northeast – Page 2

April 12, 2014

White Elephant Thai Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been going through some personal things and it’s been making me kind of depressed lately. The few cravings I’ve been wanting lately have been complete fails and so when I had a craving for Thai Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice, I looked for a place with the best reviews and found White Elephant Thai Cuisine inside the hotel. I was kind of low on patience when I got there and they said to me it was cash only and a wait. Good thing my husband decided to do the wait as I was happy with the food! We started our meal with their Hot and Sour Soup with Chicken or what they call Tom Yum Gai which is one of my favourite Thai soups. It’s fragrant and spicy, well balanced.

Of course, with my craving, I ordered their Pineapple Fried Rice with Chicken and it was exceptional. It was spicier than expected but nothing I can’t handle, especially after the tom yum soup. The portion size was large, tons of chicken and pineapples and I was really quite satisfied with this fried rice.

Then, we ordered some Red Curry with Beef and Pineapples as my husband knows I love pineapples. We had an order of coconut rice with it, and I was expecting us to bring some curry home… but we actually ate the entire thing. The beef was tender, tons of slices of beef as well. Again, tons of pineapple and the curry was smooth and delicious. The coconut rice was a great with this dish!

After my visit here, I have no problem returning here for any Thai craving that I may want. It’s not cheap here, but the portions are quite large. It’s great for sharing! The location is a little intersting as it’s located inside a hotel and there’s not much signage to the location, but follow your nose! I really enjoyed my evening here. It is smoky as the ventilation isn’t great, and the service is kind of slow… so, don’t come when you’re on a tight schedule and you’ll enjoy it!

White Elephant Thai Cuisine

1808 19 Street N.E
Calgary, AB
(403) 464-8558

January 5, 2014

Shibuya Izakaya – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been to Shibuya Izakaya in the past, but it’s been ages — way before I started my blog. So, I thought I would revisit them as I was wanting a bowl of udon for lunch! It’s located right on 16th Avenue, and they do have a small parking lot. It’s a lot easier to find parking spaces dsuring the day than in the evenings.

We started by ordering some Gyozas for an appetizer. I don’t normally order appetizers for lunch, but I can’t turn down dumplings of any sort! So, I got a plate and they weren’t bad. The skin was really thin, and it was steamy hot inside. It did lack a little flavour, but it was pretty good with their dipping sauce! So, they compensated it expecting you to use the sauce.

One of my favourite sushi would be Hokkigai and when I can order it alone, I normally do. However, I’m not sure why I did here. These 4 pieces below cost me $9!! They weren’t bad, but it’s definitely not the best, and not for the the price!

I ordered a bowl of Chicken Udon and that was actually really good! The broth was really delicious and the texture of the udon was quite authentic! The chicken was still juicy and tender, so I really enjoyed my bowl of udons!

My husband also wanted a bowl of udons for lunch so he tried their Tonkatsu Pork Cutlet Udon. The pork cutlet looked like it as awesome, but the meat was pretty tough and a tad dry. They did a great job frying it though! The broth and the udon noodles was the same as mine, so overall quite satisfactory (not as good as my Chicken Udon though)!

Overall, we left on a full belly and quite satisfied. It was relatively quiet for a Satuday afternoon around lunch time when we got there. I guess most people don’t think about sushi for lunch, but you can always think about ramen/soba/udon! This is a great place to go for a Japanese noodle fix though!

Shibuya Izakaya

449 16 Ave NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 277-8823

January 4, 2014

Steels Cafe & Grill – Calgary, Alberta

Originally, I use to go to this hotel to eat dinner every Valentines Day. We started it around 2006… but now I guess it has changed. In 2013, we went here as a tradition, and realized it’s now called Steels Cafe & Grill which means it’s different. There’s no more prime rib buffet!! I use to know a cook, training to be a chef here, so I would come here to see him. Now, he’s gone and everything is a little different. This restaurant is located on the main floor of the Executive Royal Hotel, across from their Front Desk. Reservations are usually not required, at least we always had the luck!

Once we sat down, we were presented with a menu. We knew immediately that times has changed, but gave the sit down thing a shot instead of our usual Prime Rib dinner. We ordered what we wanted and out came our drinks and some Dinner Rolls. They were dinner rolls, nothing good or bad about them!

But my husband and I ordered soup to start. I don’t actually remember who got ordered what but I remember eating both bowls up. I think I went for the Clam Chowder as it’s more my thing. I like creamy things – what can I say!? It was interesting, I remember it being very clam tasting (which is good) with some sand in the soup too. So, it’s real!?

