Elsie Hui – Page 39 – Calgary Travel Foodie

December 4, 2014

Banff Springs Hotel Castle Pantry – Banff, Alberta

We woke up late during our stay at the hotel. We decided to grab a quick breakfast before checking out so we went downstairs to Castle Pantry located right at the main lobby – next to the Concierge. It’s a great place to grab something to go, or grab and sit at their seating area – which we did.

As we were just grabbing and basically going, I picked up their Apple Cinnamon Turnover which was absolutely amazing! It was light, crispy and flaky pastry crust with tender and delicious apple filling, covered in cinnamon sugar. It was not too sweet for breakfast for me as it as delicious.

We also picked up their croissant as the day before, we had an amazing Egg Salad Croissant during afternoon tea. We were quite hopeful it would be just as amazing. It was good, but not as good! We were still very content with the croissant!

Overall, it was the perfect place for a quick bite. Filling, delicious and reasonably priced. The service was great and it was like a cantina styled cafe. It works and it’s good!

Castle Pantry – Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

405 Spray Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-2211

December 4, 2014December 5, 2014

Cafe HK – Calgary, Alberta

This side of the restaurant is a portion of T.Pot China Bistro and it’s just off to the side – but they have their own name and different style of Chinese food. Cafe HK is a cafe style whereas TPot is your sit down meal type food and a bit more traditional.

We really like it here although we don’t come here often, I like to think I don’t come here enoough! This particular visit, we started with Jelly fish, Surf Clam and Seaweed Salad appetizer which sounds kind of strange, but it’s got all the things I love on 1 dish! It was meant to bed. The surf clams tasted great, they’ve cleaned it well and prepared it to perfection!

Then, because of the hour we dined, it’s a late lunch/early dinner, they still had their afternoon specials on – which came with drinks! We both ordered their Almond Drink which was amazing! It smelled good and tasted great! My husband loved it more than I did, as I prefer mine to be sweeter.

I had a crazy craving for Beef Fried Ho Fun so I ordered that as it as still on special. Surprisingly, it was quite a large dish and it tasted great! Just the way I expect it to taste – and since I was craving it, it as even better!

As we weren’t expecting the dishes to be so large, we also ordered on their menu Chicken and Pineapple Rice Bake which was also really a large dish! With rice at the bottom, topped with chicken, pineapple and cheese – then baked… this ooey gooey goodness hit the spot for both of us!

We love this place, and we’re glad we stopped in again! I’m sure we’ll be back when another craving kicks in! It is your typical Chinese place, so service is decent, it’s quite clean, and the food is fantastic! Of course, prices are reasonable as it is competitive in a Chinese populated neighbourhood.

Cafe HK

Unit 100, 9650 Harvest Hills Blvd NE
Calgary, Alberta
403-532-3982

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Rundle Lounge The Fairmont Banff Springs – Banff, Alberta

We had the opportunity to dine at the Rundle Lounge where we reserved a table for afternoon tea. It was beautiful and romantic – the setting was just picturesque. We didn’t have the best service, but everything else was very nice. We had a fantastic experience regardless of service and sometimes food is all we care about!

Once we were seated, the table was beautifully set and the menu was on our table with all the utensils we would need for afternoon tea, including our tea steeper!

We sat for a long time before the waitress even came to our table where she threw down our Fresh Berries which we didn’t know if we started to eat of what the issue was. So, we left it on the table until we got our tea. Along with the berries, she set down the Devonshire Cream and Strawberry preserve on our table.

I ordered the Empress Orange Pekoe which was quite nice. They describe the tea as black tea from India, Tanzania, Kenya, China and Ceylon. Not much of a description, but I do like Orange Pekoe as it’s one of the teas I consider “normal” and like anytime of day.

After our tea came, and we ate most of our fresh berries, our waitress brought out some scones, a sweet scone and a savoury one – which both tasted amazing!

From there, came the amazing 3 Tier Tower of goodies which is the highlight of the experience.

On the bottom tier, it was the Finger Sandwich tier with egg salad, smoked salmon, heirloom tomato, grilled vegetable, waldorf chicken sandwiches. My favourite from this tier would be the egg salad croissant. It was perfect in every way!

The middle tier had the Tea Pastries which had some mini madeleine cakes with a brownie on a stick dipped on chocolate as well as a mouse tart.

The top tier had the Petit Fours which was basically the sweet tier and the tier I love most. There was a lemon macaroon as well as a pistachio macaroon on this tier which is the best macaroon we’ve tried to date! There was also raspberry cheesecake on a cookie crust which was absolutely amazing!

Our overall experience was decent. The food was really good, the ambiance was superb and the service – well, it could have been better. We did enjoy our time, as we were looking forward to afternoon tea at the Rundle Lounge for a long time! This is definitely an experience you should try at least once!

Rundle Lounge – The Fairmont Banff Springs

405 Spray Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-6860

November 29, 2014

Grand Central Bar & Grill – Okotoks, Alberta

We always go to Light Up Okotoks during the festive season and this year was no different. We went there a little late so we decided to go eat first. We randomly walked into Grand Central Bar & Grill right on Elizabeth Street.

We weren’t actually hungry or anything so we just had some wings and pizza! We ordered a serving of their Salt and Pepper Wings. The wings were fried really nicely and they tasted quite delicious!

Then, we shared an Okotokian Pizza which was a pizza with ham, pepperoni, mushroom, and pineapple and topped with a slice of tomato on each slice of pizza. The pizza was tasty and the crust was pretty good and not greasy at all.

Overall, we had a great experience at the Grand Central Bar and it was fun to sit by the window and watch the crowds go by. It was a lovely evening and we got to see the giant Christmas tree all lite up. It was a great experience and we’re sure we will be back for snacks and appetizers one day!

Grand Central Bar & Grill

9, 49 Elizabeth Street
Okotoks, AB
(403) 938-0929

November 29, 2014

Waldhaus Restaurant – Banff, Alberta

We went to Banff for a weekend where we wanted to try Waldhaus that claims it’s inside Banff Springs Hotel. It is on it’s property, but outside. There is a shuttle that takes you to and from the restaurant and it’s located pretty much on the golf course.

Once we got seated as we had a late reservation, we were offered some delicious bread. The special bread in the basket would be the pretzel croissants. It’s pretty filling, but it was really tasty! The texture was amazing and with some butter, it was a nice treat! It’s a pretzel rolled into a croissant shape.

I ordered the Vension Medallion which was delicious! The vension was tender and juicy and marinated really well, and of course cooked to perfection! The vension was topped with lingonberry preserve with some black garlic jus and the combination was amazing.

We also ordered the Jager Schnitzel which was a thin piece of breaded and fried veal with mushroom ragout on top. We really like the mushrooms on top and the combination of the fried veal with the mushroom gravy – it was divine!

As we had such an amazing dinner, we decided we would have some dessert. We wanted to try some traditional Black Forest Cake as everything was made traditionally. The black forest cake was made with a modern twist, so it was quite different.

We had an experience to remember and loved our time here. To top off the experience, the chef came out and chatted with his customers and he even stopped at our table to talk to us! We were impressed with the entire visit, especially the food! The service and atmosphere was top notched!

Waldhaus Restaurant

405 Spray Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-6860