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Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

During winter, we went to watch the Santa Parade that takes place on Banff Avenue just as the skies turn dark. Right after it, it appears to have a huge swarm of people and families looking for food. On top of the regular crowd, there’s also Christmas parties that are being held in Banff, so there seems to be twice as much people. We didn’t make a reservation for dinner anywhere, and when we walked by Seoul Country Korean Restaurant, and smelled how wonderful the place smelled, we decided to walk in. We were lucky as the the place had tons of tables and so there was room for us!

We decided we wanted to do the Korean BBQ style, and we ordered the Seafood Combination and the Barbeque Prime Rib Eye Beef and it definitely was enough food for 2. Once you order, it comes with a huge array of kimchi’s and I love kimchi, so it was great to eat alone or with rice. Shortly after that, we got our dishes to the table and the Beef was in a huge steak where they sliced it through a little to help it cook evenly and quicker.

Right beside it, but added a little bit later was the Seafood, and to my surprise, it actually tasted great! It was really fresh and didn’t have any fishy smell or taste to it. This combination platter has a huge assortment of seafood, such as mussels, shrimp and scallops!

Overall, the dining experience here was great! Be warned though, afterwards you do smell like bbq!! We tried doing Korean BBQ at home before and it was too much smoke to do at home as the smoke alarms kept going off… so, if you enjoy doing that, here’s a great place to go!

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

215 Banff Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-4941

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Ramada Inn & Suites Canmore – Alberta

Recently, we went to Canmore, Alberta for a quick get-away, retreat! We booked a last minute room as it was a busy weekend in Banff due to all the holiday events going on in the area, including Christmas in the Rockies event Santa Claus Parade of Lights! It’s a fantastic local parade that Banff and area puts on. The hotel check-in was flawless, and just because of the age of the town of Canmore, we weren’t really expecting too much for the hotel.

The room wasn’t anything special, and in fact, we must have gotten the smallest room in the hotel as the pictures online are quite different from our experience. I especially noticed the bathroom, as all other bathrooms seems to have counter space, where in our situation, there was little to no space, with the toilet tucked behind the door. It was quite an awkward layout.

The shower is a spacious walk in shower, nothing spectacular, but not bad at all. I was really happy that the bathroom and the room in general was clean and not horribly disguising. The toilet was fine and the bathroom amenities were quite nice actually! I really like the bathroom amenities as they use San Francisco Soap Company with the scent of Sugared Citrus. It left a wonderful citrus fragrant in the bathroom, which wasn’t over powering – it was very satisfying!

Our room had 2 queen beds which was plenty of space for the 2 of us. I’m sure for families, it would be enough space, but not the bathroom. I’m not sure the little glass shelf above the sink would hold too much things for an entire family.

The nice thing about this hotel is that it offers a fridge and microwave! It would really come handy if you have left over meals from children or just want to keep food. The coffee maker is awesome too – it uses a disposable tray with a pre packaged coffee grind. I made 2 cups of coffee and I loved the taste of it!

We stayed at the wing that was past the pool area – where the breakfast area was! It was convenient as we came down in the morning without needing to step outside or walking the walk ways on the 3rd floor! The breakfast was fantastic and offered a great selection! Overall stay was quite nice, but I would try to get a room not facing the railway tracks next time as the train comes by hourly, and ends quite late – and starts up again quite early!

Ramada Inn & Suites Canmore

1402 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, Alberta
Canada T1W 1N5
Toll Free: 1.888.678.4656
Local: 1.403.609.4656

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Kam Do Bakery 金都餅店 – Richmond, BC

We’ve always had some wife cakes or wintermelon cakes from Kam Do Restaurant and Bakery since we have some famil here, and whenever they visit – they always bring some! It has always been delicious, and it was truly a treat to experience their pastries here fresh! We even had some breakfast meals here as well, and it was delicious!

This restaurant/bakery is located in a small strip plaza, and parking is available in the back. It’s pretty easy to find and there’s often a lot of people once you get through the doors – but be careful, not all of them are waiting to get in to the restaurant area of the place! I just sat down and ordered a Satay Beef Instant Ramen which isn’t something I typically order, but this particular day, it’s what I really wanted. The beef is so tender and delicious with it’s satay sauce that really made this super yummy! It is almost a fail proof item on menus, but you’ll be surprised, lots of places can fail you! It was fast and perfect here!

Along with the noodles, it came with a sausage, egg and a sweet bun! This was really intersting to me, as I never see it on a plate of it’s own, but it was fun! The bun was really fresh, with a subtle sweetness to it. It was really soft and you can just tell it was taken out of the oven not too long ago!

