriced for the size it was.

There are two types of people in this world, those that prefer savoury foods and those that prefer sweet foods. Pick your poison, I much prefer savoury and salty foods over sweets and desserts. Because of this, I didn’t enjoy Crackle Creme that much, and don’t think I would have a craving to come here again, and think that it is definitely over hyped (I’m sorry if you’re reading this and you hate me right now, but that is just my own personal opinion).

I would come back in the future if my friends wanted to, but I don’t think I would order another one by myself. If you love desserts and sweets, this place might be checking out. But if you’re like me and prefer a savoury bacon pepper potato hash (which is exactly what I cooked up this sunny afternoon) over an extremely sweet creme brulee, I wouldn’t recommend trying this place.

The Cheesecake Factory, Downtown Seattle

October 6, 2014

Since these two weeks haven’t been exactly the best, I always find myself thinking about my weekend getaway as that was the highlight of my month. So, let us flashback to my weekend in Seattle 🙂

After spending a long day walking around downtown, we were pretty hungry and tired by the time dinner rolled around. Walking around burned all the energy from our lunch at PF Changs. We also witnessed a ridiculous man who was going absolutely crazy, swearing and yelling at workers because their computer broke and had to close the store early. I’ve never seen someone so upset over gelato before!

After that incident, we were walking to the Cheesecake Factory and out of nowhere, this minivan starts honking for two minutes straight, because the car in front of her was dropping off an older man at the sidewalk when the traffic light was red and there wasn’t anything saying they couldn’t stop. WTF?! This is not including the creepy man on drugs who yelled at me at See’s Chocolate hours before but I don’t want to get sidetracked anymore LOL. People are scary sometimes. Anyways, we got to the main Cheesecake Factory location in downtown and waited about twenty minutes in line which was expected for a gorgeous, warm Saturday night.

Maki and Nigiri ordered the seared tuna tataki to start ($17.95 USD). Since it was $18 for a thinly sliced portion, I felt bad having some so I don’t have an opinion on this dish 🙂 But any dish with avocado and seared tuna is good in my books.

For the entree, Maki and Nigiri shared a pasta dish, which I can not remember the name of. Sorry 🙁 The portion was huge though, you can’t really tell from the picture but it is definitely an entree meant for more than one person!
The boyfriend ordered the classic burger ($11.95 USD) which came with a big piece of grilled onion, lettuce, tomato, and a side of fries. I was quite surprised he ordered a plain hamburger, but he didn’t want to over indulge since we were planning on getting cheesecake! To his surprise, he really enjoyed the hamburger and said it was delicious even without the cheese. To this day, he still brings up this burger and wants to have it again, haha!
I ordered the fried shrimp platter ($16.95 USD). I love my seafood, especially shrimp, and this one was no different. The shrimp were absolutely massive, I’ve never had shrimp that big before!

They were very crispy and flavourful. The fries underneath were pretty standard, and I didn’t try the cole slaw because I’m not a big fan of it. None of us enjoyed the special shrimp dipping sauce (the red one in the back), it had a very off putting flavour and was a bit watery and light. I ended up only eating half my entree because I was getting pretty full from the huge shrimp pieces, and plus I wanted to save room for cheesecake (duh).
Finally, the best and most famous part came! Maki and Nigiri decided to split the mango key lime cheesecake (all their cheesecakes have a set price, from $6.95-$7.95 USD). Yummmm!!
The reason why the boyfriend decided to skip out on the cheese for his burger earlier was for this slice of rich, heavenly indulgence, the Godiva cheesecake. One bite was more than satisfying for me, we all found this cheesecake to be very, very heavy and filling even though he asked for no whip creme.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but we felt that there was almost too much of a chocolate taste (I know, impossible right?!). We didn’t really taste the actual cheesecake flavour, just lots and lots of chocolate. I think this would be a good dessert to split among four people, but definitely way too much for one person. Needless to say, he ended up packing half of it back to our hotel because it was impossible to finish.
For myself, I ordered the white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake (Oh man, I felt myself gaining a few pounds just typing that out LOL). I had asked for no whip, but they forgot about it so I ended up scooping it off. At first, we were wondering why my cheesecake crust was dark, and thought that maybe it got burnt since the other two looked fine? T

