food & drink Archives - Curiously Carmen

Basho Cafe, East Van

May 18, 2014

I’ve been to Basho Cafe three times now, but wanted to make sure I had a variety of different things to share in this post, rather than make smaller revisit posts. This place is very popular and has been on the top 10 of Urbanspoon for many weeks now, and for good reasons too.

Basho Cafe is a cute, quaint, and lovely cafe owned by a Japanese family. They offer a few full meal sets, Japanese inspired pastries, and drinks. I’ve tried many items and my favourite would have to be the matcha latte.
Upon walking in, you will find a selection of mini pastries. Some of their items are vegetarian or gluten free, if you’re into that. Many of their pastries are made with matcha, as you can see from all the green in the shelf!
This is their menu. They only have three main dishes. You can add a plate of 3 pastries, tea, salad, and a daily soup for only $3, which is a really good deal as I’ll show you below what it looks like! Even though this place is a coffee shop, you can leave the place decently full and satisfied with their food.
The first time I went with my friend, we both decided to order the veggie lunch set ($10ish). Normally, I don’t like eating my veggies but I was surprisingly in the mood! I was pleasantly surprised at how big the plate was.

As for the veggie rice bowl, I enjoyed it very much. It came with avocado, cucumber, broccoli, carrot, cooked sweet apples, and a side of house made tofu mayo. The rice underneath made this dish very filling, and it was also flavoured with some sort of rice vinegar. The daily soup that day was broccoli, which was very flavourful and had a nice puree texture to it. The salad was a standard vinaigrette, as was the green tea.

A close up of my pastry selection. Sesame miso cookie, matcha cake, and chocolate mochi mochi. All three pastries weren’t super sweet, which I liked. The cookie had a toasted sesame, buttery taste to it but it wasn’t greasy at all. The green tea loaf had a very strong matcha taste, and was light and fluffy.

My favourite was the chocolate mochi mochi. I loved the chewy texture to it, and how the chocolate wasn’t super sweet! Out of the three, I would probably buy the chocolate mochi mochi again because the other two don’t feel as if it would be worth their separate price.
I really enjoyed my first visit, and wanted to show the boyfriend this place, so off we went the next day! Unfortunately, we went 30 minutes prior to closing and they were sold out of many pastries. We ordered the matcha brownie and matcha coconut cookie. The matcha brownie had a nice, chewy texture to it while the top had a toasted sugary taste. The matcha cookie wasn’t too sweet, and the coconut flakes added a light coconut flavour to it, which wasn’t too overpowering.
I told my friend about this place, and she really wanted to try it, so I went again! She ordered the veggie lunch set, which I talked about above. I wanted to try something different this time, and decided on the teri pulled pork lunch set.

The pulled pork was very tender and soft, and full of flavour. Just like the veggie bowl, it came with Japanese rice that was cooked with some sort of rice vinegar which I loved! The soup of the day was yam, which had a puree texture to it. The pastries I recieved were the green tea mochi mochi, sesame miso cookie, and another mochi pastry. I really liked the green tea mochi mochi because it was very chewy and squishy, and full of matcha flavour! I wasn’t a big fan of the other mochi square (forgot the exact name, sorry), because it was filled with different types of nuts, I would have preferred it without the nuts.
We also wanted to try the matcha latte, since the last two times I came here, I saw that it came in a pretty big bowl-cup and it looked very good. Turns out, if you order a lunch set, they will take off $1 off the matcha latte so that it only comes to $2.75! They also did not charge us for soy, which is a plus.

I also didn’t know that it came with a free pastry. I fell in love with the matcha latte at first sip. It comes unsweetened, so you can really taste the pure matcha flavour. It also wasn’t too hot, so I didn’t burn my tongue. I liked how it came with no foam.

It was very smooth,and full of matcha flavour. Delicious!
Overall, I think that Basho Cafe is worth the hype. They have very delicious matcha pastries, as well as matcha lattes. My friend mentioned to me that this place looks like a perfectly crafted Pintrest space, with all the eclectic decorations and focus on quilts and tea cozies.

