late night Archives - Curiously Carmen

Ebisu on Broadway

July 25, 2016

The boyfriend and I were planning on grabbing dinner but ended up eating too many snacks at home while watching TV that we weren’t hungry for a full meal anymore. Oops =P

So, we decided to get some light snacks in Richmond, but we couldn’t find parking. We ended up going back to Vancouver to Ebisu on Broadway Street as the boyfriend has been wanting to try this Vancouver chain out. Yes, there is an Ebisu in Richmond but we wanted to be back in Vancouver.
I’ve been here a few times already with my family years ago (along with the location in downtown), but this was the first time the boyfriend has tried Ebisu.

This location is on the second floor of a plaza, just off Broadway on one of the quieter inside streets. Luckily, we arrived just after 10pm so meter parking was free already!

The outside doesn’t look that nice, but the inside is a lot better. The seating is comfortable and spacious, while the service was really warm and fast.

We didn’t know that they had happy hour from 8:30pm-close, so that was a nice surprise! Unfortunately, none of the happy hour items really stood out to us so we ended up only ordering one item from their happy hour menu.

Sashimi salad $9.50 small | $15.95 regular: I’ve been on a sashimi salad kick lately, so naturally, I had to order Ebisu’s sashimi salad! You can choose from either creamy, house ginger, or spicy dressing. I chose the house ginger.

The veggies were pretty fresh, and the house ginger sauce was really tasty! It tasted more like a garlicky, miso sauce but we both really liked it.

The amount of sashimi was a bit disappointing, I would have wished there was more. Albiet a small portion, the sashimi tasted pretty fresh and came with octopus, tuna, wild salmon, and salmon sashimi.
Takoyaki, $5.95 happy hour | regular hours $6.50: The takoyaki was plump and flavourful. The boyfriend enjoyed the takoyaki here more than Manzo because they have less lemon juice sprinkled on top, making it less sour. I found the takoyaki pretty delicious and would order it again here.
Dynamite roll $3.95 happy hour | $5.50 regular: We decided to try out the dynamite roll because it was pretty cheap during happy hour! Unfortunately, the cheap price justified the cheap taste. The rice was bland and mushy.

While it looks appetizing here, it collapsed once we picked it up. The tempura was very soggy and did not taste fresh at all.

We wouldn’t order this again and I hope the regular dynamite roll tastes better than the happy hour version!
Truffle fries $4.95 | regular $5.95: Oops, I forgot to take a photo of the truffle fries but you can see it in this picture!

The truffle fries were AMAZING. They truffle oil really enhanced the flavour of the fresh, crispy, piping hot fries. It was dusted with some sort of herbs as well. I would come back to Ebisu just for these truffle fries!

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All in all, we had a lovely experience at Ebisu and I would definitely come back for snacks(esp. the truffle fries!). The prices are a bit higher than what I’m used to, but I don’t mind coming here once in awhile. It’s a nice change of scenery from the regular Japanese restaurants I visit.

I wish they opened later than 11 pm for happy hour, but it is located in a quiet area so I understand. The Ebisu in downtown is open until 1 am though!

I’ve only been to the Ebisu in downtown and Broadway. I would say they are both pretty similar in terms of quality and service. I actually went to the downtown Ebisu in the summer but never got around to writing a review.

Yay!

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Earnest Ice Cream – Two visits

February 24, 2015

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.
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.
Although 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.

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!
This 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.
I 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:

Strike 破店

October 18, 2014

After a night out in Richmond, my friends and I were looking for a late night cafe to go to apart from our usual Well Tea. The past two times we went, they were sold out of pearls and/or something else that I forgot, so we wanted to try someplace new and get to know Richmond a bit better. By the way, if you’re reading this and have a good recommendation for late night cafes in Richmond, please let me know! I texted one of my friends, who suggested we go to Strike because they had cheap bubble tea.
After winding around and getting a bit lost in the plazas that surrounded the neighbourhood, we finally found Strike. We got there around 12am, and it was a full house! Very loud music and many loud conversations among the different tables. There was a very lively atmosphere inside 🙂After taking our names down, we decided to grab the menu while we waited. We were quite confused with the menu as they all looked like they were falling apart, stained, standard non laminated pages stapled together, crumpled and a bit frayed at the edges from the usage. To be honest, the menus looked quite gross to touch. They did say that this was a temporary menu, for their soft opening. We didn’t even know this place was new, but figured that’s why they had so many of those big plants with ribbons outside (Asian tradition).