We also had another usual order from us for breakfast, and it was the Peppered Steak Breakfast which was slice of “beef steak” covered in their peppered sauce. The meat again was really soft and tender and the flavours of their sauces are unbelievable!

The best thing about eating from a Chinese restaurant for breakfast is the fact it’s always cheap! Needless to say, it was an excellent deal, and never forget to pick some wintermelon cakes or wife cakes up before you leave this place! This restaurant and bakery is truly a hidden gem and a great place to be for any time of day!

Kam Do Bakery 金都餅店 on Urbanspoon

Kam Do Bakery 金都餅店

6211 #3 Rd
Richmond, BC V6Y1N3
(604) 231-9216

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Top Shanghai Cuisine 上海一只鼎 – Richmond

During our trip to Vancouver, we were recommended a Shanghai place to eat, so we decided to stop there for a little snack. We were told it was located at the intersection of No 3 Road and Ackroyd Road and was called Top Shanghai Cuisine and we were excited as there were a few tables there during an odd hour of visit. We weren’t really greeted by anyone, so we just picked a table, and some menus flew down on our table.

We started off with the usual suspects. the Soybean Milk and we got one hot and one cold! The cold one came in a fairly good sized glass, and it was cold and refreshing. It doesn’t tasted like store bought soy milk, yet, it’s not the same as the ones I make at home either. Regardless, it was really nice.

The hot soybean milk came in a little mug, and it was piping hot! Super comforting, and actually something I was looking for to help cut some grease as I’ve been eating a lot and wasn’t planning on quitting eating healthier as I was on holidays!

When I talk about grease, there’s nothing more notorious than Deep Fried Dough, and here, it comes on a plate with a few pieces. To be honest, it wasn’t the best either… It was decent, with a nice crunch to the dough, but the inside wasn’t super tender and soft and there was tons of grease in this one.

From here, was ordered some Shanghai style dumplings, which they called Steamed bun filled with pork Nanxiang Style which was really good. The skin on these steamed buns was extremely thin and delicate and the meat filling was plenty!

Here’s an excellent shot of the inside of the steamed bun – not too much hot liquid came out of these, but it was really delicious!

While we were here, we also ordered something that I love, the Pan Fried Pork Dumplings which I love from anywhere. Here, the skin seems a little chewier and with this unique texture, it leads me to think they made the skin by hand! I’ve never tasted any skin quite like it and it’s very enjoyable.

Now, as delicious as this was, I must say, it was the greasiest dish of them all! As you can see on the plate, there are already puddles of oil, but it never stops me from eating dumplings! I do wish there was a tad more filling in these but the flavours was spectacular! It was very enjoyable, and filling. Now that we’re full and bloated – we were ready to find the next food adventure!

Overall, I did enjoy this place, and I’m glad I only came here for a quick snack and not a meal. There’s tons of food and it’s a tad greasy. The prices aren’t terrible either! Parking can be a challenge as it shares a parking lot with other stores and supermarkets – it’s located in a strip plaza and drives go anywhere, in any direction.

Top Shanghai Cuisine 上海一只鼎 on Urbanspoon

Top Shanghai Cuisine 上海一只鼎

5880 #3 Road
Richmond, BC
(604) 278-8790

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Edmonton Hotel and Convention Centre

Edmonton isn’t a place where we go, unless we truly have to. Lately, my other half has been going to Edmonton once in awhile for business, and he’s been staying at the Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre which was formerly a Holiday Inn hotel. This hotel has just gone through some updating and renovations making the interior much more modern. This review is of the Executive King Suite which offers a lot of amenities in a hotel room. The room itself is fairly large and it offers a kitchenette, seating area and a glass divider to separate the room for the business side to the personal side. This glass sliding divider isn’t frosted to ensure privacy like the website leads you to think. But, I think they did this as the room offers 1 TV, and it’s in the “bedroom” part of the suite – so when you’re sitting in the sitting area, you can see the TV.

The bathroom is quite a beauty, the shower is modern and offers some body jets. The pressure and temperatures of the shower is very reasonable, making a nice home away from home feel,with a clean, sleek, modern design. The bathroom is large/spacious and offers yours standard bathroom amenities.

The actual room itself is large, and very comfortable. As mentioned, there is a kitchenette, which includes a small fridge and microwave making longer stays much more comfortable – or even left over meals, or packed lunches for the following day. There is even a little dining area as well, which is really neat! This suite has more than enough seating area for guests and visitors.

Here is a quick walk-through of the room that was used during the visit to Edmonton.

Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre

4520 – 76 Avenue NW
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T6B 0A5