downtown – Elsie Hui

August 5, 2015

Hy’s Steakhouse – Calgary, Alberta

It was our anniversary, so we decided to celebrate it at Hy’s Steakhouse downtown. We did street parking, but I guess there’s complimentary valet parking – that’s the sign I saw when we came out. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it doesn’t matter. Hy’s was decorates really nicely, and with the open kitchen concept, it made it really fun for us to sit and watch them prepare our food!

We sat down, and I decided to order a girly drink, but virgin. I settled for the Pina Colada which was fun as they kept calling it “juice”. It doesn’t matter, it looks pretty and tastes great!

For our starter, we chose their Jumbo Prawn Cocktail which was amazing! The prawns were about the size of my head (each), and they were perfectly prepared and quite fresh!

I settled for their Filet Mignon Beef Wellington which was adorable! The perfectly baked pastry with the steak inside – cooked just the way I like it. It was very memorable and I would claim the best one I’ve had so far!

My husband decided long time ago that he was going to have their Steak Diane which is prepared tableside. As he likes his beef “rare”, it took no time for them to make. The beef was absolutely tender, the sauce was amazing, and overall perfect as well!

Just in case we weren’t full enough, we decided to have a dessert as we were celebrating a special day, and the food was so good, it didn’t hurt to try their Cheesecake. The waiters recommendation was perfect, as the cheesecake was just the way I like it. Light, fluffy and cheesecake tasting!

Our overall experience here was top notch! We haven’t found a better place for steak yet! We know a few places that come close, but I have to put them at the top of my rank books right now!

Hy’s Steakhouse

751 3 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 663-3363

March 19, 2015January 6, 2019

Catch & The Oyster Bar – Calgary, Alberta

We met up with some friend one evening at the Catch & The Oyster Bar right on Stephens Avenue, downtown Calgary inside the Hyatt Regency Calgary Hotel. It’s a lovely place and the location is actually larger inside than it looks!

Once we sat down and ordered, they gave us quite a bit of bread and butter. To be honest, we were saving our bellies for the main attraction for this visit.

We started with a bowl of soup, where we ordered their Seafood & Bacon Chowder and this chowder was jammed pack with seafood and flavours. It was really fresh and delicious with the perfect texture and creaminess without being greasy.

Now, for the main attraction, we got their Large Chilled Seafood Platter and it’s as large and impressive as you can imagine it in your mind, and exceed that image’s expectation! This platter had 1 lobster, 4 snow crab clusters, 12 oysters, 16 mussels, 16 clams and 16 large shrimps! The Oysters they gave us was 8 BC and 8 PEI oysters so we can taste the difference. Everything on this plate was so good, and we all over ate – yet couldn’t stop eating!

Overall, there’s not a bad thing we can think of to say about here! The place was clean, cozy, comfortable, yet casual. The food was fantastic, the service was awesome!

Catch Restaurant & Oyster Bar

100 8 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 206-0000

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015

Fairmont Palliser: Fairmont Gold Room – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been really fortunate with the people I meet, the place I go, and the things that happen during all my visits anywhere. This particular visit to Fairmont Palliser in downtown Calgary was truly one of my most memorable stays ever! I got to experience their “Hotel within a Hotel” with Fairmont Gold.

We got an upgraded room to their Fairmont Gold Room that offered a king bed, seating area, desk and and a few extra special privileges while being a guest during this stay. Once we got into our room, we noticed it’s the biggest room we’ve ever stayed in at the Palliser, so we were really excited. The large king bed was front and center which is always a delight! Bedtime is one of my favourite times!

The bathroom was also bigger and offered more bathroom amenities, which is so nice as it’s really rare to have amenities such as cotton swabs, mouthwash, and shoe shine cloth!

My favourite part about the stay was experiencing the Fairmont Lounge, which is on their Penthouse floor which offers complimentary breakfast and hor d’oeuvres during the evening. We made an effort to be at both and the food is fantastic! It’s a great place to sit and read, with a nice snack, or just some quiet time.

The stay was perfect and now we consider upgrading to Fairmont Gold when we know we’re going to be in the hotel more for future stays.

Be sure to watch the room walk through as it was a fantastic room we had!

