calgary – Page 9 – Elsie Hui

February 22, 2017

Chong Fat – Calgary, Alberta

We’ve been going to this little noodle place for years, and I’ve actually never knew the name of Chong Fat as we had a nickname for them… which directly translates to “big bowl of noodles”. But, because this place is usually opened only during lunch hours, I’ve been having a harder time to get to, but everytime we make it in there, we love it!

My favourite to order is their Fish Ball noodle soup and as odd as it sounds, they make these balls in house so they’re amazing! They pretty make everything in house which I love. We’ve never had a bad meal here. Sure, the place is a little bit “dirtier”, but the food will make you forget about that.

One of our friends went to Hong Kong, and she thought she was ordering a “Horlick”, which isn’t something avvailable in Canada. With her Chinese being kind of poor… she ended up with a Hot Lemon Coke. We always wanted to try it, so when we found it on this menu… we ordered it. It is exactly like how you’d imagine it to be… a coke, hot.. with lemon. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I wouldn’t order it again.

The last thing we ordered is Beef Stew noodle soup which has been an all time favourite for any restaurant and even homemade. It was pretty amazing here as well!

Overall, we love this place. Parking can sometimes be challenging, but we always seem to luck out, or come really early. Otherwise, just pay for parking. Food here is worth it!

Chong Fat

132 -3rd Avenue S.E.
Calgary, AB
(403) 261-5710

January 30, 2016

Bazille (Nordstrom) – Calgary, Alberta

I was doing some shopping one afternoon at Chinook Centre when I felt like stopping for a snack. I happened to be going towards Norstrom, so I went into their restaurant upstairs called Bazille

It wasn’t a big place, but it wasn’t too busy when we went, so it worked out well for us. The place had nice decor and it was really comfortable with tons of natural sunlight! It was an enjoyable afternoon!

We sat down and ordered their Margherita Pizza and it wasn’t as good as I’d hope. It’s a simple pizza, and it wasn’t too great… but, easiest thing can often be put to the test for perfection! The pizza dough was a tad doughy and the cheese wasn’t really melty… so it felt like it was under done in general. It tasted average.

We also go an order of their Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes as I was feeling brave when I had the menu. The crab cake wasn’t good. It left a fishy taste in my mouth, and I didn’t even finish it. I’m not sure what it was, but I didn’t enjoy it, so I left it.

Overall, not too impressed.. although I am aware I ordered things I shouldn’t have from a restaurant like this. I should have stuck to sandwiches and soups and what not, but I do not think I will be back to try more, unless it’s something more “common” for lunch

Bazille

2150 6455 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(587) 291-2010

January 30, 2016April 3, 2016

3Q Teahouse – Calgary, Alberta

We decided to grab a snack/light dinner one evening and saw a new place called 3Q Teahouse which was recommended by some friends. They told us the owner was actually Taiwanese, so the drinks should be good. There was parking available as the time frame when we went, all the other businesses were closed, or not many opened – which makes it easier!

We ordered our drinks, and I had their Traditional Milk Tea with nothing in it. It wasn’t bad, it was quite decent. It’s not really much different from the milk tea that I’m use to, but neither good or bad is good!

My husband on the other hand ordered Jasmine Green Milk Tea with grass jelly in it. It’s his usual go to drink, so we’ve had it done before and he loves it. Here, I’m not sure what they did, but the drink became thick and slimy. It wasn’t a texture that we like or want to associate it with milk tea. Because of the texture, we couldn’t really decide if we enjoyed the flavours or not.

We ordered some Signauture Popcorn Chicken as one of our favourite snacks is popcorn chicken… it was really good here!

Something kind of different that we ordered was their Fried little buns with Condensed Milk and that was quite a delicious treat. I love condensed milk with regular buns, so with it being little and fried, I was able to eat tons of condensed milk with these buns! I kind of wished they give you an extra dish of condensed milk on the side as they just do a drizzle on the top of the buns. It was good regardless!

As it was our dinner, we ordered some of their rice boxes and we picked Taiwanese 3 Cup Style Chicken which is just chicken with ginger and garlic cooked with rice wine and soy sauce. It’s actually really simple, cheap and delicious!! So, that in mind, you can’t really goof it up! This rice box was pretty awesome!

We also had another rice box combo and this one was the Curry Chicken style one and this one wasn’t as flavourful as you would expect, but nothing wrong with it. They could either cook it a bit longer, or add more flavours to it. But, it was also tasty!

Overall, the food was decent, and most of the drinks was alright. The odd place about here was they have no idea what little bowls for sharing was… we had to ask a few times and they ended up giving us funny little plates. But, regardless, it was a fun night!

3Q Teahouse

323 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 287-8228

January 25, 2016

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We often drive by Le La Vietnamese Restaurant and always wanted to hop in! We finally did, and we set our exceptions low as we didn’t do any prior research to this restaurant! There’s tons of parking and there a lot of tables inside, but it wasn’t busy when we went as it was right before closing! The staff was really nice to us and didn’t hurry us out just because they were closing!

We ordered some Condensed milk Vietnamese Iced Coffee which I don’t normally order, however, I wanted a treat this time so I went for it! It was a delicious and refreshing drink with the perfect amount of condensed milk!

I ordered my standard go-to pho, the Rare Beef and Beef Ball Noodle Soup and it’s not available at all locations, but I love it when I get them. This place doesn’t give too much beef balls either, but more than some other locations. I find a lot of places cut up a beef ball into 1/8’s and gives you like 5 pieces – so you don’t even get 1 beef ball!! At least here, you get more than 1 ball, so it’s a great treat!

My hsuband ordered their Satay Beef Noodle Soup and he really enjoyed the flavours of the soup. The beef was tender and quite delicious! This was suppose to be an extra large bowl, but the amount of noodles seems similar with more soup.

Overall, this was a great place to get some Vietnamese noodle soup! It’s not the best in town, but it as really good pho!! Very decent, prices are good and food tastes great!

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant

6624 Centre St SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 255-5665

December 31, 2015December 31, 2015

Grumans Catering & Delicatessen – Calgary, Alberta

We had a weekend where we wanted smoked meat sandwiches and we ventured to pretty much downtown at a place called Grumans. There wasn’t really parking outside so you do need to find street parking, which isn’t bad on weekends!

Once we got parked, we waited for a bit for a table as this place is quite popular! We knew you could order Jewish food here, so we decided to try their Chicken Matzo Soup to start with. It’s a delicious clear yet flavourful chicken broth with a dumpling! This actually was much more interesting than it looked!

As this was lunch, I wanted something a bit more hearty, with smoked meat. I decided I was going for the Grumans Reuben Sandwich and it was an excellent choice! The sandwich was perfectly toasted rye bread, with generous amount of smoked meat, topped with some sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. The menu does state there’s Russian Dressing on it, and I couldn’t tell what that was!?

My other half loves Shepherds Pies and smoked meat.. and when they came together on the menu – he knew immediately what he wanted! He ordered the Smoked Meat Shepherds Pie, it came in a dish with perfectly piped and roasted mashed potatoes. Inside was packed with Montreal smoked meat, carrots, onions and corn. A very hearty and delicious dish!

The experience here was amazing once we got inside! As mentioned, parking is tricky but it’s well worth the fight and battle! The food is made with so much love and you can see it in the servers eyes when they talk about their food. This is a place to take anyone!

Grumans Catering and Deli

230 – 11 Ave SE,
Calgary, AB
(403) 261-9003