Lunch – Page 59 – Elsie Hui

March 23, 2013March 23, 2013

Galaxie Diner Calgary

I have always loved diners, and when I heard there was one I haven’t been to before, I knew I had to go there as soon as I can. This is near the beltline, in a residential area – but down this street is historic looking and full of food venues. Once I saw the “diner” sign, I knew I found the place – and I was right!

I sat down and was greeted immediately. I ordered a cup of hot chocolate, and it came in a large mug – which I really liked. It stayed warm for a long time as well, and it was quite tasty.

For the meal, I actually ordered the Galaxie French Toast and it looked delicious. To make it better, it taste even better! It’s a plate with 2 delicious pieces of French Toast with toasted coconut, then topped with grilled banana. This breakfast is really a great treat!

My husband ordered the most delicious breakfast of all! I have never had a better Montreal Smoked Meat Hash yet. This fantastic breakfast has tons of smoked meat mixed with their delicious hashbrown, garlicky mushrooms, sauteed onions, banana peppers and cheese, topped with eggs and toast. I love how this plate of hash has a nice heat (kick) and it’s very memorable.

Overall, this place is a cute little place that does fill up quite quickly. It’s worth the wait if you’re a tad late and they do turn tables really quickly. The food tastes so delicious that you just gobble it up quickly! I will be back here again before some other locations!

Galaxie Diner
1413 11 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 228-0001

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.

February 27, 2013February 27, 2013

Jing Jing Bakery

I love bakeries and I like them from any nationality or location. This one particular afternoon, I really wanted to pick up a bun and take to me on my zoo adventure that I was going on later that day. I went downstairs and it was around 1:30PM and there wasn’t anyone else in the bakery, but it still smells like fresh products was still coming out of the oven. Sure, the place does look creepy, but I think the product I got from here was well worth the creepiness!

We ordered just 2 items as it was meant to be a tiny snack for the zoo break. I ordered an egg tart (which I failed to take a picture of) and a pineapple bun! Sure, the bun doesn’t look good, as my homemade pineapple bun looked better… but both of these items was still warm when I purchased them… so, we actually ate it right away instead of saving it for the zoo. Just as I was eating away at the pineapple bun, the cookie topping was do light, crispy and perfect. I was just about to start thinking the pineapple bun was a little plain as well, but I continued eating it… and inside was a sweet delight… it actually had pineapples in it! This totally made my day, and I’m proud to sa this is one of my favourite pineapple buns now!

Overall, I have no problem returning to try more items. It’s a small bakery, but the products are just as good as good as big bakeries! Who needs a pineapple bun with just butter now?! I’m not sure how I will ever go back to a regular pineapple bun!

Jing Jing Bakery

100 – 3rd Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 265-9588