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~!!

Off Topic..

Off topic but WHEN is Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton going to be released in North America?!?!?!? It's my two favourite series in video games and I been dying to play it since it's been announced. It's been in Japan for two years now, Europe got it last week.. Yet North America still have the "early 2014" for release date.. WHHHHHHYYYYY... I need to have this game in my hands.. NOW....

Boston Pizza - Southland

So my friend from Edmonton came down and we went down to the Boston Pizza near her hotel as I was craving wings. When we got there, we decided to get pastas instead.

The restaurant wasn't too busy, just a couple of families and a group celebrating a tween's birthday. I was kind of surprised we got a table instead of a booth but maybe those are reserved for tables of three of more. Our waitress was nice, she had another girl shadowing her so it was kind of interesting seeing how she teaches the new girl. They were both and pleasant, though I did notice they were wear the same short grey Lululemon skirt. I actually noticed three different wairtresses (including our servers) to be wearing the exact same dress. My friend told me it was because it was on sale.. Still a pretty big coincidence to me.

I decided to get pasta and my friend got a salad. I had the tough decision between this spicy sausage, butter chicken, or the taco pastas. I wanted to try the jambalaya fettuccini but then I remembered I had it a year ago at the same location and the chicken breast was dry. So I settled on the spicy sausage one replacing the pasta to spaghetti since they didn't have angel hair pasta. It's in a tomato sauce so it seemed to be the better choice.

It took a while for our food to arrive, but it gave my friend and I a chance to chat about random things. When it arrived, the size was pretty big. I was not expecting the sausage to be spicy as I find most western restaurants tends to minimize the heat. Yet a few chews into the sausage and boy was it spicy. I was very happy with the choice. All of the spaghetti are coated with the sauce, which was I love. It tasted fresh, it doesn't have that tomato sauce from a jar kind of taste. This is always a good sign. Comparing this to Spaghetti factory, this have so much more flavour. Sadly, I could only finish half of it and brought it home.

The spaghetti was still so delicious after a day in the fridge. I think I know which dish to order again next time I visit Boston Pizza. :)

Starving...

Starving this morning because I didn't have a chance to eat breakfast before I left the house. Then there was the fire in downtown that caused much delays. After this delay has been cleared, there was passenger emergency requiring ambulance.. Then there was a train ahead that broke down... I was an hour late to work, which means I am STARVING! Doesn't help that the Timmy's near my work is extremely busy, even at 9:30...I had to hold off on getting food and head into work.. :(

Sneaked out at 10 to Timmys because my hunger is just too much... The line was so long it doubled back to the front.. Nothing to do but to keep on waiting.. :(

Funny side story... While I was half way through the line, a nicely dressed man decided to walk and stand in the space between me and the guy in front of me. He acted like he belonged there even though he was clearly budging. A guy behind me shouted" yo man, we are in a line you know" the well dressed guy acted all surprised and was like "oh really? Isn't this the end of the line? Where is the end of the line?" Me and various people behind me pointed him to the back of the line. The guy walked toward the back of the line going "oh so how does this line work? Oh it loops back around to the front?" Please.. Spare me the theatrics. There is no way you would not have figured out where the end of the line is. The end of the line was all the way up front. You see a line of people facing you and a line of people with their backs to you, you know you need to be behind the last guy with their back to you.. There is no way you can walk past two lines of people in a very narrow hallway and not realize they are in a line. You just didn't want to be at the back of the line, saw an opening and took it. When you got called out, you just tried to play dumb to excuse your actions.. We are all adults and can see through your charade..

Finally got my food and ate.. Al happy now.. :)

Wa's

Found out last night while I was making my Hokkaido post that Wa's is closed permanently because the owner passed away. That makes me so sad. There goes one of the best authentic Japanese restaurant in Calgary that is accessible by public transit (yes, I am one of those people who prefers transit than driving). Their chirashi don is my favourite dish. It has various sashimi on top of a bed of rice. It's delicious, it's like heaven in my mouth.

 

 

 

 

Chirashi don (2011)

This picture is from a few years ago and is the first time I had the dish. It's absolutely wonderful. Even now I can remember how the bed of rice is full of masago (orange fish eggs) and tamago shreds (cooked eggs). How the sashimi pieces tasted melts in your mouth. I think the fish must have been dipped or rubbed with something lemony because I remember each piece tasted slightly of lemon and is very refreshing. The entire bowl looks small but it is a full meal for one person.

