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Colonial Fusion Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

We drove by Quarry Park randomly and saw Colonial Fusion Cuisine and immediately we knew it was a location we wanted to try. We were excited about fusion restaurants as we always hear about them, yet we never go in to try. The fusion was a mix between Vietnamese plus Thai and some French, which is kind of awkward if you think about it – but they seem to make it work with subtle modifications to traditional Vietnamese recipes for most items on the menu.

We started the evening with Mango Salad Rolls which takes a spin off your regular Vietnamese Salad rolls, as the rice papers are stuffed with mango, prawns, vermicelli, vegetables and herbs. It also comes with a coconut hoisin sauce to dip. This starter is really different as you do taste the mango, but it is a delicious combination of mangoes into the traditional rolls. I actually didn’t taste any coconut in the dipping sauce, so the coconut taste was really subtle against the mango. It is really light and refreshing appetizer.

For the main course, I ordered Caramelized Salmon – salmon with fish sauce and jalapenos, severed with rice and vegetables. The salmon was cooked perfectly, and it tasted so good, I ended up just eating the entire piece of salmon! 🙂 It had the perfect amount of heat and sweetness what was really special!! Great flavours, and great dish altogether!

We ordered the Mahogany Quail which is quail glazed in honey, garlic, onions, coconut juice and served with coconut rice. This dish was quite far from ordinary, which was really special! the quail was chopped into quarters, and smothered in their honey garlic sauce, with sauteed onions! This dish, you definitely had to eat with your hands, and the waitress realized that and brought us a bowl of water, with a beautiful flower floating in the bowl for us to wash our hands. The rice and the sauce that was eaten afterwards went in perfect harmony as well!! In more traditional Vietnamese locations, the quail would just be deep-fried so it’s crispy. Their spin here was the sauce which was really delicious!

Curry Stir-Fry with Chicken and vegetables served with rice was the last entree that we had, and it was really flavourful. The bowl of curry was really large, and it wasn’t filled with all sauce. It almost seemed like the pile of rice was too small for the amount of curry that was given! The chicken was tender and juicy, and had great flavours of curry, and a hint of ginger.

We ended our night with Iced Coffee which was really different than the traditional iced coffee. In my optional, in this case, I prefer the normal iced coffee. This glass was filled with ice, and it didn’t have sweet condensed milk, which is what I like!

We ordered dessert, a Mango Creme brulee which was your typical creme brulee, but with mango puree. I can’t say that I would get this dessert again, as it wasn’t a nice brulee texture. It wasn’t smooth, creamy and thick. It was like a pudding with a sugar topping, instead of a custard. They probably put too much milk or cream in, but it tasted a lot like mangoes! 🙂

Overall, this is a very fancy Vietnamese restaurant, and the seating, ambiance and quality of food was really good. The price tag to the dishes seemed a little high for what it is, but we had a wonderful experience. In actuality, I’m undecided if I will return! Go figure…

Colonial Fusion Cuisine

163 Quarry Park Blvd. SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 723-6669

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Salt & Pepper Mexican Restaurante – Calgary, Alberta

We were wandering around Inglewood one sunny afternoon, actually for the Inglewood Sunfest and we were a little sad that there wasn’t too many street vendors or anything like that. So, we ended up popping into Salt & Pepper for lunch instead.

The place had a nice line-up, as it should since it was a sunny weekend afternoon after all! The line moved really quickly despite the speed of service. So, we got seated in no time! To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Mexican cuisine as I’m not a huge “bean” eater. I’m not sure why, but I don’t really like them… so, I normally just eat “what I ordered” and throw out the rest! 🙂 As I did on this day as well.

The service was a little odd, as I would have to say our waitress was really slow. It’s always funny to me how tables that come in and sit after me gets served their water first, and their order taken first. Oh well, it’s all good, since we were in no hurry at all.

I ordered Las Enchiladas which I chose chicken enchiladas with a tomato & basil sauce. It was really good actually! 🙂 I know, I’m suppose to get it with the mole sauce, but I really won’t eat it, and that’s much more of a waste! The enchiladas from Salt & Pepper was really fresh, and the meat was really tender and juicy. I was able to eat all 3 of the enchiladas with just my fork.

We also tried the Chuletas de Cerdo Adobadas which was Grilled pork chops with our own spicy adobo. The actual pork chop was really thin piece, and was a little over cooked. It was quite tough – instead of juicy and tender, but the flavours were there, and so we gobbled it up anyway!

Overall, I did enjoy the atmosphere, as there was live music which was a special treat! The sun was out with a little breeze, so the patio was a great choice! The food, I will have to say was mediocre, but I must remember it was a really busy day – so perhaps they had difficulties keeping up? With entrees between $10-$15, I would’ve expected more, but that of course is just my opinion. And, who knows, maybe it’s just me, as I’m not the bean eater…

Salt & Pepper Mexican Restaurante

1413 – 9 Avenue SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 265-5739

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La Belle Patate

I’m not usually in search for poutines, but this La Belle Patate was recommended to me while I was discussing about the fact I didn’t get the opportunity to try the poutine stand at the Calgary Stampede as it was from a food truck in British Columbia.

