Dinner – Page 45 – Elsie Hui

March 9, 2013

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

During winter, we went to watch the Santa Parade that takes place on Banff Avenue just as the skies turn dark. Right after it, it appears to have a huge swarm of people and families looking for food. On top of the regular crowd, there’s also Christmas parties that are being held in Banff, so there seems to be twice as much people. We didn’t make a reservation for dinner anywhere, and when we walked by Seoul Country Korean Restaurant, and smelled how wonderful the place smelled, we decided to walk in. We were lucky as the the place had tons of tables and so there was room for us!

We decided we wanted to do the Korean BBQ style, and we ordered the Seafood Combination and the Barbeque Prime Rib Eye Beef and it definitely was enough food for 2. Once you order, it comes with a huge array of kimchi’s and I love kimchi, so it was great to eat alone or with rice. Shortly after that, we got our dishes to the table and the Beef was in a huge steak where they sliced it through a little to help it cook evenly and quicker.

Right beside it, but added a little bit later was the Seafood, and to my surprise, it actually tasted great! It was really fresh and didn’t have any fishy smell or taste to it. This combination platter has a huge assortment of seafood, such as mussels, shrimp and scallops!

Overall, the dining experience here was great! Be warned though, afterwards you do smell like bbq!! We tried doing Korean BBQ at home before and it was too much smoke to do at home as the smoke alarms kept going off… so, if you enjoy doing that, here’s a great place to go!

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

215 Banff Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-4941

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Shikiji Japanese Noodles and Sushi Calgary

Japanese food and cuisine in general has always been a favourite of mine – always! I go for Japanese things for great times only – mostly in celebration for something. However, once in awhile, all I want is a great bowl of Japanese noodles, and I’m glad I found Shikiji Japanese Noodles and Sushi even though I’ve only tried their noodles so far!

This restaurant is located right on 16th Avenue and it’s not hard to find. Parking can be trickier, but I just park in the residential areas and walk over (but be careful with the parking permit zones). The restaurant interior is quite dark, but it’s still really comfortable! The staff was really nice and friendly, and the food was relatively quick and delicious. We didn’t have anything fancy to drink as we came here on New Years Eve and we knew there would be check stops everywhere. We just ordered Green Tea which is the usual drink for me when I go to a Japanese restaurant!

We started the evening with a simple appetizer, the Tako Yaki, and basically it’s just a ball of pieces of octopus that is deep fried! It’s an amazing snack/treat! These often come with a sauce that is drizzled on top of the takoyaki’s, and this appetizer was excellent! I really enjoy watching the dancing bonito flakes too – as they tend to wave around when they touch hot foods, and they’re so thin that any breeze/draft will make them wiggle! 🙂 Anyway, these tako yaki’s was stuffed with pieces of octopus with a really nice batter – and deep fried to a delicate crisp!

I ordered a bowl of Shio Ramen which was a large bowl of ramen noodles in a light salt soup base with nice fatty BBQ pork (which I picked), and some veggies. It had a little bowl on the side where I could mix up some toppings for my noodles as well! I liked the fun and interactive way to customize my meal! The ramen had a nice chewy bite and the delicious fatty BBQ pork was nothing less than perfect! I would totally ask for more pork and just pay extra!

My other half ordered something quite fancy actually!! His had an interactive element to his dish as well. He ordered Hot Shikiji Udon which was a bowl of udon noodles with some tempura shrimp, and tons of little things on top that was fried (which added tons of texture to the bowl of noodles), and on the side was a little flask of soup that you pour into the bowl yourself. There was also a quails egg where you can put in the noodle which adds a nice creaminess to the dish. It was neat bowl of udon as the soup hit the fried croutons and bean curds – it really thickened up the soup – making it extremely hearty and filling!

Dinner was awesome, and even though we were sooo stuffed, we still decided to have some dessert. We ended splitting a scoop of Green Tea Gelato which was absolutely refreshing and helped me digest actually! I didn’t feel nearly as stuffed after the gelato – which sounds really odd, I know!

It was a perfect way to end the year, and I’ll be back, as it’s the perfect way to end any day! Even though I know they’re opened for lunch, I think because the portions are so large, it’s a dinner place in my mind! I’ll also have to go back anyway to try their sushi and other noodles! I can’t wait!!

Shikiji Japanese Noodles and Sushi

1608 Centre St N
Calgary, AB T2E
(403) 520-0093

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Blue Dragon – Thai Red Curry Paste

I really love products out there that helps me make meals that are quick and delicious! I got to try this new paste from Blue Dragon called Thai Red Curry Paste that comes in a convenient jar.

Here’s my little recipe for my meal:
Ingredients: (serves 2 large portions)
– 2 carrots sliced
– 2 stalks of celery
– 1 small onion
– 4 to 5 white mushrooms
– 4 pieces of chicken thighs
– 1/2 jar of Blue Dragon Thai Red Curry Paste
– small can of Coconut Milk (165mL)
– Cooked Rice

I wasn’t too sure what to do with this sauce and on the back of it, it kind of states that it’s extremely versatile, so I decided to basically make stir fry with the sauce (stir fry with chicken and vegetables over rice), and it was really simple! I first prep my vegetables by cutting everything into even pieces. I just used whatever I had in the fridge, which was onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Of course, wash and cook your rice to start with. The entire meal takes about 30 minutes to make start to finish.

Put the vegetables aside, and slice the chicken thigh. I did do a quick marinade of salt and pepper as I love to add a little something on my meat – always! After it marinates for a few minutes, I heat up a wok and some oil. Then, I add the chicken to the wok and leave it for a few minutes. Once the chicken is about half cooked, I add in the onion and carrot into the wok. Once the chicken is almost cooked through, I add the rest of the vegetables and cook it until it’s a nice tender crisp.