It has a very welcoming atmosphere. The family that runs this place is also really friendly. Although the lady doesn’t speak much English, she is very friendly, and always has a smile on her face. I’m glad that Basho has opened up, I will come here again when I’m craving matcha goodies.

Le Petite Saigon, East Van

May 14, 2014

When I am in this neighbourhood, my go-to spot for authentic Vietnamese food is definitely Petite Saigon. I have been here numerous times, and always have great food here.

Petite Saigon is also well known for their spring rolls, which myself and my coworkers normally order to share. I’ve been here well over twenty times, but decided to finally create a post on it!
I used to not be a fan of their pho, but it has definitely grown on me or improved in the past two years that I’ve came here. I used to find their noodles clumped and hardened together, so that when you try to separate them with your chopsticks, it breaks into small chunks that don’t resemble noodles anymore.

However, their noodle texture has gotten a lot better and I love ordering their pho now! I normally get their pho beef noodles with rare beef, beef brisket, and tripe (small- $7.25). Their broth is bursting with flavour, which explains why their restaurant always smells so damn good. They give a decent amount of meat.I really like their beef brisket because there isn’t much fat to it.

This is my coworker’s bowl of pho with rare beef and beef balls.
I usually stick with pho or rice bowls when I come here, so I was intrigued with my coworker’s seafood with egg noodle soup. You can get this dish with or without soup, which my coworker had without.

The dish was full of flavour, and from what I remember, it was a bit sweet. I enjoyed the sauce that came on the noodles as well. It comes with a decent amount of seafood and I think it’s a good alternate for those hot summer days, where you don’t feel like having warm soup!

This was the grilled pork chop on rice with shredded pork. Each of their rice dishes come with a side of vegetable salad and fish sauce. I had a bite of the pork chop, and it was really juicy and sweet. There was also a hint of smokiness to it. The fish sauce that they have is amazing. For those who have not tried fish sauce before, you are missing out! It’s a Vietnamese staple, used as a dipping sauce for many dishes.
I usually order their salad roll to go. It comes with shrimp, Vietnamese ham, vermicelli noodles, and lettuce. It is a great, healthy tasting light snack that is packed with flavour. There are a few thin slices of ham in it which give it a light salty flavour, and the prawns are pretty juicy and big so it fills you up. The lettuce it also very crunchy.

This dish is complete with their peanut butter and chili dipping sauce! The peanut butter sauce is a mix of a soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, and of course peanut butter which complements the flavour of the spring rolls really well!
Their deep fried spring roll is a must-order! I’ve ordered this many times, but I can’t seem to find the picture on my computer so I took this from Urbanspoon. Their deep fried spring rolls are really crispy, and bursting with flavour and ingredients. It comes with a mix of vegetables, noodles, and meat inside and is absolutely delightful! My coworkers and I love ordering these to share, and they are always gone in the back within 15 minutes.

I also often order take out from Le Petite Saigon as well, as you can tell with the salad roll. They are pretty efficient with cooking time, usually done in within 10 minutes of your call. Service there is also really friendly and attentive.

-Carmen

Toyotomi, Richmond

April 21, 2014

My friend heard that this place was really good for AYCE hotpot and sushi, and after much speculation and anticipation, the six of us went to try it out for the first time. Prior to our visit, I was obsessively reading my fellow Urbanspoon-er’s reviews to know what I should be aware of. So thank you, fellow reviewers for giving me the heads up! We came prepared 🙂

Previous reviews warned us that Toyotomi was a bit confusing to find, especially their parking and entrance. They were correct.

They were pretty strict about parking in the right area, and you had to put down your license plate number or risk getting towed. Toyotomi is located on the bottom floor of an office building. I noticed that the lobby of the building smelled really nice, like laundry.

When we walked in, we were greeted by an elaborate table of empty alcohol decorations. Whoa!
We made reservations for 7:30, since people said that this place gets really busy. It was probably about 1/2 full when we went. Our table was very awkwardly placed. On one side of the table, was booth seating and then there were four other chairs.

