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Ginger Beef Bistro House

We wanted some dim sum this one day, and we’ve heard both good and bad reviews from friends and family for Ginger Beef Bistro House, but we still wanted to try it for ourselves. Normally, if it’s a new restaurant, I give it a chance plus a second chance. I like to think if it’s new, things are still a little chaotic, but, things seemed relatively smooth, and the food wasn’t bad at all!

Located in the same parking lot as the theatre in the Northeast, this restaurant is a stand alone building, with tons of parking – and tons of crazy drivers too! It’s a location that fills up quickly, especially on weekends. We arrived around 3o minutes after it opened their doors, so we didn’t have to wait in line for a table. By the time we left though, the entrance area was crammed with hungry guests waiting for a table.

We started with an order of Pineapple BBQ Pork Bun, and I am going to say that I loved it! It was fresh, the topping on the pineapple bun was excellent, and even the bbq pork that was inside of the bun was really tasty with a nice sauce to it! The tasted between the subtle sweetness and the savoury was perfect! These buns were also extremely adorable!

Then came a dish we always eat, and I’ve always enjoyed since I was a child, it would be Chinese Donut Rice Crepes. I love ordering rice crepes from here, as you can see right into their kitchen – I got to watch the lady make all the rice crepes, and that was really exciting. The rice crepe itself was thin, soft, smooth, and super fresh – making this dish one to remember!

Ah, the Pan Fried Turnip Cake is something my husband eats – always! He really enjoyed it from here, even though he says there isn’t as much ingredients in the turnip cake as the ones I make for him. But in having more “goh”, they get a really nice square cut! So, it looks wonderful for presentation. Taste wise, it wasn’t bad either.

As per usual, I eat a lot of Chicken Feet, and these like many other places are jammed packed with flavour, and tender. I think that’s most important for chicken feet, and they were able to achieve it.

Steamed Beef Tripe with Ginger and Green Onion is another one of my favourites, and it too is important that it’s tender. No complaints with my beef tripe from here!

The steamed shrimp dumpling was quite nice, the skin on the shrimp dumpling was delicate with a nice texture. Of course, the shrimp was quite fresh. The shrimp dumplings wasn’t huge but it was packed with good shrimps! It was delicious!

Now, we got our order of Deep Fried Shrimp Balls, which was a little different. The crunchiness was awesome, and the actual shrimp balls was huge – still using the good quality of shrimp as in their shrimp dumpling.

The Steamed Beef Meat Balls is something I don’t always eat, but I did for this restaurant, as everything else was really good. It wasn’t overwhelmed by the cilantro taste as some restaurants do. It was surprisingly good, and the meat was smooth and silky. Overall, it was a great meat ball.

I think the Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Dumplings was a little disappointment for me. I was expecting a nice bit of broth when I bite in, but it was just a pork dumpling that was “juicy” – but no broth. It could be the fact it may have all leaked out, but I don’t know. The texture of the pork dumpling wasn’t as smooth as I would like it, but the taste wasn’t bad. Even though this may have been my least favourite dish of the experience, by no means was it “bad” or “gross”. So, overall, I really loved my experience here and think it’s one of the better dim sum places in Calgary. I’ll definitely be back, as long as they keep up their quality without increasing their prices!

Ginger Beef Bistro House

400 388 Country Hills Blvd NE
Calgary, AB T3K5J6
(403) 265-1616

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Homemade Japanese Miso Soup

I love Japanese food, and I’ve always wanted to make my own Miso Soup, so I finally got a package of White Miso Paste from my market, and found some bonito flakes and wakame from the Asian grocery store. They are tricky to find (well, for me at least!) but, I think it’s necessary for a miso soup. This simple homemade soup smells and tastes like miso soup when you go out to have a bowl!

Ingredients (makes 2 big bowls or 4 little bowls):
3 cup of water
3 tbsp bonito flakes
1 heaping tbsp white miso paste
1 tbps wakame
tofu cubes

To begin any soup – start with boiling some water.

When the water has come to a boil, put some bonito flakes into the water and reduce the heat, and let it steep for about 5 minutes.

Once that has steeped, you’re ready to put in the miso paste. Take a heaping tablespoon (or just 2 tablespoons) and put it into a bowl. Take some of the “soup in progress” into the bowl and mix to dissolve the miso paste so you get a dissolved and thinner consistency. Once you’ve achieved this, you’re ready to pour the miso solution into the soup. Bring the soup back up to a boil at this time, and let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes.

By now, taste your soup to see if it needs additional salt. Add some if it needs more. To finish the soup, add the wakame flakes, and they will rehydrate and add lots of flavour into the miso soup. Once the wakame has rehydrate, you’re ready to serve and enjoy!

I also like to add some udon noodles to my miso soup, and it becomes and excellent and healthy lunch! Just boil some instant udon in the miso soup. Once the udon noodles are ready, you’re ready to eat too! If you want, you can top it off with sesame seeds, scallions or anything you like – really!

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Chili Club Thai House – Calgary, Alberta

Thai food in Calgary is actually not bad at all! I have a few favourite locations, and I can now add Chili Club Thai House to my list of favourites! It’s a small restaurant with an intimate atmosphere. It’s a great idea to make reservations if you want to go – as the line can get long due to the amount of tables.

