Dinner – Page 48 – Elsie Hui

October 21, 2012October 21, 2012

The Teahouse in Stanley Park

We were in Vancouver visiting family and we took a day off to just do a bit of sight-seeing at Stanley Park, where we went to visit the Aquarium, and then found ourselves a little hungry for an early dinner. We ventured off a few sight seeing stops after the Aquarium, where we found The Teahouse at Stanley Park where we decided to have an early dinner – or a late snack!

We decided to sit outside on the patio to soak up the view, even though it was chilly. They did have heaters which really helped! What a gorgeous place – and apparently both tourists and locals visit this restaurant. I thought it would be specifically aimed for tourists, but it’s always nice to see restaurants like this have lots of locals too! I ordered a Hot Tea and it was a much needed hot tea to warm me up from the inside out!

We weren’t sure what to order since it was an odd time to eat. It was around 4PM, and the waitress recommended we try their Happy Hour special with Fresh Mussels & a Stanley Park Beer, so of course, we did! We definitely wanted to try the Stanley Park Beer and it was a nice beer! It wasn’t too light, but it wasn’t very bitter either. The plate of mussels that came to the table was huge and it even had a side of fries with it! It was delicious and seafood is just not the same when you’re near a large body of water!

Right away, after we ordered, a large basket of bread and butter came to our table! This was great, it’s like we’ve suddenly turned this strange late night snack to dinner all by itself! The bread was really fresh, and it was great to use to soak up all the juices from the mussels!

Okay, now after we got all the starters out, we still ordered some appetizers! We really wanted to try their Salt & Pepper Squid, and we got an order of it. It was really good, fried till it was crispy, but the squid was still tender and soft. It sat on some lime aioli, and topped with some jalapeno peppers! It was a delicious take on the “salt & pepper” I’m use to!

Now that we’ve had so much food, we decided to not order a full entree… and we opted out for some side instead. We’re still on a seafood mission/tread, so we got a side of Grilled 4oz Salmon and Albacore Tuna which made a great sample platter! The grilled salmon was my favourite, but the tuna was delicious! I loved them both and if I was to return, I would get the same thing again!

Overall, the experience here was top notch! The waitress was fantastic, the scene was divine, and the food was perfect! The best part about the Teahouse was the the prices are so reasonable, you weren’t paying a premium to have this great location!

The Teahouse

Ferguson Point
Vancouver, BC V6G3E2
(604) 669-3281

October 21, 2012October 21, 2012

Cheezy Bizness Calgary Food Truck

OK, so, it’s been awhile since my visit to Cheezy Bizness Food Truck, but better late than never! We went to try this food truck during the first annual Sundown Chowdown at the Calgary Farmers Market. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think any of the food trucks was prepared for the amount of people that showed up for it! Swarms of people lined up for all the trucks ranging anywhere from a 45minute wait just to get to the window up to 2 hours!! We went in a group, and we each lined up for a different truck – so we kind of know how long it took. We just tagged each other out so we all waited for something at one time or another.

One of the last trucks we lined up for was the Cheezy Bizness truck, where we waited that day in line for almost 2 hours and another 45 minutes to wait for the food to get picked up – after we pay for them. I think they were definitely in overload mode! By the time we got our sandwiches, we were eating in the dark under a street light! It was fun and quite the experience. I ordered the Aloha Arkansas as I love anything with pineapples in it! This lovely grilled cheese sandwich was actually $9.50 and had pulled park, pineapple and smoked cheddar. It was delicious! It was one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had!

Then, the last sandwich we ate was the Home on the Range grilled cheese sandwich made with Silver Sage slow roasted beef with shaved red onion, Brassica mustard and horseradish aioli, cheddar and gruyere cheese.

I know the pictures are extremely hard to see, but the picture was either killed with the bright flash, or these ones with more detail underneath the street lights. This just means I will have to try Cheezy Bizness again another day! I really enjoyed their grilled cheese sandwiches, but I enjoy any grilled cheese sandwiches. However, to experience it out of a truck, you can only get from the Cheezy Bizness food truck!

October 20, 2012

Le’s Pho – Heritage Meadows

Sundays are tricky for me – my favourite southeast Vietnamese restaurant is closed on that day, and sometimes, all I want is a nice bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup. So, we decided to venture off – but not too far to find some. We went to Heritage Meadows and found Le’s Pho Vietnamese Cuisine and Grill where I knew I had to try it.

