Breakfast – Page 28

November 25, 2011March 24, 2019

BBQ King – Las Vegas, Nevada

Chinese food is no longer a specificity in Las Vegas. We use to go to a Chinese location that was closer to the South end of the strip, and now there seems to be a lot of new options. We came by BBQ King for a quick late lunch, and the place seems quite reasonable! The location of this restaurant is a stand alone building in a strip plaza – so there was a lot of parking spaces and made it easy to get in and out of the parking lot.

I ordered the Beef Stomach with Ho Fun and it was actually on special for $4 only! The portion size didn’t seem any smaller, or if it is, then they have large bowls of noodles!

Another noodle dish that we ordered was a Hong Kong Style Wonton Noodles and these were pretty decent! The best part is, it was also on special for $4! You really can’t complain for a nice hot bowl of noodles for less than what you’d pay for a fast food hamburger combo. The wontons was quite large in size, and it was stuffed with a large piece of shrimp and just a little bit of pork to bind. Sure, the bowl only had 5 of them, but at least it was cheap in price and the quality was there!

After 2 soup dishes, and still wanting “noodles”, we decided to order a lo mein, which is basically taking the wonton noodles and not putting it in the soup, but instead you’re mixing it with flavours of the soup (on the side). This makes for a drier noodle dish and the soup helps mix it. To mix something is called lo in Chinese, so essentially, you’re just mixing the noodles. Anyway, we tried tried Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein from BBQ King and a large plate of noodles came out. The soup wasn’t on the side as they did the mixing for us already. There was a lot of pieces of pork mixed throughout the noodles and vegetables almost as a garnish. The lo mein was really good and flavourful even though it didn’t look like much. They did their lo mein with oyster sauce, sesame oil and of course the soup – and this is quite standard for lo mein. Overall, this noodle dish was delicious even though standard.

Finally, realizing that we needed another vegetable dish, something interesting caught our eye when we saw a dish Fermented Bean Curd with cooked Lettuce. The title is the direct translation of the actual dish, as I have no idea what they called it on the menu (I didn’t see or pick it). Usually when we order the cooked lettuce, it comes cooked and flavoured with oil and oyster sauce. This one was a little more unique as they used the fermented tofu and I quite enjoy the flavour of it. It was subtle and added another dimension of flavour that I wasn’t use to in cooked lettuce.

This is a very decent restaurant especially when it came to portion size and price. There isn’t anything too special – as it doesn’t deviate from the normal Chinese food, but it was good food! Definitely a place I would return to if I was in the area and wanting Chinese food quickly and inexpensively!

BBQ King

5650 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 364-8688

November 2, 2011November 3, 2011

Ricky’s All Day Grill

I’ve been to Ricky’s All Day Grill before, but never the location at Deerfoot Meadows in Calgary until now. I really like going to Ricky’s, but from all my experience from dining here – I’m always expecting to be there “all day”. This location was interesting as they warned us the kitchen was backed up the moment we walked in. The food came faster than any other Ricky’s and we were not only happy, but we were so confused as well.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwich – 6oz chicken breast grilled with Jamaican Jerk seasoning, lettuce, tomato ad Cajun aioli on a Portuguese roll – served with potato wedges! The potato wedges was really delicious, and especially dipped in my turkey gravy! The burger was quite different as it was a grilled chicken burger. The seasoning was quite tasty, but I wouldn’t say it’s jerk seasoning. It’s as though it was cajan seasoning they put on.

I enjoyed the Hawaiian Burger with a beef patty dipped in Teriyaki sauce, and then topped with lettuce, tomatoes and a ring of pineapple. I found that there as a little too much teriyaki sauce on the burger, which made it a bit over powering. The ring of pineapple was out of a can, but it’s always fresh and refreshing to have a ring of pineapple in the burger.

Overall, I had a great experience at this Ricky’s location, and I know I’ll be back. I like spending an entire weekend afternoon – especially during those cold snowy ones where I don’t want to do anything in a restaurant and stay warm, watch people enjoy their meals and what not! It’s always worth the wait at Ricky’s! 🙂

Ricky’s All Day Grill at Deerfoot Meadows

860, 8180 – 11th Street S.E.
Calgary, AB
(403) 266-1616

October 28, 2011March 22, 2012

Home Made Palmier

I’ve made Palmier‘s twice now from my kitchen, and I had no idea my husband liked this treat until he ordered one at a cafe. To surprise him, I made some at home and he was really happy! It takes no effort at all to make them and no recipe either really!

