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OEB Breakfast Co.

We made it to OEB Breakfast Co for breakfast this one Sunday – and it was a cute little place where a lot of people seem to gather. Immediately once in the door you’re in their coat room – where we had to wait for a table. Eventually, the line went right out the door, and even thought it was a cool morning, it didn’t stop their hungry guests from waiting outside!

When we finally got seated, we were actually at a table instead of the central common table – which is a neat way to seat a lot more in a smaller space.

I ordered The One That Did Not Get Away North Pacific smoked cod & egg scramble, green onions, crisp potatoes, brown butter Hollandaise, vegetarian kelp caviar. This was a fun dish as everything was in a giant bowl! I tried to eat it graciously and orderly, but I found more fun and flavour when I mixed up the entire bowl and ate whatever I had in my spoon! The smoked cod was a great choice as it added just the perfect depth of flavour with a hint of smokiness! I absolutely loved their potato wedges – they were cooked perfectly and had a nice crisp outside of each wedge, yet it was soft and fluffy in the inside.

We also ordered a delicious Smoked Steelhead Salmon, a three egg scram-blettes With green onions & Spanish capers. The omelette was perfect as it was full of flavour and veggies – it was perfect on it’s own. But, to top it off a few notches, the smoked steelhead salmon really made this feel like a five star breakfast!

This was a fun breakfast place, where the prices are reasonable – especially for it’s portion sizes and the amount of food and flavour you get! It’s a small restaurant, so be prepared to wait! It was sure worth it though! Everything was super delicious and I am sure I’ll be back someday soon!

Oeb Breakfast Co. on Urbanspoon

Oeb Breakfast Co.

824 Edmonton Trl NE
Calgary, AB T2E3J6
(403) 278-3447

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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

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Selkirk Grille at Heritage Park – Calgary, Alberta

We found ourselves at Heritage Park Historical Village for their Once Upon a Christmas event that was held there. When we got there, it was getting close to noon so we thought we would try Selkirk Grille which is located outside of the Heritage Park gates with no entrance fee and close access to free parking.

We started our lunch with a delicious Panko Crusted Crab and Shrimp Cakes which was 3 really delicious crab & shrimp cakes. The panko made the cakes really light and crusted with fluffy crunchy bites – it was really good. However, they seemed to only have heated one side of the cake, so only the top was really nicely crusted. I found that the inside wasn’t completely heated through, but it was “hot” enough! These shrimp and crab cakes sat in a puddle of red pepper aioli and tomato relish, and then topped with a roasted pepper.

As it was a lunch, I tried the Driview Farms Lamb burger which was a homemade lamb burger on a toasted golden grain bun Gorgonzola cheese, sweet and spicy onion marmalade Pesto aioli and arugula Kennebec potato fries or house greens salad. I got my meal with fries and it was good enough that I didn’t need gravy or ketchup! The burger is the best lamb burger I’ve had – it was a huge lamb patty cooked to perfection (medium, pink and juicy) with cheese that melted over the patty and topped with fresh veg! There’s nothing I don’t like about this burger!

We also ordered a delicious Bison Ragù Shepherd’s Pie Portabella mushrooms, tomato and rosemary ragù Whipped Yukon Gold potatoes Served with a house greens salad. This is a special lunch menu item, and we even recommended to the guests at the table beside us! The mashed potato top was light and fluffy, creamy and savoury! It was perfect alone! The Bison Ragu was an awesome and hearty stew with nice chunks of meat and it came out all nice, bubbly and brown! It sure was a Shepards Pie unlike any other!

Dining at the Selkirk for lunch seems reasonable in price. The food quality is really good for the main meal and it’s a wonderful family restaurant – or even a special occasion place!

Selkirk Grille at Heritage Park

1900 Heritage Dr SW
Calgary, AB T2V
(403) 268-8500

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Ten Ren’s Tea Time

I really enjoy drinking Chinese teas, and when we figured out there was a little sit down place with Chinese teas, we knew it was a place on our “to go” list. The only Ten Ren’s Tea Time location in Calgary with a sit down dining would be this one, where all the others are just drinks. The place is in an interesting location as it’s kind of tucked into residential area, but isn’t far off the ring road – so I can see it being an ideal location once the road is completed and further development is completed.

We arrived on a weeknight evening, and it was really quiet. The entire time we were there, we were the only table. This was during the dinner hour too, but we didn’t mind as it’s nice to sit down in a quiet dining room once in awhile!

