dining out Archives - Curiously Carmen

Shishinori

August 22, 2014

There’s a new mini Japanese eatery in town by the name of Shishinori, located along Cambie Street! I was walking along Cambie one day, when their unique menu design caught my eye. I ended up coming back here a week later to try out their dishes.

Unfortunately, Sangria didn’t have time to sit down and eat here so we opted for take out instead. Though our visit was short, it was quite pleasant and the worker that day was very friendly.

They serve Japanese style cooked lunches, so you will not be finding sushi or rolls or anything like that there. Nonetheless, the food was delicious and I would love to come back again!

This is the menu from the outside; I haven’t seen many menus displayed like this before! Definitely a great way for the restaurant to grab attention, as it would be fairly unnoticeable without.

Since we ordered takeout, I’m not too sure if it is the same concept as Basho, where you pay for your dish first and then they deliver it to you at the table.

Shishinori’s interior has a lot of wooden design elements. The tables were wooden, and some of the utensils were as well. The place looked very clean and cute, they had a small tray by the door where customers were able to fill up their own water.

They also had a screen projector that played Anime shows, as you can kind of tell from the picture above. We arrived there around 11am, and we were the only customers so far.

There was a small mix-up with our takeout order, we orderded three dishes but she thought we only had two. But the worker was very nice about it and had our third dish ready to go in less than 5 minutes. My friend and I took that time to snap some cute pictures of the place 🙂

Curry chicken bowl with brown rice and spinach salad ($8? $9? Somewhere around that price). Brown rice is their standard, a plus for all the health conscious peeps out there! The curry was really delicious and flavourful, with a generous amount of chicken in it and the meat was also lean.

The salad was amazing. I’m normally not a fan of salad, but I ate every last leaf. I’m not sure what sauce they used, but it was really good and the fresh peppercorn really enhanced the flavours of the sauce.

The veggies themselves were really crunchy too. Initially, when I looked at the box, I wondered if it would be filling enough since I was pretty hungry that day. I didn’t think it would be, but I was actually really full from it. So yummy!
Sangria’s salmon carpaccio. It came with smoked salmon, the same salad as mine on top of a bed of rice. She didn’t have any complaints about it and thought it was good too. I didn’t get to try hers, but judging from the amount of fresh peppercorn on the salmon, it looks really good!

However, she was really thirsty after her meal and ended up drinking two large ice waters immediately after.

Cinnamon’s wild salmon paradise bowl ($12). She really enjoyed her bowl and noted that there were three different types of seaweed inside her salad. Again, her salad was the same and she found the peppercorn to be pretty spicy, but very delicious.

All in all, I really enjoyed my curry chicken bowl at Shishinori. It was very filling and the flavours were really strong. Everything tasted super fresh in my dish, from the peppercorn to the veggies in the salad.

Apart from their lunch bowls and sets, they also have different flavours of iced tea, which looked good.

They also have matcha yogurt parfaits, which are perfect for a late afternoon treat! They don’t have matcha lattes anymore though, the worker told me that it took too long to make so they opted for the parfaits instead.

Shishinori is very promising and has the potential to be as popular as the other Japanese pastry cafe, Basho except for healthy, full meal sets. I will be back! 🙂

-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

Cactus Club Cafe (Coal Harbour)

July 8, 2014

I had a catch up day with one of my friends a few weekends ago, and decided to meet at Cactus Club Coal Harbour for a late lunch. Unfortunately, it was pouring buckets that day, which was a teeny bit disappointing because I really wanted to enjoy lunch with a beautiful view of Stanley Park and the seawall!

There was also some kind of fundraising, “Amazing Race” style race going on in downtown that day so we saw quite a few sprinting, panting, and exhausted runners outside. Felt bad for them since it was raining so hard. It ended up clearing up once we were finished eating though. Despite the gloomy weather, we had a good lunch and our server was extremely friendly!
We were both super hungry by the time we met up, and decided to order a starter dish to share. We ordered the goat cheese flatbread ($12.75) which came with caramelized onions, grape tomatoes, basil pesto spread, wild argula, and balsamic glaze.

