Snack – Page 36 – Elsie Hui

November 13, 2012

ABC Restaurant

I went to the ABC Restaurant that’s in Chinatown the other day, and realized that the sign outside has completely changed. Which made me realize they’ve changed concept and/or owner. We still went in for a breakfast as there isn’t too many places that are opened so early on a weekend in Calgary.

The breakfast concept is repetitively unchanged, and so I ordered a breakfast combo B with Satay Beef with Rice Vermicelli which comes with a hot drink for $5.25! I love how inexpensive Chinese breakfasts are!

The other breakfast that we ordered was the House Special Combo< which was for $6.75, and the 2 options ordered was the scrambled eggs and Rib Eye Steak. It also came with a hot drink and buttered toast.

The milk tea was fantastic, I like the small old school type of cup! The actual milk tea was quite silky and quite strong of a flavour. It was really good – not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s quite good!

Overall, it’s a nice place to return to. I do miss the original cafe/bakery a lot, but change isn’t a bad thing either! Here’s the post to the old restaurant, which was called ABC Bakery & Cafe

ABC Restaurant

112 3 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G0B7
(403) 266-2888

November 3, 2012

Chili’s Texas Grill (Southcentre Mall)

I’ve never been to Chili’s and to be honest, we went there because we heard about a fantastic promotion they have going on… it’s the 2 for $25 which was one appetizer to share and 2 full sized entrees! Even if they didn’t do a full size entree, it’s still a fantastic deal! We visit the Chili’s location at South Centre mall, which is located outside of the mall, towards SportsChek. We went during mid-week evening, and thinking there wouldn’t be a line up, there was! It was exciting to see so many guests, it makes me think the place is always good!

We got inside and they took our name and they advised us it would be about 45 minute wait for a table. We said that’s fine and we sat down to wait. Not long after we sat down, they came out with some appetizers for their waiting guest – which was a really nice touch! They were bringing out Jalapeno Cheese Bites which was a delicious jalapeno cheddar that is breaded in panko and deep fried to perfection!

When we sat down, we flipped through the menu, and figured we wanted to upgrade our dinner to the other special 2 for $30 special, which is the same deal, but the food sounded more appetizing for us! We ordered a Texas Dry Ribs for our appetizer to share. It was a huge portion and it was delicious whether we took it as is, or splashed some lemon juice on it!

I ordered the Classic Chicken Fajita which is something I really like! I love eating with my hands, and with fajitas coming out on a sizzling plate with caramelized veggies, this was a fun meal for me! The chicken was delicious and it was truly a full sized entree. There was only 3 tortilla wraps, but it’s alright, I just ate the entire thing off the sizzling with the condiments poured on top! It was really enjoyable and memorable!

The other entree that we ordered was the Chicken Enchilada Pasta which is a huge bowl of penne with some grilled chicken, corn, mushrooms and onions in a rich enchilada sauce with melted mixed cheese. It was a hearty meal and cheesy too!

We really enjoyed our time at Chili’s and we’ve been thinking about returning – especially during the spring/summer months and enjoy their patio too! Regular meals are reasonably priced, and the service was exceptional. To top it off, the food was spectacular and very pleasant to eat! We’ve just selected Chili’s as a location we will add to our circulation of places to go for dinner now!

Chili’s Texas Grill

282 100 Anderson Rd SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 225-2150

November 3, 2012November 3, 2012

Saigon Annam Vietnamese Cuisine

I love eating Vietnamese food, especially during cold winter evenings when I don’t want to cook. This usually happens during weekends, and my favourite Vietnamese restaurant doesn’t open on Sundays, so I was out on a hunt looking for a new Vietnamese cuisine that was opened! I found one, and I like it! It’s Saigon Annam Vietnamese Cuisine which is opened daily from 11:00 to 9:00PM. This business is located on 24th Street SE just off Deerfoot Trail and Douglasdale Blvd/24th Street exit. It’s at the same area as Sobeys plaza, but further west. It is a stand-alone building.

We started our meal with their Prawn Salad Rolls which came on a plate with 4 salad rolls, which was decent in size, for $6.50, I wouldn’t expect it to be small. The shrimp was quite fresh, which is always a delight! The worse thing is having soggy shrimp with a fishy smell/taste! But, thankfully this little restaurant doesn’t server stuff like that!

We wanted a good satay noodle, as the last time we had one, it was nothing but chili oil in the soup – which isn’t “satay” flavour. So, we ordered a bowl of Satay Beef Noodle Soup, and we love it! It was actually a bit spicy and it offered some great satay flavour! There was a lot of noodles and beef in the bowl, and for a price of $9.50, it ranks in on the high end of regular Vietnamese noodle prices. I really like the portion sizes that justifies the price tag!

