Curiously Carmen

Soft Peaks Ice Cream

Hi hi!

What type of food blogger would I be if I didn’t talk about the latest ice cream shop that has been taking Vancouver’s social media by storm? Can you guess which place I’m talking about? Yep, Soft Peaks Ice Cream! Soft Peaks is located in the cobblestone streets of Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood.
IMG_1656.JPGAfter hearing many stories of people waiting upwards of one hour for a cup of organic ice cream, I did not want to partake in that so we decided to not go on a weekend, which is probably when it’ll be the most busy. Finally, the boyfriend and I found time to go one weekday evening. There wasn’t much parking available and it’s probably easier to commute there, we paid for parking three blocks away.

Soft Peaks has very high walls, which gives it a spacious appearance. There is also a small alcove on the second floor where customers can enjoy their ice cream. Overall, I would say seating is pretty limited if the place was packed but it doesn’t feel cramped.
IMG_1657.JPGThe girl at the counter was very friendly and had great service. We waited approximately 7-10 minutes for our soft serve, but it seemed a lot longer than that because I was really anticipating my order.

I was a bit surprised when I saw the size, I thought that for $7 it would be a bit bigger. But, quality over quantity?
IMG_1658.JPGThe boyfriend ordered the rocky mountain with his choice of chocolate syrup. I was secretly hoping he would order the caramel syrup so that I could try it =P

Being the milk lover he is, he really, really, REALLY loved his soft serve. He emphasized how creamy and smooth it was, and how delicious the Avalon milk was. He would be back again in a heart beat. But what about those who don’t have a “soft” spot for dairy?
IMG_1659.JPGI ordered the mudslide, which came with crushed tim tam flakes. Unlike the boyfriend, I was not in love at first bite. I didn’t think it was amazing, but it wasn’t bad either as what seems to be the general consensus around this place.

Since the soft serve is made with organic Avalon milk instead of cream, the good thing meaning that it is lower in fat, but the negative thing might be that people aren’t used to this taste. When eating soft serve, people are accustomed to super sweet soft serve like at Dairy Queen or McDonalds.

Without the chocolate syrup and tim tam flakes, I would have found this very plain. I’m really glad that I had the chocolate and flakes which gave more excitement to an otherwise plain soft serve.

IMG_1663.JPGAnother thing I noticed while reading reviews were that people were angry and felt ripped off because the soft serve had a giant hole in the middle! If I was paying $7 for a small sized soft serve, I would be angry too. I think they have since corrected the problem since my soft serve only had a slight hole and the boyfriend’s didn’t.

Soft Peaks had a great idea by re-inventing the soft serve with organic and high quality Avalon milk. The quality of the soft serve is definitely there, and it is very smooth but it is not the sweet soft serve that people are accustomed to.

-Carmen

PS.  If you haven’t bought a bottle of Avalon milk before, you must try it on its own – the quality and smoothness of it is undeniable.

*Media sample provided by Soft Peaks. Opinions and thoughts are my own, and are not altered by the requests of the company. 

Soft Peaks Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

Rocket Sandwich Shop

Hello all!

I was walking around on my lunch break one day, and noticed a clean, pristine and modern looking sandwich shop that I’ve never heard of before. I then decided to search them up and found out that it was a healthy, alternative gourmet sandwich shop catered for those on the go. I think it’s also relatively new because their website still says “now open!”.  A few weeks later, my coworkers and I went to try this place for lunch and here’s how that went!
unnamedI really liked the modern, clean, and simplistic design to Rocket- that’s what made me notice this place originally! As you can see, they have a white tile wall with a big rocket ship stamped on it, their company logo. They keep the colours simple and fresh, with a splash of colour- à la baby blue espresso machine. A small selection of pastries are offered behind a clean, streak/thumbprint free glass.

On the other side of the clean wooden counter was the fridge, where their sandwiches are stored. We went around 12:30 on a weekday, and the fridge was looking a bit scarce already. However, the worker told us that they were able to freshly make a sandwich that we wanted if we did not see it there!

unnamed (2)The price of one sandwich was $8.50, and I didn’t feel like paying that much for a sandwich although they looked delicious. I opted for the hot egg breakfast sandwich instead, with your choice of one out of four options and was $4. I decided on the prosciutto and cheddar topping.

