Elsie Hui – Page 42 – Calgary Travel Foodie

November 16, 2014

Kapok Seafood Restaurant – Alameda, California

We went out for lunch and decided to go for dim sum – somewhere more local with great rates for dim sum at Kapok Seafood Restaurant! All dim sum dishes here were only $2.00 and the place was quite busy for a weekday!

We just ordered a bunch of stuff and shared it at our table, which is the traditional way to having dim sum. They don’t give you any bowls here though, just a plate and chopsticks (which isn’t very traditional). We started with an order of Chive Dumplings that were steamed. It was really quite delicious and the skin was thin and delicate.

Then, we ordered some Fried Taro Dumpling which isn’t something we normally get. But, it looked really nice and light, and fresh here. And, it was! We hate it when it’s cold and hard, but it was delicately fried and the filling was hot and fresh. The pork was well seasoned, so we enjoyed this quite a bit!

We don’t normally go to dim sum without ordering my husbands favourite, lo bak goh and it wasn’t bad. Of course, nothing as good as homemade, but it was still really fresh with lo bak shreds thoughout! We love it when there are noticeable shreds so they are amazing that way!

Some more steamed dim sum for our table, we got an order of Spare ribs and it was really well seasoned here. The spare ribs were not too fatty at all and like everything else, it was really tasty and fresh. The meat was tender and it came off the bones without being over cooked!

Another dish we always order is the Steamed Beef Balls which is another of my husbands favourite, especially with Worcestershire sauce! The balls were excellent here and not made with overwhelming amounts of parsley so it was nice to actually be able to taste the meat balls here!

Just as you would think we’re done, we ordered something quite amazing! It’s their Lobster Noodles for only $8.88! It doesn’t get better than that! It was an awesome little lobster that sat on a bed of yee mein which is one of our favourites and never really order as it’s costly here. With this price, sure it’s little, but it was definitely enough as we’re having it WITH our dim sum!

Everything was amazing here and the price of the experience seems to have made us extra happy! So, if you’re looking for fresh dim sum at a great price, then you should come try here! It’s not clean, service is average, but you get good food and a great rate!

Kapok Seafood Restaurant

1511 Webster St
Alameda, CA
(510) 865-5405

November 14, 2014

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.

Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant – Sunridge Mall

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

November 13, 2014

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!

Peet’s Coffee & Tea – Piedmont

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

November 13, 2014November 13, 2014

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!

Ici Ice Cream

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

November 11, 2014

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!

Feel Good Bakery

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