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Belgo Centraal London

My sister really wanted to introduce Belgo Centraal to us in London at Covent Garden, so we all went to eat an early dinner there – which they called Express Lunch. The express lunch was available daily 12-5pm and for £7.95 it came with a choice of Belgo Pils, a glass of house wine or a soft drink with the selected lunch.

I ordered the Salmon Filet with leek mash and mustard cream sauce, and even though the salmon looks like it’s over cooked, it was actually cooked to perfection! It was flaky and still tender inside. The leek mash was divine and it was smooth and creamy. While both these contents sat in some mustard cream sauce, it really tied the dish together. It was a perfect pair.

We also ordered the Pork and Leek Sausages with stoemp mash and berry jus, and I have got to say the stoemp mash was better than my leek mash! It was pretty much a mashed baked potato and it was truly something memorable!

My sister ordered a Bowl of Traditionelle mussels served with frites, and of course I stole a few of both mussels and frites (fries). The mussels – they sure know how to make them here at Belgo, and they were really fresh with absolutely no fishiness to them at all. The portion of this bowl is huge and is a great dish to share!

We were having such a good time here at Belgo, we decided to order dessert! We ordered 2 to share between the 3 of us and it really was the perfect amount! Our first dessert was the Strawberry Pavlova which was not only insanely beautiful to look at, it was insanely delicious as well! The pavlova was nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I’ve had a few pavlovas and they tend to be very chewy on the inside.

We ended this fine express lunch with the very heavenly Belgian dark chocolate cheesecake! The Belgium Dark chocolate wasn’t so dark that the entire cheesecake turned bitter or anything, and the texture and creaminess of the cheesecake was to die for.

This was one of the best meals I’ve had the entire trip, and I would recommend it to anyone! The location does seem strange as it is in the lower level where it appears it’s the entire building! The concept of this restaurant is phenomenal, and the food is extraordinary!

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Koreana BBQ Restaurant

Ahh, something different and totally delicious!! We popped into Koreana BBQ Restaurant with some great friends to try it out and it was so good! The prices were a little high, but it definitely could be a lot worse in the city! The space was open and there were private booths along one ends and regular booths on the other edge. In the centre were regular tables and all the tables throughout had the option of having a BBQ flame right at the table!

As most Korean places, they give you a wide selection of kimchi first and then your actual meal. Here, they gave us not only a large selection of kimchi, but they also had a really good soup with it. It was kind of like a miso soup, with more ingredients in it.

We ordered Seafood pancake (Hae Mul Pa Jeon) which was made with tons of seafood and made into an egg pancake with green onion! It definitely tasted as good as it looks and the dipping sauce it came with added just the right amount of sweetness and saltiness to the omelette.

We also ordered a delicious Korean cuisine soup, the Pork Bone Spicy Soup with Potato and Vegetable (Gam Ja tang) which was full of flavours and spice! The pork was fall of the bone tender and juicy and the potatoes and vegetables made it nice and hearty!

As you can now see, there were huge chunks of potatoes and tons of spices in this soup on the pork and throughout! It was a wonderful soup and extra special – perfect for a cold winter day!

The final dish we enjoyed for the evening would be the Marinated Grilled Beef Short Ribs in a large order – and we got them to cook it for us. It was cooked to perfection, tender, and the sauce that goes with it was unbelievable!

I am sure we will be back, either to try dishes such as these, or even their Korean Hot Pot and maybe even the actual Korean Tabletop BBQ!

Koreana BBQ Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Koreana BBQ Restaurant
17-7400 Macleod Trl S
Calgary, AB
(403) 452-1020

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Sunterra Market – West Market Square

I really like markets, and one of my favourite markets would be Sunterra Market even though it’s kind of expensive. I particularly enjoy going to the one at West Market Square as it offers a small eatery and has great grocery shopping! I enjoy buying fresh products from here, and a bunch of other stuff too! The food that they prepare from their kitchen isn’t bad at all either – and the prices are pretty decent!

I really enjoy having their Butter Chicken and I had my butter chicken over rice instead of spinach. For about $8, you get a pretty generous serving of rice and butter chicken, and even some naan! The chicken is always tender and the curry is very mild in flavour. The sauce is delicious and creamy and perfect over rice!