As the temperatures get colder and colder, all I want is spice! So, I ordered a bowl of Bun Bo Hue which is something I order a lot, but with caution since a lot of times, it just turns into a bowl of SUPER spicy noodles with again, no taste. I am happy to say it was really good here, and the texture of their noodles was perfect! It was just a great bowl of Bun Bo Hue – and now I’m thinking about ordering another bowl for take-out tonight!

Overall, I really like this place. The service is great, fast and friendly. The cost is really decent for the amount of food you get (even though it’s Asian food), and it’s not too far from home! I’m sure I’ll be back, and I know I would love to thy their Vietnamese submarines, as I haven’t had a delicious one in a long time!

Saigon Annam Vietnamese Cuisine

11566 24 St SE
Calgary, AB T2Z3J3
(403) 457-3885

October 21, 2012October 21, 2012

The Teahouse in Stanley Park

We were in Vancouver visiting family and we took a day off to just do a bit of sight-seeing at Stanley Park, where we went to visit the Aquarium, and then found ourselves a little hungry for an early dinner. We ventured off a few sight seeing stops after the Aquarium, where we found The Teahouse at Stanley Park where we decided to have an early dinner – or a late snack!

We decided to sit outside on the patio to soak up the view, even though it was chilly. They did have heaters which really helped! What a gorgeous place – and apparently both tourists and locals visit this restaurant. I thought it would be specifically aimed for tourists, but it’s always nice to see restaurants like this have lots of locals too! I ordered a Hot Tea and it was a much needed hot tea to warm me up from the inside out!

We weren’t sure what to order since it was an odd time to eat. It was around 4PM, and the waitress recommended we try their Happy Hour special with Fresh Mussels & a Stanley Park Beer, so of course, we did! We definitely wanted to try the Stanley Park Beer and it was a nice beer! It wasn’t too light, but it wasn’t very bitter either. The plate of mussels that came to the table was huge and it even had a side of fries with it! It was delicious and seafood is just not the same when you’re near a large body of water!

Right away, after we ordered, a large basket of bread and butter came to our table! This was great, it’s like we’ve suddenly turned this strange late night snack to dinner all by itself! The bread was really fresh, and it was great to use to soak up all the juices from the mussels!

Okay, now after we got all the starters out, we still ordered some appetizers! We really wanted to try their Salt & Pepper Squid, and we got an order of it. It was really good, fried till it was crispy, but the squid was still tender and soft. It sat on some lime aioli, and topped with some jalapeno peppers! It was a delicious take on the “salt & pepper” I’m use to!

Now that we’ve had so much food, we decided to not order a full entree… and we opted out for some side instead. We’re still on a seafood mission/tread, so we got a side of Grilled 4oz Salmon and Albacore Tuna which made a great sample platter! The grilled salmon was my favourite, but the tuna was delicious! I loved them both and if I was to return, I would get the same thing again!

Overall, the experience here was top notch! The waitress was fantastic, the scene was divine, and the food was perfect! The best part about the Teahouse was the the prices are so reasonable, you weren’t paying a premium to have this great location!

The Teahouse

Ferguson Point
Vancouver, BC V6G3E2
(604) 669-3281

October 21, 2012October 21, 2012

Cheezy Bizness Calgary Food Truck

OK, so, it’s been awhile since my visit to Cheezy Bizness Food Truck, but better late than never! We went to try this food truck during the first annual Sundown Chowdown at the Calgary Farmers Market. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think any of the food trucks was prepared for the amount of people that showed up for it! Swarms of people lined up for all the trucks ranging anywhere from a 45minute wait just to get to the window up to 2 hours!! We went in a group, and we each lined up for a different truck – so we kind of know how long it took. We just tagged each other out so we all waited for something at one time or another.

One of the last trucks we lined up for was the Cheezy Bizness truck, where we waited that day in line for almost 2 hours and another 45 minutes to wait for the food to get picked up – after we pay for them. I think they were definitely in overload mode! By the time we got our sandwiches, we were eating in the dark under a street light! It was fun and quite the experience. I ordered the Aloha Arkansas as I love anything with pineapples in it! This lovely grilled cheese sandwich was actually $9.50 and had pulled park, pineapple and smoked cheddar. It was delicious! It was one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had!

Then, the last sandwich we ate was the Home on the Range grilled cheese sandwich made with Silver Sage slow roasted beef with shaved red onion, Brassica mustard and horseradish aioli, cheddar and gruyere cheese.

I know the pictures are extremely hard to see, but the picture was either killed with the bright flash, or these ones with more detail underneath the street lights. This just means I will have to try Cheezy Bizness again another day! I really enjoyed their grilled cheese sandwiches, but I enjoy any grilled cheese sandwiches. However, to experience it out of a truck, you can only get from the Cheezy Bizness food truck!