Basically, we’re on the home stretch now – it really is this simple! From here, I add 1/2 a jar of the red curry sauce due to my portion sizes, and a small can of coconut milk. I turn the heat down as I like to cook my coconut milk gently. I stir and let my stir fry simmer away for a few minutes so it can absorb the great flavours.

From here, I added a few more chili flakes as I like my curries a tad spicer. But, we are ready to serve and eat already! Just get a bowl of rice and top it off with the delicious curry!

The finished product is filled with Thai flavours such as ginger, lemon grass, and chilies. It’s absolutely amazing and it tastes great even if you opt out the coconut milk.

December 18, 2012December 18, 2012

Samba Brazilian Steakhouse – Mirage Las Vegas

I have never tried a Brazilian Grill before, but I’ve always wanted to. Where else better to try my first experience than in Las Vegas? We went to Samba Brazilian Steakhouse inside the Mirage Hotel and Casino. We were staying at the Mirage this evening, and we were extremely tired as this day was the day we arrived off the plane, and was up for many hours.

We wanted to try the “All You Can Eat”, but we just didn’t have that large of an appetite so we decided that we were going to get individual dishes. Inside that Samba was very fun, and right in the front was an open bbq, which was really exciting. The other tables around were filled with happiness and enthusiast as large skewers of food was arriving to their tables. We weren’t sad we weren’t apart of that, but it sure added to our experience!

Right after we ordered, a salad came to our table, which they called “Samba Salad“, which was as huge plate of lettuce – which they said was bottomless (even though one plate was plenty). The salad was a little over dressed, but was decent. There was quite a few brine olives which added texture and saltiness to the salad. Besides the olives, there was some chick peas in there too, which is really neat starter.

Instead of the typical bread basket that you normally get at the table, we got a basket of crackers, and it was really different. The warm buttery crackers was delicious on it’s own, but there was 2 dips that it came with. One was extremely garlicky, but a yummy roasted garlic sauce and the other was just olive oil sauce. There was a few pieces of bread, but I did enjoy the crackers the most with the garlic dip.

We started off with appetizers, and we decided to order their Beef Empanadas but Brazilian style. I’ve never tried empanadas Brazilian style as normally they’re more Mexican or Latin style. It was really good and looked really nice with a crispy pastry stuffed with tons of beef.

Right before the actual meal came, there was a bunch of sides that came alongside the table as well. We had delicious selection, but the thing that really stuck in my mind was the Fried Sweet Plantains as in the past when I tried plantains, it was actually disgusting and I didn’t finish them. Here, it was still really sweet, but the savoury side of the plantains really balanced out the side. I enjoyed it as it was a nice surprise.

Another side dish it came with was the Farofa Carrots which to be honest, I’m not too sure what it is. It’s kind of glazed carrots, and it’s not roasted. It was kind of sweet, and it was a simple side! Nothing good or bad about it.

Then, a green side dish would be the Creamed Spinach which was pretty good! It was creamy and you definitely got the spinach taste. It wasn’t too heavy so it was one of my favourite side dishes of the bunch.

The last side dish was simple, but needed. It was a bowl of Rice and Black Beans, and the rice helped soaked up some sauces from both the main dishes and it was delicious!

I ordered seafood, as I love seafood – I opted for Grouper which was a delicious fish, perfectly cooked, tender and juicy fish with tomatoes and ancho chili sauce. The portions was large enough, especially with all the sides. The sauce was overly salty, so I added my rice to it. It helped a bit, but it was still too salty. This dish was seriously good, and I would not have gotten this if I did All You Can Eat.

The last item we ordered was the Double Pork Chop with Spiced Apple Chutney and this was delectable! The apple chutney was delicious and beside it, there was some fresh apples. The pork chop was a little bit thin, but cooked really well. The apple chutney that topped the pork chop was the perfect combination for the pork! We really enjoyed this dish!

After this meal, we’re already thinking about other Brazilian places we could go to when we get home! It was such a fantastic experience and the food was so delicious. We would definitely be back if we were looking for lots of food and bbq’d!

Samba Brazilian Steakhouse

3400 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 791-7111

December 18, 2012December 20, 2012

BLT Burger – Mirage Las Vegas

We arrived into Las Vegas early for one of our trips and we tried to check-in, however, the room they wanted to give to us wasn’t ready, so we decided to grab a quick bite in the hotel. We wandered for a short time before we found BLT Burger where we sat down for lunch.

It’s a cozy and intimate environment, yet casual. It’s a nice place, and the prices are quite reasonable considering we were eating at a famous resort on the Las Vegas strip. However, a cup of coffee seems way to marked up as there was a Starbucks across the way. A cup of coffee was $4, so I would suggest you leave your coffee craving until after you eat! I ordered the BLT Burger as it’s the name of the place – so my expectations was huge!

My burger was huge and delicious, it was a 7oz. Grilled CAB*, Double Smoked Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and BLT Burger Sauce. I have never tasted a piece of bacon the way the BLT Burger bacon was! It was like a smoked jerky, but it was tender and still juicy! I’m not sure how to explain it, but it was very memorable. I added a piece of cheese onto my BLT, which was the Pepper Jack cheese, and it really elevated the burger to a new level!

The other burger we ordered was the Lamb Tandoori burger and I have no words to describe this delicious contraction! It definitely tasted like lamb, and it was juicy and delicious, with a nice kick. It’s a messy burger, but the best burgers are messy!

Overall, it was a great dining experience, and there were no regrets walking into this restaurant! The service was good, the food was good, and the prices are still considered reasonable, even though a tad on the high side for what it is.

BLT Burger – Mirage

3400 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 792-7888