The Fairmont Palliser

133 9th Avenue SW
Calgary
Alberta, Canada
1 866 540 4477
403 262 1234

March 14, 2015

Caesar’s Steak House Downtown – Calgary, Alberta

We have actually been here before, and it’s a place where we’d go back to – so we did! We made a reservation here for a special occasion at the Caesars Steakhouse downtown Calgary location. We lucked out with parking on the side street, but apparently there’s complimentary valet parking after 5pm.

We sat down and ordered some drink. We ordered the same thing, the Caesars – one regular, and one virgin. It was off to a rough start as our waiter had messed up placing whose drink goes with whom. So, I ended up with the alcoholic one in front of me – but I was quick to tell it wasn’t a virgin drink. The drink did taste really good though! Then, came our toast, which was a few pieces of buttery toast – grilled! Once slice had cheese and the other was plain. It was really buttery and quite tasty!

For an appetizer, we had their Escargot which came out in their shells, instead of the typical escargot plates which we really enjoyed from here! The meat was tender and the flavours were tasty and buttery – and it was even sauteed in butter with walnut & butter filling!

Then came a bowl of soup, we had their French Onion Soup which was standard. Nothing special, but definitely nothing to complain about. It was just a little bowl, so it wasn’t substantial as we were excited for our steaks at this point!

We then got a salad, their House Salad with their house dressing. This was quite a disappointment as the salad was wilted and drenched with dressing… it unfortunately didn’t look or taste too good – but it’s a salad, not the main highlight of our trip here!

Finally, the highlight of the show – I ordered the small New York Strip with a side of twice baked potatoes! It was fantastic! The meat was cooked perfectly, it was tender and juicy and tons of flavour!

My husband had their T-Bone Steak which he enjoyed thoroughly and devoured! Well, to be honest, I had quite a bit of his steak as well. The fries were good, but nothing too special or anything!

Our overall experience was good! We enjoyed what we came here for, with a few hiccups. We were told while we were ordering that there was no Steak Dianne, and the table right next to me, pretty much in the seat next to me got one… so, I was a little disappointed with that. Steaks are worth the trip to Caesars downtown location for sure though!

Caesar’s Steak House

512 – 4 Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 264-1222

February 1, 2015August 16, 2020

Monplaisir Delicacy – Calgary, Alberta

We were introduced to Monplaisir which is located on the food court level of TD Square in the corner. Here, the offer delicious French Macarons and Belgium Chocolates. I haven’t tried their chocolates yet, but we have tried a few of their macarons!

We decided to try a small sample box, where we bought 6 delicate macarons. They asked us to leave it out a few minutes to take the chill off before eating, so we decided we’d get a drink from a nearby place in the food court. The custom box looks amazing and almost too good to eat, but we did pull the first one out and tried their Earl Grey flavour. You do get a hint of Earl Grey taste and scent, it’s subtle, sweet and nice! The Earl Grey one is the yellow one with the greenish filling!

With such a delicious macaroon, I had my hopes high as I tried their Chocolate Coconut and I was not disappointed. You get a nice rich chocolate taste and then the sweet coconut comes through afterwards. You do get coconut shreds in your bite as well!

Creme Brulee was always a sweet dessert we enjoy a lot, so we had to try their Creme Brulee flavour. This one really didn’t taste like much to us, but kind of sweet. It did offer the sugary crunch on the side but if you closed your eyes, creme brulee wasn’t the what came to mind – maybe vanilla.

our all time favourite flavour from Monplaisir would be their Espresso which was really fragrant with espresso aromas and flavours. You know what it is when you bite into it and it tastes absolutely amazing!

As Pistachio was another macaroon that we tried, it wasn’t as amazing as hoped. You definitely get a hint of pistachio but for whatever reason, I was hopping it would be more intense. Now I think it’s silly that I had that expectation as these are small delicate treats – so I do like this flavour!

The last one we chose to try on this visit would be the Wedding Almond. Not sure about the name but you definitely get the almond taste and flavour – which is really nice!

Overall, we thoroughly enjoy the macarons here and has been back a few times already! It’s great as they are opened on weekends as well as they are in a mall!

Mon Plaisir

Suite 410, 751 3 St SW
Calgary, AB
(587) 538-0690