Bistro Praha – Edmonton, Alberta

I was recently in Edmonton to celebrate my birthday and we stumbled to Bistro Praha as it was walking distance from our hotel located in downtown Edmonton. I recognized “Praha” from my travels to Czech a few years ago, so I figured it was European food here – which I loved! We went inside and it was quite busy but they had a table for two, just for us!

We wanted to start the dinner off with some appetizers and we picked some out on the menu – until I found in the soup section some Bistro Beef Goulash “Zhorelec” which was basically a beef stew with some Czech bread, which is known as dumplings. This dish offered tender and juicy pieces of beef flank and with their Czech bread to soak up the sauce, it was almost a meal on it’s own!

For dinner, I ordered the Wiener Schnitzel which came with a salad. The salad was really large and I asked for their green garden salad which the dressing was an interesting vinaigrette! It was light and refreshing, and actually quite tasty!

The Wiener Schnitzel was amazing! A tender piece of veal perfectly tender and juicy – pounded thin with a crunchy crust! Although this is a Vienna specialty, they seemed to have mastered it! It did taste as good as the Schnitzels I had in Vienna! This dish I would recommend to anyone as it was just delicious!

The other dinner entree picked by my husband was their Smoked Boned Pork Hock which I should start by saying I absolutely love ham, and smoked ham tops off my list. Here, they serve this generous portion of ham with some Czech bread and mustard and it was divine! The pork was fall of the bone tender and extremely juicy!

With this entree, we got the tomato salad which was much more interesting than it looks! It was both sweet and tangy and very refreshing! A perfect salad to a hot day!

Overall, this was an amazing place to celebrate my birthday dinner and I would recommend it to anyone for any reason! The food was amazing, service was great and the prices were decent – well worth it for a taste of Eastern Europe!

Bistro Praha

10117 101 St NW
Edmonton, AB
(780) 424-4218

La Ronde Revolving Restaurant‎ – Edmonton, Alberta

We were going through Edmonton numerous times this summer, and we ended up staying at Chateau Lacombe Hotel in downtown Edmonton. It was getting late and we were hungry, so we went upstairs to their revolving restaurant for dinner at La Ronde Revolving Restaurant. It was a really nice place and we got seated immediately even though we didn’t have reservations for the evening. We couldn’t get a table by the window, but it didn’t matter!

Once we were seated and ordered, a bread basket came out! The bread was quite nice, light and fluffy on the inside with a nice crust! We had quite a few slices – for both reasons of being hungry and it being really delicious!

We don’t always get starters, but this particular day we decided to go for some Escargots and they had tons of pieces of snail. Some were quite large in size as well! The escargots were sauteed with mushrooms in a cognac cream sauce, and it tasted as good as it looks!

My entree that I ordered for myself was their Char Grilled Yellowfin Tuna and it was cooked to awesomeness! It was tender and juicy and the portion was really generous! I really enjoyed my meal!

My husband also had an excellent meal! He ordered their Prime Rib and it was really tender and soft, tons of flavour! It was one of the better prime ribs we’ve had! He liked it as it wasn’t full of the “sides” with his meal, just a nice piece of dead meat!

With dinner working out so well, we knew we had to try their desserts! We were stuffed but we ordered their feature dessert which was Cheesecake with Strawberries and it was divine! I loved it and must’ve eaten 80% of the cheesecake!

Overall, this place was phenomenal! We loved it from beginning to end. The service was top notch, the food was definitely delicious and memorable, the atmosphere was great! We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! This restaurant is basically only opened for dinner, but they do have lunch on Saturdays only.

La Ronde Revolving Restaurant‎ on Urbanspoon

La Ronde Revolving Restaurant‎

10111 Bellamy Hill
Edmonton, AB
(780) 428-6611

Mango Shiva – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been meaning to try Mango Shiva for a few years now… but usually when I’m downtown on Stephens Avenue, it’s normally during a Saturday afternoon, when they’re not opened. This one weekday, we were downtown and decided to finally make our stop in!

This visit was during a cold spell, so we quickly went in and ordered some Chai Tea and it came out on a tray with lovely presentation! The tea was quite alright, even though I preferred it a little more flavourful with spices! But, I guess there are different types of chai!

We knew we were going to order some curries and split them over rice and naan, and this naan selection is fantastic, I’ve never tried Honey Coconut Naan which I knew I was going to get immediately! I didn’t care what curries we get, it was the naan I wanted to try! I’m so glad I did, it was a subtle sweet with shredded coconut inside. The best part was, I watched the cook make the naan which must’ve made it a few notches better!

Like everyone else in the world, I do like Butter Chicken so I got an order of that! It was creamy and smooth and just as a butter chicken sauce should be. There wasn’t a ton of pieces of chicken, but what we had was extremely delicious and flavourful. Their tomato sauce was the perfect sauce to go with my rice!

My husband appreciates spicier food, and he loves vindaloo, so we also ordered the Vindaloo Pork which does sound a little funny, but it was a wonderful balance of sweet and spice! They described it as braised pork shoulder and belly in spicy potato vegetable curry with pineapple salsa! I don’t usually eat that spicy, but it was manageable and quite fragrant and flavourful – especially with the sweet naan!

I love this place, even though it’s out of my way and a bit pricy for what we got, I still really enjoyed it. I like that it’s not the typical East Indian restaurant and that the menu items aren’t the same stuff! So, overall I was really happy and we left with a warm and full belly! The service was top notch and it was just a warm and inviting environment!

Mango Shiva on Urbanspoon

Mango Shiva

218 8 Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 532-8980

Caffe Artigiano – Calgary, Alberta

We were downtown running a few errands this one afternoon, and walked into Caffe Artigiano for a quick bite and some coffee! The cafe was beautiful on the outside and welcoming, so we walked in!

We had ordered a Latte which was not only made to perfection, but they topped it off with foam art. It was really rich, but luckily it wasn’t my cup!

I got to enjoy a cup of Chai Tea Latte which was really good here. It ranks on the top for one of my favourites, although not at the top, it’s still really high up there!

Then, we decided to grab a quick lunch as well, so we ordered their Cranberry Smoked Turkey Panini, or something like that… anyway, they heated up the panini and brought it to our table. It looked and smelled absolutely amazing, and I’m soo glad we ordered this! It had the perfect balance between sweet and savoury!

Our overall experience here was just top notch! The environment was great, service was really awesome, and the location is quite optimal! Best of all, their stuff tasted great! I’m sure when I’m in the area again, I’ll try to stop in for another delicious treat!

Caffe Artigiano on Urbanspoon

Caffe Artigiano
100-332 6 Ave SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 699-9855

Chateau Lacombe Hotel – Edmonton, Alberta

We went for a little road trip and needed to stay over in the Edmonton area, so we booked a room in downtown at Chateau Lacombe Hotel which is just at the river. The hotel was beautiful and the rooms were very spacious.

We stayed in their regular guestrooms with a king bed, and it was really nice. There was a lot of space in the rooms even though the shape of the room was a little skewed.

The bathrooms were your typical hotel bathrooms, so it was nice it was standard and clean.

The room offered nice work space and a big TV so it’s great for any type of travelers that would need a hotel in this area!

This was a great hotel and the dining from either their Lacombe Cafe for breakfast, or the revolving restaurant up on 24th floor offered really delicoius food! We wouldn’t have a problem booking a stay at this hotel again! Click below to see the complete hotel room walk through!

Chateau Lacombe Hotel – Edmonton, AB

10111 Bellamy Hill,
Edmonton, AB Canada
Tel 780.428.6611 Fax 780.425.6564