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Basil Ultimate Pho and Fine Vietnamese Cuisine – Calgary

We found ourselves seeking out for more Vietnamese food, and this time we ended up in the Northeast at a place called Basil Ultimate Pho. It’s just off 32nd Avenue and it’s not hard to find! It’s a large place with signage!

We were greeted really quickly and by we kind of knew what we wanted to try. We started with their Beef Spring Rolls which was a deep fried spring roll with beef in it. It was a neat change to their typical pork, and you knew it was beef!

I ordered theier Ultimate Sub which was a mixture of sate beef and chicken on a toasted baguette, with the typical Vietnamese sub toppings. The sub was really good and had a nice heat level to it.

Of course we’d order some pho, we’re at a pho place! We ordered a Pho Tai which is always our go to one! They called it Rare Steak Pho here, and it’s basically the same thing!

Overall, the experience here was nice. The location was large, spacious and clean. The service was great and the prices seem a little high for a what it is. It was an average visit for the pho, but I really enjoyed the Vietnamese sub!

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Basil Ultimate Pho and Fine Vietnamese Cuisine

10, 2770 32nd Ave. NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 457-0808

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Ginger Beef Bistro House

We wanted some dim sum this one day, and we’ve heard both good and bad reviews from friends and family for Ginger Beef Bistro House, but we still wanted to try it for ourselves. Normally, if it’s a new restaurant, I give it a chance plus a second chance. I like to think if it’s new, things are still a little chaotic, but, things seemed relatively smooth, and the food wasn’t bad at all!

Located in the same parking lot as the theatre in the Northeast, this restaurant is a stand alone building, with tons of parking – and tons of crazy drivers too! It’s a location that fills up quickly, especially on weekends. We arrived around 3o minutes after it opened their doors, so we didn’t have to wait in line for a table. By the time we left though, the entrance area was crammed with hungry guests waiting for a table.

We started with an order of Pineapple BBQ Pork Bun, and I am going to say that I loved it! It was fresh, the topping on the pineapple bun was excellent, and even the bbq pork that was inside of the bun was really tasty with a nice sauce to it! The tasted between the subtle sweetness and the savoury was perfect! These buns were also extremely adorable!

Then came a dish we always eat, and I’ve always enjoyed since I was a child, it would be Chinese Donut Rice Crepes. I love ordering rice crepes from here, as you can see right into their kitchen – I got to watch the lady make all the rice crepes, and that was really exciting. The rice crepe itself was thin, soft, smooth, and super fresh – making this dish one to remember!

Ah, the Pan Fried Turnip Cake is something my husband eats – always! He really enjoyed it from here, even though he says there isn’t as much ingredients in the turnip cake as the ones I make for him. But in having more “goh”, they get a really nice square cut! So, it looks wonderful for presentation. Taste wise, it wasn’t bad either.

As per usual, I eat a lot of Chicken Feet, and these like many other places are jammed packed with flavour, and tender. I think that’s most important for chicken feet, and they were able to achieve it.

Steamed Beef Tripe with Ginger and Green Onion is another one of my favourites, and it too is important that it’s tender. No complaints with my beef tripe from here!

The steamed shrimp dumpling was quite nice, the skin on the shrimp dumpling was delicate with a nice texture. Of course, the shrimp was quite fresh. The shrimp dumplings wasn’t huge but it was packed with good shrimps! It was delicious!

Now, we got our order of Deep Fried Shrimp Balls, which was a little different. The crunchiness was awesome, and the actual shrimp balls was huge – still using the good quality of shrimp as in their shrimp dumpling.

The Steamed Beef Meat Balls is something I don’t always eat, but I did for this restaurant, as everything else was really good. It wasn’t overwhelmed by the cilantro taste as some restaurants do. It was surprisingly good, and the meat was smooth and silky. Overall, it was a great meat ball.

I think the Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Dumplings was a little disappointment for me. I was expecting a nice bit of broth when I bite in, but it was just a pork dumpling that was “juicy” – but no broth. It could be the fact it may have all leaked out, but I don’t know. The texture of the pork dumpling wasn’t as smooth as I would like it, but the taste wasn’t bad. Even though this may have been my least favourite dish of the experience, by no means was it “bad” or “gross”. So, overall, I really loved my experience here and think it’s one of the better dim sum places in Calgary. I’ll definitely be back, as long as they keep up their quality without increasing their prices!

Ginger Beef Bistro House

400 388 Country Hills Blvd NE
Calgary, AB T3K5J6
(403) 265-1616

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Clay Oven – Calgary, Alberta

Recently, as the weather has been starting to warm up (well, it’s been a nice and milk winter), I’ve been wanting spicy food – as we normally eat spicy on the coldest days – which we didn’t have too many of. So, we went to and ventured to the northeast, and found ourselves at Clay Oven located in a small strip plaza.

