chinese – Page 2 – Elsie Hui

January 5, 2015

Chili Island – Calgary, Alberta

This year for Christmas eve, we thought we were so smart and made reservations to a place that didn’t open. So, we were left on a scramble with a lot of other families looking for a place to eat! We found Chili Island that was opened, and luckily we found a good parking spot as it was busy!

We were seated right away and we were expecting service to be really slow as they were very busy with dine in customers as well as take out. They actually did an amazing job getting food to their hungry customers! We started with a soup, their Gar Tom Khars Soup which was their Thai Chicken and Mushroom soup with coconut milk. I like it because the coconut milk helps with the spiciness of Thai soups! It was delicious and extremely fragrant and flavourful!

Then, we got an order of their Peek Kai yod Sai which was Thai Stuffed Chicken Wings which was really quite shocking! The order had 4 wings which were super sized. The middle portion of the wing was deboned and stuffed with minced pork and other goodies, and then deep fried! It was amazing and gigantic and really quite spectacular as it was something we’ve never had before! I would highly recommend this dish/appetizer but make sure you come with a big appetite!

For the main entree, we shared an order of their Cantonese Chow Mein which is really nicely done! The fried noodles were crispy, using the thin egg noodles and topped with really fresh veggies and meat! The entire dish was cooked well, seasoned well, and priced well! We thought for sure we would have left overs for Christmas lunch, but everything tasted so good we decided to enjoy everything fresh. After you take these noodles home, it won’t be crispy, and we didn’t want it to go to waste!

Our overall experience for Chili Island was it was surprisingly delicious and not exactly overpriced for the food you get and the portions! We had a wonderful time and realized what an amazing job they did, even with such a large rush of customers! I am sure we will be back, with no hesitation!

Chili Island

4600 130 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 726-0733

October 17, 2014October 17, 2014

High River Inn Restaurant – High River, Alberta

We were actually trying to find some dinner in Longview where the place of choice didn’t have space for us. We started our journey home when we decided to make a stop in High River – where we found High River Inn Restaurant and it was a neat place. The owner was really pleased we were there, and she kept explaining to us that the food she has here caters to small town people. No problem – I know and I love it!

Although the place appears small, it’s actually very spacious inside with a decent size buffet. This place got pretty busy in here as well, but I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about making reservations as there’s lots of tables and chairs. The chef constantly puts out fresh food, so the smorg doesn’t go empty.

As this was our dinner, I allowed myself to help myself! Serving after serving, I really enjoyed the food here. I especially enjoyed the little conversations with the owner and she enjoyed talking to us in Cantonese as she doesn’t get a lot of Chinese speaking people at her place.

Overall, the place was really clean, the staff was really friendly, the food was really good! There’s nothing to complain about! It was an enjoyable dinner and I really like their eggroll. Most places have spring rolls, so this was a nice treat!

High River Inn Restaurant

503 1 St Southwest
High River, AB
(403) 652-7733

October 7, 2014

H & K Restaurant & Alleycat Lounge – Brooks, Alberta

We ventured to Brooks to look at the Brooks Aqueduct this one afternoon where we found ourselves a little hungry. At an odd hour, and just driving down what looks like their downtown, we found H & K Restaurant where we popped in for a snack.

I’ve been looking for some really awesome Dry Ribs as we use to have a family friend who owned a restaurant in a small town and I loved their dry ribs – so we gave the ones here a shot. They called it Dry Garlic Ribs, but it’s basically more or less what I was looking for. The portion was huge and the price was reasonable! It came pretty close to what I’m looking for, but I guess childhood memory food is hard to find – unless I go to the source and get them to make it for me. These ribs had tons of flavour and lots of meat on the bones. It’s fried really nicely and seasoned well too!

Then, we got a bowl of Wor Wonton to share as it’s something I use to get in our family restaurant when I didn’t feel like eating anything else. Here, the bowl and portion was huge and the wontons were quite good!

Overall, it was a great experience here. The owner was really nice to us and very sociable and hospitable. It was a fun experience and really reminded me of our old family restaurant.

H & K Restaurant & Alleycat Lounge

123 2 St W
Brooks, AB
(403) 362-8836

August 12, 2014

Peace River Garden Restaurant – Peace River, AB

Another long trip means we were craving food at odd times. This time was around 4pm when we made it into Peace River and basically the only thing opened was Peace River Garden Restaurant which dishes out Chinese/Western food.

I felt like something light and soupy yet filling so I decided to order Wor Wonton and yes the bowl was as full as it looked! Complete with tons of veggies and at least 10 wontons, this was an awesome choice!

I’ve also been talking about Veal Cutlets lately and I guess I made my husband crave it. He was really excited that he saw it on the menu and ordered it. The waitress even giggled and asked why he’s not ordering Chinese food! His story is that I use to eat it in our old family restaurant… which is true, and has absolutely nothing to do with him. Oh well! 🙂

I gotta say, food and service was not bad! There were a few other tables that came in to eat during our odd hour visit. The owners knew a lot of their guests as well, so they got some loyal customers and that makes me happy!

Peace River Garden Restaurant

10016 100 Street
Peace River, AB
(780) 624-1048

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014

Starlight Chinese Restaurant‎ – Airdrie, Alberta

We found another small town restaurant that offers Chinese & Western buffet so we didn’t give up the oppertunity to try them out. This time, we found ourselves in Airdrie at the Starlight Chinese Restaurant located in a strip plaza off Yankee Valley Blvd with tons of parking, it’s a great location!

The buffet was a pretty decent sized buffet, with delicious options, but one thing that stood up for me was the quality of the food. Even with soups, they had both wonton soup and hot & sour soup!

The food here was really good and it actually got quite busy around the noon hour! It was a fabulous experience!

Overall, we loved the experience here and we know we’ll be back!

Starlight Chinese Restaurant‎

960 Yankee Valley Blvd SE
Airdrie, AB
(403) 912-7887