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Chili Club Thai House – Calgary, Alberta

Thai food in Calgary is actually not bad at all! I have a few favourite locations, and I can now add Chili Club Thai House to my list of favourites! It’s a small restaurant with an intimate atmosphere. It’s a great idea to make reservations if you want to go – as the line can get long due to the amount of tables.

We started our dinner with Tom Yum Soup and most places make it so spicy it’s ridiculous, but here, they made it with tons of spice and flavour, but it’s not overly spicy! I think it’s my favourite bowl of Tom Yum soup that I’ve had in the city! This delicious hot and sour soup had lots of prawns, mushrooms and tomato in the excellent broth.

I love how rice comes in individual servings in rice cups with a lid. It really helps not only with portion control, but it keeps the rice warm much longer! It’s a great presentation and a wonderful use!

The first dish that came was the Kaeng Chak Som which was a pan fried salmon fillet with coconut, chili, & lime sauce. The lime sauce was phenomenal, as it was quite different, but the lime made it really light and refreshing! The salmon was perfectly cooked with a beautiful crust on the fish with the awesome sauce. This was my favourite dish of the evening!

Then came the Panang Duck Curry which is a decadent dish of boneless roasted duck with eggplant in a thick curry. The duck was tender and juicy with a great sauce with a nice kick of heat! It made the eggplant really enjoyable.

The last dish we ordered was Musamun Beef Curry Beef chunks sauteed in Thai curry with potatoes, onion and peanuts. This was another fantastic dish, but the least favourite of mine out of the 3 dishes. I actually found that it would’ve been nicer if the beef chunks was a tad fattier so it would be more tender. The sauce for the curry was yummy, but nothing too different or spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad – just it wasn’t as good as the other dishes!

Overall, this was a wonderful place to dine for Thai food. The prices are very reasonable for a Thai place, and the quality of the food is top notch – so it’s okay to pay a little more when it’s worth it. It’s definitely worth it here!

To top off the night, they had a complimentary dessert which tasted good, and it wasn’t too big at all! It was a lovely end to the lovely evening!

Chili Club Thai House

1904 36 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 217-8862

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Homemade Vietnamese Coffee

I love eating Vietnamese cuisine, and one of my favourite drinks that is special and unique would be Vietnamese Coffee, which I found out it wasn’t hard to make at all!

Ingredients
1 to 2 tbsp condensed milk
1 or 1.5 tsp ground coffee (courser grind works best)
boiling water

First, I put the condensed milk in the bottom of my cup. I love my coffee’s sweet when I drink coffee.

Then, I place the coffee grinds into the little contraction which is the French Filter (cà phê phin) – which is the coffee filter. It’s nice to use dark roast to get the strong flavour and the course so it doesn’t fall through the filter. Put the top on the filter and screw it tight. The tighter you screw the top on, the darker and stronger the coffee will be. This will take a longer time for your coffee to brew. Alternatively, you don’t have to tighten it to the max where the coffee won’t be as dark, and you’ll get your drink faster too! It’s up to you! The coffee they typically use is the brand Trung Nguyen

When the coffee has finished dripping through the filter, you’re ready to stir it up to dissolve the condensed milk and enjoy. If you like an iced version (ca phe da), fill a glass full of ice and enjoy!

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Ping Pang Pong

Yes, I am aware that having Dim Sum in Las Vegas is odd, but we did it! We went to Gold Coast Hotel just off the main strip for Dim Sum at a place called Ping Pang Pong

I’ve got to say, not bad at all for dim sum!! The quality of the Chinese food was really good, and I honestly don’t really remember the price, but I believe it was very reasonable – otherwise, I would either be saying “it’s a GREAT deal!” or “it was SO NOT worth it!”

We started with a bowl of jook or congee – pork with thousand year old egg (Preserved Egg Porridge), which is a very common and popular Chinese rice porridge! It was actually really good, and the texture of the jook was smooth and done quite well!

No matter where I go, I’ve always got my favourites – like Chicken Feet which always seems to be delicious! It’s not exception here, the sauce is really one of my favourites and it was tender!

Also, you really can’t go anywhere without enjoying some Ha Gow – Shrimp Dumpling, and the shrimp was really fresh, sweet and crisp! The dumpling skin was really nice – steamed to perfection!

My parents really like Steamed Pork Balls, so of course they order it! I didn’t mind it here, and it was great!

Steamed Bean Curd Roll

Beef Tendons are one of my favourites when done right. Here, they did this right too! The tendons was infused with flavour and the tendons were soo soft with the “tender” gummyness texture. It was intense and deep, and cooked with the perfect marinade!

This was a weird order, it’s a Shrimp Balls with Crispy Rice, which is like the typical shrimp balls, but they covered it in crispy puffed rice! It added a new dimension of texture to what seems like a simple dim sum! It was a great idea! It worked!

I love any sort of rice crepes, but we ordered 1 order of Beef Rice Crepes, and I honestly thought it wasn’t enough! They actually stuffed their crepes with lots of filling, as some places just put a thin layer of meat in. The actual crepe was really fresh, soft, silky and quite thin!

Overall, this turned out to be a fantastic place for lunch! Everything was so delicious, and the service was excellent. Food constantly came out – which was really easy to over eat! This would be a place I would return to if I wanted a dim sum fix in Las Vegas! Everything was really fresh and you can definitely tell all the dishes were steamed not long before arriving onto the table!

Ping Pang Pong (Gold Coast) on Urbanspoon

Ping Pang Pong – Gold Coast Hotel

4000 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89103
(702) 367-7111

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Homemade Vietnamese Pickled Carrots

Home Made Pickled Carrots

Okay, I know a lot of Vietnamese recipes calls for picked carrots and daikon, but I opted for just carrots as that’s what I like on my Vietnamese submarines (Vietnamese Sandwich with Chicken). I pickled my carrots to make these sandwiches, and I’m glad I did!

Ingredients:
Carrots (julienne)
distilled vinegar or rice wine vinegar
sugar
salt

First thing, you clean and peel the carrots, and the cut it into matchbox sticks. If you’re lucky, and you have a food processor or mandoline with a julienne attachment. Place the small pieces into a container with a lid, and I like to use a glass container.

Then, fill the container about 1/2 way full of vinegar, and top off the other half (not to the rim or it will spill) with warm water to help dilute the vinegar taste. Then, add salt and sugar to your tasting. If you like it spicier, add some cayenne pepper or even chili flakes. Let the carrots sit for at least an hour before using – and this will last in the fridge for a week.

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Nectaflor Wild Flower Honey

Lately, I’ve been enjoying lots of honey – with desserts, as a thickener, as a sweetener or just with some tea/water. I have heard of flavoured honey, but I’ve never tired it for myself until now. I’ve purchased a bottle of Nectaflour Honey which wasn’t that much more expensive than good quality honey from the store. I purchased my bottle in Wild Flower Flavour and it really leaves a lovely light floral note!

I really enjoy a nice hot cup of honey water, which is light, and rather refreshing! It’s really good for the throat and it’s just a wonderful wind-down technique at the end of the day. I feel the floral scent and taste really enhances the experience for me, and I can’t wait to try more flavoured honey at this point!