The argula and grape tomatoes tasted extremely fresh, and went well with the basil pesto spread and balsamic glaze. The flatbread itself was warm and soft. I have been really loving my flatbreads lately! The one I had at Milestones was delicious as well.
My friend ordered the pesto chicken quesadilla ($11.50) with a side of yam fries for an extra $4.25. I didn’t try it, but my friend enjoyed it very much and had no complaints!
Since I already ordered a burger a few days ago at Milestones, I felt bad indulging in one again. So I decided to get the grilled tuna club because it seemed like a healthier choice. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of my rare-seared tuna, as I was imagining a thin slice. It was a bit messy to eat since it was pretty big, and I was trying not to spill the tuna juice everywhere. Since it was seared, it had a nice smoky taste to it but the tuna was also very thick and juicy. The greens that came with the burger were also very fresh.

Overall, I had a great experience at Cactus Club. I loved their menu items and the food was delicious as well. Restaurants like these really focus on customer satisfaction and service, which I really appreciate!

-Carmen

Milestones (Yaletown)

July 6, 2014

A birthday celebration was in order two weeks ago, and Milestones was the location of our dinner. We have been to this Yaletown location before, it is tradition for Smores to hold his birthday dinner here every year before going dancing 🙂

However, we had slight management issues which I will explain down below. This location offers a semi-private room that seats 30 guests. It is in the back of the restaurant, right before the kitchen and washrooms and is closed off on all three walls, except for one wall which is completely glass where you enter from the sides. Even though it is covered off, you do not feel completely isolated but it’s nice when there is a large party, and you guys want some privacy. There were many plates of food, beer, and wine that were ordered, but I decided to only focus on the food that I actually tried that night!
For starters, my two friends got the baked goat cheese and slow roasted garlic flat bread. It came with cranberry relish and fig jam as well.

All of the flavours of this dish complemented each other tremendously well. The bread was extremely soft and warm as well. Definitely a great starter dish!
For myself, I ordered the California burger which came with avocado, salsa, and bacon. I fell in love with this burger the last time I got it, and this time was no different either. I loved the inclusion of the avocado, and felt that all the flavours worked really well together much like the flat bread dish. The fries were pretty standard and came with freshly ground pepper as well.
The boyfriend ordered the stacked burger. Prime rib, Montreal smoked meat, bacon strips, cheddar cheese, plus more goodies. This is the epitome of an indulgent and guilty meal, but it was delicious.

The Montreal smoked meat was very tender and juicy, along with the mushrooms. Burgers like these are to die for, but important to have them in extreme moderation because they are definitely not calorie or fat friendly!
For drinks, I ordered the Sombersby cider which I got the day before at Elephant and Castle. I just took this picture from that previous post as I forgot to take a picture of it at Milestones.

My friends decided to share a pitcher of sangria. It was made with Sombersby white wine (same company as my cider), and was absolutely delicious as well! There were many fruits in it, making it super refreshing.

Now for the management issue: We had buy one get one half price entree coupons, which I think the management was upset at, so they told us that we needed a minimum charge for the semi-private room. We suspect that they had just added that policy that night due to the coupons. My friend has had his birthday here for the past six years and they have never mentioned that “policy” before.

We thought it was a bit rude and unprofessional for the restaurant manager to suddenly barge in during our dinner, and ask to talk to the birthday boy. Other measures could have been taken that were less invasive and awkward. There was no fine print on the coupons nor restrictions, so we weren’t breaking rules nor was it our fault; they should have specified the limit of one per table or something like that if they were going to be upset about it. We also ordered alcohol and appetizers, so it wasn’t like we were there just to solely use the coupons. Apart from the management, our servers were very friendly and attentive.

-Carmen