Dinner – Page 37 – Elsie Hui

October 27, 2013October 27, 2013

Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

I’m not sure where it came from, but my husband has had a craving for Laksa noodles, so we ventures to the North and ended up at Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine The location isn’t hard to find, yet it’s at a strange place. It’s at the intersection of 32nd Ave with 32nd Street, in an area where you would think it’s all automobile stuff. But, this means there’s lot of parking!

We got inside and was seated in no time. They were busy, but they managed it really well. We did order some drinks, and I ordered their Honey Lemon Tea which tasted a lot like a lemon iced tea! Go figure! It was decent.

My husband on the other hand ordered their Soy Milk with Grass Jelly and he really liked it. It’s a combo that we never would’ve thought of, but now, I’m sure I can make it at home too!

The actual food here was absolutely amazing! We ordered to share their Seafood Curry Laksa with their yellow noodles as I thought it was more authentic, but who knows. It’s quite a spicy bowl of noodles with tons of flavours. It was quite amazing if you’re into this kind of Malaysian cuisine!

The other dish we ordered to share was their Hainanese Chicken Rice which was also a hit! It had a big mountain of ginger fried rice, a large piece of chicken, with their sauces! It wasn’t spicy like the laksa, but it was quite delicious. A tad on the greasy side, but overall an excellent dish!

Overall, this restaurant was a great stop! The prices were very reasonable, the food was delicious and the portions, well, they were huge! It’s a small shop with just a handful of employees, so be patient, and hopefully they’ll serve you up something amazing too!

Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine

3330 32 Street Northeast
Calgary, AB
(403) 450-3880

October 27, 2013October 27, 2013

Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We’ve heard really good things about a Vietnamese Restaurant named Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant which is located at the intersection of Elbow Drive and Heritage Drive. At first, we thought it as the larger strip mall complex at this intersection, but it is actually located on the main floor of the building across the street. Parking is quite limited, but we were lucky enough to have grabbed a parking spot.

The interior of the restaurant looks more like a Chinese restaurant, but it was fine. It looks like an authentic restaurant, as it feels like you’re eating at home with their dining room chair selection.

We started with their Shrimp Salad Rolls which was surprisingly better than it looks! We’ve been to so many places where they premake their salad rolls, and I’m quite confident these are made to order.

I normally order my usual – no matter where I go for a first time Vietnamese restaurant. If it’s good, then I will go back and try something different! So, back to my Rare Beef with Beef Ball Pho and this was really good. Although not a lot of beef balls, it had a ton of beef. The broth had tons of flavour and it was even better enhanced with other sauces.

My other half had ordered his usual as well, the Rare Beef Pho and he really enjoyed it. They were basically the same thing, but we like to think it’s different! The size of the orders were quite large and we were quite stuffed after this wonderful lunch!

Overall, we were pleased with this restaurant. The service was a little slow, as they weren’t busy in the house. They did have a lot of take out orders, so they must’ve been running behind from it.

Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant

8408 Elbow Drive
Calgary, AB
(403) 259-6099

October 18, 2013

White Spot Macleod Trail – Calgary, AB

Thanksgiving this year was kind of interesting. This year, I didn’t make any feasts which I quite enjoy – as I haven’t not made something in a long time. We decided we still wanted turkey dinner, so we went to White Spot on Macleod Trail which is located just in the Willow Park area.

We started out with some appetizers, their Salt and Pepper Wings which was not a good deal at all! It costed more than a buck a wing. Sure, they’re good, but they’re not worth the price tag they put on it.

As mentioned, we wanted turkey for dinner, so we got their Roast Turkey Dinner and on this Thanksgiving, they made it into a combo, I guess… it came with pumpkin soup. It was actually quite tasty and I really enjoyed the soup. Tons of flavour and the texture was nice too.

The actual turkey dinner was surprisingly good! It was a large plate with both white and dark meat, mashed potatoes with gravy and some stuffing. I’m not a huge fan of stuffing on the best of days, so I still didn’t eat these ones. I tasted it and that was about it. This plate did get cleared between the 2 of us, and quite quickly too!

The other thing we ordered was their Baby Back Ribs and these ribs were fall of the bone tender and juicy. We got it with onion rings, and the waitress really didn’t tell us that it was an upgrade/substitute fee. Oh well, it wasn’t the end of the world

Overall, the food was excellent and the service was really good. The only part I had to complain about was the bill as mentioned with the onion rings, it was added, which I’m sure we could have just read. But, I guess for Thanksgiving, they had a special combo that had dessert added as well. We weren’t offered it and when we asked the waitress, she took it off the bill and the total on the bill because more expensive. She didn’t explain to us anything – so we figured she didn’t know what she was doing. Instead of causing a scene, we just paid the more expensive bill and left. Kind of left a sour note in my mouth, but the food was soo good. Not sure if I’ll be back.

White Spot

10400 Macleod Trl S
Calgary, AB
(403) 278-8212

October 17, 2013October 17, 2013

Soban – Whitecourt, Alberta

Whitecourt was where we decided to stopover during our little road trip. We got checked in and went out to find some food. We found Soban Restaurant as I had noodle soup in mind — and they would have udon or something! This restaurant was in one of the back streets but not tucked away on that street that offered Korean and Japanese cuisine.

We were the only tables there and we saw a few people do take out meals which was pretty neat as it was quite late and people still order out! We started with Edamame which was a big plate, and pretty good!

We both ordered udon, we got their Shrimp Udon which was actually tempura shrimp with udon and it was pretty good! It came in large bowls and they both started with a salad.

The other bowl of udon we got was their Beef Udon and yes, the picture doesn’t do its justice, but it was actually really good! The beef, they used their Korean Bulgogi beef for it and it worked perfectly!

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our evening meal! It hit the spot and it was just good!

Soban

5003 – 50 Street
Whitecourt, AB
(780) 778-5225

October 17, 2013

Sammy’s Steak & Pizza – Falher, Alberta

We left Calgary around 5:30AM this one weekend… and I decided to sleep in the car. I woke up every once in awhile to see where we were going, and I only knew “North” was the answer. We passed Edmonton, and kept going. When I finally got up, we were around 750kms North of Calgary, in a town called Falher, AB. Here, we decided I was hungry and found a place to eat. Basically, there was 2 options, both was pizza. We choose Sammy’s Steak & Pizza right on Main Street.

We went inside, and it was pretty cool little place! Definitely a sense of old town and small community as the other restaurant guests that came in basically all knew each other. They’d just sit and have a drink or just social. It was pretty cool to me! The service was great, but the food did come out a little slow. It totally was worth it though!

By the time we figured we would share a pizza for lunch, we ordered the Meat lover’s Pizza which we figured everything was hand made as it took a while and it tasted great! It looked amazing once it came to the table, with perfectly melted cheese and tons of meat!

To our excitement, the slices were thick — with meat!! It was impressive and we gobbled it up in no time!

Overall, this little place had such a wonderful pizza that wasn’t greasy at all! Well, it’s greasy as all pizza is but the crust wasn’t greasy and it made the entire experience really enjoyable! The prices here in general was extremely reasonable!

Sammy’s Steak & Pizza

9 Main St SW
Falher, AB
(780) 837-3335