Curiously Carmen

The Truffle House & Cafe

Hi everyone!

I know this is a bit late… but I hope you all had a good long weekend! I sure did, I spent the weekend discovering new restaurants and playing tourist in my own city. There are so many little nooks and crannies in the Lower Mainland, you can’t possibly be bored here on a sunny day.

Urbanspoon told me that The Truffle House had really good ratings, and was a popular place for brunch so we decided to stop by here!

IMG_2465.JPGThe restaurant is easy to miss, it is located in Dundarave Village on the main stretch of stores. The Truffle House was quite narrow and long too, and was full when we arrived. Luckily, they had their solarium open for overflow and we took the last spot there. The entire place was very clean and service was very friendly throughout our whole visit.
IMG_2468.JPGAre you surprised that when I saw smoked salmon on the menu, I ordered it right away? You shouldn’t be because I am the biggest salmon lover ever! West Coast benny – house smoked salmon, two poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and home fried potatoes.

There was a generous amount of smoked salmon, and it was delicious. I requested my eggs to be poached medium-hard and it was perfect to my liking. As well, the hollandaise sauce was buttery and flavourful. The home fried potatoes were quite good as well – crispy, and well seasoned with a lot of herbs! I was satisfied and full after eating this.

IMG_2466.JPGThe boyfriend ordered the eggs benny – which was the same as mine but with smoked ham instead of smoked salmon. What looked good on paper unfortunately did not apply to what tasted good in his mouth – sadly, the ham was very bland and lacked flavour. I gave it a try and agreed that there was no flavour to the ham at all.

I’m glad that we got to try this place, as the service was very friendly and atmosphere was spot-on. My smoked salmon benny was delicious, but unfortunately the eggs benny could have done better with flavour. With that said, we wouldn’t mind coming back if we were in the area but the boyfriend would probably order something else instead.

Smoked salmon or smoked ham – which one do you prefer? =)

Have a good day and thanks for reading!

-Carmen

The Truffle House & Cafe on Urbanspoon

Archimallows – Homemade Gourmet Marshmallows

Hello everyone!

Archimallows is a pop-up marshmallow shop, with their kitchen located in South Vancouver. They’re probably best known for being the adorable pop-up stand at Pacific Center’s Holt Renfrew in Downtown Vancouver, but they do private functions all over town.
IMG_1914.JPGAt the social, Kyle had a small little table decorated with cute pieces of fake moss, fresh marshmallows in mason jars and white rice, finished off with polka dots! I LOVE POLKA DOTS, so naturally we were off to a great start. In fact, I’m wearing my polka dot printed PJs and have my polka dotted phone case to my left right now.

IMG_1915.JPGHis flavours rotate depending on the week. At the event I attended, he had dark chocolate salted caramel, lemon meringue, vanilla sprinkle, and cola float (pictured above).

After lightly torching the marshmallows, you have a selection of finishing it off with a quick dip in coca-cola or Bailey’s (yes, the alcohol). You can see the bowl of Bailey’s in the first picture, the cola is a bit hidden behind the marshmallows =)
IMG_1918.JPGHere is Kyle lightly torching the lemon meringue marshmallow. Each of the marshmallows are individually torched in front of your eyes!
IMG_1917.JPGAfter toasting, Kyle asked if I wanted to try it as a s’more… the answer was a 100 percent YES!

Oh man, this was heaven in a bite. The graham crackers were crunchy and had a light flavour to them, so that it did not steal the spotlight from the marshmallow. The lemon meringue had a slight lemon taste, but it wasn’t super sour. It was soft and melted in your mouth, but had a nice, thin crisp exterior.
IMG_1913.JPGVanilla sprinkles! Just like the lemon meringue, it tasted really fresh and the marshmallow was very soft. This was dipped in Bailey’s so it had a slight caramel taste to it, which enhanced the lightly torched exterior. There isn’t much Bailey’s on the marshmallow, it is definitely not enough to get you drunk if you’re worried about that.