Turns out, my cheesecake came with a chocolate crust. I prefer the original crust cause I didn’t taste the chocolate at all, and it tasted a burnt to me. As for the cheesecake, it was pretty good and rich, but I was hoping that there would be more raspberry to it. Nonetheless, I did enjoy my slice and ended up bringing half of it back to the hotel as well. Of course, we didn’t end up eating both of them and had to throw them out since they melted in the car after outlet shopping. =.=”

All in all, I had a lovely experience as usual at the Cheesecake Factory and am already looking forward to the next visit! There was also some sort of homecoming prom thing for high schoolers that day, and it was very cute to see nervous preteens all dressed up and going on dates with each other 🙂

Andddd, here is a bonus picture of a gorgeous view in Seattle 🙂 Thanks for the great visit, see you next time Seattle ♥

-Carmen

Kishimoto Japanese Restaurant

September 19, 2014

I have heard amazing things about Kishimoto, both from my friends and also online. I’ve always wanted to try it, but know that it’s a sushi hotspot and I do not really want to wait ages in line.. 🙁

Finally, one day, timing worked out and my boyfriend took me there to try it! I was very eager, and had extremely high expectations before even walking in the front door.
As always, finding parking along Commercial Drive was a hassle but we did find free street parking that day! Yay! Kishimoto is a relatively small restaurant, and adding to the popularity= long, expected wait times. We went around 5:30pm right after I got off work, because I knew if we went around 6-7pm we would have to wait.

Walking in, you will see signs everywhere instructing guests to wait until they’re seated, no sitting down until all the guests have arrived, etc etc. Just shows how busy it gets! We waited around 5 minutes for the server to clear the table for us. Smooth sailing so far!
My boyfriend has been here before, and said that their tuna tataki ($11.95) is a must order. So, of course, being the curious food blogger I am, I had to give it a try. When the server put down the plate, I thought that she had mistaken our order cause all I saw were onions. The tuna tataki was actually under all the onions and roasted garlic. I was in love at first bite.

The tuna was incredibly soft, and melted in your mouth. It had a slightly grilled taste to it. Adding the onions, roasted dry garlic, and ponzu sauce, it was absolute perfection. My favourite dish of the night.
I knew that Kishimoto specialized in intricate plating techniques, so I was quite eager to see how our dishes would be plated! Here is the negitoro roll, chopped scallop roll ($4.95), and wild salmon nigiri ($3.00). I thought that the chopped scallop roll tasted pretty average. I really liked the negitoro roll since the tuna tasted very fresh, and had a lot of flavour.

The wild salmon nigiri also had a great, fresh, and juicy flavour to it as well. I ordered one piece of salmon nigiri, turns out that one order is actually equal to three pieces! I really enjoyed the sushi rice, it was cooked perfectly and had that distinct delicious sushi rice taste to it. Definitely worth the $3 since you get three pieces of nigiri! The “flower” art at the bottom was composed of daikon (type of carrot) sheets, edamame beans, and ginger. The candle seen at the top picture was a real candle, wrapped around a daikon sheet. Pretty interesting concept! I wonder if anyone has accidentally lit their daikon on fire…. Knowing how clumsy I am, I’m surprised I didn’t knock it over…
Up next, was our salmon oshisushi ($12.95). Oshisushi is a type of sushi made by placing all the ingredients into a box and pressing it together, hence the rectangular shape. The salmon oshisushi came with creamy sauce, crushed black peper, jalapenos, and salmon sashimi. After it is pressed, it then gets lightly torched. I enjoyed the salmon oshisushi as well, but found that after a few pieces, it was a bit too heavy for me due to the creamy sauce. I ended up requesting for a lemon slice, where I then lightly squeezed the juice onto the remaining pieces. I found that cut a bit of the cream heaviness out. Oshisushi = oishi 😉 If you know some Japanese haha…
The second oshisushi we ordered was the ebi ($12.95). This one came with cooked prawn, basil, pesto, creamy sauce, and crushed black pepper. Just like the salmon oshisushi, I found that it was a bit heavy to eat though I did enjoy the pesto sauce. There was a slightly grilled taste to these as well. I ended up drizzling a bit of lemon juice to this one as well. For those who have tried Kishimoto’s oshisushi, did you find that it was a bit on the heavy side due to the cream?

