restaurant – Elsie Hui

March 3, 2017

Pho Mai Thy – Calgary, Alberta

I’m not sure what happened here… but I know I went to Pho Mai Thy with my other half! We came here in search of something less popular in hopes of it being super delicious. We actually came here with low expectations, and it met and exceeded the bar I set for this restaurant! The parking here wasn’t bad at all, and the service was pretty good even close to closing time!

We ordered a plate of Cha Gio which is something I really enjoy ordering if I’m hungry! These were really nicely fried, and the filling was very flavourful! Crispy, fresh, hot and awesome – not much more you want for these spring rolls!

I ordered a bowl of Bun Bo Hue as I love doing that once in awhile as I know it’s a specialty food. I try to compare it to whatever I like as I have no idea how original is really supposed to be. I have a favourite place that I go for this, and this isn’t too far behind! The noodles are good, the flavour is great, the spice level is high – yet edible! The size of the noodle soup was big with quite a bit of beef in it, so I quite enjoyed my bun bo hue!

Overall, this place as mentioned was better than we expected. So, we left here with a super full belly and we were quite satisfied.

Pho Mai Thy

6219 Centre Street NW
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 454-8919

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017

Peking Ginger Restaurant – Canmore, Alberta

We were having family in Canmore for a family function, so we decided to scope out some Chinese restaurants to make sure they’re worthy of bringing family there. One of our stops was the Peking Ginger right on Bow Valley Trail. Parking wasn’t too bad as it there was a little parking lot in front of the restaurant, which was a strip plaza.

Once we sat down, we ordered their fried rice, which they called Special Fried Rice, and it was pretty standard. I am very bias to fried rice as I have yet to find a place that makes fried rice as good as my uncles… so, if it’s “good”, it’s probably quite good. Although standard is standard, this fried rice was good! Simple things needs to be done perfectly.

The other dish we ordered, I quite enjoyed and Peking Ginger calls this dish Hot and Sour Soup with Sizzling Rice and this was pretty unique. What they do is basically bring out sizzling hot rice on an iron board and dunk it in hot and sour soup. As odd as it sounds, I really enjoyed this dish!

We had a pretty enjoyable lunch at this location. It was quite quiet when we went, but the food and service was pretty good. There was parking outside, which worked for us. We only needed one spot anyway.

Peking Ginger Restaurant

1702 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, AB
(403) 678-3365

January 25, 2016

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We often drive by Le La Vietnamese Restaurant and always wanted to hop in! We finally did, and we set our exceptions low as we didn’t do any prior research to this restaurant! There’s tons of parking and there a lot of tables inside, but it wasn’t busy when we went as it was right before closing! The staff was really nice to us and didn’t hurry us out just because they were closing!

We ordered some Condensed milk Vietnamese Iced Coffee which I don’t normally order, however, I wanted a treat this time so I went for it! It was a delicious and refreshing drink with the perfect amount of condensed milk!

I ordered my standard go-to pho, the Rare Beef and Beef Ball Noodle Soup and it’s not available at all locations, but I love it when I get them. This place doesn’t give too much beef balls either, but more than some other locations. I find a lot of places cut up a beef ball into 1/8’s and gives you like 5 pieces – so you don’t even get 1 beef ball!! At least here, you get more than 1 ball, so it’s a great treat!

My hsuband ordered their Satay Beef Noodle Soup and he really enjoyed the flavours of the soup. The beef was tender and quite delicious! This was suppose to be an extra large bowl, but the amount of noodles seems similar with more soup.

Overall, this was a great place to get some Vietnamese noodle soup! It’s not the best in town, but it as really good pho!! Very decent, prices are good and food tastes great!

Le La Vietnamese Restaurant

6624 Centre St SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 255-5665

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015

Great Bear Restaurant – Lake Louise, Alberta

This one afternoon, we ventured onto the Ski Lift for sightseeing purposes and on our way back down, we decided to stop into Great Bear which is on the upper floor of the Lake Louise Ski Resort. There’s lots of parking outside, but I can only imagine how busy they would be during prime ski season!

We really didn’t know what to order, so the first thing that we saw on the menu that was interesting was their Patroller’s Pie, which was ground beef with vegetables, topped with mashed potato. We upgraded the side salad to include a bison chilli, and this was the perfect meal for a cold winter day. The patrollers pie was quite delicious although it was a little dry. The chilli was really hearty and quite enjoyable!

We also ordered their Stuffed Baby Yorkies which is something my husband likes as he likes Yorkshire pudding. These were stuffed with shaved Beef with horseradish aioli & au jus on the side. These were little pillows of awesomeness! The Yorkshire puddies were crispy on the outside, light and fluffy inside, with tender beef and gravy! There’s nothing not good in this combination!

Overall, the views and atmosphere here was really amazing! The log cabin resort feel, with the ski hills right outside. It was a great time even though we weren’t into outdoor sports/activities.

Great Bear Restaurant

The Lake Louise Ski Resort
1 Whitehorn Road,
Lake Louise, Alberta
403-522-3555

May 15, 2015August 16, 2020

Bamboo Garden – Banff, Alberta

We went for a winter hike and it was freezing this one afternoon. We figured we deserved to warm up with some spice and found ourselves at Bamboo Garden, a restaurant on second floor right on Banff Avenue.

Once upstairs, it was kind of worn down, but it wasn’t too bad. We got to sit near their employee table and figured out that they weren’t Thai, they’re Mandarin Chinese. So, that would explain the huge variety of “Asian” cuisines on the menu.

We decided we would start with a medium order of Tom Yum Soup as nothing really warms you up than hot, spicy soup. The soup was decent, it wasn’t too spicy of flavourful but it was still quite tasty.

Sticking with the Thai, we ordered one of their curries, we picked the Red Curry with Beef and we got an order of Coconut Rice with this. The dish was actually fantastic! The curry was spicy yet flavourful, the beef was tender and the portions were generous.

I rarely go to a Thai place without ordering my favourite, the Pad See-Ew and this one we got it with chicken as that’s how I like it. This plate was fantastic and they cooked it with high heat which was perfect. The noodles were seasoned great. This was definitely my favourite dish of the evening!

As the main courses tasted fantastic, we decided we would order Mango Sticky Rice and that was kind of a mistake. The mango was so rare it was hard and it tasted like it stings! The sticky rice and coconut milk was good. Overall, this was not something we enjoyed.

So, overall, the main course was pretty awesome and the soup was good. However, the dessert wasn’t favourable – and if it was something we ordered because it wasn’t in season, they should have said something. The prices are reasonable, especially for the portion. Not a bad place to eat, especially for winter!

Bamboo Garden

211 Banff St 2nd Floor
Banff, AB
(403) 985-6688