I fell in love with this at first bite. I loved how savoury, warm, and fresh everything tasted. The cheddar cheese was slightly melted on the prosciutto, while the English muffin was soft and lightly toasted. My favourite part was the EGG though, I’m still thinking about how delicious that egg was. For $4, this is a much better tasting breakfast sandwich with fresh, quality ingredients than getting a breakfast sandwich at a fast food joint for around the same price.

unnamed (1)My coworker ordered the spicy shrimp sandwich. She enjoyed her sandwich as well, even though it was a bit on the pricey side for a single sandwich ($8.50 without tax and tip). Well to justify the amount spent on her sandwich, she said it’s not likely that she will craft up a sandwich with this much effort in it on a daily basis – preparing, seasoning, and cooking the shrimp and making the specialty sandwich sauce.

True that, if you were to make that at home it would probably take a long time. Usually, people prepare sandwiches because they’re quick and easy so I guess that the spicy shrimp sandwich at Rocket is worth the splurge.

-Carmen

Rocket on Urbanspoon

Earnest Ice Cream – Two visits

Hi everyone,

FINALLY! I am so happy to be able to write a post on Earnest… because that means I finally tried it! The reason why I waited so long to try it is because of my pet peeve in lining up at eating establishments. If you’ve been reading my blog already, you know that I hate waiting in line for food.
Ernest outside I actually sucked it up and attempted to go to Earnest twice in the summer. Both times, we drove around the store and surrounding blocks looking for parking,  for a good ten minutes before giving up.

Needless to say, Earnest seemed like a faraway, dreamy and distant land that I’ll never be able to go to =( Until now! Their new location  had opened up this month right on the outskirts of Olympic Village.
Ernest cashierAlthough I haven’t been to the original location, I’ve driven past it many times and know how small it is. This location is a major upgrade in terms of size, featuring high ceilings and almost floor to ceiling windows. It feels very roomy and spacious due to the high ceilings.
Ernest whiskey

For our first visit, the boyfriend ordered a scoop of the whiskey hazelnut. It was very rich, creamy, and smooth…the epitome of what great ice cream should taste like. There were small chunks of hazelnut in his ice cream as well. The only regret he had was to order the waffle cone instead, he thought that it costed extra!
Ernest salted caramelThis was my heavenly scoop of salted caramel. Again, it was very rich and creamy… the caramel taste was perfect. I enjoyed every bite of this and the waffle cone tasted fresh and was crunchy.
Ernest cookies and creamI was craving Earnest so much after our first visit that we went back the next day…. whatever! #hatersgonnahate. I ordered the same salted caramel ice cream with a waffle cone, so I won’t talk about how delicious it was again!

The boyfriend ordered the cookies and cream, with a waffle cone this time! Again, it did not disappoint.

Earnest was seriously amazing, and definitely lived up to the hype. At least, I think so, but I would love to hear about those who didn’t like the ice cream here. Friendly, fast service combined with quality, rich, and smooth ice cream… I’m not sure what more you could ask for.

-Carmen

PS. Since both stores are the same and carry the same flavours, here are spoon backs to both locations:

Earnest Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

Earnest Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

Rain or Shine Ice Cream

Hi everyone,

(Disclaimer- I actually wrote this draft last April LOL, I was meaning to publish it once the weather became hotter but I completely forgot!)

I predict that Rain or Shine Ice Cream is going to be the next big ice cream parlour in Vancouver and for outstanding reasons. I mean, come on, ICE CREAM WAFFLE CONE TACOS and ice cream paddles? They take ice cream, which is already a wonderful invention, and find ways to make it more spectacular.

I somehow came across this place while I was reading other food blogs. What caught my eye was that one review said that offer “ice cream flights”. I love beer flights/paddles (Biercraft, St Augs anybody?), so needless to say, I was ecstatic when I heard about this and knew I had to come here. People also said that it was like Earnest ice cream without the line up and popularity.
IMG_3773[1]
Upon entering, I noticed that it was a pretty small place. Probably seats around 12 people at most. They had a big cows head statue which reminded me of Marsha the Moose from Big Brother Canada.