We first sat down and ordered some drink, and I ordered the Almond Milk Tea with no Pearls, as I still don’t like pearls in my drink. However, when the drink got to me, it was the Almond Black Tea, but I had nothing against the black tea, so I just kept it. It was quite good actually – full of almond flavour in the drink. Some places try to dilute the almond so they can use less, and I’m happy to say they didn’t do that with my drink!

For dinner, I had a bowl of Beef Stew Noodle Soup, and what really caught my eye was in the picture on the menu – the noodles was green! When my bowl of noodles came, it was only a slight hint of green colour.

We also ordered a plate of Special Salty Sliced Pork Belly on Steamed Rice, and oddly, it took a long time for it to come. The pork belly was really nicely done as the skin was really crispy and salty! It went perfect with the steamed rice.

As much as we eat, we really wanted to give their wings a try, so we ordered some Deep Fried Chicken Wings and it was fried really crispy! Ten Ren is really good at frying their food as it’s all coming out great!

I do say their deep fried food looks great because our friends ordered some dishes with deep fried chicken over steamed rice, and it looked really tasty! I can hear the crunch of the crust as they bite into their dinners which really is quite impressive!

I quite enjoy this little location, and I can see it being a popular evening place to grab a bit to eat as they are opened quite late. The prices are quite reasonable, especially for it’s portion size. The food tasted good, so there’s nothing I can complain about! I can’t wait to return and have some more goodies!

Ten Ren’s Tea Time

1110 Panatella Blvd NW
Calgary, AB T3K 0S6
(403) 269-6088

Hours:
Sunday~Thursday: 12PM to 11PM
Friday & Saturday: 12PM to 1AM

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The Ranche Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

I really enjoy going to Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary, it’s a beautiful location where the Bow River passes through this park. At the edge of this park lies a wonderful little restaurant that is delicious and known as The Ranche Restaurant. I’ve only been here twice – ever! Both times I’ve been here so far was during the Christmas season and it’s jammed packed! Somehow, they always manage to bang out delicious food, and great service!

This time, we started our dinner with Blue Corn Crusted Red Spring Salmon and Lobster Cakes Lambs Lettuce with flaxseed Vinaigrette, pickled red onions and lime aioli. This appetizer was amazing, and you definitely know it’s salmon cake as salmon does have it’s own distinctive taste. The lobster adds lightness to the cakes and makes it sweeter. It’s a wonderful combination and unfortunately, I don’t have a beautiful picture of the appetizer. I’ve got to say it’s one of the best “seafood” cake appetizers I’ve had in a long time!

For the dinner, I tried Roasted Brome Lake Duck Cider braised red cabbage, pancetta crisp, ricotta parsley gnocchi, maple raisin gastrique – which is caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar. The gnocchi was little light pillows of potato goodness. It was really light and fluffy and infused with flavour. The duck was really well made, and delicious – even though it was slightly on the tough side.

The other meal we had was Seared Atlantic Scallops and Braised Porkbelly which was made with Roasted fingerling potatoes, cauliflower puree, aged balsamic reduction. The pork belly of course was a fattier part of the meat, but it makes the pork so tender, juicy and pork tasting it was great! The crispy skin on the pork was very memorable. The pieces of scallops was quite large, and thankfully it wasn’t over cooked at all. It wasn’t rubbery at all and it was fresh and sweet!

Desserts was something I really loved. I ordered a Chocolate Lava Cake with decadent rich, dark chocolate that souffled out of the ramekin and a pool of chocolate oozes out when I started digging into it. I never did figure out what the custard sauce was, but I mixed it into the molten cake. It was really delicious and definitely a highlight of the evening.

The final dessert we ordered is a Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Café Napoleon Caramelized Orange Sherbert, Chocolate Tuille. This wasn’t really what I was expecting, as I was thinking it would be in layers of light crispy phyllo pastry or something like that – where in fact, the dessert was really hard and brittle. It tasted great, but not the dessert I had imagined it to be.

The Ranche Restaurant is a wonderful place to eat for any occasion – whether it’s for a romantic night out, a party or gathering, it’s just a nice place! It’s great for families and entertainment! The best part is, they always seem to serve excellent food!

The Ranche Restaurant at Fish Creek Park

15979 Bow Bottom Trail SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 225-3939