food Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Curiously Carmen

Jo Ju Hot Pot

October 9, 2015

The Heights neighbourhood has a plethora of cuisines to choose from… from the familiar to the more daring choices. However, the one thing that has been missing in that area is a bubble tea shop, ever since Pearl Drops closed down. I really miss that place.

So you could imagine my happiness when we were driving by this area and I saw a new restaurant signage indicating that they serve bubble tea! I was so excited that I messaged a couple of my friends right away to tell them. Sadly, I kept forgetting the name of the restaurant although it was in the back of my mind the next week… I wanted to read reviews on it but I didn’t know the name and it did not show up on Zomato yet… ahhhh! The next time we drove by, I made a mental note to myself to remember the name. Jo. Ju. Jo ju. Jo ju hot pot….!!

Cheese was helping me on a project one evening in August, so I suggested that we go try that place out before working.
After parking at one of the many free parking lots in this neighbourhood close by, we arrived at the restaurant. It wasn’t really busy, as you can tell from my picture above. We were seated pretty quickly and service throughout our visit was quick and friendly.

The restaurant was pretty clean and simple, most of the furniture there seemed pretty new. It was also pretty spacious and didn’t feel too cramped, with lots of natural light coming through the big windows.
I really did not like the design of the menu, and I felt that the pictures looked very inaccurate.. as if they took it from the internet. Furthermore, Cinnamon had visited this place before me and sent me some pictures, which looked nothing like the menu pictures! So, a word of advice… don’t order based on the menu pictures!

I ordered the seafood hot pot, which came with a bowl of rice on the side.

The broth did not have much depth and was pretty plain, but it wasn’t bad either. It was pretty average. It came with an egg, some shrimp, fish balls, and a mussle which I found on the bottom. You could definitely tell that the shrimp came frozen and did not have a bounce to it.

However, the portion was pretty big. I came in the restaurant really hungry, but left really full from this dish! If you are just moderately hungry, I don’t believe that you’ll need the rice bowl.
The egg came poached and hard, probably due to the hot temperature of the soup. If you’re not a big fan of hard poached eggs, I would recommend that you let them know or it will come out as a hard poached egg.

I also ordered it with medium spice, you can kind of see the spice in the picture. I didn’t find it spicy at all though.
Cheese ordered the signature BBQ meat on rice, but sadly, he thought it was disappointing. There was nothing special about this, you could easily cook this at home for a lot cheaper.

Originally, we were going to try the bubble tea but were too full after our meals to think about ordering a drink!

Overall, the food at JoJu Hot Pot is mediocre at best but it does fill you up. I know that they’re new, so I’m willing to come back another time to see if they have improved. There is not much special about their food, nor is it bad.. it’s just very plain, mediocre, and boring.

In a place like The Heights where there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, or just Vancouver in general, this is definitely nothing special or worth driving out for. It would be a place to go to if you were in the area, and definitely not a place where you would be craving.

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

August 26, 2015

Sometimes, the boyfriend and I are in the sudden mood to try out a new restaurant. More often than not, we will already have a list of restaurants we want to try together so it is a matter of deciding which one. It is a task that might not be as easy as you think! On one particular warm sunny evening in June, it was Rocky Mountain Flatbread that we decided to finally check off our dining list.

There are two locations in Vancouver, we went to the one on Main Street. I should make it a goal to try all, if not most, of the restaurants here!

Walking in, the atmosphere was fantastic and really set the mood for the rest of our visit. The patio was open, with the sunlight graciously pouring throughout the mid-sized restaurant. There was also a live band playing in the corner of the restaurant, featuring an amazing acoustic singer. The ambiance here was very warm, as well as the friendly service.

To start, we ordered the homemade iced tea and lemonade. Both were not very sweet. I would have preferred my lemonade to be sweetened a bit more because it tasted like concentrated lemon water (which I know is essentially what lemonade is… but more sugar would be nice). It was definitely a drink where you take occasional slow slips because of how sour it was.

I ordered the ‘parma’, which came with organic tomato sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, cured ham, arugula, mushrooms, and mango. Perhaps the most interesting topping on this was the mango, but I was very intrigued and had a good feeling that all the flavours would go well together. Was I correct?

A million times yes!! Everything was really fresh, and the mango gave it a bit of a ‘spark’ to an already awesome flatbread. The sweetness of the mango enhanced all the other flavours, this dish was just brilliant. 12/10 would order again.

The boyfriend ordered the Italian sausage, which came with pesto, mozarella, Italian sausage bits, and spinach. Again, this dish was executed very well and we enjoyed it. The ingredients for both flatbreads were very fresh, while the dough was soft and chewy but crispy on the outside.

I am really glad that we finally tried this place out, and I feel like we would come back here again. From the ambiance, to the service, and the food, everything was simply wonderful and we had a great time. I would recommend coming here with a group of people, so that you’re able to try more of the flatbread varieties they offer.

Duotian Fish Soup Noodles Restaurant – Stingy restaurant =\

July 14, 2015

Hi everyone!!

Cheese and I decided to have lunch here one day because we were craving Hong Kong style iced lemon tea, and it was the closest place. I didn’t really have a good experience here last month, but I wanted to come back and give it another try.

I’m not sure I’l be back or not, their food isn’t that great because the restaurant is so incredibly cheap and stingy. There are definitely a lot better places, this place falls on the bottom for the make-your-own-noodle -soup combo category.

As I mentioned earlier, Cheese and I came here instead of our original plan at Sushi Uomo because we were craving HK style iced lemon tea. When our drinks came, the lemon slices were incredibly paper thin. The pictures don’t do it justice because you see the front of the lemon slice and not the side.

