Caltons Chinese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

Recently we celebrated a non so pleasant event and this was a small gathering for a month later. We got invited to dinner at Caltons Chinese Restaurant which was just off McKnight Blvd in the Northeast. There was plenty of parking which always makes it easier for me.

This was funny as we sat down and all 6 of us just said we wanted Salt and Pepper squid and we laughed and said we’ll eat an order each. Of course that’s not what we ended up doing, but I’m sure we are all silly enough to do it! We did order one portion and it was really tender squid, and not overly battered with a good amount of flavours.

We ordered a more traditional Chinese dish as we knew we would need to eat our veggies although none of us likes it. We had some Sweet pea sprouts in soup and I’m not even sure how to translate that – but that’s what we had. I like sweet pea sprouts so I ate it!

The hosts of this event wanted to have some chicken, and we all eat chicken to the bone and so we ordered their Garlic Crispy Chicken which had a nice thin crispy skin and was done really well!! These chef’s/cooks here really know their traditional cooking techniques which I appreciate it!!

My next dish I want to talk about is actually different, and I can’t seem to find it on their regular menu, so it must be only on their Chinese menu. If you’ve had lobster in a cream sauce over noodles, this is a “cheaper” take on it, and I think they called it Mixed Seafood in White Cream Noodle. Yes, we ordered it because of everything that is going through your mind. BUT the white cream sauce was amazing and it coated the noodles well. The seafood was all the white seafood, so it was a pale dish but tasty!

As every event dinner ends with noodles and rice, we ordered their House Special Fried Rice which was also yummy!! It’s standard, but no complaints is a great thing!

From what we were doing and what we brought to dinner with us, the staff at the restaurant knew what we were celebrating and they even got us complimentary dessert which was their Osmanthus Goji Berry and it was a really nice way to end the dinner.

Caltons Chinese Restaurant

5010 4 St NE #14
Calgary, Alberta
403-275-8181

Kiwa Korean – Calgary, Alberta

We wanted to go find a dinner spot that was a little more special for 4 people that was opened for dine-in. Korean was on the top of our minds as I kept making fun of my good friend that I’ll force feed him kimchi. We found ourselves going to Kiwa Korean in a strip plaza just off Deerfoot Trial.

We wanted to order everything, but we started with their Seafood Pancake which was full of seafood and the pancake was light and fluffy that they call Haemul pajeon. It was delicious alone with a nice crispy exterior and perfectly executed pancake with tons of octopus and other seafood, yet still held together.

I’m not sure where Miso Soup came from as I don’t recall ordering it and I associate that with Japanese food, but it was a wonderful thing to have, like a hot tea! It wasn’t salty like a lot of places, but it was still flavourful.

One thing that I eat a lot of, and always eat is Japchae and it doesn’t matter what’s in it, who made it, it’s one of those things I just can’t turn down (even if it doesn’t taste good). Luckily for me, it tasted amazing here and I couldn’t stop eating it. I don’t share well, but this one was a nice balance of me eating it all up and sharing!

Then BBQ ribs is something we like to eat, and it’s one of those weird things that I associate as “easy to make” but I never make it. I’ve made it for a work potluck before and it was a hit. I will admit they made it better here as their Galbi Ribs was so tender, and had great grill flavour.

The last thing we ordered is another common and popular dish, Beef Bulgugi which was perfectly done! The soft and tender bulgugi was fragrant and thin, and had lots of grill flavour!

Overall, an amazing little Korean place we stumbled up and it was really delicious! There was ample parking, the service was amazing, and the food was exceptional!

Kiwa Korean

6626 4th Street NE
Calgary AB
587-880-4489

DAGU Rice Noodle – Calgary, Alberta

One of my best friends recently had to put down their dog and for me it was very tough so a lot of effort was made to be there for them. We went to Chinatown for lunch and the place we wanted to eat at had a 45 minute wait and we’re both girls that get hangry so we walked into DAGU which wasn’t busy!

I ordered a huge bowl of noodles, their “A2” on the menu which was Pickled Cabbage Rice Noodle Soup with Fish Slices and as bizarre as that sounds, I love pickled cabbage! It comes in a bowl of steaming hot soup and you put your noodles in there and of course you slurp and enjoy!

The other soup noodle we ordered was their “B1” which they have as The Original Crossing the Bridge Rice Noodle and yes – not even I know what that is by the name!! It also comes in a bowl of steaming hot soup and you put everything in the noodle soup yourself! It’s so strange because it’s like cooking yourself. It’s pretty fun and the noodle soups were delicious!

Another fun thing about here, you can get a FREE extra portion of the rice noodle, but make sure you order it when your soup is still relatively hot. I’m sure it’s not the same at the very end. Overall, it was fun, and just a side note, the bathroom is scary.

DAGU Rice Noodle

310 Centre Street SE
Calgary, AB
587-352-0088

Asteroid Cater – Rosedale, Alberta

It’s been awhile, but this is quite the year so far! I’ve been trying to find random places to stop and eat at, and Drumheller area was where the weekend cruise lead me to. Although this wasn’t the place I wanted to stop at, it was a fantastic and funny place for a quite burger and fries here at Asteroids just South of Drumheller in Rosedale!

I stopped here for a Pluto Bacon Cheeseburger thinking a Juno burger would be too small for me. These burgers are massive and they make it fresh to order so it does take a few minutes. I wished they had milkshakes here but it was unnecessary!

With the burger, thinking the fries would be like a fast food fry amount, their Large Fries come in a huge bowl! It was massive and crazy but the fries did taste great!

I told some old co-workers about this cruise and he asked me if I’ve tried Diana in Drumheller. I said I’ve been past it a million times, and stopped in once but I wasn’t feel great. So now I know more history about this, I’ll have to plan a return trip!

Asteroid Cater

163 Centre Street
Rosedale, AB
(403) 821-4152

Pho Thanh Nga – Calgary, Alberta

We eat a lot of Vietnamese food and somehow we stumbled into Pho Thanh Nga which was perfect. The place was busy but there was still a lot of parking available.

I was starving so we ordered an appetizer and got their Pork Spring Rolls which was pretty tasty! Simple but traditional! The skin was really thin and crispy and it was jammed pack with flavours and pork!

One thing I really like is egg pie, and one of my coworkers Mav made me his version homemade. I’ve never had anything as tasty or wonderful but there isn’t harm trying to find a location that can even come close. All the places he recommended for me isn’t like his homemade, but just finding a place that makes it is amazing. So, I had to order their Grilled pork, egg pie on rice and I was a very happy girl even though it didn’t come close to Mav’s. I can’t even request him to make me more as I fill his day with all sorts of random stuff already.

We also ordered their Satay Beef Noodle Soup as it’s perfect for a chilly day. The soup base was flavourful and there was so much meat and rice noodles! It was delicious!

I quite enjoyed this place. It’s not far from home, but maybe one day I’ll make it my go-to place even though I have a few other places I find myself returning to regularly!

Pho Thanh Nga

356 Cranston Rd SE #6002,
Calgary, AB
403-457-3805