I use the following ingredients and then just produce them:
Half a sheet of Puff Pastry (thawed)
2 or 3 teaspoons of Granulated Sugar

I then sprinkle some sugar on my work surface, and roll out my puff pastry on top of the sugar – so sugar gets into the the pastry.

When I’ve made it to the dimensions I like, I sprinkle more sugar on top, and I fold in by quarters until they meet in the middle. I then slice them about 1cm thick as my palmiers are smaller than the usual (since I only use half a sheet).

I baked them until it’s golden brown on the back, and flip them. It normally takes around 5 to 7 minutes per side in a 400F oven. I let them sit a little bit out of the oven for it to set up and enjoy with tea! 🙂

The next time I make this, I think I’m going to make Cinnamon Sugar Palmier as I read about that a few days ago and thought it was an excellent ideal! 🙂

October 25, 2011February 29, 2012

U & Me Restaurant in Calgary for Dessert

We made it to U & Me for dessert this one evening after eating up and being dissapointed with their dessert. So, we made a quick stop for a re-do, and it was the best re-do I’ve had in quite some time.

We ordered Deep Fried Crispy Milk 脆皮炸鮮奶 which was really delicious. They deep fried these milk balls to perfection and it was seasoned wonderfully. Of course, it comes with the little plate of sugar for you to dip your little fried balls into. The inside was warm and smooth custard texture and it was really enjoyable. If you want to make Deep Fried Crispy Milk at home, here’s a simple recipe!

One of my favourite dim sum is the Steamed Sweet Cream Buns 香滑奶皇飽 and I’m really happy we ordered it. It was steamed really nice here, and it wasn’t over steamed such that the buns were soggy. The cream inside was really smooth and creamy, sweet and delicious.

Finally, the last dessert we enjoyed was Chilled Mango Pudding 香芒滑布甸 which isn’t too extraordinary, but they did do a good job here. It was quite full of mango flavour – even though it didn’t have chunks of mango it, it did have slices of mango on the side – then everything was drizzled with evaporated milk.

We’ve never had dim sum from U & Me and with food quality like this in the evening, I’m really wanting to come here for dim sum on a weekend morning one day soon! What a great place!! This place is opened daily until 4am, and that’s impressive. It must be the one and only place that has such extended hours!

Here’s a review on the Dim Sum from U & Me!

U & Me Restaurant

223 Centre St S
Calgary, AB T2G
(403) 264-5988

October 17, 2011October 30, 2011

Sun Chiu Kee in Calgary

We recently went back to Sun Chiu Kee or Sun’s BBQ Restaurant after awhile now as there has been so many new places to try. Sun Chiu Kee is a place I’ve always enjoyed going to and it’s great to return for dinner, instead of lunch.

We ordered a Lamb Hot Pot which was on their winter special menu, deep fried tofu with salted egg yolk, abalone mushroom veggie.

The order of the Lamb Shank Hot Pot came in a large wok of bubbling broth with some lettuce on the side. The broth was quite delicious, and the vegetables in the soup included carrots, leeks, dried bean curd – which is the “skin” of tofu when they make the tofu, and used in a lot of Chinese cooking. There was a dipping sauce that came with this dish, which was fermented bean curd, and they added honey into it. I thought that was really nice, as I normally add sugar when I make it at home. This was a great dish that they have on their winter menu as it was really hot (in temperature), and the meat was cooked to perfection. It just warms you right up – especially when you put the soup in your bowl with your rice.

The next dish that we ordered was Deep Fried Tofu with Salted Egg Yolks, and it wasn’t as flavourful as it can be, as this recipe is one where you can add a lot of flavour. When they made it here, it only had subtle salted egg yolk flavours. Salted Egg Yolks is actually from what we called Salted Duck Egg and it’s a ducks egg that is preserved in brine (salt water) and when you see it in the store, it is normally covered with a dark black layer of what looks like dirt. To use this egg, simply scrape off the layer and then rinse it under water – and then you’d use the egg in your cooking. This preserved egg has a denser and firmer consistency, and it holds its shape. So, to make this dish, they basically take that egg yolk and mash it up – cook it down with butter until it’s a thick sauce like consistency…. and of course, you deep fry your tofu and toss it in the sauce. It’s a great dish, but this time had a serious lack of flavour.

The last dish we had was a veggie dish, we ordered Abalone Mushroom with Gai Lan, and we ordered this because we needed vegetables! Gai Lan is also called Chinese Broccoli but I think it has more “bitter” taste, but cooked properly, it’s quite good!

Sun Chiu Kee - Abalone Mushroom with Gai Lan

I’ve been to Sun’s BBQ Restaurant for a late night dinner, and my experience was pretty good with the food. Be sure to read about me going to Sun Chiu Kee for late dinner!