IMG_1916.JPGKyle was also nice enough to make more s’mores for my friends and I! I had the salted caramel s’more, and it was probably my favourite flavour of the night. It came with dark chocolate flakes which were slightly melted due to them being torched. I liked how it was slightly salty and had a caramel taste, even before it was dipped into the Bailey’s!

My marshmallow experience before trying Archimallows went only as far as jumbo-puffs, or those generic store brand marshmallows. I got to try and see a whole new wide of fancy, quality marshmallows!

archimallows
Mini egg archimallows! Taken from their Instagram

The best bet to find Kyle and his pop up stand is at Holt Renfrew! If you’ve ever been there, you might recall seeing his stand right near the bridge/tunnel that connects Holts and Pacific Center. Next time I’m in the area (which is often considering I work closely), I am definitely going to try to find Archimallows!

Which flavour sounds the best to you? Dark chocolate salted caramel, lemon meringue, vanilla sprinkle, or cola float? Let me know in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Archimallows on Urbanspoon

The Last Crumb Bakery

Hi everyone,

Valentines Day for the boyfriend and I was mostly spent eating out and trying new places, we tried a total of 3 new restaurants in one day. In the afternoon, we went for brunch and dessert followed by a lovely dinner at The Fish House in Stanley Park.

I had my eyes set on taking him to The Last Crumb, since I thought he would enjoy the peanut butter pie! I called The Last Crumb to confirm that it was not a daily rotation special. They confirmed that it was baked year round, but could not guarantee it would be on the shelf since it is very popular.

IMG_1483.JPGWe drive past this area quite often and Main Street is one of our favourite neighbourhoods in Vancouver to eat in, but I’ve never really noticed this place.  I think because their sign is small and hanging on the top, so if you’re in a vehicle and looking out the window, it’s not at eye level? I always thought it was some kind of furniture or interior design store… not a bakery with yummy goodies!
IMG_1485.JPGThe cafe is very spacious and simply decorated. I really liked how roomy it was in there, yet it didn’t feel too big. There is also a small alcove upstairs with more tables, and even a little play station for toddlers!
IMG_1193.JPGI’m happy to say that they still had the peanut butter pie! Obviously, it was a big hit with the boyfriend and he thought it was amazing. Peanut butter lovers, this one is for you. Very rich in peanut butter flavour and creamy, although the texture itself was a bit soft like whipped cream if that makes any sense.

I normally do not like peanut butter desserts, but I gave it a try anyways. I was pleasantly surprised to find it okay! I think it was due to the caramel drizzle and Reese peanut butter chunks inside that sealed the deal for me. I wouldn’t order this for myself, but wouldn’t mind having a few bites to share.

The crust was a layer of cookie crumbs. I want to say Oreo, but it was not sweet at all so it’s probably some other type of crust filling. It balanced the sweetness of the rest of the cake.
IMG_1523.JPGI wanted something for myself too, and ordered a herbal fruity tea called “Hanna’s picnic tea”.  It was slightly sweet even though I didn’t add any sugar. It was also pretty concentrated in flavour.

IMG_1484.JPG

I can’t believe I didn’t see this when we were going up the stairs, but look how interesting this is – real tea cups and saucers glued on to an otherwise plain wall!

This would be a nice place to get dessert after dinner, but sadly they are only open mornings until late afternoon.

Are you a peanut butter lover? Would you give the pie a try?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

The Last Crumb Bakery & Cafe on Urbanspoon

Forage – Foodie Brunch

Hi hi hi hi hi!

Last month, I met up with fellow food bloggers Naomi from Pink Marshmellows and David from Picky Diners Club. We went to Forage and for a weekend brunch in downtown, and it was quieter than we had expected inside!

unnamed (11)Luckily, we had a reservation and only ended up waiting around 5 minutes before we were seated. Forage is located deep in downtown, near the end of Robson Street. It is around a 12 minute walk from Burrard skytrain.
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I ordered the classic benny, which included back bacon, free range eggs covered in hollandaise served with a side of crispy potatoes.

The muffin was nice and soft, while the back bacon had a thick cut and smoky flavour to it. My eggs were poached perfectly to my liking and covered with a generous and delicious amount of creamy hollandaise sauce.