We ordered a small order of Supreme Poutine which has onion, mushrooms and bacon on top of a bed of fries, cheese and gravy. It was really good, and the chunks of topping was generous and added so much flavour to the poutine. This poutine has set the bar high for all other poutines I may ever eat from now on! The gravy was really good, and it didn’t taste store bought, so that’s always a wonderful sign that they care for the food they prepare for their customers. This poutine had great texture and great flavour, and it wasn’t hard to finish off the entire order of poutine!

We also ordered a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich and it was massive! The meat wasn’t too salty at all, in fact it was perfectly prepared! I find with most Montreal Smoked Meat, it just seems too salty, but I’m so proud of La Belle Patate that prepared it to perfection – It’s a huge pile of smoked meat that was juicy and tender! These sandwiches are served on light rye bread, with a coat of yellow mustard which is the perfect vehicle for the massive amount of Monteal Smoked Meat, without any condiments that may take away from the flavour! They also served this sandwich with a Kosher Pickle that was crispy. This sandwich was so big that I almost wasn’t able to finish it up, but from it’s deliciousness, I ate the whole thing in spite of being over stuffed.

Finding this location was fun too, I just assumed that everything is in downtown Canmore, but this is actually tucked into their industrial area. I can see the location being quite busy during the week, but we went on a weekend – of a long weekend, and there were only a few tables – which is still really impressive as it’s not located on the main road of downtown Canmore.

La Belle Patate

102 Boulder Cres Bay 4
Canmore, AB T1W1L2
(403) 678-0077

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Joshua Tree Cafe – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been wanting a good cup of Rolo Coffee for awhile now, and I finally got a good cup at Joshua Tree Cafe! This was not the original place that introduced it to me, but it was one of the top places in my mind for a Rolo Coffee. It is a specialty coffee, and it’s quite different from some other locations coffee.

We also enjoyed a Chocolate Iced Mocha which was quite standard. It was quite good, and creamy, but it’s nothing extra spectacular! It was refreshing and tasty for sure though!

This was an interesting location we made it to. Coffee stops never take too long, especially when we don’t order food. The worker at Joshua Tree mentioned to us about 45 minutes prior to closing that they will be closing soon, and it appeared that she didn’t want to take our order. We told her that it’s fine, and would still like our order. We did leave prior to their closing, and it wasn’t that we were rushed either – it was because our coffee stop was finished.

They made it really noticeable that they were about to close, at 3pm over the weekend. They started sweeping the floors and what not. It’s not a large location, and I’m sure it’s not too bad if in fact they had to leave 10 minutes late.

Regardless, the rolo coffee was something so special, I will return for it! 🙂

Joshua Tree Cafe

805 Edmonton Trial NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 230-9228

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Red Lobster: Crabfest – Calgary, Alberta

Crabfest is an event that Red Lobster put on annually, and this year, the commercials attracted me more than ever – so I went to try Crabfest for the first time! We didn’t order any starters or anything, but

Red Lobsters is wonderful for their Biscuits which is always buttery, garlicky and delicious! Of course, I inhaled almost all of those before anything else came!

For a drink, I wanted a nice drink, but alcoholic free as I am almost certain I am allergic to alcoholic. I ordered the Strawberry Smoothie which was a wonderful drink, and I would recommend it to all the kids, and people who don’t drink alcohol. It was really refreshing and full of strawberry flavour. Well, in actuality, it is called Sunset Strawberry which is a “Sail Away Smoothie“.

We ordered a Snow Crab & Roasted Garlic Seafood Bake which was 1 full pound of steamed snow crab legs paired with tender shrimp and sea scallops roasted in a garlic and white wine broth. Served with sweet corn on the cob and red potatoes. The steamed snow crab was fantastic, and it was really fresh! As we’re cracking through the shells, it snaps so easily! For crustaceans, if the shells are soggy or they don’t “crack” it’s really not fresh! But, I was really surprised how fresh, and how much food we got with this seafood bake! Even the shrimp and scallops were bigger and better too! The corn was really sweet and infused in the seafood broth – which was wonderful!

We also ordered Crab Crusted Tilapia which had fresh tilapia topped with a creamy blend of sweet crab meat, Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs, then baked crispy and golden. Served with fresh broccoli. I really didn’t care much for this dish, as I’m not a fan of Parmesan cheese. I eat a lot with my nose and eyes, and I just can’t stand the smell of Parmesan cheese. It was worse when I tried another bite after the dish was cold.

The last thing we tried was the Red Lobster – Seaport Lobster & Shrimp and this was really good. It was a plate with a fire-grilled split Maritime lobster tail, savory garlic shrimp, and a skewer of jumbo garlic grilled shrimp. I got this over some mashed potatoes. The lobster tail was really good and fresh. The garlic shrimp was not my favourite at all. It was soggy/mushy and just in a little tub of garlic butter. The shrimp that was on the skewer was a million times better, both taste and texture!

By the end of the night, there was no room for dessert! We have had dessert from Red Lobster before, and it’s good, but it’s not worth filling ourselves up to the brim. Overall, a super satisfied night with family over really good seafood.

Red Lobster

6100 Macloed Trail
Calgary, AB
(403) 252-8818