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Bamboo Garden – Banff, Alberta

We went for a winter hike and it was freezing this one afternoon. We figured we deserved to warm up with some spice and found ourselves at Bamboo Garden, a restaurant on second floor right on Banff Avenue.

Once upstairs, it was kind of worn down, but it wasn’t too bad. We got to sit near their employee table and figured out that they weren’t Thai, they’re Mandarin Chinese. So, that would explain the huge variety of “Asian” cuisines on the menu.

We decided we would start with a medium order of Tom Yum Soup as nothing really warms you up than hot, spicy soup. The soup was decent, it wasn’t too spicy of flavourful but it was still quite tasty.

Sticking with the Thai, we ordered one of their curries, we picked the Red Curry with Beef and we got an order of Coconut Rice with this. The dish was actually fantastic! The curry was spicy yet flavourful, the beef was tender and the portions were generous.

I rarely go to a Thai place without ordering my favourite, the Pad See-Ew and this one we got it with chicken as that’s how I like it. This plate was fantastic and they cooked it with high heat which was perfect. The noodles were seasoned great. This was definitely my favourite dish of the evening!

As the main courses tasted fantastic, we decided we would order Mango Sticky Rice and that was kind of a mistake. The mango was so rare it was hard and it tasted like it stings! The sticky rice and coconut milk was good. Overall, this was not something we enjoyed.

So, overall, the main course was pretty awesome and the soup was good. However, the dessert wasn’t favourable – and if it was something we ordered because it wasn’t in season, they should have said something. The prices are reasonable, especially for the portion. Not a bad place to eat, especially for winter!

Bamboo Garden

211 Banff St 2nd Floor
Banff, AB
(403) 985-6688

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Pho Hoan Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

I was looking for a good pho place in Calgary and one of my Vietnamese co-workers gave me a list to try. It just so happens that Pho Hoan was on this list and so we went in to try them. They are located right on 17th Ave, and although there are a few parking spots in front of the place, there’s really only 5 spots. We ended up parking on the side streets and walking to the restaurant.

Once we were seated, we were happy to hear that everyone inside spoke Vietnamese! We were pretty much the only foreigners in the restaurant! With us being as strange as we were, we decided to get an order of their Chicken Wings which was really quite delicous. They were fried really nicely and there was a large amount of meat on their chicken wings.

I told my coworker that I really liked Beef Ball Noodle Soup and he said he use to take his daughters here to eat their beef ball noodle soup – so that’s what I ordered. He was right, they were good! The balls had excellent taste and texture and the noodle and soup was actually very flavourful. This was one of the few places that had a good amount of beef balls as well!

We also had a bowl of their Carrot Beef Stew Noodle Soup and it was also quite delicious. The bowl of soup was large with tender and juicy beef stew, cooked to perfection.

Overall, we really liked our dining experience here! The food was awesome, the prices was good, the service wasn’t bad either!

Pho Hoan Restaurant

5020 17 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 235-2917

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Hoang Long Noodle House – Edmonton, Alberta

We often stop by West Edmonton Mall when we go visit Edmonton, even though we may have nothing to get there or anything. This time, we just walked a circle and the decided we will get a quick bowl of pho before heading home. Located right inside the mall – outside of the supermarket we found Hoang Long and it wasn’t busy – but had a few tables.

Once inside, we pretty much got to sit where ever we wanted as they were not busy. The menu was kind of neat as it’s quite customizable by picking options of what you want in your noodle soup. I wasn’t feeling that great so just wanted to stick with my favourite, so I got the Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Balls as that’s the “1 item option.

My hsuband got pretty much the same thing, but his was Beef Noodle Soup with Rare Beef instead. It was quite rare and tender! the bowls of soup was average in size and the prices seems high for a bowl of pho, but the location was nice.

Overall, the food was decent. It wasn’t the best but it’s nice to sit down in a mall to eat dinner that isn’t your typical chain restaurant or bar/pub. For basically $20, you can’t go wrong on a nice hot bowl of noodle soup.

Hoang Long Noodle House

West Edmonton Mall
8882 170 Street
Edmonton, AB
(780) 483-0891

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Dynasty Century Palace – Edmonton, Alberta

Recently, we traveled for a day trip to Edmonton in search of a good dim sum place where we kind of stumbled upon Dynasty Century Palace which was located on the second floor of a large building right on 105th Avenue. In fact, it’s quite hard to miss! The location is large with lots of parking – which makes it quite an ideal location (although the parking lot it is attached to is a pay lot).

We got seated and the service here is really speedy! They definitely know turning tables means they’re making money – so they work hard and I’m sure they rewarded! They are the traditional style dim sum experience with the carts which is fantastic! We started by ordering everything, and everything was quite delicious and fresh. The prices were also very reasonable!

We got our standard orders which would consist of Chicken Feet which the flavours were really good, the texture was nice and the size of them was quite large and they were not tough or over cooked! They’ve mastered chicken feet for sure!

Usually we don’t order sweets or if we do, we wait until the end. But when the waitress comes by sayings she’s got fresh Egg Tart on her cart, we’re going to get it and eat it right away! These were really good, quite a buttery tart and the filling was good!

Everyone eats Ha Gaw or shrimp dumplings and this almost is the standard of this generation for dim sum. Since it’s a common dish, we ordered it. The shrimp inside was quite large, cleaned out properly and has an excellent shrimp texture. The skin was thin yet it did not break. Not a bad ha gow at all!

Then, something a little different, we got an order of steamed Beef Short Ribs which we don’t usually get as it’s often tough and full of fat, marinated in a black peppered sauce. Although this dish wasn’t as fatty as they normally come, it was just a tad on the tough side. The flavours was spot on – just like how I remembered it to taste! Overall, not bad as the flavour was just amazing.

I don’t often order rice for dim sum either as they’re really filling – then you don’t get to try as much options, especially when it’s just the 2 of us. However, the Lo Mei Fan or sticky rice was something I have been craving for awhile, so we ordered some. It didn’t come in the standard glass bowl, but it was just kind of dumped into a bamboo steam basket. The flavours and texture and taste was perfect! This really made me want to go home and make some – but I don’t as it’s pretty time consuming.

There’s nothing my husband likes more than Lo Bak Go or turnip cake, so when he saw that go by – guess what, we ordered it! It didn’t have much filling to it but instead it had more rice flour – so it didn’t taste as good as it could have. Still quite tasty and we all know I make this at home, and I must say, he likes mine the best!

Overall, we had a fantastic time here. It was fun, the service was great and the food was really tasty! We wouldn’t mind bringing people here or to come back ourselves as they have a huge selection of food/dim sum!

Dynasty Century Palace

200-9700 105 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
(780) 428-3388

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1 Pot – Calgary, Alberta

It was a pretty chilly spring evening when we decided to go to Chinatown in Calgary and try 1 Pot which is located right next to the paid parking lot. The space is large inside, but they were really busy! We made reservations as a friend told us it’s a good idea to… and it is! Just make sure you and your entire party gets there on time!

We didn’t know how to order… if checking “1” actually meant “1” of the item or if it’s “1 order”, but it turns out to be just 1! So, we had to get a few more sheets for us to mark down what we wanted!

There’s tons of varieties of soups and there’s also a sauce bar kind of thing where you grab a bowl and put the sauces you like into the bowl to enjoy with your hot pot.

The food, and the soup was pretty decent. The quality was ok – but the portions were a bit on the smaller side. So, order lots up front too!

Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, and they’re super busy – so they must be doing something right!

1 Pot – Hot Pot

123 3 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 708-8088