chinatown – Page 4

September 27, 2011March 17, 2019

Baozi Inn – London, England

We went into Baozi Inn for a snack, while we were in England, we ate every meal twice, including snacks — so, this was one of many snack meals that we enjoyed! Baozi Inn is located in London’s Chinatown and it’s a little place, but seats a lot of guests. The service was fast, the food was good, and the prices was very reasonable!

The interior was decorated beautifully – traditional Communist China, which really is quite neat! It is a huge part of China’s history and what not, but I’ve never seen any place do their interior decoration to reflect this time period. It was lovely though.

We ordered a few munchies, of course their bao’s (buns) since that’s what the restaurant is called. We tried their Pork Baozi which was a bun stuffed with juicy minced pork and onion. We also tried the House Special Baozi which for the day was Pork filled. Both of the steamed buns was quite large – especially compared to the ones we get get here at home, say T&T. It wasn’t over steamed where it’s mushy or soggy, and it wasn’t steamed for awhile and sitting there waiting for a guest to order it – as it wasn’t hard either. It just tasted like a wonderful bun that was really fresh.

We also ordered 2 orders of dumplings, and tried Chengdu Dumplings which were pork dumplings in Chilli Oil and Garlicky Sauce. The pork dumplings were boiled and seasoned with chilli oil and crushed garlic. It was extremely tasty, as the strong chilli oil and garlic taste was what we tasted more of, instead of the dumpling. But, the dumpling made a great vehicle for the topping as it was a tasty dish.

Finally, we tried just the Boiled dumplings stuffed with minced pork – served Beijing style with vinegar dip. It looked really plain when it got to the table, but because it wasn’t dressed up with anything, you could really taste the freshness of these dumplings, and it was fresh and delicious. The meat filling was indeed juicy and the skin was rolled quite thin and cooked well as the juices from the inside didn’t leak out until I bite into the dumpling.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here at Baozi Inn, and I must recommend it to anyone going that way! Not just a snack either, those noodle dishes and what not look and smell great! I would love to go back to get more of everything, plus more!

Baozi Inn

25 Newport Court
London
(020) 7287 6877

August 30, 2011August 30, 2011

Harbour City

We recently went back to Harbour City after many years of trying new places, and Harbour City being one of our favourites, we chose to go there again. The quality of food has decreased, unless it’s the same, but we’ve been eating much better dim sum. But, it’s still not bad at all. We’ve definitely had worse, and for it’s price, it’s quite reasonable! (you pay what you get! – Reasonable price, reasonable food)

One thing I like most about Harbour City is the fact they still do it “old style” meaning they still bring out the bamboo steamers table side with a cart/trolley. Many restaurants have switched to a sheet of paper and they’ll just take out what you’ve ordered. I really enjoy the old style, but it always makes me over eat – since they always bring something that looks really good to the table side. This is really good from the restaurant business perspective though!

We’ve tried our typical items as always to compare and contrast: Shrimp dumpling (or known to lots as Har Gow) here was really large, and the shrimp was decent. It didn’t have any odd tastes or anything, but the texture isn’t as crisp as “fresh” shrimp dumplings. The skin was relatively thin, it’s standard for dim sum places in Calgary. One bamboo ste4amer comes with 4 large shrimp dumplings.

Another would be the Pork Dumplings (known as Siu Mai) was another really large portion! This bamboo steamer came with 4 large siu mai’s and they were really good! Pork Dumplings is something you really can’t go wrong in when you’re eating or making! Of course, it’s just minced pork with some Chinese mushrooms, and sometimes shrimp basically!

The Chicken Feet wasn’t something I enjoyed from Harbour City. This is one of the items I remember loving, and it’s changed. It’s as though it was a left over, and they added water to the chicken feet to heat it back up. If you look at the picture, the colours seemed washed out… well, it looked like that! The skin was falling apart, as were the bones (really over cooked) and it was unfortunately kind of tasteless in flavour. I am not sure if it’s just my steamer that was like that, or if it has changed or what’s going on, but I’m almost afraid to try it again from here! 🙁

Moving on though, the lady who pushed the dim sum to us kept asking if we wanted Spareribs so eventually we caved and got some. Funny thing though, she didn’t give us spare-ribs, she gave us Pork Tendons! After it arrived on the table, I looked at it and said “it’s not cooked, spareribs shouldn’t be translucent!” until I realized it’s not. It was really good though, the black pepper sauce was extremely peppery. But, because it wasn’t something I wanted, I didn’t bother finishing it. I wasn’t about to argue with anyone either, so I just ate as much as I could and left the rest.

One of my old time favourites that I seem to only be able to get from Harbour City is the Shrimp balls with corn which is a steamed ball with shrimp in it, with corn kernels on the outside. It sounds weird, I know, but the balance of flavour and texture actually works! The sweet and crispness of corn, and the chewy ball of shrimp – it’s actually really good! It’s one of those dishes that you have to have when you’re here! I know a lot of people that don’t like it though…

And, the highlight of this dim sum trip would be the Curry Cuttlefish and it’s my highlight not because it’s extra good or anything… it’s more the fact I haven’t had it for almost 2 years from anywhere, and I saw it, and I had to order it. It’s one of those things I didn’t expect to have at the end, but I just had to. And, am I ever glad I did! The texture was great, the flavours were there, it was just an all round great dish! I’m not sure why I don’t order this more often…

Last but not least, it’s a BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun, and it’s basically a BBQ Pork Bun, but inside what the Chinese call a Pineapple Bun from the top of the bun that mimics the look of a pineapple. It’s a sweet pastry bun, with a crumbly crunchy top. The top is similar to a cookie, and the bun itself is soft sweet – it’s a wonderful bun by itself also.

