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ABC Bakery & Cafe

I’ve been getting up really early in the mornings and heading to the airport to take pictures of airplanes as they take off. I like the early morning take off pictures as they’re quite different. However, afterwards I’m starving… so instead of popping into a chain restaurant, I went back to an old favourite, ABC Bakery & Cafe. I must say, the last time I was there was probably 4 years ago… and before that, I was there weekly!! Usually for dinner though, I’d go straight there after work. I guess I’ve left a job that allows me to pass by for about 4 years now! 🙂

Anyway, we got to ABC for breakfast around 8AM and I was happy I wasn’t the only table trying to find breakfast! There were a lot of their regular customers there – which is great!! The nice thing about these cafes is of course their price! It’s so easy, cheap and convenient to pop in through the day and order food! But, breakfast is always the best. I miss places like this. Calgary just doesn’t have a lot of them, and it’s a bummer.

We sat down and ordered our breakfast specials, and so we ordered Crispy Bun with Condensed Milk with Hong Kong Style Milk Tea. I like to drink either milk tea, or lemon tea with honey, but I wanted milk tea this time! 🙂 SOO GOOD! They always make it really good!! The crispy bun was toasted nicely, and the sesame seeds on the top of the bun add a really nice taste with the condensed milk. When I make it at home, I like to make a mess and put probably twice as much condensed milk in… it’s normally dripping! But, this was really good I didn’t make it or I’d get a sugar high at 8AM.

We also ordered the Pork Chop with 2 Eggs + Toast and with this breakfast, we also had the milk tea. It was pretty funny as the pork chop came out deep fried in dark oil. Clearly, they didn’t change the oil over night, but thats what Chinese places are all about! 🙂 It tasted good – and that’s what is most important!

This place has always been one of my favourite places to go eat. Cheap and delicious! Nothing to like!

ABC Bakery & Cafe

112 3 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 266-2888

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La Belle Patate

I’m not usually in search for poutines, but this La Belle Patate was recommended to me while I was discussing about the fact I didn’t get the opportunity to try the poutine stand at the Calgary Stampede as it was from a food truck in British Columbia.

We ordered a small order of Supreme Poutine which has onion, mushrooms and bacon on top of a bed of fries, cheese and gravy. It was really good, and the chunks of topping was generous and added so much flavour to the poutine. This poutine has set the bar high for all other poutines I may ever eat from now on! The gravy was really good, and it didn’t taste store bought, so that’s always a wonderful sign that they care for the food they prepare for their customers. This poutine had great texture and great flavour, and it wasn’t hard to finish off the entire order of poutine!

We also ordered a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich and it was massive! The meat wasn’t too salty at all, in fact it was perfectly prepared! I find with most Montreal Smoked Meat, it just seems too salty, but I’m so proud of La Belle Patate that prepared it to perfection – It’s a huge pile of smoked meat that was juicy and tender! These sandwiches are served on light rye bread, with a coat of yellow mustard which is the perfect vehicle for the massive amount of Monteal Smoked Meat, without any condiments that may take away from the flavour! They also served this sandwich with a Kosher Pickle that was crispy. This sandwich was so big that I almost wasn’t able to finish it up, but from it’s deliciousness, I ate the whole thing in spite of being over stuffed.

Finding this location was fun too, I just assumed that everything is in downtown Canmore, but this is actually tucked into their industrial area. I can see the location being quite busy during the week, but we went on a weekend – of a long weekend, and there were only a few tables – which is still really impressive as it’s not located on the main road of downtown Canmore.

La Belle Patate

102 Boulder Cres Bay 4
Canmore, AB T1W1L2
(403) 678-0077

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Joshua Tree Cafe – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been wanting a good cup of Rolo Coffee for awhile now, and I finally got a good cup at Joshua Tree Cafe! This was not the original place that introduced it to me, but it was one of the top places in my mind for a Rolo Coffee. It is a specialty coffee, and it’s quite different from some other locations coffee.

We also enjoyed a Chocolate Iced Mocha which was quite standard. It was quite good, and creamy, but it’s nothing extra spectacular! It was refreshing and tasty for sure though!

This was an interesting location we made it to. Coffee stops never take too long, especially when we don’t order food. The worker at Joshua Tree mentioned to us about 45 minutes prior to closing that they will be closing soon, and it appeared that she didn’t want to take our order. We told her that it’s fine, and would still like our order. We did leave prior to their closing, and it wasn’t that we were rushed either – it was because our coffee stop was finished.

They made it really noticeable that they were about to close, at 3pm over the weekend. They started sweeping the floors and what not. It’s not a large location, and I’m sure it’s not too bad if in fact they had to leave 10 minutes late.

Regardless, the rolo coffee was something so special, I will return for it! 🙂

Joshua Tree Cafe

805 Edmonton Trial NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 230-9228

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Choklat – Calgary, Alberta

During a stroll down 9th Ave in Inglewood, we ran across this store called Choklat which I was really excited about. I love nothing more than chocolate! 🙂

We stepped inside the store, and the entire store smelled like chocolate, and that gave me a good sugar rush as is and made me more excited. We bought a few treats to try it out and purchased a chocolate cupcake, a chocolate caramel cookie and some chocolate milk

The chocolate from Choklat is quite different, it is smooth, but not velvety smooth – but regardless, it was chocolate! I quite enjoyed the cookie, but I love cookies!! It’s actually more like eating a candy bar than a cookie, which was really confusing for me!

The chocolate cupcake was really neat! It was made into a square cupcake instead of a round one! 🙂 I like that little twist! The batter was much more heavy and dense than some other cupcake places, and I found it to be quite dark! The icing on top was really yummy, but a little “stiff” of icing. As I bit into it, the entire thing came off, instead of making my face full of chocolate mess! I’m not sure which is better… but I guess no mess for the day would be a good idea.

This is a location where I would be back if I was in the area wanting a small treat, but I can’t say I’ll make a special stop for it.

Choklat

1327 9 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 457-1419

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Insomnia Coffee Company – Calgary, Alberta

Everytime I’m downtown at Olympic Plaza I always walk by Insomnia Coffee Company and has always wanted to just sit down by the window and watch the hussle of people going by! I finally did that, and this cafe is very modern, clean, and quite good! It is a really good coffee house in town, and the coffee is quite strong! The latte art wasn’t as nice as some, but something is definitely better than nothing!

Even though I didn’t try their baked good, they sure look really tasty and fresh! And, that’s amazing, considering I visited this cafe on a weekend! I just sat down and enjoyed a wonderful cup of latte and it was so relaxing – and watching the festivals outside their large windows.

Overall, this place is wonderful! They welcome you with warm smiles, and they don’t mind if you sit there and do nothing but stare out the window! 🙂 I’ll recommend this location if you’re in the area looking for a nice cup of coffee!

Insomnia Coffee Company

239 8 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G
(403) 767-9934