Food Review – Page 76

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!

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012

Crepe Delicious

I was wandering around the mall at The Core downtown, when I found myself craving a little treat! So, I walked around the food court near Holt Renfrew, and found myself inline for a crepe at Crepe De Licious! It’s an unusual treat for myself, but why not I figured!

This crepe location also sells frozen yoghurt as well, and there was a long line for them on that side. But, on the crepe side, there was just one lady taking her sweet time making the crepes. It took about 5 minutes before she even bothered looking up to see what I would like, and it took even longer to wait for the crepe to make it into my hands. So, already, I was hoping that despite the service, it would still be a great crepe!

I ordered the Chipotle Beef Savoury Crepe which doesn’t seem to be on their menu anymore… but it was a crepe with beef, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese topped with chipotle sauce. It wasn’t a bad tasting crepe at all actually, and it was worth the wait!! The best part was the last few bites when the sauce has started absorbing into the crepe, and all the deliciousness has dropped to the end! I really loved this crepe, and I think I will be back! I’m hardly even in downtown, so maybe I’ll give the one in Cross Iron Mills a try!

Crepe Delicious

751 3 St SW
Calgary, AB T2P0B2
(403) 457-2425

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012

Sunterra Market – Keynote

I love markets, and I especially love food courts/eatery in markets! A few of Sunterra Markets offers food in a fast food style, but here in the Keynote Sunterra, it offers a little eating area on the main level and also what they call MarketBAR that’s located on the top floor. There’s also a patio seating area as well, but, it was too cold the day we went – it was snowing!

There’s tons of entrances/exits for you to get into either the Sunterra Market, or Sunterra MarketBAR as it’s all attached, with many signs around the Keynote building! Once inside, depending on which door you’re at – it will depends where you are! The first time there, through the doors in the picture above, that brought us to a remote location of the store. It’s got the stairs and elevators bringing you up to the MarketBAR. So, if you’re looking at just eating without walking the market, this entrance would be ideal for you!

Once you’re upstairs, you’ll get the the “take-out” and “eat-in” area, which reminds me of a fancy food court. Past this area however, it looks to be an actual sit down restaurant area – which I assume it’s the same menu, but with service!

We ordered 2 bowls of pasta, as it was dinner. It came with a slice of garlic toast, which is my favourite! Nothing like garlic toast, alone or with pasta! Anyway. we ordered a bowl of Bolognese Pasta as this one is a hearty meat sauce over pasta!

The other bowl of pasta that we ordered would be the Parmesan Chicken and it’s a rich white creamy and cheesy sauce. If you don’t like the smell of Parmesan, you probably won’t like this one! Both bowls of pasta was enormous – which I couldn’t finish. Chunks of meat throughout the sauce, and enough sauce without drowning the pasta! So, overall, I really like this place! The prices are very reasonable, the portions are huge and the food is excellent! I will be back for dessert one day!

Sunterra Market – Keynote

200 12 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G2H8
(403) 261-6772

October 15, 2012October 15, 2012

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

I love dessert, and while I was in Vancouver, I met up with a good friend that suggested we’d do dessert! Now, why did I not think about a suggestion like that! She recommended that we’d meet up at a place called Sweet Obsession Cakes which by the sound of the name is a place I will be obsessed with – and I am!

This store front is tucked away on a strip plaza and it’s a small but intimate with tons of sweets in the store! I love stores like this, so I was extremely content the moment we stepped foot into this cafe! The display cases were full of cakes even though it was becoming late in the day, and there was still a lot of people in and out of the cafe!

I sat down and ordered my favourite drink, the Chai Tea Latte which was really creamy and flavourful!

I couldn’t decide which piece of cake I wanted, but I finally settled on the Neopolitan Cake which was a chocolate cake with layers of vanilla butter cream and incorporated into the cream was raspberries and raspberry coulis! What a sweet treat, and it reminded a lot of “Black Forest Cake” taken to new heights!

The other piece of cake that I wanted to try was the Roasted Coconut Chiffon Cake, where my friend said she’ll try that piece and give me a bite to sample! It was soo good, and it wasn’t overly sweet – which I really like! You can definitely tell there was coconut flavours in this delicate chiffon cake. In between the layers of the coconut chiffon cake was coconut toffee and coconut butter cream. I wouldn’t mind getting a slice of this myself next time I’m there! I am a huge fan of coconut flavours!

The last piece of cake we ordered for the night was the Dulce de Leche Cake which looks overly sweet, but in reality, it was quite well balanced with the cinnamon flavoured vanilla chiffon layered with dulce de leche and pecans with milk chocolate ganache. The cake did get too sweet when the only thing left was just the ganache and no cake!

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

2611 W 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6K3X5
(604) 739-0555