Because the lemon was so thin, our drinks did not taste authentic and tasted like plain sweet tea from McDonalds. It was pretty disappointing, and we ended up crushing our lemons completely to a pulp in order for it taste a tiny bit like HK lemon iced tea. Overall, it was pretty disappointing.

Continuing along to prove my point of how cheap they are, look at this french toast that my friend ordered. There was barely ANY custard in it, he felt like he was just eating two slices of bread.

There was also barely any syrup on the side, normally they provide a full small tin of syrup for you.

If there was an adequate amount of custard filling, the french toast would have been decent.
Cheese ordered the pumpkin and tomato fish soup with rice noodles, beef balls, and sliced beef.
I ordered my usual century egg and parsley soup with vermicelli, beef balls, and fish balls. I wanted cuttlefish but they were out. =(

The broth was lighter and more watery than I was used to, but the flavour was still good.

Overall, Duotian is pretty meh and I wouldn’t come back unless I was stuck in the area and REALLY, REALLY craving noodle soup. Cattle Cafe and Deer Garden are much better, and they are less cheap with their ingredients.

Have you been here? What did you think of it?

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Applebee’s – Roadtrip to the USA!

July 10, 2015

Hi readers!

Call us crazy, but some friends and I made the trip down to USA for some good ol’ indulgence in cheap American food. Yes, we drove all the way there just to eat, but ended up wandering around Bellingham after as well! I’ve only ever driven by Bellingham or went to Bellis Fair, so it was nice to go around and explore the rest of the city.

We headed down shortly after rush hour ended, and following an adventure at the US border, we were off to Applebee’s!

To start off, I decided to get a strawberry lemonade. I was quite tired that day and needed some sugar for energy! The lemonade was very tart and sour, because the strawberry syrup was at the bottom. Give the drink a good stir and it will taste a lot better.

This drink also came with fresh strawberries! I ordered a couple of these during our visit as they have unlimited refills.
Originally, we were going to go to Olive Garden but found out that Applebee’s was having a promotion! One appetizer, and two entrees for twenty dollars – so cheap! You could never get that sort of price and portion in Canada.

The boyfriend and I shared the deal, while my two friends got the same deal but the ‘upgraded’ version.

Pictured above was both of our appetizers which we all shared – boneless wings and onion rings. The boneless wings were very juicy, flavourful, and had a nice crispy exterior! They were delicious! I believe my friends ordered this with BBQ sauce. As for the onion rings, they were gigantic and very fresh and crunchy.

Both appetizers were very satisfying and it was a great start to our meal.

I ordered the chicken strips and fries. Again, the chicken strips were fresh and had a crunchy batter, just like our appies. They were also well seasoned and juicy. The fries were a bit too salty and I didn’t end up eating all of them.

The boyfriend ordered the cheeseburger. The onion and bacon were already inside the patty, which is why the burger looks pretty plain. He enjoyed the burger a lot.

As I mentioned above, my two friends decided to upgrade and get the $25 special instead of the $20. Cheese ordered the macaroni and cheese, which came with some bread and chicken strips.

He was in love at first bite! The mac and cheese was incredibly creamy, and full of garlic and herb flavour. The chicken strips were the same as the ones I ordered. He wanted to finish the mac and cheese, but it was so rich and creamy that he had to pack some leftovers.

Cocoa ordered the chicken steak and prawn with potatoes. Oh mannnn… I had a bite of her chicken and I was in LOVE. The garlic butter slowly melted and encompassed the chicken, and was so delicious! It was very juicy, bursting with flavour, and had a slightly grilled taste to it.

I wish I had ordered this instead and will probably get this the next time I’m at Applebee’s!

We were all very satisfied and stuffed after our meal at Applebee’s. We couldn’t believe how little we paid, yet how much food we got in return.

What is your favourite American chain restaurant?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 2/2

June 28, 2015

Hi everyone!

Continuing part 2 of my trip to the nightmarket with some friends a few weeks ago! Here is part 1 if you missed it =)

As we were walking around, I noticed a stand from Mogu Street Eats. I’ve read about their food truck and heard great things about it, and my friend said that she saw it on The Food Network. So, my other friend decided to get the chicken karage and see if it was actually that good!

Honestly, it didn’t look too appetizing to me because the batter looked pretty old and it looked pretty oily. He insisted that I try it and my opinion was right – it was soaked and dripping in oil.

It’s probably prepared better at their actual food cart because there’s no way that this chicken could get such great reviews.

The nightmarket was almost closing, and we saw that some places were beginning to offer closing specials (they weren’t super good deals though so no point waiting to come later). Decided to ask this stand if they were offering any closing specials, and they said no, but offered us a cheaper price.

After some negotiation, we settled on a price we were both happy with (sorry forgot what it was)! We got the lamb, prawn, and chicken skewer.

The chicken skewer was still a bit raw inside, so I didn’t eat it because I didn’t want to risk feeling sick afterwards. The prawn was also slightly raw too =( If they were both cooked fully, it would have been pretty delicious as the seasoning was great!

The last thing I got was a mango shaved ice!

The mangoes tasted really fresh and ripe. Drizzled with condensed milk, it tasted heavenly!

The ice cream tasted very cheap and like ‘cardboard’ to quote my friend. It wasn’t exactly the best quality ice cream, you could definitely taste the lack of quality in it.

As for the shaved ice, it was just crushed ice with no flavour because well… it was just crushed ice LOL. I was expecting something like this, but maybe this is a different style. There was more ice than toppings, so it was hard to combine the ice with the mango/condensed milk/ice cream to make it taste better.

Overall, this dish was definitely not worth the price.

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