food review Archives - Page 7 of 18

Las Margaritas (Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2015)

January 25, 2015

Hi everyone,

First off, have you noticed the domain change? Yep, I have retired my old site and will be posting on curiouslycarmen.com from now on! Same me, different site =)

Dine Out Vancouver Festival is upon us for yet another year! While many people do not like DOVF because they claim you won’t get the “full” or authentic experience, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to try it out. Also, you’re not limited to just ordering off the DOVF menu, you are able to order from the regular menu as well. Some places offer great deals that you wouldn’t see elsewhere.

There were so many restaurants I wanted to try this year, but had to refrain myself or I would be spending waaayy too much money on food. Instead, I asked the boyfriend to pick some restaurants that he wanted to try and we would narrow it down from there. For my first dine out, I went to Las Margaritas, which I’ve been wanting to go for quite some time now!

Las Margaritas is easily distinguishable from the rest of the shops on the block. It was a nice, exterior Spanish design with bright colours. You can’t miss it!

Our reservation was made for 7:30, but the parking gods were on our side that night and we showed up 10 minutes early. The restaurant was really busy, and I overheard them saying the wait for walk in customers would take at least one hour… so glad that we made a reservation. They weren’t ready for us since we were a bit early, and we were seated around 7:35.

One small detail that I appreciated about this place was their tiled tables! I loved the detail and thought it looked really good.

For a place with the name margaritas in it, you better expect that they have delicious margaritas. While we were waiting for our spot, we read the menu and found out that they were famous for their margaritas, so we decided to give it a try. We ordered the melon margarita ($8.95), which came with Sauza Gold Tequila, melon liqueur, pineapple juice, peach nectar and their own sweet & sour mix.

I really enjoyed the flavours of the margarita, and could not taste the alcohol in it at all even though it was a double shot. It was really fruity, and had some pulp in it which was a nice added surprise! It was not exactly a slush texture though and didn’t have a rimmed glass, but I didn’t mind.

To start off, we received complementary salsa and tortilla chips, which apparently they were famous for as well. The tortilla chips were crunchy and tasted pretty standard, but they were served warm which was a nice surprise! The salsa had a strong onion and fresh taste to it. Overall, really good for a complementary dish!

One of the options for the DOVF appetizer menu was the pozole, a chicken and white corn soup simmered in chilies and spices. On the side was an assortment of fresh red onions, dried chili peppers, and oregano. The chicken in the soup was extremely tender and well marinated, while the broth itself was absolutely delicious… I’m getting hungry just thinking about it again.

Adding the oregano, pepper, and fresh onions to the mix, you have yourself a sure winner. My favourite dish of the night.

The second appetizer we ordered (we pretty much shared everything btw) was the scallop ceviche. Everything in the ceviche was very fresh, with a hint of fresh lime juice. The chips were a bit too oily for my liking, however. I ate the cerviche with the leftover complementary tortilla chips instead.

Now, time for the main course! This was the chile en nogada, aka a poblano pepper stuffed with ground turkey meat, sauteed with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and apple. It was covered with a walnut cream sauce and pomegrante seeds, and came with a side of salad and beans. This was our least favourite dish that night.

There was a lot going on in the poblano pepper, but to us, the ingredients didn’t mix well together and was disappointing.
The second entree we had was the chile Colorado. It was cubed sirloin beef simmered in a chile guajillo and New Mexico chile sauce, with a side of white rice refried beans and corn or flour tortillas.

This dish was executed really well! The cubed sirloin beef was very tender, and went really well with the fresh red onion. The rice had some corn in it, so it wasn’t as boring or plain.

We also did not know that this dish came with tortillas, there was around 5 wraps. I guess I didn’t read far enough, I was sold on “cubed sirloin beef”. We ended up making our own “tacos”, filling it with the sirloin beef, rice, and salad/beans from the other dish, and topped it off with our choice of four hot sauces that were brought to our table.

I’m really glad that it came with the tortillas, otherwise we wouldn’t have been really full since the poblano pepper was a dissapointment.