Once we were inside, there was a sign that says “Please Wait to be Seated”, and it seems like it took forever to get seated, even though there wasn’t that many customers there at that odd time when I went (it as around 2 or 3pm). Once we sat down, probably another 5 minutes, a waiter came by to see what we wanted to drink. We just ordered some tea, since that’s what we like with our “Asian” meals. I quickly ordered the Spring Rolls and it came quite quickly. They looked pretty good, and it tasted good too! We’re off to a good start! Sure, it’s not the texture I was use to, but the flavours were all there, so I enjoyed them thoroughly! It’s hard to not like something deep fried, unless it’s soggy and not even a tad crispy!

I wanted something with a bit more flavour, so I tried their Satay chicken Pho which when it came out, it didn’t taste like satay at all! There was no other flavours besides a ton of spice… as though I ordered a super spicy chicken pho! There was no taste or texture of what you would expect from satay. Besides the spice though, the soup was very flavourless… a tad of fish sauce, and soy sauce didn’t help.

We also ordered a bowl of Pho Tai which is essentially rare beef with pho. This one is hard to goof usually, but the beef was fine, and the broth was really watered down. It tasted like nothing, so we were kind of disappointed with Le’s Pho!

The portion sizes are fairly large and the prices are within reason, but we didn’t like the watered down soups and just the overall lack in flavour of the pho. The noodles wasn’t too bad – just a tad on the soggy side, which I can’t blame them… sometimes I take too long trying to take a picture… but, I can say that taking long doesn’t make the flavours of the soup wash away. Overall, not my new favourite place for sure… but if I had to go back and give them a second shot (like I do with some places), I just might!

Le’s Pho (Heritage Meadows)
8180 11 St SE
Calgary, AB T2H
(403) 259-3883

October 20, 2012October 20, 2012

Milk Tiger Lounge

You definitely won’t find me at a bar or lounge often at all. I might step foot in one about once a year, and I did it for this year! I went to try Milk Tiger Lounge which is located on 4th Street Southwest. It was interesting to find as there really wasn’t a sign above the door. There was a “white tiger”, which is their logo above the door – and on the door was the name of the restaurant.

I started off with just a drink – well, the only one as I don’t usually drink. I ordered the Sweettart which is a drink made of Alberta Pure Vodka, Blue Curacao, Lime juice and Grenadine. It’s a beautiful and delicious drink!

We also ordered a Wild Rose Brown beer which is a dark beer. I never tried it, but I guess it’s a beer! 🙂 To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about beer as I don’t drink, not even beers!

Finally, as this is just an after dinner hang out for us.. we ordered the Bacon Skewers which was basically pieces of yam, potatoes and sausages wrapped in crispy bacon, and skewered together! It was an amazing appetizer, or beer snack!

Overall, this was a nice place to lounge around as it’s a bar that isn’t loud or busy! It’s a soft, warm and inviting bar which is great for just hanging out.

Milk Tiger Lounge

1410-4th St. SW
Calgary, AB T2R0Y1
(403) 261-5009

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012

Sunterra Market – Keynote

I love markets, and I especially love food courts/eatery in markets! A few of Sunterra Markets offers food in a fast food style, but here in the Keynote Sunterra, it offers a little eating area on the main level and also what they call MarketBAR that’s located on the top floor. There’s also a patio seating area as well, but, it was too cold the day we went – it was snowing!

There’s tons of entrances/exits for you to get into either the Sunterra Market, or Sunterra MarketBAR as it’s all attached, with many signs around the Keynote building! Once inside, depending on which door you’re at – it will depends where you are! The first time there, through the doors in the picture above, that brought us to a remote location of the store. It’s got the stairs and elevators bringing you up to the MarketBAR. So, if you’re looking at just eating without walking the market, this entrance would be ideal for you!

Once you’re upstairs, you’ll get the the “take-out” and “eat-in” area, which reminds me of a fancy food court. Past this area however, it looks to be an actual sit down restaurant area – which I assume it’s the same menu, but with service!

We ordered 2 bowls of pasta, as it was dinner. It came with a slice of garlic toast, which is my favourite! Nothing like garlic toast, alone or with pasta! Anyway. we ordered a bowl of Bolognese Pasta as this one is a hearty meat sauce over pasta!

The other bowl of pasta that we ordered would be the Parmesan Chicken and it’s a rich white creamy and cheesy sauce. If you don’t like the smell of Parmesan, you probably won’t like this one! Both bowls of pasta was enormous – which I couldn’t finish. Chunks of meat throughout the sauce, and enough sauce without drowning the pasta! So, overall, I really like this place! The prices are very reasonable, the portions are huge and the food is excellent! I will be back for dessert one day!

Sunterra Market – Keynote

200 12 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G2H8
(403) 261-6772