The potatoes were very crispy on the outside, and bursting with a savoury herb flavour. Half way through, it started to taste really salty but that didn’t stop me from devouring the whole plate. We made sure to have our water constantly filled.

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Naomi ordered the special benny that day, the pork belly benny. It was the same as mine, but without the back bacon and pork belly instead. I had a bite and her benny was delicious as well, the pork belly was very tender and rich.

forageDavid ordered the corned bison hash which came with a sunny side up egg, toast, kale, house-made sauerkraut, and IPA mustard hollandaise. A plate with a German twist, which was delicious as well. All the flavours in this dish went perfectly with each other. I just wish the egg yolk wouldn’t have fallen or the picture would have looked nicer!

The toast also came with a side of homemade blueberry and strawberry jam. Since David couldn’t finish everything, we gladly helped him finish the toast. The toast was lightly buttered as well.

All in all, we had a great time at Forage. Our server was attentive and friendly, and had a sarcastic sense of humour. I really liked how the restaurant did not feel cramped and had a simple, modern wooden interior, nor was it too busy.

Have you been here before? How did you like it?

-Carmen

Forage on Urbanspoon

The Flying Pig (Olympic Village)

Happy to announce that this will be a guest post by le boyfriend. We tried The Flying Pig for the first time but we left disappointed, read on to find out why. Thanks for reading! – Carmen

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Hi everybody! Welcome to another guest post. Carmen really wanted another post from me, but I was hesitant at first. I originally intended to write my post on Fable Kitchen as part of the Dine at Fable event, but that went nowhere as evidence by the lack of a post. So here is a review for The Flying Pig, at their newest location in Olympic Village. Carmen had really wanted to try The Flying Pig for a long time, and one night we decided to visit the aforementioned location.
unnamed (12)This location does not have big signs or bright lights on the outside of the building, and it was quite difficult to locate in the dark. Once inside, we were greeted and seated promptly. The restaurant was about 75% full when we arrived, but I found that the table we were seated at was pretty cramped. Our server was very friendly, and rang off the specials of the day for us.
unnamed (13) For an appetizer, we ordered the Bone Marrow Cheezy Bread. Carmen heard from a friend that the bread was a “must try” item, and it did not disappoint. It was warm, fluffy, and loaded with cheese.
unnamed (15)For her entrée, Carmen ordered the Veal Piccata. It consisted of a parmesan risotto in a lemon caper butter sauce, served with veal slices. The risotto was creamy and cooked perfectly, but that’s about as good as it gets.

The veal, while tender, was underwhelming and bland. The lemon capers gave it an overly lemony taste, which required a lot of salt and pepper to mask. It also had a slimy texture that was very off-putting.

Overall, Carmen did not enjoy it very much, and I switched dishes with her only because I could tolerate it a bit more. We both agreed, it’s not worth recommending.
unnamed (14)Next up is the entrée I selected: The Flying Pig Signature Pork Rack. It really sounded good on paper but was sadly another uninspiring dish. The pork rack consisted of one piece of pork chop attached to the bone, served with a side of pulled pork poutine, with an apple cider reduction sauce and seasonal vegetables.

The pork was cooked very well, being very tender and juicy, but just like the veal, it was bland and poorly seasoned. Carmen tried a piece and was not impressed either. Sadly for this dish, the best part was the side of pulled pork poutine, which you can add as a side to other dishes as well. There was a generous amount of pulled pork layered on top, and the pulled pork was absolutely delicious.

Considering how poorly seasoned the rest of the meats we had that night were, this was an absolute delight. There is also a generous topping of cheese curds and gravy.

Our first experience at The Flying Pig was, overall, not a very positive one. Most of our food ended up being very disappointing, and for what we paid, we felt like it was definitely not worth the price. We also agreed that it would be worth revisiting another time.

Carmen did in fact go back to The Flying Pig (albeit their Gastown location) and had a much better experience during their happy hour. You can expect that review to be up pretty soon after this one. Until next time, thanks for reading!

The Flying Pig on Urbanspoon