For dessert, I chose the tres leche cake.Caramel lovers will love this cake for sure! It is called a “tres leche” cake because it is soaked in three different types of milk. I personally prefer my cakes to be light and fluffy, I didn’t like how it had a wet and soggy texture to it.

However, the flavour of the cake was definitely there, it’s just my personal preference that I didn’t like the soggy texture.

The boyfriend ordered churros that came with a chocolate dipping sauce. One bite of the churros and I had filled by sugar and dessert quota for the week, maybe even month- I kid you not. It was extremely sweet since it was rolled in sugar and chocolate sauce. All you sweet tooth lovers out there, this one is for you. I’ll stick with my savoury snacks instead.

Have you tried Las Margaritas, and if yes, how did you like it?

-Carmen

Nuba

January 15, 2015

Hi everyone!

This is a really late post and has been in my drafts folder since September. Oops! But better late than never right? =) Enjoy the post!

I have heard really great things about Nuba from a number of different people. I’ve passed this restaurant quite often, as the bus I normally take to downtown drives by it. Each time I pass Nuba, I wonder when I am able to finally try this seemingly delicious place. I finally got the opportunity to last week, when my company was holding a company welcome lunch for myself and the other co-op student (I wrote this post back in September… oops)!

To start, my coworker and I decided to split the roasted potato and garlic soup, which was their special that day. It came drizzled with olive oil, which we stirred into the soup. The soup had a mild spiciness to it, and a strong garlic taste. There wasn’t any potato chunks in the soup, I think it was pureed into the soup because it had a thicker consistency. In addition, there was an abundant flavour of spices which went well with the garlic taste. To all the health conscious folks out there, their daily soup is always vegan and gluten free!

I ordered the chicken tawook with hummus. It came with a side salad, chickpeas, pita bread, and choice of roasted potatoes or brown rice. All of our pita bread came in the same bowl. The pita was a thinner than I was used to, but perhaps that is the style?

I wanted to eat it with tzatziki sauce, but it came at a surcharge so I decided not to. Judging from the menu, I was not expecting the chicken to be on skewers, but it was tasty and savoury nonetheless! There was a slight grilled taste on the chicken, and it was very juicy and flavourful. The chicken was marinated in paprika, lemon, thyme, and garlic. Apart from the chicken, I regretted ordering the brown rice as my side rather than the roasted potatoes.

The brown rice was a bit hard and undercooked for my personal taste, but that’s just the Asian inside me speaking, we love our rice really well cooked and soft 🙂 I was also told that the roasted potatoes were really good and one of their specialty dishes. I think the dish came to around $15-17, which seemed a bit overpriced for what was received although the chicken was really good.

Another dish that was ordered that day; I forgot if it was the lamb kafta or lamb kibbeh. Sorry! I didn’t try this so I can’t give much of an opinion on it, so a picture will have to do 🙂

At the end of our scrumptious meal, my coworker ordered a Turkish coffee. I thought that the presentation of it was very cool and unique! I didn’t try any because I have extremely high sensitivity to caffeine (once, I drank a Pepsi Lime at dinner and couldn’t sleep until 3am. Or had milk tea at 10am and slept the next morning at 6am…), but I was told that there was a strong chai flavour to it. So a mix of chai tea and coffee!

For dessert, we all split two dessert plates. I’m not too sure of what each pastry was called since I wasn’t the one that ordered it, but I did enjoy the taste of all of them. In particular, I enjoyed the almond nougat type pastry, but I’m pretty sure there is a specific Lebanese name for it.

All the pastries were really sweet. The two next to the center pastry had some sort of carmelized sugar on top, and was a flaky pastry. The one in the center had the same idea, but with a custard-type topping.