However, the table was shorter than the booth and the chairs were awkwardly placed, so that the person sitting at end couldn’t really reach the hot pot. They also didn’t have a built in stove like most hot pot places, just the portable ones which I guess makes it more flexible for them, incase customers don’t want hot pot.
We were also well aware of their strict food wastage policy, so we ordered very carefully. The menu above is their AYCE menu. We chose deluxe since people said that’s the best value, because you get sashimi and more hot pot items.

You can also get AYCD (drink) which cost an additional $4, but I think everyone at the table had to order it. Sauces, and extra toppings cost $0.5 approximately as well.
For an extra $1, you can get two soup bases. We decided on getting the Japanese chili and Japanese bone. The servers were really good at coming by frequently to make sure our soup didn’t run out.

Both of the soup bases were really flavourful. The chili one had a mild spiciness to it, while the bone broth was like a standard, lighter broth. Both tasted pretty different from each other.
Our first round of meat! We ordered AAA prime rib, sirlon beef, fatty beef, lamb, and lean beef. All of them might not be pictured here, as I mentioned in the intro. All of the meat was really juicy,tender and delicious!
Next up, came our other hot pot items served under a bowl of ice. We ordered pork blood, prawns, beef omasum, pork dumplings, and shrimp dumplings.

The pork dumplings were disappointing because they tasted exactly like the frozen ones that you buy at TNT. I also didn’t taste or see any shrimp in the “shrimp dumpings”, but just some sort of seaweed and other meat in it instead. Other than the dumplings, the rest of the items in that bowl were tasty.
My gosh! Look at all that sashimi! The sashimi made it worth the deluxe for sure. Each piece of salmon and tuna was so thick, sweet, and juicy. They definitely did not skimp out with their sashimi.
This next bowl was kind of random. I’ve never seen onion rings, fries, or sausages offered at an Asian AYCE but hey, it was good! We completely devoured this bowl.

My friend couldn’t even wait for me to finish the picture before digging in, as you can see from the chopstick. The onion rings and fries were really crispy. The fries reminded us of Costco fries, which are the best! The takoyaki balls were also really delicious, the skin was pretty crispy. The fried chicken was really juicy, crunchy, and seasoned well!
Up next were our rolls. We ordered california rolls, and a special house roll. I didn’t try the california roll, but the special house roll was amazing. The shrimp tempura inside was super crispy and juicy. The topping was tuna sashimi, with crunchy flakes and special sauce. We ended up ordering so many more of these after because they were simply delicious!
This was the beef sashimi. I don’t eat beef sashimi, but David said that the beef was extremely tender and they ordered many more rounds of this. It also came with a ponzu sauce which complimented the beef perfectly.
Behold! The spicy salmon and tuna sashimi. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be this delicious, especially for AYCE. The spicy sauce had a mild sweetness to it. The sashimi was also really thick, like the non-spicy sashimi. It came with a crunchy topping mixed inside which I loved, it gave the sashimi a good crunch. The onions on top were also a tasty garnish.
This was our seaweed salad. Nothing too special about it. It came in a really, really small bowl (think soya sauce sized) and with a small quantity. It was pretty crunchy and flavourful, but I wouldn’t order it again just because their other dishes are so much better.
After ordering many rounds of each dish I mentioned, we were ready for dessert. Again, I’ve never seen frozen pineapples offered as a snack/dessert before so I was intrigued. The pineapples came rock-frozen, but eventually melted so that only the inside was frozen. This was a great, healthy (non fattening), and light dessert to an overwhelming indulgent and gluttonous meal. The pineapples were very, very sweet, and did not have any freezer burn taste to it. They were the cherries to the top of a fabulous cake!

Overall, we had a really pleasant and worthwhile visit to Toyotomi. Each person ended up paying $25 (not including tips). Since it was our first time, we didn’t know what to expect but I was impressed with their service, and the quality of their food. What stood out the most was their sashimi and the quality of beef. I can’t wait to come back here again! I also can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place until recently!

-Carmen

Bubble Queen

April 20, 2014

Bubble Queen is a very popular bubble tea joint in the Lower Mainland. My favourite is their fresh mango bubble tea with chunks of fresh mango on top, but I decided not to get that today because I have plenty of mangoes at home right now.