Weird thing about this trip, I didn’t get Beef Tripe, mainly because I didn’t see it being pushed passed my table, or they pushed it, and didn’t say anything to me. Oh well, I’m happy with most my meal here at Harbour City! Few things I never really understood about this restaurant, it’s the awkwardness of the location where you pay the bill… it’s tucked away in the corner, with spare tables and chairs. It’s quite a mess there, and I don’t know why they did it this way. And, the place is painted dark blue… which isn’t really an Asian colour… so, if I was to hold a special event, I’m not sure I’d pick it from the colours. It’s not going to look nice in pictures! Oh well, those are just some funny things I thought up of… and regardless of those weirdness, I enjoyed my experience here at Harbour City again, even though it’s changed.

Harbour City

302 Centre St S
Calgary, AB
(403) 269-8888

August 24, 2011March 24, 2019

Calgary Court Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

Calgary Court Restaurant is a restaurant that is located in Chinatown and has been around for quite awhile now. Of course, like all Chinese restaurants, service isn’t their number one priority, so in order to get food from here, you either have to be a regular customer or be very patient. I’ve even had experiences where I walked out as I was seated for about 30 minutes and no tea or menu… but, I still go back, since they do make me good food.

One of my favourite hot drinks is the Hot Honey Water and there’s nothing wrong with ordering it, besides the fact you can make it at home. I sometimes just want it and I’ll order it instead of milk tea.

We’ll also order Milk Tea and often swap out evaporated milk for sweetened condensed milk. It’s one of my favourite drinks as well, but it takes more effort to make it at home.

We always returned to Calgary Court for breakfast as I’ve been mentioning we’ve been getting up early on weekends lately – may as well enjoy the nice weekends while they last now days! But, I’ve ordered one of my favourites and it’s also my dads favourite so it’s a dish that always reminds me of my dad. This dish is the Shredded Pork with Snow Cabbage with Vermicelli which is quite a filling breakfast if you think about it. It’s different, but it’s always a delicious one for me.

Another breakfast that we like to order is Deep Fried Pork Chop with Macaroni, and yes, I can make it at home… but it’s fun to eat these kinds of meals as they always come in combos that are very reasonably priced. This meal was the macaroni with Chinese Milk Tea and butter toast for under $6! You really can’t go wrong with prices like this!!

These breakfast combos are offered daily from 8am until 11am, and there are lunch specials afterwards, but they’re not as neat in my opinion!

Calgary Court Restaurant

119 2 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 264-7890

August 12, 2011March 10, 2019

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

August 11, 2011March 11, 2019

Urban Rice

Dim Sum is always something I crave – maybe it’s because I’m Chinese, or maybe it’s because I don’t know how to make it… or, it’s the fact I live so far away from the Chinese communities I feel a little “home sick”. Regardless, dim sum is something I enjoy as it’s part of my heritage.

Urban Rice is a location that was recommended to me by a good friend. I’ve been to their previous location and loved it, so I’ll just follow them around like the hungry person that I am. It’s been really nice with all the festivals at Olympic Plaza downtown as I can fulfill my cravings in Chinatown, since it’s not far distance apart!

We were seated in a pretty big table – a table for 4 people, maybe they knew I’ll eat a lot or something, but I appreciated that! They didn’t try to cram me into the corner or anything like most Chinese restaurants. The place was was quite full when we got in, and we could smell all the dim sum. We quickly sat down and mark off on a sheet of all the goodies I wanted to try!

We had our few favourites such as Beef Tripe, Chicken Feet and Turnip Cake which turned out really well! I pretty much ate the entire dish of chicken feet all by myself! 🙂 I didn’t realize until the end, and I had all the bones on my plate! No questions about it, I ate the beef tripe, and my other half ate all the turnip cake! We had nothing to complain about! (Well, it seemed like the food could use a little more salt, but that didn’t make the food bad.)

Ok, the beef tripe wasn’t as tender as it should be, but it was still tender enough to eat it! The flavour of the ginger and green onion was really nice too! I like to add a bit of hot sauce to my beef tripe, and it was really good. The chicken feet was the most flavourful dish of them all! Soaked in it’s sauce, and cooked till fall off the bone it really wasn’t a surprise when I ate the whole dish!

We also ordered some specialty items on the item as well, and another favourite of mines would be the Shanghai Style Pork Dumplings which I actually get some frozen ones from T&T Supermarket at steam at home for when I’m carving dim sum that badly, and it’s just out of my reach! 🙂 The skin was a little thick, but the dumpling altogether was really good! I of course like to dip it in the vinegar because that’s the way it’s eaten! The best thing about this dish is the fact it came with 5 pieces — which means I got to eat 3 of them!

Overall, I quite enjoy this location, as it’s got big portions of food, and they have lots of items to try out. The best part of this experience was all the dim sum was $3.25, which made the entire experience seem a little extra delicious at the end of the day when our bill was just slightly over $20!!!

Urban Rice

104- 108 3rd Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 984-3380