-Carmen

Peckinpah

January 8, 2015

After almost a year of wanting to try this place out, I finally was able to cross this off my mental check list of restaurants I wanted to try! Doesn’t it feel great to finally go to a restaurant you have been wanting to go to for so long? Granted, I still have many restaurants I want to try but at least Peckinpah is finally crossed off 🙂
Peckinpah is situated right on the skirts of Gastown, on the corner of Water and Carall street. At first, we almost walked by the restaurant as it was quite small, but I recognized their signature bull logo. We also walked into the take out part of the restaurant by accident, and had to leave and come through the main entrance. Oops!
Peckinpah is southern style barbeque joint, most known for their slow cooked meat and big meat platters. Walking in to the main part of the restaurant, there was a rustic and southern vibe to this quaint restaurant. It reminded me of a casual pub but with more class and character if that makes any sense. Since we came around 1:15, the lunch rush had gone and we almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves!
I started off with a root beer. All their soft drinks are from Boylan Bottling Co. I believe, so this one was no different. It was very sweet and refreshing.
I ordered the chopped beef po’boy with a choice of corn bread as my side. When it first arrived, I thought it looked smaller than I imagined. Despite its small sized, it was packed with intense and delicious flavour. It came with stewed beef brisket bits which were incredibly soft and cooked to perfection, the type of deliciousness that can only be made with patience and skill. The baguette was soft, and the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and crunchy. Nearing the end of my baguette, I was beginning to get pretty full. I was surprised considering that I thought the portion looked small in the beginning, that’s how much beef brisket is packed in that thing!

As for the corn bread, it was a bit sweet and grainy. The outside was a bit hard, but once you chewed it, the inside was soft. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either 🙂 I would probably try another side if I came back. Our server told us that the cream corn and potato salad were pretty good.

My coworkers ordered the beef brisket sammie, which they both enjoyed. Our other coworker ordered the mac and cheese, which I fell in love with at first bite. It was extremely cheesy and flavourful. She added a side of chicken, which was marinated really well and went with the flavours of the cheese. Who would have known that a specialty BBQ meat place would have such great mac and cheese? 🙂

-Carmen

Taishoken Ramen 大勝軒

December 24, 2014

Taishoken Ramen has been on my must eats list for a good few months now. The sad thing is that I’ve tried to come here twice, which have both failed. Third time is the charm I guess, as the boyfriend and I finally found ourselves here one early evening.We had just finished walking around the Christmas market and Taishoken had just opened, which was perfect timing because I didn’t want to wait in line in the cold. He dropped me off first, and there were still a few minutes before the doors actually opened.

Around 4:58, there were three other parties starting to line up too. The size of Taishoken was pretty standard for a ramen shop, warm and cozy. I chose a table furthest from the door because I was quite cold that day, and didn’t want to feel the breeze of the door.
Of course, I ordered the shio tonkotsu ramen. Shio is my absolutely favourite ramen broth, anyone else? 🙂 Since I’ve been wanting to come here for so long, I had an idea of what it would taste like because I’ve read so many reviews. The shio tonkotsu ramen was very creamy, thick, and rich… perfect! The noodles were cooked al dente and had a nice bounce to it, I also loved how there were so much green onions! As for the pork shoulder, I found it slightly on the dry side, but that’d me trying to nitpick at something.

Can we also take a moment to appreciate the egg? It was cooked perfectly to my liking, with a bit of yolk oozing out. The egg was also marinated in some type of salty soya sauce broth, which made it taste even better.

I ordered a side of extra noodles, which was not a good idea because I was way too full afterwards! The bowl of extra noodles came in the side, which I divided up with the boyfriend. I knew there was no way that I would finish it myself.
The boyfriend ordered the shoyu tonkotsu ramen. Like myself, he found the broth to be very flavourful and rich and his noodles were bouncy as well. However, he was disappointed with the pork belly meat because it was very rubbery and chewy. For something so fatty like pork belly meat, you would expect a softer, melt in your mouth texture. I’ve read on previous reviews that people had the same opinion as him too.

For both our ramen and the side of extra noodles, our total came to $21 without tax and tip, which is reasonable for dinner. Since we came when it had just opened, there was only one server who was doing her best to attend to every table and was very friendly. But the shop filled up every fast, so service was a bit slow but that’s okay because she was trying to do everything herself. The chefs actually ended up bringing our food because the server was very busy.

