There’s really nothing more exciting for me to have a Holiday London Fog from Second Cup. I know I rave about Chai tea’s and what not, but this is always another neat alternative. London Fog is normally made of Earl Grey Tea and some Vanilla flavour shot with steamed milk. What makes the Holiday version extra special is that they use a holiday Earl Grey tea, which is cherry flavoured. It seems like a lot of flavoured shots in the drink, but it’s actually quite good. It’s a bit on the sweeter side from both the cherry and vanilla, but it’s something I’ve associated the holiday season with as well. This is definitely a drink that you don’t need to add extra sugar in either!
Muffin Man – Kensington, London
We stopped by The Muffin Man as a quick stop for breakfast one morning before heading over to Buckingham Palace and stand in line for the touristy attractions we were planning for the day. The Muffin Man was a great little stop, even though it wasn’t a fast stop. We made an order right from their bakery section and it took the waitress awhile to even put our goodies into a bag to give to us. Instead, she continued to serve the seated customers, and that made is “in her way”. She had to maneuver around us, making it difficult for everyone.
We figured if she just took our order and quickly gave us our goodies, we all would’ve continued on our merry way. Regardless, the baked good from the Muffin Man was extremely delicious.
I ordered the Lemon Cake which was a denser muffin (hence cake) in a muffin form. It was really lemony and refreshing. The cake was quite fresh.
We also had a Chocolate Danish made with dark chocolate filling wrapped in crusty and flaky pastry.
Lastly, we tried their Banana Coffee Muffin, and even though I didn’t try it at all, I hear it was quite delicious, and it had a soft coffee center. This muffin sure sounds delicious, and I’m sure given another opportunity, I’ll try a muffin – as the place is called the Muffin Man after all!
Muffin Man
12 Wrights Lane Map
(0871) 075 7360
Kensington, London
ABC Bakery & Cafe
I’ve been getting up really early in the mornings and heading to the airport to take pictures of airplanes as they take off. I like the early morning take off pictures as they’re quite different. However, afterwards I’m starving… so instead of popping into a chain restaurant, I went back to an old favourite, ABC Bakery & Cafe. I must say, the last time I was there was probably 4 years ago… and before that, I was there weekly!! Usually for dinner though, I’d go straight there after work. I guess I’ve left a job that allows me to pass by for about 4 years now! 🙂
Anyway, we got to ABC for breakfast around 8AM and I was happy I wasn’t the only table trying to find breakfast! There were a lot of their regular customers there – which is great!! The nice thing about these cafes is of course their price! It’s so easy, cheap and convenient to pop in through the day and order food! But, breakfast is always the best. I miss places like this. Calgary just doesn’t have a lot of them, and it’s a bummer.
We sat down and ordered our breakfast specials, and so we ordered Crispy Bun with Condensed Milk with Hong Kong Style Milk Tea. I like to drink either milk tea, or lemon tea with honey, but I wanted milk tea this time! 🙂 SOO GOOD! They always make it really good!! The crispy bun was toasted nicely, and the sesame seeds on the top of the bun add a really nice taste with the condensed milk. When I make it at home, I like to make a mess and put probably twice as much condensed milk in… it’s normally dripping! But, this was really good I didn’t make it or I’d get a sugar high at 8AM.
We also ordered the Pork Chop with 2 Eggs + Toast and with this breakfast, we also had the milk tea. It was pretty funny as the pork chop came out deep fried in dark oil. Clearly, they didn’t change the oil over night, but thats what Chinese places are all about! 🙂 It tasted good – and that’s what is most important!
This place has always been one of my favourite places to go eat. Cheap and delicious! Nothing to like!
ABC Bakery & Cafe
112 3 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 266-2888
Joshua Tree Cafe – Calgary, Alberta
I’ve been wanting a good cup of Rolo Coffee for awhile now, and I finally got a good cup at Joshua Tree Cafe! This was not the original place that introduced it to me, but it was one of the top places in my mind for a Rolo Coffee. It is a specialty coffee, and it’s quite different from some other locations coffee.
We also enjoyed a Chocolate Iced Mocha which was quite standard. It was quite good, and creamy, but it’s nothing extra spectacular! It was refreshing and tasty for sure though!
This was an interesting location we made it to. Coffee stops never take too long, especially when we don’t order food. The worker at Joshua Tree mentioned to us about 45 minutes prior to closing that they will be closing soon, and it appeared that she didn’t want to take our order. We told her that it’s fine, and would still like our order. We did leave prior to their closing, and it wasn’t that we were rushed either – it was because our coffee stop was finished.
They made it really noticeable that they were about to close, at 3pm over the weekend. They started sweeping the floors and what not. It’s not a large location, and I’m sure it’s not too bad if in fact they had to leave 10 minutes late.
Regardless, the rolo coffee was something so special, I will return for it! 🙂
Joshua Tree Cafe
805 Edmonton Trial NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 230-9228
Insomnia Coffee Company – Calgary, Alberta
Everytime I’m downtown at Olympic Plaza I always walk by Insomnia Coffee Company and has always wanted to just sit down by the window and watch the hussle of people going by! I finally did that, and this cafe is very modern, clean, and quite good! It is a really good coffee house in town, and the coffee is quite strong! The latte art wasn’t as nice as some, but something is definitely better than nothing!
Even though I didn’t try their baked good, they sure look really tasty and fresh! And, that’s amazing, considering I visited this cafe on a weekend! I just sat down and enjoyed a wonderful cup of latte and it was so relaxing – and watching the festivals outside their large windows.
Overall, this place is wonderful! They welcome you with warm smiles, and they don’t mind if you sit there and do nothing but stare out the window! 🙂 I’ll recommend this location if you’re in the area looking for a nice cup of coffee!
Insomnia Coffee Company
239 8 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G
(403) 767-9934