To make up for the non-aesthetically pleasing menu, there was a really nice mural on one of the walls that I really liked. It took its part from the busy streets of Japanese cities, and reminded me of a documentary that I watched on Tokyo’s dense population and how restaurants managed (I am in love with Japanese culture if you haven’t figured it out already hehe).
They were having a half price special on tea drinks, but since I don’t fare well with caffeine that late I opted for the taro slush. The taro slush wasn’t on the menu, and the server had to double check if they had it. They were also out of pearls (Why do restaurants always run out of pearls?! I’m cursed!) so I got the coconut jelly instead. The taro slush was oddly bland. I say “oddly” because when you first drink it, you can taste the taro but the taste goes away instantly. It felt like I was just drinking ice slush, lightly flavoured with taro. I don’t think I would order this again.

My friends decided to split the Taiwanese chicken nuggets, large size. The chicken nuggets were cooked perfectly, very flavourful with the 5 spice powder (I think that’s what it’s called?) and tasted like what ideal Taiwanese style nuggets should be like. A restaurant that also serves their nuggets with fried basil is a plus in my books as well!
I didn’t take a picture of all my friend’s drinks, but here are two of them. The one in the middle was the honey lemon green tea with grass jelly bubble tea. My friend didn’t really like it because it was a bit bland, but for the special offer they had, they couldn’t really complain. The boyfriend ordered the milk tea with grass jelly and pudding in the back. He said that the milk tea was good, but he had a really hard time getting to the pudding because they were all in big cubes that didn’t agree with the straw. He ended up pulling apart the top of the bubble tea container and scooped it out with his spoon. 😛

All in all, Strike was average. The good thing about Strike is their late hours and their bubble tea special, but other than that, it’s meh. I can get the same tasting chicken nuggets at other Taiwanese places, but perhaps we can try their other dishes if we decide to come back. My slush was very bland, so was my friend’s honey milk tea. In the words of my friend, “I would come back here if I wanted cheap bubble tea”. Yes, cheap bubble tea indeed, but the taste and flavour was definitely sacrificed.

-Carmen

Soho Tea Room

July 26, 2014

Do you ever have posts saved up in your drafts and you forget about them until almost two months later…? Yeah, that happened to me with this post. I’ve heard many great things about this place, but I’m normally not in this neighborhood, so I never got the chance to try it until now (aka 2 months ago when I wrote this draft…oops). Most of the hype that I’ve heard about Soho is due to the fact that you can have alcohol in your bubble tea, and that they serve a delicious honey toast box. I haven’t had a honey toast box for so long :(.
The exterior of Soho was nicer than I expected it to be. I was expecting just the usual store front, but the wood panels and signage was a refreshing sight. If I didn’t know, I would have thought that Soho was a fancy, delicate tea room serving only the highest quality tea from around the world (Say that in a posh English accent, it sounds better, I swear!).

I would never have expected it to be a late night Asian snack joint! Anyways, they do have free parking in the back but the spots are extremely narrow and tight.
Walking in, the restaurant was pretty nice and like the exterior, had a West Coast style as well. Lots of wooden panels, and warm tones. They had a chalkboard wall as well, which listed out the specials. I was a big fan of Soho’s interior and exterior design.

This is their alcoholic menu! I found the “recommendations” part to be pretty interesting, as they suggest what alcohol goes well with which bubble tea. Never have I seen that before! I wasn’t feeling like having alcohol that night, plus we had to drive back so I’ll have to come back for it next time.
I wasn’t that hungry, so just got the standard Taiwanese salt and peppery chicken nuggets ($5-6? I forgot). I was a bit surprised that it came on a long plate like this, because I was used to the bowls or square plates that restaurants normally put it in.

It reminded me a lot of a Western appetizer that I would get at Earls or Cactus Club, doesn’t it? Anyways, despite the presentation, the nuggets tasted pretty good. Well seasoned with the traditional five spice powder. I liked that most of the pieces were pretty lean too.

Taro slush bubble tea ($4). I ordered it with pearls, but unfortunately, they were sold out that night which sucked, because you can tell a lot about a bubble tea joint with the quality and taste of their pearls. Oh well, more reason to come here again!