I noticed that all their desserts were made in-restaurant, so I wanted to give it a try. We ordered the house-made strawberry sorbet, which came with condensed milk topping and served with a cute wooden spoon! Our waitress informed us that it was still frozen, and to wait a few minutes before digging in. There was a very strong strawberry flavour to the sorbet! Adding the condensed milk on top, the dessert was sooo gooood. There were also bits of strawberry seeds in the dessert as well!

All in all, I did enjoy my visit to Kishimoto and left satisfied. Service was a bit slow at some points, since they had a full house. I noticed that it got busy around 6pm so I’m glad we had an early dinner. I highly recommend trying the tuna tataki here! What were your favourites?

-Carmen

PS. Stay tuned for some delicious Seattle eats next week! 😉

Richmond Night Market 2014

September 13, 2014

(Updated Sept 2014) The Richmond Night Market is back for another Summer! I love coming here for the cheap things you can buy, even though a lot of the products are very cheaply made and questionable… and of course, the food! I went with a few friends and it was actually their first time at this night market (the new one by the casino), seeing that they are both here on a working visa from Australia. They were excited and curious to try the different food that the stalls offered. It was my first time trying the S. Korean ice cane dessert, which is basically an ice cream that comes in a “J” shaped cone and made out of cornpuff. It was truly interesting… keep on reading below to see what it looked like and how it tasted!
It was very busy and crowded the night that we went, probably because it was an ideal summer’s night.
Takoyaki and squid! The takoyaki ($6) was very chewy,delicous and doughy. The squid was very good as well. Felt kind of bad for the guy grilling the squid because he didn’t wear a mask, and kept having to hold his breath while he was cooking it. The squid itself ($6.50 for a small) was very good. There was a nice satay sauce, with a hint of sweetness and smokiness.
The famous hurricane potato ($6). Basically a lightly deep friend potato on a stick, seasoned with your choice of flavouring salt. We chose the cheddar, and it was really good. There was also a long line up for this booth, but we didn’t wait that long. There were 60 numbers ahead of us in line, but the wait was only around 10 minutes. Pretty efficient! However, I’m not sure that it’s worth $6 for a potato though, it just looks cool.
The Korean snow cane stand! They were pretty busy as well, and ended up selling out of the duo cane cone right after we ordered. It was $3.75 for the single J shaped cone, which I got below…
The cone is made out of a corn puff pastry and into a tube, which they put the soft serve ice cream into. The ice cream was your standard soft serve. As for the cone itself? I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the cereal corn puffs, only harder and less puffy. Imagine eating corn puffs cereal with ice cream, that’s basically how it tasted. The cone also did not go soggy, as I expected it to and remained crunchy until the end. It was also very clean and not messy to eat. Would I get this again? Probably, I love corn puffs!
My friend’s deep fried Snickers bar ($6). She said it tasted amazing, and loved it a lot. I’m not sure if I’ll ever try one of these in my lifetime though, what about you?
Update: Going back a second time in September, we didn’t order as much. I wasn’t too hungry, but knew I would regret not trying anything new here and end up snacking at home later. So we walked around the food stands until something caught our eyes. I am a big fan of mangoes, and I saw someone holding this mango dessert and decided to order one as well ($5.75). It came with a generous portion of fresh mango chunks and vanilla ice cream under a bed of crushed ice, topped with condensed milk. I loved the freshness and sweetness of the mango chunks, and the juices soaked into the ice chunks! The condensed milk was the cherry on top of a great dessert. I have to warn you though; it’s a really, really cold dessert so you might be cold after you finish eating this, because I sure was.
The second item we ordered was the takoyaki balls ($5.50). It came in original, chili, curry, and wasabi flavour- this one was the chili flavour. I didn’t try this, but I was told that it there a mild spice and did not overpower the taste of the takoyaki. The sauces themselves are only drizzled on the top.
Apart from food from our second visit, I also ended up buying a cute pair of fuzzy fleece socks ($4) too! My feet get really, really cold in the fall and winter so I wanted a thicker pair of socks. I am also a HUGE fan of polkadots and Minnie Mouse (I was Minnie Mouse last Halloween) so it’s a win-win situation. I’ll probably wear these as slippers around the house as the weather gets colder. I’m just hoping that these socks won’t be of horrible, cheap quality and actually keep my feet warm!
Andddd to finish this post off, a picture of some random product stands! Korean socks and iphone case stands were the most popular. Hope you enjoyed the post, now go and try the J corn cone ice cream!