Just thinking about it makes me drool. Too bad I will never have it again. Though I did walk by it today and saw there is a bright orange sign up replacing the original Wa's sign. It said Japanese Bistro An Zu. Must give it a try one day to see how good it is.

Broken City

So a couple of days ago, we went to Broken City on Beltline and the food was pretty good. The atmosphere is kind of eclectic and artsy. I always walked by it but never knew it was a pub/eatery. I always thought it was an abandoned lot that haven't been leased out yet.

My coworkers were craving their "cauliflower wings" and we decided to head down there to try it out as a group. So these wings are supposedly cauliflowers that are lightly deep fried and tossed in wing sauces. They are apparently deliciously sinful.

We had two orders of cauliflower wings, the special (some kind of smoked meat sandwich), steak sandwich and I had the inferno burger. Unfortunately, they ran out of cauliflower wings so I guess we gotta come back another time to try it out. (By us I mean those of us in the group who were not privy to the existence of cauliflower wings prior to this).

Food took a little bit but they look sooo good once it got to our table. I only took a picture of my food because I didn't want to be rude and stop everyone from eating their food. My burger was good, it has pickled jalapenos, two big onion rings, guacamole, hot sauce and mozzarella. I had a side salad. I gotta say.... I haven't had a burger with onion rings in it before. They were quite liberal with their onion rings, everyone had onion rings on their plate. No one was complaining!

The first bite of my burger was so good!! The meat is soft but juicy. I can taste the guacamole and the jalapeno/hot sauce with my first few bites. But after a while, I couldn't taste the spiciness at all. Though that may just because I eat too much spicy things. Overall it was a really good burger, I could not and would not put it down in between bites. I really liked the guacamole and how juicy the beef patty was. The side salad was pretty good too, but let's be honest, the burger was the star of the show. The cucumber slices were slightly wilted on my salad but I still ate it. I love the fact they serve the salad dressing on the side. Not sure what it is, but I don't particularly like it that much. It seemed like it was olive oil and vinegar. Oh well.

Good food, good company, good lunch! :) I will definitely bring my out of town friends to it when they come visit.

Hokkaido - Chinatown

So on Valentine's Day, my friend and I decided to try Hokkaido in Chinatown since she is going away for over a month. This is a new all you can eat Japanese restaurant that replaced Fuji Yama, and can give Sushi Tokyo in Dragon City some much needed competition in all you can eat sushi in downtown. Sadly, the restaurant is not that great given its price.. (Note: this is a long post/rant, you been warned)

A pot of tea to guide you through the long post

The decor didn't seem to have changed much from Fuji Yama to Hokkaido. The restaurant wasn't that busy at 5:30PM. There was only three tables including us. It seemed like there was another table but it was just the staff/owner eating. We sat down and given the menu. The hostess came by for our drinks and that was the end of speedy service. 

We waited a good 10 minutes for the waitress to come back and take our order despite the fact that there was only 3 tables to wait on, all of which are on the same side of the restaurant. After our order was taken, we waited at least another 15 minutes for our salads to come by. They are just seaweed salad that you can buy in a frozen pack from T&T, and a simple lettuce salad with dressing on top. Not much assembly necessary yet it took what seemed to be forever. After our salad came, the wait for the rest of the food seemed to be longer. We were so hungry by the time the food finally arrived in what seemed to be ages. I am pretty sure we waited a good 30 minutes before our food arrived.

Seaweed salad & house salad

I was not impressed with the food. They seemed to be badly done. The chefs appeared to be Chinese chefs who have a basic idea on how to make a sushi.

I ordered Ika, which is squid sushi. It is my absolute favourite, I always order it at any restaurants I go to that have it on the menu. You can really tell the chef's ability to make quality sushi in how they prepare ika. Ika is hard to prepare because it is squid. Squid has that slimy connective tissue on the inside that just will not break apart when you bite into it. You need to cook it to a point where it is still crunchy to the bite but easy enough to swallow. I have been to restaurants where the connective tissue was not removed and I ended up almost choking because I was not expecting the entire piece to be going down my throat. I am pretty sure that was Sakana Grill back when they still served Ika on their menu. (this is also a Chinese run Japanese restaurant so it makes sense)  I been to restaurants where it is not slimy but it lost that crunch so you just have a limp piece of squid that was not very interesting. I also had delicious ika in Calgary, where just three lines or a grid scored into the ika that made the entire sushi so delicious I dream about it. Mostly, I had this at Wa's on 16th and Centre Street, but sadly I think they closed down permanently. They were a real Japanese run restaurant. I think I am getting a little out of hand with my love for ika.