The workers let us sample so many different flavours, gave us some history behind the store, and were so patient. Even though they had other customers to serve, they treated everyone equally and had time for everyone’s questions and sampling requests!
IMG_3687We finally decided on our flight flavours. We shared the chocolate, peanut butter, blueberry balsamic, and brown butter snickerdoodle. Ahhhh! All of the flavours were so creamy and rich. The workers told us that they make all their ice cream in the back kitchen with local ingredients as much as possible. The freshness of their ice cream really shines through, and it completely melts in your mouth with every spoonful. It cost $9 which I think was worth it, since it was so fresh and delicious. The following 4 pictures will be a review on each flavour, because I’m that obsessed…
IMG_3689Peanut butter- The boyfriend eats, breathes, and lives peanut butter so it was only natural we got this flavour. Unfortunately for me, I am not a big fan of peanut butter but I still liked the creamy and smooth texture of this. There were also small peanut chunks in the ice cream, which made the ice cream crunchier.
IMG_3692Chocolate- As you can tell, we devoured part of this before I remembered to take a picture. The chocolate was very smooth, and it wasn’t overwhelming sweet.
IMG_3691Brown butter snickerdoodle- This one was my second favourite. As with the chocolate one, this one wasn’t overly sweet other but it had lovely hints of cinnamon spices. IT WAS SO GOOD. On top of the smooth, creamy, cinnamon goodness, there were also generous chunks of cookies inside the ice cream too, which tasted so, so, so, amazing.
IMG_3690Blueberry balsamic- I saved my favourite for last!!! Again, this flavour was very very creamy and delightful. There was a strong blueberry taste to it. There was also generous chunks of blueberries inside which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would definitely recommend trying this flavour!

All in all, we loved our experience at Rain or Shine. It’s definitely worth trying, and if you’re not sure of which flavours to get, try the ice cream flight like we did! Perfect for the indecisive individuals like ourselves. I can predict many Summer nights coming to this place, I better come here more before it gets super popular and impossible to grab a seat or cone (like Earnest)!

-Carmen

Rain or Shine Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar- Convention Center location

Hi everyone!

Sometimes, as a food blogger, you will visit one of those restaurants that are so bad that you don’t even want to waste your time writing or even thinking about it. But at the same time,  you want to warn people before they go to said restaurants. Well, Rogue at the Convention Center is one of those said locations. If I knew how bad the food and service would be, I would have definitely tried another place. This place was definitely one of the worst places I’ve been to in a while, food and service wise.

Walking in, I was very impressed with the decor and location. They had floor to ceiling windows, which let in a lot of sunlight and there was a beautiful view of the water outside. Unfortunately, that’s where it stopped with Carmen being impressed.

RogueMy friend and I decided to share the chicken and chorizo cappelini, which sounded delicious on paper. What arrived and what we tasted was another story. The cappelini noodles were extremely mushy, bland and soggy. In addition, the entire plate was void of any flavour, just soggy, mushy, disgusting noodles.

The worst part of the dish was how oily it was. The entire time we were trying to stomach this down, all we saw was oil gleaming from every angle and all we tasted was bland, soggy noodles.

After a few bites, we were done and couldn’t eat anymore. I don’t know how they can serve this out to customers and charge $17 for it. Take it from our experience and save yourself the money, do not order this.
Rogue pizzaMy friend and I also shared the spicy tiger prawn and pesto pizza. I had this at the other Rogue location in Waterfront station, which was really good! However, we were disappointed again when we picked up a slice, and it collapsed due to how much greasy oil was on the thin crust dough. The whole pizza was incredibly oily, to the point where it was so unappetizing that neither of us wanted to eat it anymore.

I tried to salvage it by dabbing my napkin to soak up the oil, but my napkin was drenched in oil after two slices and service was so slow and rude that I didn’t want to ask for more napkins. The pizza was also cut really badly and uneven, some of the pieces were four times larger than others. I’m sorry, but this was just terrible.

There weren’t many prawns on the dish either and tasted nothing like what I had at the other Rogue, I can’t believe they are sister restaurants.
ROgue soupI’m so glad that I ordered a side soup because this was the only minimal dish I had that day. This was the tomato basil soup. I’m not sure if they can cook their soups really well, OR if my standards for this place had gone so low that I thought this was good. There was a strong tomato taste to it, and had a bit of a thicker consistency. It had the right amount of herbs and saltiness, and the melted Parmesan added a nice finishing touch.

Moving on to the rude service. Service was very minimal, and when our server did come, she seemed to be in a really big rush and did not want to serve us. I asked for a hot honey water, which never came so I asked another server as she was walking by. Bad choice. She literally THREW it down on our table and walked away so fast that we couldn’t ask her to bring our server.

My friend was also missing her utensils and water, which took us three tries before our server got it for us.

It’s safe to say that I will not be returning to this Rogue location after how gross our food was and how bad the service was.

-Carmen

Rogue Kitchen & WetBar on Urbanspoon