zomato Archives - 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

The Bubble Tea Shop – Specialty Bubble Waffle Time!

June 19, 2015

Hi everyone! =)

Maki and I were looking for things to do in Richmond one night, and a trip to Richmond obviously isn’t complete without engaging in over indulgence of Asian food. At least, that’s what I always look forward to when going to Richmond. Maki was craving bubble waffle, so we decided to give this place a try!

This is totally off topic but I just want to tell you guys how cursed the boyfriend and I are with visiting Mango Yummy. We have been wanting to try Mango Yummy since it opened, and have probably tried going there at least FIVE times now. They all failed. Either they were closed, we didn’t have enough time, or it was way too busy to even try attempting to score a table. BUT, we are not giving up yet. WE WILL GET TO YOU, MANGO YUMMY.

After you order, you then proceed to find a table. Since we came on a busy night, it took us awhile to get a table. It would be nice for them to have more seating, but the cafe itself isn’t that big so it probably isn’t possible =(

We shared the ‘triple decker’ bubble waffle, which came with fresh strawberries, banana, and whipped cream. Since it was busy that night, our food was a bit slow to arrive.

The bubble waffle wasn’t as fluffy and thick as I hoped it would be, but not bad either. The strawberries and bananas were nice and fresh.

I’m not sure if this was worth $7.25 (2015 pricing), I’ve had better bubble waffle at the nightmarket for a cheaper price. But I’m glad that we tried this place. The workers were friendly and informative, while the cafe was very clean despite being busy and that customers are expected to put away their dishes.

If I were to come back, I probably would stick to their standard or deluxe bubble waffles, which are cheaper.

Do you like bubble waffles?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

The Flying Pig (Olympic Village)

March 9, 2015

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.
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.
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.
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.
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!