new restaurant Archives - Curiously Carmen

Longtail Kitchen – Modern take on Thai street food

May 8, 2015

Hi everyone!

I’ve been hearing many great things about Longtail Kitchen on social media, and decided that it was finally time for me to try it out.

Longtail Kitchen is a sister restaurant of the very popular and successful Thai restaurant, Maenam. I actually didn’t know that Longtail was a Thai inspired eatery until reading the reviews and their website!

Longtail is located inside the River Market at New Westminster Quay. I haven’t been to New West for awhile, and don’t remember seeing this building the last time I was here… but basically, the bottom floor is like an upscale food court. You won’t find any greasy, old looking stands here (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but instead more local and new eateries.
At Longtail, you order and pay at the front, then the staff will bring your food to you. This was our first meal of the day at around 3pm, so we were pretty hungry! We sat at a table right next to the window wall (? Is there a specific term for these??) which I’m pretty sure they open up so people are able to sit outside in the summer.

You are able to see a bit of the Fraser River and the boardwalk, but unfortunately I was too short and my eye level hit right where the white window pane was and couldn’t see anything. =( You can see the picture above to understand what I mean.
The boyfriend ordered the green curry with chicken. When it arrived, we could smell the delicacy and aroma of all the spices that went into this dish. The green curry had a strong, rich coconut taste to it. The chicken was very tender and juicy as well. It came with a rice bowl side, we were hoping that it would be coconut rice but sadly it was just plain rice.

For myself, I ordered ‘Mama Cheung’s laksa’, which I don’t see on the menu anymore, so I guess they rotate their menu frequently to ensure freshness of all the food items! The laksa came with a seafood curry broth, chicken, fish cakes, prawns, veggies, and noodles.

I was expecting the curry to have a fishy taste to it due to the seafood broth, but it was very mild. Again, the curry was rich and spicy. The prawns were big and juicy, and had a nice snap to it- a sign of freshness. I saved the tofu puffs for the end so that they would be saturated with the curry! Everything tasted extremely fresh and made with great quality.

The laksa soup was so good that I drank all of it, I wasn’t even thirsty afterwards! That is a wonderful sign and says a lot about how it was prepared 😉
Another cool thing to add about Longtail is that they also offer some Thai cooking products to bring home! We spent some time looking at what they sold, as we haven’t heard of some of these products before.

Needless to say, we found ourselves savouring every single bite and were glad that we made the trek out here! One thing to add though, was that the portions were a bit smaller than what we were used to. But it is understandable, they use quality and fresh ingredients and the prices aren’t bad for how delicious everything was.

Which would you rather order – chicken curry or laksa soup?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

Soft Peaks Ice Cream

March 4, 2015

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.
After 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.
The 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?
The 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?
I 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.

Another 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.

Purebread

February 7, 2015

The latest and most popular bakery has hit the streets of Vancouver by the name of Purebread, which also has locations in Whistler. I have been eyeing Purebread since their construction days, as I pass by that area when I go to work each morning.

I remember their clever “coming soon” sign back in the Fall- your breakfast is t o a s t , with each letter in toast printed on a fake piece of bread. I had a feeling it would be hit among Vancouverites, and I was correct!
We came around 2 pm, and there was no lineup but most of the seats were filled up. It took us a bit to absorb all of the seemingly delicious pastries in front of us… there was so much to pick from! I’m glad there was three of us so that we could share and get more, as opposed to just coming alone.
I wish that Purebred would put a brief description on what is included in each pastry item, as I’ll explain below. All the food is behind a tall clear glass and is covered.

I ordered the avalanche bar because it looked pretty good and it reminded me of a rice krispie bar, which I haven’t had for awhile! However, when I took a bite I was a very disappointed. It didn’t specify that it was a peanut butter bar! If I had known, I wouldn’t have ordered it. I do like peanut butter, but not in pastries.

I gave some to my coworkers and ended up packing it back home as the boyfriend is a serious peanut butter addict. He thought this was simply amazing and was on cloud 9 after gobbling the whole thing up (in 5 seconds).