The other bowl of soup we got was their Minestrone Soup which was good! It’s usually fool proof food, so it was good! I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary, and that’s a good thing on it’s own!

From there, we go straight into our dinner! I ordered their Grilled Wasabi Salmon which had some bok choy and rice. It was a light dinner and it was perfect as I remember we just got off the plane that evening and came straight here. It was a great meal despite of how it looks on my picture! I didn’t have the camera I got today at this time.

My meat eating husband ate 10oz New York Steak with some mashed potatoes and veggies! The steak wasn’t bad, but it’s no prime rib! The steak was pretty good, and I must say, the mashed potatoes stayed on the plate the way it looks. It was dry and kind of rubbery. Good thing the meat was satisfactory!

Overall, I think we miss our prime rib buffet for this special day. It just didn’t meet our expectations as it wasn’t what we were looking for. The food was decent and unfortunately it wasn’t the same as what we’re used to. We’ll search for a buffet and make a new tradition.

Steels Cafe & Grill – Executive Royal Hotel

2828 23 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 219-7484

November 5, 2013November 5, 2013

Tropical Delight Noodles House – Calgary, Alberta

Nothing warms one up more than hot and spicy food – so on this cold Saturday afternoon, that’s what we wanted! We heard wonderful things about Tropical Delight Noodle House in the Northeast end of Calgary, located in a strip mall with very little parking. This place is worth seeking out though, so be patient with them as they’re quite popular and they’ve got really limited hours (Monday through Saturday, 10am to 5:30PM).

Once inside, there it wasn’t too bad as it looks like other customers didn’t want to venture out during a snowfall warning day — so we got seated quite quickly this time! I started by ordering one of their Red Bean Drinks, well, it was called that in Chinese, don’t remember their English name given, but it was actually really good! It was the perfect subtle amount of sweetness and even though it was cold outside, it was still a nice treat!

I knew what I wanted, I wanted their Laksa Noodle Soup which was hot, flavourful and delicious! It hit the perfect spot in my belly! This spicy bowl of soup had shrimp, tofu, egg, and fish ball with rice vermicelli, of course in their awesome soup!

We also ordered their 2 Item Combo which was suppose to come with a drink — and they never gave it to us. It wasn’t something we needed, so we actually just left without a word about it at the end, since I paid $5 for my drink, I felt like I had to finish it instead. Anyway, for this combo, we had rice with beef randang and curry chicken. It looks like Chinese beef stew with 2 pieces of curry chicken. Both were really delicious and filling too!

Overall, an excellent choice for a place to put on your to-go list if you like ethnic and spicy food. Not everything is spicy, even though I do recommend the laksa! The Beef Randang was extremely delicious and I know my husband would recommend that before the laksa! Well, there you go, you gotta go now and figure out if you like the soup or the rice more!

Tropical Delight Noodles House

4604 12 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 261-1811

October 27, 2013October 27, 2013

Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

I’m not sure where it came from, but my husband has had a craving for Laksa noodles, so we ventures to the North and ended up at Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine The location isn’t hard to find, yet it’s at a strange place. It’s at the intersection of 32nd Ave with 32nd Street, in an area where you would think it’s all automobile stuff. But, this means there’s lot of parking!

We got inside and was seated in no time. They were busy, but they managed it really well. We did order some drinks, and I ordered their Honey Lemon Tea which tasted a lot like a lemon iced tea! Go figure! It was decent.

My husband on the other hand ordered their Soy Milk with Grass Jelly and he really liked it. It’s a combo that we never would’ve thought of, but now, I’m sure I can make it at home too!

The actual food here was absolutely amazing! We ordered to share their Seafood Curry Laksa with their yellow noodles as I thought it was more authentic, but who knows. It’s quite a spicy bowl of noodles with tons of flavours. It was quite amazing if you’re into this kind of Malaysian cuisine!

The other dish we ordered to share was their Hainanese Chicken Rice which was also a hit! It had a big mountain of ginger fried rice, a large piece of chicken, with their sauces! It wasn’t spicy like the laksa, but it was quite delicious. A tad on the greasy side, but overall an excellent dish!

Overall, this restaurant was a great stop! The prices were very reasonable, the food was delicious and the portions, well, they were huge! It’s a small shop with just a handful of employees, so be patient, and hopefully they’ll serve you up something amazing too!

Banana Leaf Tropical Cuisine

3330 32 Street Northeast
Calgary, AB
(403) 450-3880