From top left, clock wise. Mackerel (?), tuna, ika, salmon skin roll, spicy tuna roll

Back to the topic, as you can see in the picture, the ika is not well prepared at all. The piece of squid is comparably smaller than the rice. Ika done correctly should cover the top and partially the side of the sushi. It varies depending on the chef but it should still at least cover a portion. As you can see from the picture, it does not even cover the top of the sushi. This was not great ika, though I did order two more. Just because I love it and it is not the worst I had. In the same picture, you can also tell how the chef's skill in rolled sushi is pretty bad. If they were good, the sushi pieces would not be so uneven and toppling over like that. The roll on the right is grilled salmon skin roll. It was good except for the fact that the skin was a bit tough so I had trouble swallowing without giving a few more bites.

Sushi pizza

I tried the sushi pizza as I never tried it before. I  was not expecting what I got. Which was a freshly deep fried flattened rice ball topped with sashimi, avocado and two sauces. I liked the deep fried rice part but I was not happy with the topping. I hate to say it, but they were stingy with the fish. The pieces were small and thin. They did not even cover all of the surface. I had a piece of "pizza" that had no fish on it at all. I was also concerned that they would be serving super hot piece of rice with sashimi that should be served cold. I flipped over the fish and saw the bottom was completely cooked. I was not happy.

Agedashi tofu (deep fried tofu served in a sauce)

 In the time we were eating, only three more tables came in. Yet we still had trouble flagging down a waitress for a copy of the menu and then to order. We also saw a table where the girl had to go up to the waitress and ask for a copy of the menu and head straight to the kitchen attempting to order. That was kind of ridiculous. I worked at a busy Chinese restaurant for years and have never seen a service this bad at a full house plus take out lines out the door.

Tako bits and magi taro noodles

I also tried the octopus in clear noodles (magic taro noodles, they are just made from these taro and is supposedly no calories so it is great for people on a diet). This was also disappointing. The sauce was the only good part, it is vinegar and sugar so it opens up your appetite. The octopus pieces are tiny and chopped up, there was barely any noodles in there. It was just a two bite appetizer, I think I was expecting too much.

From top, clock wise. Salmon skin hand roll, unagi, ika, tako, surf clam, mackerel and salmon

Second round of sushi, again the ika is barely covering the top of the rice. It was basically a rice ball topped with a piece of squid. I tried the octopus as well as it is also a difficult dish to perfect as it can be overcooked and becomes chewy. As soon as the dish came, I did not have high hopes for it. As you can see from the picture, the piece is slightly pinkish purple. You know why it is that colour? It is because the chef does not know which side to present. A normal Tako sushi is white in the centre and purple around the edge. The white comes from the inside of the octopus leg and the purple is from the outside. In this instance, the chef decided not to waste the edge piece of a tako and used it on a sushi. If he just flipped it over with the white side showing, I wouldn't even have noticed it. Though, even if he flipped it over, the sushi would not be great either. It was just soggy and chewy.

Chicken Udon

Salmon Cheek

I forgot which kind of roll it is. (sorry)

Overall, the service at Hokkaido was not great.. I would consider it borderline terrible. Simply based on the slow service at a half filled restaurant. The chefs are not great, and need a lesson in sushi making and presentation. For $40 a person, I can go to a better restaurant like Fuji Yama with better food and service.

Mango ice cream

Why..

Why did I start this blog? I don't eat out that much. My parents are very Chinese in which they believe eating out is bad for you and a waste of money. I mean it's good for saving money but bad for trying out new food.

This is why I am so glad I have friends and coworkers who love to eat at places with me and I get to try out new foods.. I always have the habit of taking pictures of my food anyways so why not make a blog and post all these pictures anyways? Hence the creation of this blog. Hopefully this encourages me to try out more food and try out more food that is available in this beautiful city :)