The taro slush was very sweet and slushy. I was also wanting to try the honey toast box, but no one wanted to share it with me and I didn’t feel like having such a sweet food item after drinking this taro slush. Next time maybe?
My friend got the noodle and Taiwanese nugget combo. I didn’t get a chance to try it but he didn’t complain about it. My cousin got the beef brisket noodles. Their thick noodles were really delicious and had a thick and chewy texture to it, similar to my favourite Taiwanese restaurant, Wang’s, down the block. The soup base was also really good and flavourful, and had a strong beef taste to it.

All in all, I enjoyed my brief visit to Soho Tea Room. We wanted to stay longer, but there was a long line up forming and we felt bad for holding the table. Plus, we were passively getting rushed out by the servers LOL.

With their interior design and plating of certain dishes, Soho really tries to balance both Taiwanese and Western cultures together, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on which way you look at it.

Pros:

Good bubble tea
Delicious soup stock for noodles and delicious noodles
Spent a lot of effort into the design of the place (inside and out)
Service was fast and attentive
Comfortable seating

Cons:

Parking lot was really narrow and squishy
Bubble tea was a bit pricier than what I was used to
Sold out of pearls the night we went 🙁
According to my cousin, there are really long wait times on Fri & Sat nights
If the restaurant is busy, expect to wait 20-30 minutes for your blended drink (disclaimer on the menu)

-Carmen

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant

April 12, 2014

During work one night, I was craving Chinese late night snack (aka “da-lan”) and found out from my friend Venice Garden is open until 2am!

I have been to Venice Garden numerous times, since it is a convenient location, food is decent, and they accept debit unlike most other Chinese restaurants. Since I always get the same two things here, this review will be relatively short.

But this was my first time having late night snack here, so we’ll see how it goes!
I used to come here a lot when I was a child. I think it used to be named “Happy King” and I’ve heard some sketchy rumours why they had to change it which isn’t worth mentioning.

We got here around 11:30pm, after I finished working. Normally, this parking lot is filled to the brim with people so it was quite refreshing to see it so quiet here for once.

When we got in, there was only one other table eating here. Compared to the daytime, their service at night was SO MUCH better, I can’t believe it’s the same restaurant. It’s not even due to the fact that it’s quieter so they have more time to serve us. We’ve been here during the day when it wasn’t as busy and their service is very brief and sporatic. So, it was a great surprise to have friendly service!

Incase you’ve never had Chinese late night snack before, let’s give you a quick rundown. The menu is completely different from the rest of the day. A lot of the things are deep fried, and the portions are smaller but cheaper. Some popular items are deep fried Chinese donut, congee, deep fried fish/tofu/prawns/clams in spicy salt, or fried green beans with spicy pork. The first thing we ordered was congee with preserved duck egg and shredded salty pork. This is my go-to congee, I love preserved duck egg and I could care less that it’s a health concern (well I care, but I don’t eat it that much so whatever). The amount of preserved duck egg and shredded pork that they give you is very generous.

Their congee is really flavourful, and is cooked perfectly for my taste. I also love how much green onions and peanuts they include, it makes the congee taste so much yummier! We stir in the peanuts and onions, so that the peanuts give you a “crunch” when you’re enjoying the congee. The salted pork is extremely salty, even for myself so definitely eat it in moderation! We usually don’t end up finishing the salted pork since there’s so much sodium in it.
The second thing I was craving that night was deep fried beancurd (tofu) in spicy salt. I was a bit surprised when this came because I’m used to the tofu being cut in larger rectangular chunks, but this was fine too. They gave a great amount of jalapeno peppers, so I ended up eating all of those with each piece of tofu.

Overall, I thought that this tofu was too soft for my liking. Yes, I know that soft tofu is good, but I was craving the firmer and rectangular chunks of deep fried tofu restaurants normally use for late night snack. The tofu they used remind me of the Sunrise tofu dessert, which didn’t feel that fitting but the boyfriend thought it was fine, so it’s probably just me.
This was not from the late night menu, but the lunch menu when we came a few months ago. I love spaghetti bolognese. I find that this place doesn’t have the greatest spaghetti bolognese, but it’s not atrocious either. Their sauce has more tomato flavour to it, making it more acidic tasting. The acidic taste takes away the rest of the flavour of the dish.

Overall, Venice Garden is a decent place to eat Chinese food if you’re in the area, but it’s nothing too special. Their service is sporadic, and minimal at best unless you go during late night. I would love to try more of their late night dishes but there was only two of us, and we didn’t want to stuff ourselves with that much food.

-Carmen