Their fresh mango bubble tea is to die for- it is creamy, sweet, blended perfectly, and on top of that, they add a generous amount of fresh mango chunks on top.
Upon walking in, we were really surprised that there were only five other customers here on a Saturday night (This picture above was taken from Yelp). I’ve been here five other times, and the line up is usually out the door.
I noticed that they have moved their menu on the wall, they used to have menus that customers pass around. It was easier to read, but there was so much on the menu, making it hard to decide what to get! I imagine that the menu would be hard to read when there are a lot of people, since the line up goes in front of it.
More options! If you choose the specialty drinks, you can get free pearls. However, the cost of the speciality drinks are at least $1-2 dollars more expensive, so I’m not sure if you’re actually getting a good deal or not. They also serve bubble waffles or toast boxes as well.
Notice all their mangoes in the fridge and shelf? Yummm! I’ve never seen this place so empty before. I also noticed that the floors were really, really sticky and the tables desperately needed to be wiped down. However, if you’re just grabbing takeout, it’s not a problem.
I finally decided on getting the passion fruit calpis slush with pearls. I always get their fresh mango slush with mango chunks on top, but I felt like having a change today. The other drink is their coconut slush with pearls. Both drinks came to $10.10.
I didn’t really taste the calpis juice in my drink, the passion fruit was very strong. I feel like this would taste better not as a slush, since calpis is usually served just like a juice. I probably won’t order this flavour with calpis again, because it was too sweet for me and I didn’t taste any calpis! The pearls were very warm, but as I mixed my slush with the pearls, they tasted pretty good. They were chewy and sweet!
The coconut slush with pearls was so good! It was so creamy, rich, and frothy with a strong coconut taste. I liked how smooth it was. I wish I had ordered this one instead!
Also would like to point out their enourmous stack of chocolates for their bubble tea! Overall, Bubble Queen has very good bubble tea at a decent price. I predict that as the weather becomes warmer, I will be paying more visits to this joint!

-Carmen

Yolk’s Breakfast Restaurant and Commissary

March 25, 2014

After hearing all the hype about Yolks, I decided it was time to give it a visit. I went with two friends to their restaurant location on Hastings & Clarke. We all enjoyed our experience and left with happy stomachs. Service was also really friendly, and personable.

The place is a bit small, but it’s really cozy and they work with what they have. We noticed that there was fake sriracha (we are avid sriracha lovers!) and that kinda became a laughing stock throughout our visit 🙂
Menu. I thought their menu was unconventionally designed, and it was pretty cool. You start at the top and go down depending on which choices you want for the poached egg sandwiches. Although the original price is decent, it can get pricier as you include the “addons” listed such as goat cheese, or hash browns. There were some items on the menu that we were confused about, and the server happily and patiently answered our questions.
After much contemplation, I settled on ordering their daily special. Tall stack of berry pancakes with a choice of ham, bacon, or bangers for $13.50.

I enjoyed every bite. The pancakes were extremely fluffy and soft, and tasted really buttery and rich. Peeeeerrrrffeeeccttttt. There was also a generous amount of berries inside the pancakes! So. good.

I also really loved the ham, which tasted even better with their dijon mustard.

My friend’s customized breakfast plate! I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I believe he chose the hand carved honey ham, with the two eggs & double everything option, under a bed of truffle lemon hashbrowns, fresh spinach, and dijon.

This again, was SO GOOD. I really enjoyed the hashbrowns- savoury and perfectly cooked.
My friend’s iced Callebaut chocolate milk. Callebaut is a Belgium choclatier The quality of the chocolate was definitely a lot better and fancier than regular chocolate milk. It was rich, indulgent, and smooth.
My other friend’s dish, she got the customized breakfast plate as well. I really enjoyed their hashbrowns, it was flavoured differently than usual breakfast joints and tasted really unique. Delicious! The spinach bed on the bottom was delicious as well.

All in all, we loved our visit to Yolks. Their breakfast dishes were savoury, filling, and fresh while the service was really friendly and attentive.