Would I come back? Since it is in a somewhat convenient area and I won’t have to drive through the downtown core to get a good bowl of ramen, yes. I don’t see myself wanting to come back right away, but if I’m ever hungry at the office, Taishoken is a mere 7-10 minute walk away! I would also only come at obscure times because I don’t want to wait in line for this.

-Carmen

PS. Merry Christmas eve to those celebrating Christmas! 🙂

Sushi UOmo

December 9, 2014

Update 11/2018: Since writing this post, it seems that Uomo has changed ownership and things have gone downhill. The prices increase each time, while the quality and quantity decreased. We have stopped going here now.

Sushi UOmo has been around for awhile now, I’d like to say at least a year? Maybe two? Correct me if I’m wrong. In case you are wondering…no, it is not a typo, it is capital UO and small mo = UOmo. I’ve been meaning to try this place, since all my friends have been raving about it. “CARMEN! You have to try this place! It’s so good!” So finally, I went to try it.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have gone when I was battling a cold… I think my taste buds were a bit off that day (stuffy nose) and I was feeling very groggy. I need to come back when I don’t have a cold so I can actually taste the full flavours of all the food LOL. Lesson learned, don’t try new places when sick. =( So, take this review with a grain of salt please.

We were pleasantly surprised when we received miso soup at our table. We told the server that we didn’t order miso soup, but she told us it was a complimentary starter, how nice!

Restaurants usually don’t offer free miso soup anymore. It tasted pretty standard, a bit saltier than normal and had a healthy amount of green onions, seaweed and tofu on the bottom. Considering it was free, it was still full of flavour and served hot.
Up next, was our tuna and salmon sashimi. The pieces of sashimi were absolutely HUGE. I don’t think I’ve seen such giant chunks of sashimi before ever, and it weirded me out in a way. But of course, quality over quantity, and was that the case? Despite my sickness, I still tasted the fresh and juicy flavour of both the tuna and salmon sashimi. Look at that glisten! I was already starting to feel a bit full since the sashimi was so big!

Then, our plate of rolls came! Starting off with the negitoro roll, it was my favourite out of all the dishes that night. Just like the tuna sashimi, the negitoro roll was packed full of fresh flavour, and there was a strong green onion taste which is what I’m looking for in a negitoro roll! The boyfriend and I almost always order negitoro roll every single time we eat Japanese food, we both agreed this was one of, if not the best, negitoro roll that we had so far.

Following that, was the BC roll. I didn’t have any because I’m not a fan of salmon skin, but the boyfriend said that it was very crunchy and had a lot of cooked salmon meat inside.

Here is where I regret trying new restaurants when I’m sick. I thought that the chopped scallop roll tasted a bit bland and rubbery, which surprised the boyfriend because he thought it was absolutely delicious! Well, more chopped scallop rolls for him then! I need to re-order this dish next time because I’m sure it tasted fine.

Moving on, I felt like trying something new so I ordered the smoked salmon roll. I loooove smoked salmon, so I thought that it would taste great in a roll. I didn’t really like this roll though, I think I prefer my smoked salmon alone. It was a bit warm which was off putting, and I didn’t like how the roll was so salty. There was nothing wrong with the sushi rice or smoked salmon, but I personally don’t like the taste of it together and will probably stick with salmon sashimi rolls.

I really wanted to try their tobiko, so I had a one piece of nigiri. The tobiko was very fresh, and extremely crunchy. In fact, it was so crunchy that as I was chewing on the tobiko, my boyfriend heard the crunch from the other side of the table LOL… which made him want to try some of it too.

Everything went well with our visit to Sushi UOmo, I think we will be back (I am feeling better now, and have fully regained taste yay!). It is a lot better than the place next door, Yo Sushi . I’m sorry, it had be said but I would pick UOmo any day over Yo Sushi. For the price you pay there, the quality is NOT worth it. Okay, I don’t want to rant about Yo Sushi so just read my review on it *~~~positive vibes~~~*

-Carmen

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