Posted on

State & Main Kitchen & Bar – Calgary, Alberta

Just located outside of Chinook Centre is a restaurant called State & Main which I wanted to try since it opened. It’s your typical cuisine which means burgers and steak place, and what makes this place good is that there’s tons of parking from the mall. I’m sure it’s going to be hectic during holiday shopping season!

We sat down and started with an appetizer to split and the special they had this particular evening was half off wings, so we got an order of Salt and Pepper Wings which was actually better than expected! The wings were crispy and seasoned nicely, and they had tons of meat on them!

I don’t normally order seafood from a place I’m first trying out but I really wanted to try their Applewood Salmon Club and I’m actually really glad I did. The burger was super tasty and it was amazing! I had 2 sides, which was their honey slaw and jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes. My burger was made of applewood salmon in a toasted brioche bun with roasted red pepper aioli, lettuce, tomato, peppered bacon & fresh avocado. Like I said, it was amazing!

My husband ordered the Chorizo Sausage Lasagna which was really good as well. The portion was a nice size and the filling was delicous. Baked to perfection, this lasagna hit the shot as it was a hearty home cooking styled dish.

We enjoyed our meal so much, we ended up splitting a half order of Dirt Pie and to be honest, it was the perfect amount! This lovely dessert was a cake made of chocolate & mocha ice cream separated by a layer of fudge brownie chunks on top of a crumbled cookie crust. Yes, it was just as good as the description!

Overall, we really enjoyed this place and I’m sure I will be back. We enjoyed our time here. Food, service, atmosphere, location… all perfect!

State & Main Kitchen & Bar on Urbanspoon

State & Main Kitchen & Bar – Chinook Centre

6455 MacLeod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(587) 350-1333

Posted on

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel – Banff, Alberta

I’ve been to many hotels in my life so far and time after time, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel keeps coming up as my all time favourite! So, we decided to go back and stay again as it’s been awhile to re-live old memories and make some recent ones! We booked a night in the Deluxe Mountain View King Room where we were blown away yet again!

Our room was amazing this time, we got a corner room that overlooked Tunnel Mountain and Rundle Mountain – and you can make out Bow Falls from the window! The view was amazing and the space in the room was plenty ample! Once you walked into the room, the bed was on one side, and basically everything else was on the other side!

We walked in and there was the drink amenity tray which has a coffee maker, and a kettle! There’s also a mini fridge that’s under the TV stand too and it had some creamers! They give you plenty of coffee and tea options, and only 2 mugs! So, we just rised our mugs and reused them as I made hot chocolate that I brought with me for this amazing trip!

The bathroom was pretty small, and offered a relatively spacious stand in shower! The bathroom amenities were quite nice and it offered a subtle rose scent. It had all that you really needed though! Behind the door on a hook was a hair dryer too! There’s plenty of extra bathroom supplies – so for sure you won’t run out!

The treat in the room was the giant soaker tub with jets in the corner. It is located outside the bathroom in the room but it’s tucked in the corner! What an amazing treat! You can turn the TV over and watch TV from the tub, but if your jets are going, you probably can’t hear the TV. There’s a few steps here on tiles so I’m sure it can become slippery – but there’s another bath mat to help with that!

To get a better overall look of the room we stayed at, feel free to visit the room walk through clip below! We enjoyed the 2 windows with the window seats a lot! The view is pretty good, although there is some obstruction! There’s a column in the middle of the room, but it’s hard to miss – you won’t walk into it at night!

Overall, this is still our favourite hotel with the best rooms, view and the food at the hotel is amazing as well! We did all our dining at the hotel and it truly was a Fairmont experience! What a perfect weekend!

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

405 Spray Avenue
Banff, Alberta, Canada
403 762 2211

Posted on

Cafe Orchid – Millbrae, California

We went for HK Style food on our last day before we went to the airport to come home, and went to Cafe Orchid in Millbrae – which is pretty close to the airport. Parking for this restaurant is a little tricky, but we’ve been here before and both times we’ve lucked out.

I ordered one of my favourites for HK style Chinese breakfasts, which was the Preserved Vegetables with Pork Noodle Soup but with Lai Fun. It’s really typical and you often get it with a drink in the mornings. This isn’t my first bowl of noodle soup from here as I like it so much, it’s what I ALWAYS get!

Then, we got a order of their Jook with Fried Noodles as I really wanted some fried noodles. The jook was pretty good, but the noodle was the highlight of that breakfast!

With these breakfast combos, it comes with their fresh baked buns and hot drinks. The food here is always fresh and amazing and at a great price! We will definitely be back as we love stopping at this place when we get off the plane and before we get on!

Cafe Orchid on Urbanspoon

Cafe Orchid

9B El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA
(650) 697-3988

Posted on

New Gold Medal – Oakland, California

It was a late night before we had time to go have dinner. By the time we were ready, I just wanted some simple Chinese food and so we went to New God Medal Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown. It’s opened until late, and I hear they open early as well – so they’re always opened for business!

I ordered the BBQ Pork Lai Fun which is something I always love. Here, it was so good I ate everything and even finished the soup. Although the BBQ Pork was in soup, the meat had tons of flavour and the soup was really tasty as well. The Lai Fun was really nice textured and wasn’t soggy at all.

My husband ordered one of his old time favourite which he hasn’t had in awhile, the Beef Stew Ho Fun. This bowl was amazing and the beef stew was well flavoured, tender and juicy. They had some tendons which was a treat as well!

We then decided we needed a plate of greens, which is typical that you order a plate of veg when you’re out eating noodle soup. We just don’t do it all the time, but we had an order of Garlic Yu Choy and the choy was really nice, a little over cooked but it was decent! It’s very standard and not something you really can mess up on!

Overall, everything was amazing! The food was excellent and we still talk about the dishes from here as it was a recent, very satisfying dinner! The prices are priced well, the location is pretty good and like I’ve been mentioning, the food has been excellent!

New Gold Medal on Urbanspoon

New Gold Medal

389 8th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 465-1940

Posted on

Pho Ao Sen – Oakland, California

We went for some Vietnamese while our visit to California and met up our family Pho Ao Sen and it’s located right on 12th Street. This restaurant is so busy and they have parking both beside the restaurant and across the street.

We started with the standard, some salad roll, which they call Goi Cuon- Spring Rolls, which looks really impressive! The taste was quite amazing as well, even their dipping sauce was pretty unique and very delicious! These huge salad rolls were stuffed with both shrimp and pork, and the standard stuff like vermicelli, mint, bean sprouts and lettuce.

We also got another standard appetizer, the Cha Gio- Egg Rolls which was the crispy/fried version of the Vietnamese Spring Roll. They call it an egg roll here, which is quite different from a Chinese Egg Roll, but a lot of people use these terms interchangeable. These Egg Rolls was a mixture of ground pork, shrimp, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and wrapped then fried to perfection. It was actually really tasty without the dipping sauce!

I was still fighting the tail end of my cold on this day, so I ordered a nice hot bowl of Pho Gai which is their Chicken pho. The bowl of noodles was huge and there was a huge amount of chicken. The broth was tasty!

Then, my husband ordered the Beef Stew soup, what they call Pho Hoac Mi Bo Kho which was really fragrant and flavourful. The soup was really quite thick though, it was unique and very different from the ones we have here! This bowl of soup and tons of everything which made it extraordinary delicious!

Overall, this place was pretty amazing! No wonder it’s a favourite of so many people! I’m sure we will be back some day!

Pho Ao Sen on Urbanspoon

Pho Ao Sen

1139 E. 12th Street
Oakland, CA
(510) 835-5588