We started our dinner with Tom Yum Soup and most places make it so spicy it’s ridiculous, but here, they made it with tons of spice and flavour, but it’s not overly spicy! I think it’s my favourite bowl of Tom Yum soup that I’ve had in the city! This delicious hot and sour soup had lots of prawns, mushrooms and tomato in the excellent broth.

I love how rice comes in individual servings in rice cups with a lid. It really helps not only with portion control, but it keeps the rice warm much longer! It’s a great presentation and a wonderful use!

The first dish that came was the Kaeng Chak Som which was a pan fried salmon fillet with coconut, chili, & lime sauce. The lime sauce was phenomenal, as it was quite different, but the lime made it really light and refreshing! The salmon was perfectly cooked with a beautiful crust on the fish with the awesome sauce. This was my favourite dish of the evening!

Then came the Panang Duck Curry which is a decadent dish of boneless roasted duck with eggplant in a thick curry. The duck was tender and juicy with a great sauce with a nice kick of heat! It made the eggplant really enjoyable.

The last dish we ordered was Musamun Beef Curry Beef chunks sauteed in Thai curry with potatoes, onion and peanuts. This was another fantastic dish, but the least favourite of mine out of the 3 dishes. I actually found that it would’ve been nicer if the beef chunks was a tad fattier so it would be more tender. The sauce for the curry was yummy, but nothing too different or spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad – just it wasn’t as good as the other dishes!

Overall, this was a wonderful place to dine for Thai food. The prices are very reasonable for a Thai place, and the quality of the food is top notch – so it’s okay to pay a little more when it’s worth it. It’s definitely worth it here!

To top off the night, they had a complimentary dessert which tasted good, and it wasn’t too big at all! It was a lovely end to the lovely evening!

Chili Club Thai House

1904 36 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 217-8862

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Ping Pang Pong

Yes, I am aware that having Dim Sum in Las Vegas is odd, but we did it! We went to Gold Coast Hotel just off the main strip for Dim Sum at a place called Ping Pang Pong

I’ve got to say, not bad at all for dim sum!! The quality of the Chinese food was really good, and I honestly don’t really remember the price, but I believe it was very reasonable – otherwise, I would either be saying “it’s a GREAT deal!” or “it was SO NOT worth it!”

We started with a bowl of jook or congee – pork with thousand year old egg (Preserved Egg Porridge), which is a very common and popular Chinese rice porridge! It was actually really good, and the texture of the jook was smooth and done quite well!

No matter where I go, I’ve always got my favourites – like Chicken Feet which always seems to be delicious! It’s not exception here, the sauce is really one of my favourites and it was tender!

Also, you really can’t go anywhere without enjoying some Ha Gow – Shrimp Dumpling, and the shrimp was really fresh, sweet and crisp! The dumpling skin was really nice – steamed to perfection!

My parents really like Steamed Pork Balls, so of course they order it! I didn’t mind it here, and it was great!

Steamed Bean Curd Roll

Beef Tendons are one of my favourites when done right. Here, they did this right too! The tendons was infused with flavour and the tendons were soo soft with the “tender” gummyness texture. It was intense and deep, and cooked with the perfect marinade!

This was a weird order, it’s a Shrimp Balls with Crispy Rice, which is like the typical shrimp balls, but they covered it in crispy puffed rice! It added a new dimension of texture to what seems like a simple dim sum! It was a great idea! It worked!

I love any sort of rice crepes, but we ordered 1 order of Beef Rice Crepes, and I honestly thought it wasn’t enough! They actually stuffed their crepes with lots of filling, as some places just put a thin layer of meat in. The actual crepe was really fresh, soft, silky and quite thin!

Overall, this turned out to be a fantastic place for lunch! Everything was so delicious, and the service was excellent. Food constantly came out – which was really easy to over eat! This would be a place I would return to if I wanted a dim sum fix in Las Vegas! Everything was really fresh and you can definitely tell all the dishes were steamed not long before arriving onto the table!

Ping Pang Pong (Gold Coast) on Urbanspoon

Ping Pang Pong – Gold Coast Hotel

4000 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89103
(702) 367-7111

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Homemade Vietnamese Sandwich with Grilled Chicken

I really love Vietnamese Submarines, and these days, it seems to be hard to find some in the city – for a reasonable price. I had to make a few modifications as I didn’t have all the ingredients, but the sandwich sure tasted great!

Ingredients:
1 French Roll or similar bun (crusty outside, soft inside)
1 chicken breast or 2 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 or 2 slices of cucumbers
cilantro
pickled carrots
chili pepper (optional)
onions
soy sauce
fish sauce
white soft cheese (I use mozzarella cheese)

To make this, I actually made my own pickled carrots, which is really simple to do. Some people have a mixture of pickled daikon and carrots, but I opted for just carrots as that’s the way I’m use to! If you’re making it, make this step at least an hour ahead of time.

Pan sear the chicken thigh or breast with some oil, salt and pepper. Once it’s cooked, take off the stove and let it rest.

In the mean time, cut your bun, spread one side with mayonnaise and the other side with a few shakes of soy sauce and fish sauce, and salt and pepper.

Place the meat on the bun, and top it with some cheese and bake until the cheese melts in a 350F oven, which takes a few minutes. Then, take the submarine out of the oven, and top it off with the pickled carrots, cilantro and other fresh vegetables. (I usually don’t put the raw onions on as I’m worried about onion breath at work – if I’m having this for lunch) Put the top of the sandwich on and you’re ready to enjoy!