beef stew – Elsie Hui

December 15, 2014December 15, 2014

Evelyn’s Memory Lane Cafe – High River, Alberta

We’ve been meaning to drive out to High River, AB to eat at Evelyn’s Memory Lane Cafe for quite some time now – basically after I first heard of them on Foot Network Canada’s “You Gotta Eat Here”. So, we had an afternoon where we didn’t know where we wanted to eat – and here we were!

We sat down by the diner bar and was greeted immediately. The entire team of staff was very attentive, friendly and quick! We started with a bowl of Beef & Barley Soup which was loaded with barley and had tons of soft and tender pieces of beef. I don’t normally love thick soups full of “stuff”, but this one I really enjoyed!

We also wanted to try their Strawberry Milkshakes as I love milkshakes from small towns. I claim they’re different and much more delicious! I was right – it was rich and creamy with the nice consistency and enough strawberry flavours. I believe I read somewhere stating they make their own ice cream, but I’m not sure…

Of course, if there’s perogies on the menu, chances are I will order it. I had an order of their Perogies which was absolutely amazing. Both the skin and filling was perfect and then with the onions and bacon – you couldn’t go wrong anywhere! It was definitely one of the best!

I ordered off their daily special and it actually came with a Cabbage Roll as well. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but once you cut into it – the world of aweseomeness came through. The texture of the filling was nice and it wasn’t dry at all. It had meat and rice in it and it was firm, while the cabbage was sweet and tender. It was nice!

From there, we ordered their Beef Stew also off their daily special. It came in a pretty good size bowl with almost a beef soup looking stew. It was still very hearty and delicious and tons of beef flavour. The vegetables were cooked perfectly as they were tender but not mush! They have the best bread as well!

Just in case we thought we didn’t eat enough, we decided to try a slice of their Pumpkin Pie and it was special! It was darker than pumpkin pie I’m use to seeing, but it was a nice texture. The crust was excellent and we devoured this dessert!

Overall, this was such a fabulous place I look forward to returning. It was a lot of fun, the food was top notch, the service was excellent and the prices were amazing! So, no complaints from anywhere! Can’t wait to return to see the train go around the restaurant again!

Evelyn’s Memory Lane Cafe

118 4 Ave SW
High River, AB
(403) 652-1887

November 23, 2014

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

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

November 23, 2014

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

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

August 11, 2014

Pho Anh Huyen Noodle House – Calgary, AB

We were off to another road trip when we figured we’d stop into Pho Anh Huyen for something to eat before we took off. The location isn’t hard to find, but it definitely has limited parking spots. Once you enter the door, it has a scent of “washrooms” which seems to have disappeared quickly.

We started off with Pork and Shrimp Salad Rolls and it’s not as good as my favourite place, but it was decent. The sauce they gave was primarily diluted peanut butter so I added some hot sauce into it to make it tastier for myself as I like the kick to it.

Then, I ordered a bowl of Beef Stew Noodle Soup as I had no idea what I wanted, and this was one of my husbands favourite… so if I didn’t like it, I can always trade with him! It turns out that this was really good, both the beef stew and the soup broth had tons of flavour and the noodles were really well cooked! It didn’t stick together yet it wasn’t soggy and breaking apart!

My husband ordered himself a bowl of Rare Beef with Brisket Noodle Soup and it was quite a different soup. As clear as the broth looked, it also had a really good flavour it the soup. The portions were large and they were really generous with the amount of meat given (in both bowls actually!)

Overall, the prices were average as other Vietnamese noodle houses. The food was decent although not the best we have had. Generous portions of both soup and meat which makes it a good deal!

Pho Anh Huyen Noodle House

1403 Centre St NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 276-3636

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014

Vietnamese Beef Stew Noodle House – Calgary, AB

Vietnamese noodle soups and Vietnamese submarines are things I like to eat when I want to eat out, and eat “lighter”. We found ourselves at Vietnamese Beef Stew Noodle House and found very limited parking, but the place was full of customers!

We sat down and wanted to order some appetizers so we had an order of Crispy Chicken Wings, which was really nicely fried. The order was quite small for it’s price, but the size and quality was really good.

I ordered a Satay Chicken Vietnamese Submarine which was quite delicious. The Vietnamese bun was excellent and the filling inside the sub was ample and delicious and very flavourful.

With the name of the restaurant called Vietnamese Beef Stew, it wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t try their Beef Stew Noodle Soup and we’re glad we did. All the customers that came in, either for takeout or dine in all ordered some sort of noodle soup.

Overall, the food here was delicious. The price was a little high, but still in the reasonable range. The food was good and so we loved it. The noodle house was small and simple but it’s all you need!

Vietnamese Beef Stew Noodle House

Norbrent Shopping Centre – 3616 52 Ave NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 220-0681