Once we got to the table, some Papadum was given to us (and every table), but it also appeared on the menu for $2.00 which made it confusing… is it a gift or if we eat it, would we have to pay? I must admit, I never did pay attention to the bill when it came, so I still can’t answer my own question. The papadum that was on the table is two thinly sliced wafers toasted on an open flame. This one didn’t taste burnt either, but had a subtle smoke background to it! The sauce that came with the papadum was really tangy with a nice kick to it! It was good!

I’ve really started loving Mango Lassi drinks, and now every time I go to an East Indian restaurant, I would order one. This one is one of the best, as it didn’t separate through the night, and it wasn’t so fibrous making it hard to drink. The mango lassi was full of mango flavour and this location has just made me one of my favourites in the city!

Of course, when you eat curries, you eat it with some sort of Roti! We ordered the Garlic Nan which is leavened bread of fine light flour baked to perfection. The Naan here is huge, and it was baked to perfection. But, the simple fact that their garlic nan was made with a huge taste of “garlic powder” kind of disappointed me a little. The garlic flavour was definitely there, but I was hoping for some fresh garlic infused in oil or something like that. I think next time I’ll just get a plain nan!

We also ordered some Plain Rice which their plain is great, it’s basmati rice richly flavored with spices and saffron. I like using rice for my vehicle to eat curries.

For the curries, we ordered a medium heat level of Butter Chicken which is made of chicken fillets blended in a creamy butter and tomato sauce.

The other curry that we ordered was a Beef Curry, also in medium heat level. This curry is made of fillets of beef cooked in curry sauce and spices

The food and flavours from Clay Oven are phenomenal! The heat level is actually quite spicy, and I believe there were 4 levels of heat, and we’re only at the 2nd heat level! The flavours are bold and strong, and to be honest, the heat actually numbed me by the end – I just continued eating and I didn’t think it was spicy at all! I really enjoyed the food from here, and I am glad I was introduced to it from my friends wedding – as she used Clay Oven as their caterer!

Clay Oven

3132 26 St NE
Calgary, AB
(403) 250-2161

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Pho Taurus – Calgary, Alberta

We really like Vietnamese cuisine, not only are they filling, but they usually are very reasonable in prices – especially when you can find a location that is really delicious! We’ve been going to Pho Taurus for a few years now, and we stopped with a 2 year period in between… and in which they’ve renovated the place and the food it seems.

I love their appetizers especially their Roasted Quail dish! It comes in a plate with 2 quails, and they are always perfectly cooked and tastes delicious! The skin is always crispy and the meat remains juicy. They are something I always get from Pho Taurus and I still love it! And, of course when you visit a Vietnamese restaurant, you always have to order their Vietnamese Spring Roll and these come in a plate of 4 crispy fried spring rolls filled with ground pork, chicken & vegetable

For the actual meal, I like to get the Rare Beef with Beef Balls Noodle Soup which seems to be my trend, while my husband just gets the Rare Beef Noodle Soup which is the same thing without the beef balls. Usually, this place makes these bowls of pho packed with flavour, but this time, it seemed quite watered down. We don’t normally stock up on tons of Hoisin Sauce and Srichacha Sauce but this time we weren’t left with any choice but to do so…

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As Pho Taurus was once my favourite locations back in 2008/09 and suddenly upon returning, it was quite disappointing that the soup was watered down so badly we didn’t know what to do with our noodle soups. Hopefully it’s a phase they’ll soon recover from.

Pho Taurus

#311-500 Country Hills Blvd NE
Calgary, AB T3K5G9
(403) 567-1228

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Graze Restaurant and Grill – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been going to Graze Grill once a year now for the last 5 years – and we only go on Valentines Day. They put out a really good Valentines Day Buffet at a really great rate! You don’t need to make reservations, but I have been doing it anyway the last 2 years.

The restaurant is located inside of Executive Royal Inn also known as the Royal Inn in Northeast Calgary. It’s really neat because I know that some flight crew that overnights in Calgary stays at this hotel – and sometimes you see them eating at this buffet for V-Day! The prices are really reasonable as well – as all other places really mark up their prices for this day, adults was only $25/adult in 2011. Sure, the selection isn’t HUGE as it is in a smaller hotel and really, how much selection do you need when the food tastes good? My favourite station of course is the carving station! We’ve had from beef roasts to prime rib and it’s always good!

This is a great buffet to go to in Calgary during special occasions because they care about the product of their food and they make it taste really good. The environment is really nice, warm and inviting. I’ve never tried their Sunday Brunch buffet before, but I’ve really never tried that anywhere in Calgary, except for a select few locations. It’s a place I’ll continue to go to annually for the special Valentines Day Buffet!

Overall, I think the buffet is well worth it! It’s got great food, and it’s close to a lot of amenities if you’re looking for something to do or somewhere to go afterwards. The dessert chocolate fountain is always fun too! Their desserts are quite decent as well! definitely hits the spot!

Graze Restaurant and Grill

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