Dinner – Page 7 – Elsie Hui

December 12, 2017December 12, 2017

Via Cibo South Trail – Calgary, Alberta

We were looking for a quick dinner this one evening, and we remembered having Via Cibo at Deerfoot Meadows being really delicious, so we decided to head into the location on 130th Avenue SE just off Deerfoot Trail. There’s ample parking but I assume when everything is opened, the parking situation will be trickier as there’s lots of development here right now.

The way the layout is for this fast food chain is standard, but they give you a number and you pick a table and the staff will bring you your order. It’s quite organized, and although it was really new when we came here, it was speedy enough. We do love the open kitchen concept, and their system was quite amazing. The service was great both for dine in and take out.

We started with their Margherita Pizza as I wanted something simple and delicious. They definitely delivered and everything was fresh and tasty. The crust was beautifully cooked with a nice crisp and it wasn’t soggy at all.

What is more Italian than pasta, so we had an order of their Alfredo Pasta with Sausage. At first, the portions seemed really small, but as you eat it, you do fill up quickly so it worked out at the end.

We definitely enjoyed our experience here. It was a quick night out dinner and we couldn’t have asked for anything else! I’m sure we’ll be back as we’re just steps away and I can always use a bowl of pasta! The food was definiately made to order which is something we appreciate a lot, and believe it’s well worth the time and effort.

Via Cibo South Trail

515-4700 130th Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2Z 4E7
403-720-2222

March 3, 2017

Pho Mai Thy – Calgary, Alberta

I’m not sure what happened here… but I know I went to Pho Mai Thy with my other half! We came here in search of something less popular in hopes of it being super delicious. We actually came here with low expectations, and it met and exceeded the bar I set for this restaurant! The parking here wasn’t bad at all, and the service was pretty good even close to closing time!

We ordered a plate of Cha Gio which is something I really enjoy ordering if I’m hungry! These were really nicely fried, and the filling was very flavourful! Crispy, fresh, hot and awesome – not much more you want for these spring rolls!

I ordered a bowl of Bun Bo Hue as I love doing that once in awhile as I know it’s a specialty food. I try to compare it to whatever I like as I have no idea how original is really supposed to be. I have a favourite place that I go for this, and this isn’t too far behind! The noodles are good, the flavour is great, the spice level is high – yet edible! The size of the noodle soup was big with quite a bit of beef in it, so I quite enjoyed my bun bo hue!

Overall, this place as mentioned was better than we expected. So, we left here with a super full belly and we were quite satisfied.

Pho Mai Thy

6219 Centre Street NW
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 454-8919

April 6, 2016

Homemade Steamed Spareribs 排骨

This month, I decided I was going to make one of my favourite dim sum dishes, Steamed Spareribs and I was excited about the way it turned out! It was fall off the bone tender, and still juicy and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 lb spareribs
1 tbsp black bean sauce (or fermented black beans smashed)
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp salt
1-2 cloves minced garlic

First, start by rinsing and drying your meat. I don’t know if it is necessary, but it’s a habit that I have for pork that I bring home from the store. Once you got the meat cleaned and dried, I put it in a steam proof dish where I will get the spare ribs marinated in.

Then, I put all the ingredients together and put some plastic wrap over the spareribs and let it sit for at least an hour in the fridge.

When I’m ready to steam, I prepare my steamer and put the spareribs in and cover without the saran wrap. This will steam for about 45 minutes on medium high.

After 45 minutes or more has elapsed, the spareribs are ready! Becareful as it’s really hot, but the meat will come off the bones nicely and it will be packed with flavour!

We enjoyed ours over rice for this meal and it was pretty tasty! Of course, you can add some green onions to garnish, or put some whole fermented black beans on top! I didn’t do anything and just served and enjoyed!

January 30, 2016April 3, 2016

3Q Teahouse – Calgary, Alberta

We decided to grab a snack/light dinner one evening and saw a new place called 3Q Teahouse which was recommended by some friends. They told us the owner was actually Taiwanese, so the drinks should be good. There was parking available as the time frame when we went, all the other businesses were closed, or not many opened – which makes it easier!

We ordered our drinks, and I had their Traditional Milk Tea with nothing in it. It wasn’t bad, it was quite decent. It’s not really much different from the milk tea that I’m use to, but neither good or bad is good!

My husband on the other hand ordered Jasmine Green Milk Tea with grass jelly in it. It’s his usual go to drink, so we’ve had it done before and he loves it. Here, I’m not sure what they did, but the drink became thick and slimy. It wasn’t a texture that we like or want to associate it with milk tea. Because of the texture, we couldn’t really decide if we enjoyed the flavours or not.

We ordered some Signauture Popcorn Chicken as one of our favourite snacks is popcorn chicken… it was really good here!

Something kind of different that we ordered was their Fried little buns with Condensed Milk and that was quite a delicious treat. I love condensed milk with regular buns, so with it being little and fried, I was able to eat tons of condensed milk with these buns! I kind of wished they give you an extra dish of condensed milk on the side as they just do a drizzle on the top of the buns. It was good regardless!

As it was our dinner, we ordered some of their rice boxes and we picked Taiwanese 3 Cup Style Chicken which is just chicken with ginger and garlic cooked with rice wine and soy sauce. It’s actually really simple, cheap and delicious!! So, that in mind, you can’t really goof it up! This rice box was pretty awesome!

We also had another rice box combo and this one was the Curry Chicken style one and this one wasn’t as flavourful as you would expect, but nothing wrong with it. They could either cook it a bit longer, or add more flavours to it. But, it was also tasty!

Overall, the food was decent, and most of the drinks was alright. The odd place about here was they have no idea what little bowls for sharing was… we had to ask a few times and they ended up giving us funny little plates. But, regardless, it was a fun night!

3Q Teahouse

323 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 287-8228

January 25, 2016

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We often drive by Le La Vietnamese Restaurant and always wanted to hop in! We finally did, and we set our exceptions low as we didn’t do any prior research to this restaurant! There’s tons of parking and there a lot of tables inside, but it wasn’t busy when we went as it was right before closing! The staff was really nice to us and didn’t hurry us out just because they were closing!

We ordered some Condensed milk Vietnamese Iced Coffee which I don’t normally order, however, I wanted a treat this time so I went for it! It was a delicious and refreshing drink with the perfect amount of condensed milk!

I ordered my standard go-to pho, the Rare Beef and Beef Ball Noodle Soup and it’s not available at all locations, but I love it when I get them. This place doesn’t give too much beef balls either, but more than some other locations. I find a lot of places cut up a beef ball into 1/8’s and gives you like 5 pieces – so you don’t even get 1 beef ball!! At least here, you get more than 1 ball, so it’s a great treat!

My hsuband ordered their Satay Beef Noodle Soup and he really enjoyed the flavours of the soup. The beef was tender and quite delicious! This was suppose to be an extra large bowl, but the amount of noodles seems similar with more soup.

Overall, this was a great place to get some Vietnamese noodle soup! It’s not the best in town, but it as really good pho!! Very decent, prices are good and food tastes great!

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant

6624 Centre St SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 255-5665