Breakfast – Page 7

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Rundle Lounge The Fairmont Banff Springs – Banff, Alberta

We had the opportunity to dine at the Rundle Lounge where we reserved a table for afternoon tea. It was beautiful and romantic – the setting was just picturesque. We didn’t have the best service, but everything else was very nice. We had a fantastic experience regardless of service and sometimes food is all we care about!

Once we were seated, the table was beautifully set and the menu was on our table with all the utensils we would need for afternoon tea, including our tea steeper!

We sat for a long time before the waitress even came to our table where she threw down our Fresh Berries which we didn’t know if we started to eat of what the issue was. So, we left it on the table until we got our tea. Along with the berries, she set down the Devonshire Cream and Strawberry preserve on our table.

I ordered the Empress Orange Pekoe which was quite nice. They describe the tea as black tea from India, Tanzania, Kenya, China and Ceylon. Not much of a description, but I do like Orange Pekoe as it’s one of the teas I consider “normal” and like anytime of day.

After our tea came, and we ate most of our fresh berries, our waitress brought out some scones, a sweet scone and a savoury one – which both tasted amazing!

From there, came the amazing 3 Tier Tower of goodies which is the highlight of the experience.

On the bottom tier, it was the Finger Sandwich tier with egg salad, smoked salmon, heirloom tomato, grilled vegetable, waldorf chicken sandwiches. My favourite from this tier would be the egg salad croissant. It was perfect in every way!

The middle tier had the Tea Pastries which had some mini madeleine cakes with a brownie on a stick dipped on chocolate as well as a mouse tart.

The top tier had the Petit Fours which was basically the sweet tier and the tier I love most. There was a lemon macaroon as well as a pistachio macaroon on this tier which is the best macaroon we’ve tried to date! There was also raspberry cheesecake on a cookie crust which was absolutely amazing!

Our overall experience was decent. The food was really good, the ambiance was superb and the service – well, it could have been better. We did enjoy our time, as we were looking forward to afternoon tea at the Rundle Lounge for a long time! This is definitely an experience you should try at least once!

Rundle Lounge – The Fairmont Banff Springs

405 Spray Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-6860

November 23, 2014December 5, 2014

Cafe Orchid – Millbrae, California

We went for HK Style food on our last day before we went to the airport to come home, and went to Cafe Orchid in Millbrae – which is pretty close to the airport. Parking for this restaurant is a little tricky, but we’ve been here before and both times we’ve lucked out.

I ordered one of my favourites for HK style Chinese breakfasts, which was the Preserved Vegetables with Pork Noodle Soup but with Lai Fun. It’s really typical and you often get it with a drink in the mornings. This isn’t my first bowl of noodle soup from here as I like it so much, it’s what I ALWAYS get!

Then, we got a order of their Jook with Fried Noodles as I really wanted some fried noodles. The jook was pretty good, but the noodle was the highlight of that breakfast!

With these breakfast combos, it comes with their fresh baked buns and hot drinks. The food here is always fresh and amazing and at a great price! We will definitely be back as we love stopping at this place when we get off the plane and before we get on!

Cafe Orchid

9B El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA
(650) 697-3988

November 23, 2014

New Gold Medal – Oakland, California

It was a late night before we had time to go have dinner. By the time we were ready, I just wanted some simple Chinese food and so we went to New God Medal Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown. It’s opened until late, and I hear they open early as well – so they’re always opened for business!

I ordered the BBQ Pork Lai Fun which is something I always love. Here, it was so good I ate everything and even finished the soup. Although the BBQ Pork was in soup, the meat had tons of flavour and the soup was really tasty as well. The Lai Fun was really nice textured and wasn’t soggy at all.

My husband ordered one of his old time favourite which he hasn’t had in awhile, the Beef Stew Ho Fun. This bowl was amazing and the beef stew was well flavoured, tender and juicy. They had some tendons which was a treat as well!

We then decided we needed a plate of greens, which is typical that you order a plate of veg when you’re out eating noodle soup. We just don’t do it all the time, but we had an order of Garlic Yu Choy and the choy was really nice, a little over cooked but it was decent! It’s very standard and not something you really can mess up on!

Overall, everything was amazing! The food was excellent and we still talk about the dishes from here as it was a recent, very satisfying dinner! The prices are priced well, the location is pretty good and like I’ve been mentioning, the food has been excellent!

New Gold Medal

389 8th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 465-1940

November 23, 2014

Pho Ao Sen – Oakland, California

We went for some Vietnamese while our visit to California and met up our family Pho Ao Sen and it’s located right on 12th Street. This restaurant is so busy and they have parking both beside the restaurant and across the street.

We started with the standard, some salad roll, which they call Goi Cuon- Spring Rolls, which looks really impressive! The taste was quite amazing as well, even their dipping sauce was pretty unique and very delicious! These huge salad rolls were stuffed with both shrimp and pork, and the standard stuff like vermicelli, mint, bean sprouts and lettuce.

We also got another standard appetizer, the Cha Gio- Egg Rolls which was the crispy/fried version of the Vietnamese Spring Roll. They call it an egg roll here, which is quite different from a Chinese Egg Roll, but a lot of people use these terms interchangeable. These Egg Rolls was a mixture of ground pork, shrimp, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and wrapped then fried to perfection. It was actually really tasty without the dipping sauce!

I was still fighting the tail end of my cold on this day, so I ordered a nice hot bowl of Pho Gai which is their Chicken pho. The bowl of noodles was huge and there was a huge amount of chicken. The broth was tasty!

Then, my husband ordered the Beef Stew soup, what they call Pho Hoac Mi Bo Kho which was really fragrant and flavourful. The soup was really quite thick though, it was unique and very different from the ones we have here! This bowl of soup and tons of everything which made it extraordinary delicious!

Overall, this place was pretty amazing! No wonder it’s a favourite of so many people! I’m sure we will be back some day!

Pho Ao Sen

1139 E. 12th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 835-5588

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014

Ole’s Waffle Shop – Alameda, California

We have been going to Ole’s Waffle Shop for many years now and the place is always packed. I love this place as it not only had the best breakfast food, it’s in an old fashioned style diner with the long bar, swivel seats and booths! Located right on Park Street, you won’t miss it at all as there’s always a line and street parking.

Once we sat down, we ordered their fresh squeed orange juice which is one of my favourites. They have really good orange juice as there is a juice extractor. Plain and simple, really fresh and tasty!

I ordered their Waffle Combo which comes with a waffle, eggs and I ordered mine with a sausage patty. It was the perfect amount of food and everything tasted so delicious. They even warmed up the syrup which was really a nice treat as no other waffle/pancake place has ever done that!

My husband ordered his favourite, the Corn Beef Hash thinking there was hash browns in with the corn beef hash, but it was more just flat grilled corned beef, no has.. and we got grits on the side. It was still really good although not what either of us was expecting.

Overall, this waffle shop has been a favourite of ours for many years and we will always continue to go here. It’s close and convenient and delicious. The staff is always friendly even though they’re really busy!

Ole’s Waffle Shop

1507 Park St
Alameda, CA
(510) 522-8108