My coworker had a tough time deciding as well, but ended up chosing the raspberry brownie. It was moist and chewy, and wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. It came with a layer of tart raspberry and custard inside.

I liked this a lot more than my avalanche bar… sorry, I’m still sour over how they didn’t bother to mention it was a peanut butter pastry >=( But I guess lesson learned, I’m going to make sure I ask what’s inside anything if there’s no description offered.

The last thing we got was a whoopie pie, made with two very sweet oatmeal cookies that were hard instead of chewy. The filling and oatmeal cookie went really well together, but it was a bit messy to eat. As you bite down on the cookie, the filling on the opposite size will ooze out.

Purebread is a good place to try out, the quality of the pastries is noticeable and service is friendly as well, with reasonable prices. Just be sure to ask what is inside the pastry if you’re not sure what is inside to avoid disappointment like I did.

However, they’re still relatively new so I shouldn’t be too hard on them – the quality was there, and I probably would have LOVED the bar if I was an avid peanut butter fan.

-Carmen

Crackle Creme

October 26, 2014

Crackle Creme is a relatively new cafe in Chinatown that specializes in creme brulee. As the Chinatown area slowly turns and adapts to modernization and hip places for the young, Crackle Creme definitely fits in perfectly. Nestled under a new apartment complex, it is located right on the edge of Chinatown by the Georgia viaduct.

After our semi-disappointing lunch at Pacifico Pizzeria, we decided to try our luck with this cafe. Sangria was back for Thanksgiving weekend, and she is a huge fan of creme brulee so it was the perfect opportunity to try this place out.
We went on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and the streets were quieter than I expected. Because of this, it was a bit harder to find Crackle Creme because I thought that it would be busier there on a weekend.

We finally saw the sign a few stores prior, and the logo of Crackle Creme was a bit hard to read too. You can kind of see it on the glass window there, but not really if you’re far away or if you’re not specifically looking for the place. We knew this was the right place because of the sign out front advertising their goodies, it was definitely not from the window.

Out front, they have a small area for customers to enjoy their creme brulee. The table space is pretty small and cramped outside, there is probably only enough room to fit your creme brulee, which is perfectly fine because that’s what they specialize in.

The table is more of a thin wooden slab no more than 15 inches long I think? Unfortunately, it was too cold that day so we didn’t get to enjoy the seats out here ~~and hipster watch teeheehee.~~
Crackle Creme was pretty small, and there was only one person working, we assumed it was the owner. The table space inside was pretty tight too, as with the patio seating. We liked how there was self serve mint water, but two of us had to use the washroom really badly but we were told there was no washrooms =( So we decided to not drink any more water LOL.

After deciding on a flavour, they then takes a pre-made creme brulee from the fridge, sprinkles some sugar on top, and torch it in front of you. We agreed that the service seemed a bit cold and unwelcoming.

Sangria decided on getting the earl grey creme brulee ($5). She has a major sweet tooth, and really enjoyed her creme brulee. The flavours of the earl grey were really pronounced, had a great custard texture to it, and was very sweet.
For myself, I decided on getting the matcha creme brulee. I was happy that there was a strong matcha taste to this and that the top layer did in fact, crack as the company name suggests 🙂 However, I am the opposite of my friend and don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and couldn’t end up finishing it as it was waaaayy too sweet for me. Sangria helped me finish half of it. I’m not sure if I’m biased because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but in retrospect, $5 for this seemed a bit overpriced for the size it was.

There are two types of people in this world, those that prefer savoury foods and those that prefer sweet foods. Pick your poison, I much prefer savoury and salty foods over sweets and desserts. Because of this, I didn’t enjoy Crackle Creme that much, and don’t think I would have a craving to come here again, and think that it is definitely over hyped (I’m sorry if you’re reading this and you hate me right now, but that is just my own personal opinion).

I would come back in the future if my friends wanted to, but I don’t think I would order another one by myself. If you love desserts and sweets, this place might be checking out. But if you’re like me and prefer a savoury bacon pepper potato hash (which is exactly what I cooked up this sunny afternoon) over an extremely sweet creme brulee, I wouldn’t recommend trying this place.