chinese – Elsie Hui

December 30, 2018

Peking Garden – Calgary, Alberta

This is interesting, as I’m not too sure how we ended up at Peking Garden for lunch one afternoon. We’re rarely in the area and would rarely go for Chinese food if I was in the car stating I was hungry! We also had to wait a good 20 minutes for a table, which I wouldn’t have done if I was that hungry! The place was packed and there was a constant order of take outs. We did get seated and the service didn’t see slow or rushed!

One of my favourite dishes to order are Dumplings as all my coworkers claim I make the best dumplings ever. I always want to find a comparable place to try to trick them… but they’re kind of right, I do make a great dumpling! Here, they make a good one as well, with skins a bit thicker than my own, but the filling is tasty and not dry. I appreciate a well seasoned dumpling then if the skin is thick, I wouldn’t mind. Just like the ones here!

My inlaws use to take me to eat Salty Soy Milk or some call it savoury soy milk. It’s not something I was familiar with until they brought me to experience this and now I love the uniqueness of it. They had it when we went to Shanghai a few years ago and I’d get it when I can. Both sweet and savoury.

Because I’m a huge fan of sweets, of course I needed to try their Sweet Soy Milk as well. Yes, we did order too much of this stuff!! LOL! But, surprisingly we finished it all!! One was more like a drink (the sweet one) and one ate like a soup! So, we separated the two and finished it.

Then, when we were in Shanghai, we ate TONS of Xiao Long Bao, and when I saw this on the menu, naturally I would order it as well. Haha, this lunch does get bigger as well… sadly. But, it was really well made xiao long bao’s, steamed nicely and it did have the soup inside the dumplings still! It’s not easy to make it like this, but they got it!

Alright, your little pig friend finally stopped ordering food. After the order of Sticky Rice. I loved zha choy, and sticky rice, and fried donut… and stick them together, I LOVE IT! So, yes, I ordered some Sticky Rice and it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hope. I was just glad to have some though as there’s really not many places that would make this for you, unless you come to my house, or T&T supermarket. So, just come to my house for my homemade soy milk, dumplings, xiao long bao and sticky rice! I don’t think I’ve ever made a meal JUST this for anyone yet.

Anyway, just rewriting my adventure here at Peking Garden stuffs my belly and makes me proud of what I’ve accomplished at home in my own kitchen. It was a great time here and to top it off, they give me Tofu Dessert! This place is wonderful! So, all and all, this place is fabulous!

Peking Garden

4625 Varsity Dr NW,
Calgary, AB
(403) 286-0488

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018

New Town Bakery & Restaurant – Vancouver, British Columbia

We were hanging out in Vancouver for a few days while our friend had a conference here. We tagged along on their trip and while he was in a course, we took his wife to breakfast at New Town Bakery & Restaurant in Vancouver Chinatown. While it was only street parking, we went early enough on a weekday where we were able to find parking pretty much right outside the restaurant.

We all knew we wanted Chinese food and I knew I was ordering my favourite Chinese breakfast, as weird as it may sound, it’s the Pickled vegetables and sliced pork rice vermicelli noodle soup. There’s a lot of names for it but I decided to do the direct translation of it today. I eat this preserved/pickled vegetables with everything as it’s awesome to me, and not even from my region. It’s great on everything! Anyway, this was a huge bowl of noodles and it was really tasty! The flavours were excellent!

My noodle came in a combo, with a drink where I got their Milk Tea and to me it’s a staple drink for any Chinese bakery/restaurant. A good one is when it’s thick and can coat your tongue, like a rich coffee. I always order this with sweetened condensed milk anywhere I go! It’s not bad here, it’s pretty standard and decent.

I was ordering a bunch of sides as it’s what I wanted. I failed to take pictures of anyone elses food as the waitress was busy yelling at me. Well, not yelling at me, but she wasn’t friendly towards me. So, I just sat there like a bad kid. I ordered a Pineapple Bun with Butter as it’s another thing that I always order. The cookie top always lets you know if they’re good at their bun baking. Then, they heat it up and put in a slab of butter. There’s nothing more satisfying than this bun with a milk tea if you’re looking for a “small” breakfast. The bun was soft and delicate, the topping was crispy, and the butter melted perfectly. It was amazing!

This last dish isn’t even mine. I think I just claimed it from the table. It’s the Radish Cake that I lie to make at Chinese New Years. My hubby likes to compare others with my recipe. I don’t even have a family recipe or anything as no one makes it… but, I’ve made it into my own which has become my tradition. I make a delicious lo bak goh and if you’re a lucky person, I’d give you some or even one! If I give you one… please do not try to give it away right in front of me. At least do it when I’m not here. Someone I thought that liked me did that to me and it seriously broke my heart. Anyway, this radish cake was more cake than anything, but it was freshly steamed so it was super soft.

Overall experience here was great! The food was good, the service could be better and the price for these breakfast combos are always awesome, no matter where you go! You always get a lot of food for a decent price. Parking costs money, where we parked on the street anyway. I’m not sure if they got their own lot or not.

New Town Bakery and Restaurant

148 E Pender Street,
Vancouver, BC
604-681-1828

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

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017

Peking Ginger Restaurant – Canmore, Alberta

We were having family in Canmore for a family function, so we decided to scope out some Chinese restaurants to make sure they’re worthy of bringing family there. One of our stops was the Peking Ginger right on Bow Valley Trail. Parking wasn’t too bad as it there was a little parking lot in front of the restaurant, which was a strip plaza.

Once we sat down, we ordered their fried rice, which they called Special Fried Rice, and it was pretty standard. I am very bias to fried rice as I have yet to find a place that makes fried rice as good as my uncles… so, if it’s “good”, it’s probably quite good. Although standard is standard, this fried rice was good! Simple things needs to be done perfectly.

The other dish we ordered, I quite enjoyed and Peking Ginger calls this dish Hot and Sour Soup with Sizzling Rice and this was pretty unique. What they do is basically bring out sizzling hot rice on an iron board and dunk it in hot and sour soup. As odd as it sounds, I really enjoyed this dish!

We had a pretty enjoyable lunch at this location. It was quite quiet when we went, but the food and service was pretty good. There was parking outside, which worked for us. We only needed one spot anyway.

Peking Ginger Restaurant

1702 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, AB
(403) 678-3365

January 30, 2015August 16, 2020

Signature Palace – Calgary, Alberta

We weren’t sure what we wanted to eat one evening, and we stumbled to the Southwest Calgary and found Signature Palace Restaurant which is in a strip plaza. The place isn’t difficult to find and there’s tons of parking. It seems like it’s a popular place as we kept seeing customers come in and out either dine in or take out!

As odd as this sounds, we started the dinner with an appetizer of Chicken Wings. They were large wings which made the price tag a little more bearable. It was over $10 for the plate of wings but they were really tasty, juicy, and crispy!

We ordered more lunch items of dinner, where we split a Beef Flank Noodle Soup, and the beef flank was tender and the portions was huge. The soup was quite tasty for being a plain soup. There was a few beef tendons which I love. We have always loved beef flank with the flat rice noodles and it made this dish perfect!

Then, we shared another of my favouriets, the Perserved Vegetables with Pork Noodle Soup and this was in rice vermicelli noodle soup – the way I know it to be. Tons of toppings and the portions again was really generous!

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of food, and portion of size. The staff was really friendly and the bathrooms were cleaner than expected! This turned out to be a great place and we’re excited to go back one day to try a Chinese dinner here!

Signature Palace

1919 Sirocco Dr SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 246-8883