My other half ordered from the Daily Hot Carve and on this particular day, it was Roast Beef with vegetables and potatoes. Again, the serving is really large, definitely more than a mall food court amount and this plate was just under $10! There was at least 3 slices of roast beef which was quite thick of a cut (irregular, but overall thick) which is always nice! The vegetables were roasted peppers and they were surprisingly sweet, plus tons of potatoes which were good on it’s own, or with the roast beef sauce!

Since the first visit to Sunterra, where they gave me a sample of their Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice, I’ve made it a ritual where I purchase if nothing – at least a bottle of their orange juice. Sure, it costs more than other ordinary orange juice, but you actually watch them squeeze this juice out and it’s so good – year round! Of course, it’s best in the summer when the oranges are at their prime season. This is one thing I’d highly recommend if you’ve got nothing else to get from Sunterra!

Sunterra Market, West Market Square on Urbanspoon

Sunterra Market, West Market Square

1851 Sirocco Dr SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 266-3049

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Wolfgang Puck – Spago Las Vegas

We were walking up and down the Las Vegas strip until dark. It was werid, for a city that never sleeps, we actually missed dinner – so we popped into Spago’s inside Caesars Palace. Since we missed dinner, they just gave us the a la carte menu, which was great – since a dinner would of been too much food at this late hour! We were seated quickly, and some bread with a variety of bread oils came – and they were quite delicious!

For dinner, I ordered from their wood fire pizza menu selection – from my seat, I could see the wood fire pit for pizza’s and thought it would be fun to watch them make my pizza. So, ordered the Pepperoni Pizza which was quite a large pizza for a single serving with fontina and mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Sauce, Shaved Red Onions and Button Mushrooms

We also went and ordered the Spago Pancetta-Wrapped Meatloaf which was a beautiful plate with Russet Potato Purée on the bottom, where the piece of pancetta wrapped meatloaf sat on. On top of the meatloaf sat some crispy Onion Rings. Then they had Mushroom Gravy and Port Wine Sauce drizzled over the entire dish. It was a wonderful dish!

This has become an amazing and memorable place for a night light snack – with the quality you’d expect! Everything was really good, and I’d have no problems popping in for another meal (or snack)!

Spago at The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace

3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 369-6300

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Great Taste Chinese Restaurant

It was New Years Eve, and we wanted to grab a bite to eat to kill some time – and we found ourselves walking by what use to be one of our favourite Chinese places to eat… and noticed the place had changed names. So, out of curiosity, we went into what is now called Great Taste Chinese Restaurant

Since this wasn’t a meal, and we were looking for snack, we ordered really random snacks – which we really LOVED! Something I’ve always ate if I found, it would be Shanghai Style Sticky Rice (Savoury). These sticky rice are only availability on weekends only – so I was really happy it was a weekend when we popped in! We can pick from sweet or salty sticky rice, but I do prefer the salty ones.

Dumplings will also always be a great snack for me! It’s never too early or too late to eat dumplings, and here, they have Pan Fried Shanghai Style Pork Dumplings which we always remembered them as being like wor-tip (potstickers) pan fried to a nice crisp. I believe they make these dumplings themselves as it doesn’t look uniform – so I like to think it’s made of good quality pork dumpling filling. This filling is very flavourful and is perfect alone or with the vinegar dip they provide you with.

The last snack we had to order is Deep Fried Sweet Buns which is an Asian style bun made with either Hong Kong or Korean rice flour as it adds much more “bounce” in the dough. This bun is made with “threads” of the dough and then steamed. In this case, it is deep fried to a wonderful golden brown such that you get a crispy shell with a soft bun inside that shreds into strands/threads. This wonderful bun is then dipped to one of my all time favourite condiments – condensed milk. It’s a great vehicle to move condensed milk to my mouth – and when paired, it’s a great combination! The hot crisp of the exterior of the bun, the soft gooey strand inside of the bun with the sweet condensed milk sure make it a treat!

I’ve been trying to not use too many pictures in my blogs lately, but i have to post a picture of the “silver thread buns” interior as well! Even though this bun is cut into 3 pieces, it’s a great bun and I think the picture kind of shows it!

This was such a great place for simple Shanghai style snacks that I’m sure I’ll be back to eat here! I loved it before the new owners and I’m still loving it! I assume the owners changed, as the concept of the restaurant has changed – but the food is still really good.

Great Taste Chinese Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Great Taste Chinese Restaurant

123 2nd Avenue SE
Calgary, AB T2G 0B2
403-265-9880