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Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We didn’t know where we wanted to go for dinner this one evening, but we were checking some stuff out over at Sundridge Mall in the Northeast where we saw Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant and figured I haven’t been here in ages, we would come back – remembering it was decent food. We did come closer to closing time, but when we were done, they closed the gate off and wouldn’t let us go back through the mall, so we walked back in to take a picture.

This restaurant is ran by Chinese people, so it’s not authentic. We weren’t actually hungry so we decided to order a Sushi and Sashimi Combo which had 7 pieces of sashimi, 5 pieces of sushi, a California roll and 2 pieces of house special rolls. The quality was decent!

Then, we decided we wanted a bowl of udon, and decided we’d do something a little different – so we got their Spicy Chicken Udon which was really different. It reminded us of a Chinese dish, but just using udon noodles. It was tasty actually! They used ground chicken which was interesting as it fell to the bottom of the soup.

Overall, a decent experience. We don’t have much complaints and the nice thing it’s in the mall – which would be ideal for cold days! But, they close the gate before the mall closes.

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Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Sunridge Mall

2525 36 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 568-6886

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Peet’s Coffee & Tea – Piedmont, California

We found ourselves stopping for a quick coffee break on a beautiful afternoon at Peet’s Coffee & Tea right on Piedmont Avenue that crosses with Glen Avenue. It’s pretty easy to find if you’re strolling on Piedmont Avenue, and parking can be tricky – but there is street/meter parking available.

Once we entered the cafe, there was an advertisement for Cinnamon Hazelnut Latte and I knew immediately that it was the drink I really wanted to try. We got a small one of those and they did do a nice latte art on the top – although I squished the cup to make the art not so clear, the coffee was wonderful! You definately get the aroma and taste of cinnamon, hazelnut and coffee! It was a delightful latte!

We also ordered a holiday favourite of ours, the Peppermint Hot chocolate and this was really nice! Very chocolatey and very pepperminty! The hot chocolate was amazing and with that chocolate syrup swirl on the top, it added extra goodness to the drink!

We absolutely loved this little cafe and we know we will be back. We like spending time around this area for many reasons, and now this will be on the list of many!

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Peet’s Coffee & Tea – Piedmont

4050 Piedmont Ave
Oakland, CA
(510) 655-3228

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Ici Ice Cream – Berkeley, California

We heard about an amazing ice cream place in Berkeley and although I am a little sick, I figured I’m going to have ice cream anyway! 🙂 We ventured and found Ici Ice Cream which is located right on College Avenue. They do have street parking along the sides, and be prepared to wait in line outside as the shop is a small one with tons of customers!

We decided to try their Pumpkin Caramel Swirl flavoured ice cream in a dish and it was amazing. It definitely tasted almost like a pumpkin pie and it almost seems like it can have the texture of a frozen pumpkin pie filling. It was amazing and very enjoyable. You get pieces of frozen caramel swirl within the ice cream so it’s a nice treat when you get some!

We also got the Vanilla Creme Brulee in their home made waffle cone! The cone was really different but it was really tasty. Definitely not too sweet at all, and it had a chocolate nugget at the bottom to stop ice cream from dripping down as it melts. The ice cream was amazing and there was pieces of the broken burnt sugar from the brulee which added nice texture to the ice cream!

We love local shops and stores and we have no problem waiting for a good one. This place was worth the wait! A great treat any day!

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Ici Ice Cream

2948 College Ave
Berkeley, CA
(510) 665-6054

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Feel Good Bakery – Alameda, California

We were looking for a good place to purchase a birthday cake for our nephew where we stumbled across a website for Feel Good Bakery in Alameda, which wasn’t far from where we were. We started our drive to find ourselves looking at a Marketplace, so we figured it was inside. Sure enough, Feel Good Bakery was inside of the marketplace, and there’s parking across the street (Across Park Street)

We found ourselves an 8″ Chocolate cake which we wanted them to draw a dinosaur on. They had no problem doing that, so we just bough ourselves a macaroon each as the display case was beautiful, full of all sorts of wonderful things, but we settled on a little treat each.

I decided I would go for the Pumpkin Macaron as it was fall season, and I love pumpkin anything! The macaron was delicious, not overly sweet and it was delicate but not flaky or dry! It actually tasted like pumpkin so I was impressed.

We also decided to try a Chocolate Macaron as it’s more traditional of a flavour. The chocolate was really amazing and we especially enjoyed the filling inside the macarons!

Overall, we were more than pleased with our experience here. Our birthday cake tasted amazing and looks fantastic! This was worth our little drive over!

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Feel Good Bakery

1650 Park St
Alameda, CA
(510) 864-2733

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Menyatai Japanese Noodles – Calgary, Alberta

I recently wasn’t feeling too great and all I really wanted was a bowl of noodle soup. I was expecting something a little more bland but we pulled up to Menyatai Japanese Ramen where I couldn’t decline the offer to eat here as I’ve been meaning to try here for awhile now.

Once inside, it’s a small but cute location where the staff is friendly and authentic! We were excited to be here so I ordered their Miso Ramen. I’ve tried a few in the city so it’s fair that I order this to compare! I found that the ramen had a great texture, the soup was fantastic and the piece of pork was amazing! This miso ramen has just found it’s way to the top of my list in Calgary so far! Pretty exciting news!

We also ordered a bowl of Beef Udon which is another one of our favourites to order when at a Japanese restaurant. Although the udon and the beef was excellent, it wasn’t any different that can set itself above anyone. Definitely not a bad bowl though! The beef taste in the broth was amazing, the bee was tender and delicious and the udon texture was really good.

We added an upgrade to one of our meals by having their Inari Set which basically comes with 2 pieces of inari and I love them, so we figured we’d go for it. It was good, no complaints – although we thought it was weird as it didn’t come with wasabi or soy sauce. So, we just ate it plain.

The overall experience was amazing. Even though I was sick the food tasted great and the staff was amazing. The prices seem costly but the portions are massive and the food was perfect. The location is tucked off the main street, but there’s quite a bit of street parking available.

Menyatai Japanese Ramen on Urbanspoon

Menyatai Japanese Ramen

24-12 St NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 263-3666