Sick...

April has not been a good month for me. I had a large eye stye that swelled up my eyelid like crazy for Easter weekend and ruined that weekend. Then I had another eye stye the following weekend.. Now I am home sick with a stuffed up runny nose and a bad cough... Hopefully May will be better... Though with Alberta Health declaring a measles outbreak in Calgary. I won't be able to go out to eat often any ways... Sigh.. oh well.... At least April isn't a total bust.. I bought my first condo! :D I had help from my parents but yay!!! I can't wait to move in with my dog, though it''s still a while to go since it is still in construction... Can't wait!!!! Always look on the bright side.. :P

The Glencoe Club Pub

Last week we went to the Glencoe Club on a team building excursion. We played bowling and then headed to their pub for dinner. Our waitress was nice and there was a wide array of foods to select.

I picked the butter chicken because I was talking about it with my coworker a couple days prior and had been craving it ever since. Yup, I picked an Indian dish at a pub, so smart. Especially since after I ordered, my boss asked the waitress how is the butter chicken and her response was some people like it, some don't. Oh well. I already made my choice.

Our food took a while to arrive, especially mine. Everyone got their dishes and begun to eat before they noticed I haven't got mine yet. Everyone had to stop and watched the kitchen doors for my dish to arrive. I felt bad and told them to eat but they wanted to wait so we can all eat at the same time. Finally my food arrive,  and it didn't seem too bad.

 The naan bread was soft and chewy, just the way I like it. The butter chicken was big chunks of chicken, it was also so tender that it was easy to break apart. Normally at Indian buffets, the chicken are in small chunks and they tend to be overcooked. I found the sauce is in desperate need of salt. I usually prefer light salt on my dishes, but this was too bland, even for me. The sauce also seemed to be lacking in some spices. Though having my boss saying the sauces just comes in packs and they just warm it up in  hot water doesn't help. What he said may or may not be true, but that is what I get for ordering Indian food at a pub.

 

Overall, I liked the naan bread and the big pieces of chicken. But for the price, it would be better to go get it from an Indian restaurant, it would be more authentic.

Side note, I love that they give rock sugar sticks for coffees. It was pretty cute. I was going to steal my coworker's  but she had to turn it around to stir in her sugar so I didn't want to bring home a sticky stick. Also, I have no use for it... Oh well. I will find it somewhere some day.

1 Pot

A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I were going out for dinner and was heading out to our usual Pho place in Chinatown. Then I saw 1 Pot, and realized it was the new restaurant my other friend told me about. Where you get your own single hot pot and is all you can eat. Similar to ones in China and Taiwan. This would be the first restaurant in Calgary that serves the single hot pots. The other ones in Calgary tend to be a big pot for two or more people. The restaurant closest to this style would be Hot Point Fusion Cafe on Macleod Trail near Chinook and next to Koreana. Though with Hot Point, their hot pot is more like a dish that is already put together. When you pick a soup base, it comes with a preset selection of ingredients and cooked using one of those heating oils (I don't know what they are called and can't seem to find its name.. sorry) at your table. You can't pick the food that goes inside of it, you can only add more, so it is not really a real hot pot experience.

Back to the point, we decided to try out 1 Pot and luckily for us, it was before the dinner rush so we got a table. My first impression was that the restaurant looked nice. They use electric hot plates instead of the normal portable gas ones. The hot plates are inside the table with a hole for the pot to go in, so it saves table space. That is pretty brilliant in my opinion. They even have a small pull out tray under the table so we have more room to put our food on. The chairs also have a golden covers which is designed for the customers to put their jackets under and reduce the hot pot smell clinging onto them. Though we were just too lazy to do it and didn't care too much for the smell.

The menu offers a large number of soup bases for the all you can eat, starting at $26. They had my favourite of Szechuan Spicy soup. They are offered in a range of mild, hot, extra hot. Yay! I picked out the extra hot but didn't realize that costed $2 extra. My friend and I went on to order a variety of foods for our hot pots, including soy sauce chicken feet, seaweed, beef, meat balls and veggies. We also ordered Sprite since my friend was thirsty and didn't know if water was complimentary. They listed water in the menu so it was slightly unclear.

The drinks came first, they are in the glass bottle and it was a novelty at first. But when we both thought about paying $3 for just a glass bottle of Sprite when you can get 4 for $5 or so at the grocery store, it made us regret the decision a little bit. Though that's the price you pay for drinks when you eat out right?

Our hot food came first, which was the chicken feet. It was good. It was not overly salty despite being cooked in soy sauce, and it was not gummy. Then our hot pots came, and oooh boy was I excited to see the chili peppers floating on top. Right after the hot pots, our food came so we can start putting them into the hot pot. First thought on the portions are.. they are SO small!! There was only 2 chicken feet in one order and only about 2-3 pieces in each order of meatballs or veggie. Only the meat came in more pieces. We were expecting more than that. So I was thankful we ordered a lot of food at first, or else we may have been constantly reordering.

The best part about the meal was definitely the broth. It was not too salty and it has the perfect amount of spiciness without the presence of the Szechuan peppercorns. The peppercorns are awesome for the numbing/tingling feeling on your tongue but is a pain in the butt when you are trying to eat your veggie and every bite is the crunchy and sandy peppercorn. We found that the broth was good enough for the food without the additional seasoning or dipping sauces. So kudos on making good broth. That is the most important part to a hot pot in my opinion.

