Chili Club Thai House – Calgary, Alberta

Thai food in Calgary is actually not bad at all! I have a few favourite locations, and I can now add Chili Club Thai House to my list of favourites! It’s a small restaurant with an intimate atmosphere. It’s a great idea to make reservations if you want to go – as the line can get long due to the amount of tables.

We started our dinner with Tom Yum Soup and most places make it so spicy it’s ridiculous, but here, they made it with tons of spice and flavour, but it’s not overly spicy! I think it’s my favourite bowl of Tom Yum soup that I’ve had in the city! This delicious hot and sour soup had lots of prawns, mushrooms and tomato in the excellent broth.

I love how rice comes in individual servings in rice cups with a lid. It really helps not only with portion control, but it keeps the rice warm much longer! It’s a great presentation and a wonderful use!

The first dish that came was the Kaeng Chak Som which was a pan fried salmon fillet with coconut, chili, & lime sauce. The lime sauce was phenomenal, as it was quite different, but the lime made it really light and refreshing! The salmon was perfectly cooked with a beautiful crust on the fish with the awesome sauce. This was my favourite dish of the evening!

Then came the Panang Duck Curry which is a decadent dish of boneless roasted duck with eggplant in a thick curry. The duck was tender and juicy with a great sauce with a nice kick of heat! It made the eggplant really enjoyable.

The last dish we ordered was Musamun Beef Curry Beef chunks sauteed in Thai curry with potatoes, onion and peanuts. This was another fantastic dish, but the least favourite of mine out of the 3 dishes. I actually found that it would’ve been nicer if the beef chunks was a tad fattier so it would be more tender. The sauce for the curry was yummy, but nothing too different or spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad – just it wasn’t as good as the other dishes!

Overall, this was a wonderful place to dine for Thai food. The prices are very reasonable for a Thai place, and the quality of the food is top notch – so it’s okay to pay a little more when it’s worth it. It’s definitely worth it here!

To top off the night, they had a complimentary dessert which tasted good, and it wasn’t too big at all! It was a lovely end to the lovely evening!

Chili Club Thai House

1904 36 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 217-8862

Nellie’s Cosmic Cafe – Calgary, Alberta

I’m actually not really one that likes an “American” style breakfast, but I must say, I really enjoyed eating at Nellies Cosmic Cafe for breakfast. It’s a real home style restaurant, and it is just really cozy and inviting!

The fact they use actual mugs for coffee, teas, hot chocolates, etc is really a nice touch. Instead of having it feel like a restaurant with “all the same mugs” it now feels like you’ve entered Nellies house and they great you with a nice warm drink.

I’ve ordered the perogies as I LOVE perogies, and it doesn’t have that layer of grease I don’t really like first thing in the morning. To my excitement when my plate came, my plate was piled high with scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, potatoes, and tucked away under the toast was the star of my breakfast — perfect perogies. They tasted great, and it wasn’t over cooked at all. I’m not sure if it’s homemade, but it sure can pass for it! I really enjoyed my breakfast here at Nellies Cosmic Cafe and would go back in the near future!

We also got a plate of corned beef hash and it also tasted really good. At the end of breakfast, we left really satisfied with a very full belly! The price was decent at Nellies for the amount of goodness you get!!

Nellie’s Cosmic Cafe

1001 17 Ave SW
Calgary, AB

Caffe Beano – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve heard great things about Caffe Beano, and it’s be on my “to try” list for awhile now. I arrived at Caffe Beano hoping for a nice relaxing cup of coffee for a Saturday afternoon. We arrived around 2:30pm, and it was packed with thirsty guests. The entrance way was little, but there was a large seating area packed with customers. The nice thing about the day we choose to go, it was a great afternoon, and lots of people were outside enjoying the weather and their coffee! It made it really inviting.

I ordered a normal latte, as I’ve heard Caffe Bean does great foam art on their lattes. I think I got some fancy swirls, or a heart gone wrong or something!! Regardless, the latte was very strong in taste and it was nice!!

We also ordered a London Fog but somehow it got lost in translation and we got an Indian Tea instead. It was alright, it was a very flavourful Chai Latte which we enjoy anyway!

On the side, we decided to get a little something as we were planning to relax here for awhile — we got a croissant and a chocolate chip cookie. The Croissant was very flaky and soft, which was quite lovely, and the cookie… well, it was a little hard. It was a very brittle and flat chocolate chip cookie, which I prefer the soft gooey ones!

We found a little table right near the entrance way, but found that we were blocking the entrance for the customers to receive their drinks/products. Maybe the lay out could have been better… I don’t know. Regardless, do to the lack of space, it made me feel a little tense, so it wasn’t my type of environment inside. We ended up leaving right after we finished off our goodies. To conclude this journey to Caffe Bean, I was a little disappointed as it wasn’t my type of environment. Sadly, I don’t think I will be returning.

Caffe Beano

1613 9 St SW
Calgary, AB T2R
(403) 229-1232