-Carmen

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

August 2, 2014

One of my friends and fellow food blogger raved to me about Famoso, after asking her where I should go for dinner. After going on Urbanspoon and reading the great reviews for this place, I was very excited to try it out.

It took us 15 minutes to find parking in the Commercial Drive area, and we ended up going to a pay parking lot because finding a free spot was impossible.

Anyways, I tried to make a reservation for four at Famoso but unfortunately, they only accept reservations with parties of six and up. Fair enough, they told me that it shouldn’t be a problem to walk in past 7:30 on a Saturday night, so off we went!

We waited around 5 minutes for a table for four. I immediately liked the lively atmosphere, and the hostess was very friendly from the beginning. We were seated in the back, where we were able to see all of the restaurant. A server came promptly, and asked us if it was our first time here as their ordering system is a bit unique from other places.
Basically, they have menus, order sheets, and pencils on each table. To order, you write down what you want on the notepad (if you want), and then walk down to the pizza counter, where they place your order for you. From there, a server will bring the pizza to your table and they take care of your needs from then on. You pay for the pizza at the end of the meal, with your server.

After settling on our pizzas, my friend went down to the counter to place our order. Customers are able to see the pizzas being prepared, but there is a semi-wall between the ordering/prep station and the tables, which is good because it gives both parties some privacy.

Funghi pizza (14.75). This was one of their specialty pizzas and came with parmesan crema, roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions, and more! Cream and mushroom lovers would absolutely bask over this pizza! It was very creamy, and there were a lot of mushrooms on it.
Italian ham and crushed pineapple ($13.75). I thought this pizza was average, nothing really stood out to me. I wished that the ham would be spread out more, or that there was more quantity of it. The pizzas themselves were very thin, which is what Neopolitan pizza is supposed to be like, so I expected it. Since they are thin, they aren’t super filling.
Since the pizzas weren’t that filling, we decided to order some dessert to share. The affogato was $1 off and I have been wanting affogato for so long! After making a trip to the gelato counter, we decided on getting the mint stracciatella and another flavour below ($4 each after $1 off special).

Ordering dessert follows the same process as the food, servers will bring you your dessert after ordering it at the counter. I fell in love with the mint stracciatella at first bite. Mixed with the espresso, it was super creamy, heavenly, and delicious. The mint chips from the gelato became melted from the espresso, which made it taste even better!
The other affocato that we got was with the coconut gelato. This one was delicious as well, and we savoured every little bite down to the last drop of espresso. The quality of the espresso itself was very rich and dark. So good!

-Carmen