Now on to the bad part of the meal. I find their poor ventilation to be really bothersome. They do not have the typical huge ventilation fans in hot pot places since they are using electric heating plates. I was sitting facing the door, and every time someone open the door, the steam from my hot pot would blow in my face. It would fog up my glasses and I had to constantly lean to one side so I don't get hit with another bout of steam. That would be something they need to deal with. I can't imagine how it would affect the ventilation and the walls. The constant steam probably will eventually leave layers of grease on the walls and in the air ducts. The other part I didn't like about the meal was the cost. The whole meal cost me close to $40 including tips. Our usual hot pot place, the Regency in Dragon City would cost me close to $30 including tips. This is also an all you can eat and the soup bases and drinks are all included. They offer the same type of ingredients as 1 Pot and you can grab as much as you want at once. I also think I can probably put together a person hot pot with better ingredients for $40.


Overall, I find the atmosphere and customer service at 1 Pot was quite good. The servers were attentive and service was fast. I love their broth and thought that was the star of the entire meal. Their offering of hot pot ingredients are same as others so nothing spectacular. There are a lot of additional costs to the meal so if you are not careful, it can add up to quite a bit of money. I think because of the price itself, I wouldn't go back again. I didn't feel like we got our monies worth.

The Keg

A couple of weeks ago, it was one of my coworker's last day at work. So we went to the Keg on Beltline for her farewell lunch. I miss that her perkiness every day.

Anyway, we went there around 1PM and despite with no reservation, we got a pretty big table all to our self. We were given the menu and placed our drinks quickly. The menu haven't changed since the last time we been there. I was hoping it changed. That is the thing I like about the Keg, they change their menus seasonally. I had this fantastic Asian tuna salad there last year and was hoping I would be able to order it again. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Since the menu have not changed, we placed our orders fairly fast. I ordered the Ahi tuna taco and was pleased with my order. Though I was a bit surprised that the tuna was more on the pink side than the red side. The tuna also had a shiny sheen on it that I didn't really like but I thought I eat it anyways. The tuna was grilled with salt and pepper, so it took a bit of work for my brain to remember I am eating tuna and not a weird tasting steak. I guess I am too used to eating tuna with soy sauce and wasabi. The tortilla was warm and had a bed of cabbage slaw underneath the tuna. I found the tortilla to be a bit small for the amount of food it is holding. I keep on hitting the usual burger situation, where there is too much filling compared to the bread. The whole plate was quite big, even for me. At the end, I just ate the fish and slaw without the tortilla. 

I liked the taco, it was a different experience eating tuna with salt and pepper. Our waitress was efficient and nice, though she was a little bit too friendly, trying to interject into our conversations. I can't comment on the price since I didn't pay for it. But if I were there by myself, I would probably pick it again if it is still on the menu. 

Off Topic again..

Off topic again, but I just found out my favourite band is having a concert in Taiwan the same time I am in Asia, so I am going to try my best to score tickets to it!!! I just hope the Taiwan ticket system will allow me to buy tickets overseas and I will have a chance to buy them. Last year's tickets were sold out in seconds!!! If I do score tickets, that means I am going to visit Taiwan which is great!!! There are soo many great foods there! I read and drooled over so many Taiwanese food blogs so I can't wait to try them out!! Ahhh!! Wish me luck on getting tickets!!! >_<

Peters' Drive In

So I used to live really close to Peters' Drive in, an iconic drive in burgers and shake place in Calgary. I only discovered their shakes only a short while before I moved across the city. So every time I was in the area, I always make a point to stop at Peters'.

So a few Saturdays ago we had an errand to run in the neighbourhood and I decided to drag my brother to go get some food from there. The first thing I noticed was the new sign. The classic Peters' Drive In logo is gone and replaced with a blue and white logo. The second thing I noticed was the message, which says "debit available yay its 1990". It made me laugh, just the way they poked fun at themselves. For those who don't know Peters' only accepted cash up until very recently. So it is good news for those who prefers plastic over cash. Though with our new bills, they are kind of plastics as well.

Anyways, we ordered three single burgers with tomatoes and lettuce (a new option I believe), onion rings, and a peach + mango + pina colada shake (this way I get pineapple and coconut). The total was just under $20 and it wasn't that long of a wait.

All new logos

We had other errands to run and so I was only able to snack on the onion rings and the shake until we got home. The onion rings were good, they are all soft and gooey on the inside but very crunchy on the outside. They were not too salty at the beginning and I find I can just eat them without any ketchup. Though after eating several in a row, I started to find them too salty and had to stop for a little bit before eating them again.

The cups still have the old logo on it.

 The milkshake is good, it's very thick and ice cream like. Though it did started to melt a bit faster than I remembered, even though it was still pretty cold on Saturday. It doesn't really have much distinct flavours besides the coconut shreds. I figured it was probably because they use artificial flavours, though I may be wrong. I remember my first shake had chunks of peach in it but I don't remember seeing any in the last shake. Nonetheless, I would still get these next time.

After two hours, we finally made it home and was able to dig into the burger. The burgers weren't bad, but maybe due to the time lapse, the meat was quite tough. The bun was soft and sweet, the lettuce and tomato was a good addition but it still couldn't distract me from how tough the burger was. I couldn't help but think with the new management and the new face lift, the quality of the burgers have gone down. But I am willing to give it another try since it was my fault for waiting two hours before I ate the burger. Well that just gives me an excuse to go back again. :P  

*Finally updated.. Sorry.. Too much life changing things happening right now... >_<

Yikes...

I been meaning to blog but I been busy and haven't found the time to devote to blogging. Will try to do it later tonight or tomorrow. I got a couple of places in mind... Sorry~!!