restaurant – Page 5

March 25, 2014June 24, 2014

Soluxe Restaurant 陽光飯店 – Calgary, AB

Chinatown in Calgary has changed a bit, and Soluxe Restaurant is a new change from Harbour City at the corner of Centre Street and 3rd Ave.

We started with some dumplings – at this time when we visited Soluxe, it was right after we got home from China and we just wanted some good dumplings in Calgary, so we gave it a shot and ordered an order of Seafood Meat Dumplings which wasn’t bad. They cooked it in boiling water and had some red vinegar on the side. I think they could have elevated it by pan frying it a little, but that’s my opinion. The filling was very flavourful, and I would say a little on the salty side.

We stopped in here for lunch one day to try out their noodles. It wasn’t bad at all. The portions were quite large and the flavours of the meat and soup was quite good! I ordered an order of their Rice Noodles with Beef and the beef chunks was really tender.

The other bowl of noodles that we ordered was basically the same thing, but it was called Special Noodle with Beef and the noodles were quite special. It was very homemade like, and it varied in thickness leading me to think they rolled it out themselves. It’s a broader noodle but it worked nice with the noodle soup.

Our overall experience was quite decent. We enjoyed our bowls of noodle soup. We actually took left overs home and had it for dinner! The portions were huge, so it helped justifying the price tag a bit as each bowl of noodles was just under $11!

Soluxe Restaurant

302 Centre Street South
Calgary, AB
(403) 269-8888

January 23, 2014

Bellagio Cafe 鹿港小镇 – Shanghai, China

We ventured to the Super Brand Mall in Shanghai and found a great place for dinner called Bellagio Cafe and it’s located on the 8th Floor of the mall and relatively easy to find! It’s closer to the IMAX, if it helps! 🙂

We ordered a bunch of dishes and shared it, Asian style! We first started with their Black Pepper Beef on Iron Plate which smelled and tasted absolutely amazing! The amount of pepper used was the perfect amount on beautifully tender pieces of beef!

We also tried Steamed Shrimp with Garlic and I know it doesn’t sound too appetizing, but it was absolutely amazing! The shrimp was really fresh and steamed to perfection. Tons of garlic on top of the shrimp – so luckily we all had at least one piece!

From there, with us being so Asian, we ordered some rice, Taiwanese Fried Rice, and it’s quite different from the fried rice that I’m use to! It is very similar, but different! Usually the main difference between Chinese fried rice and Taiwanese fried rice will be in the egg cooking format. Chinese will basically make scrambled eggs or an omelette first, while the Taiwanese will crack the raw egg into the fried rice and then mix it up.

A very traditional and popular Taiwanese dish is the Three cup chicken (三杯鸡) which is made with 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup rice wine and 1 cup sesame oil. This recipe will make TONS of chicken, so it’s nice to modify it and Bellagio Cafe definitely modifies it and adds other ingredients such as ginger and basil into the dish to make it extra special!

My husband actually has Hakka ancestors so it was neat to him to find a dish done in this style. When he saw Hakka Stir Fry Dried Squid an Celery he ordered it! It is exactly as it sounds! Most of Taiwanese cooking is derived from 3 simple ingredients, and this dish shows the simplicity of their cooking with rice wine, soy sauce and some sugar! This dish was so simple yet so delicious!

We actually ordered a dessert or 2 for this meal, and the most memorable dessert was their Mango Pancake which was a mango crepe that was really thin around some light cream with some mango inside. It was light and airy and actually kind of refreshing! We really enjoyed this and I ate up my husbands half of the dessert! 🙂

Overall, we loved this place and it’s a place we would recommend for Taiwanese food! It’s neat to see Shanghai has different types of Asian cuisine and it’s actually done properly! The food, service and atmosphere ranks top notch for sure!

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

October 28, 2013

John’s Breakfast & Lunch – Calgary, Alberta

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day… well, that’s a lie! ALL meals are my favourite, but I do enjoy a great breakfast with my husband. We found this place called John’s Breakfast Lunch and we just assumed they do breakfast and lunch only from their name! We were right! It looks like a popular place, and when we got there, the lineup outside the door proves to me it was popular! Too bad we just went during the rush peak time, but it’s all good!

I sat down and ordered myself a hot tea. I love tea and I loved their tea pots! I saw another table with these tea pots while I was waiting in line – so I thought I had to get one myself!

For breakfast, I ordered their Loaded Omelette which had ham, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, onions, peppers and tomatoes in it! The bacon was really delicious as it was really crispy and had lots of flavour. It was a great omelette and it looked beautiful as well! My picture doesn’t do it justice, but it’s an omelette! 🙂

My husband ordered their special Two Eggs! He probably did it as it was on sale — same price as it was on the menu! LOL! But, it had 2 eggs, sausage and hashbrowns and toast. Sounds simple and it was. At least they didn’t goof it up, so we were very happy!

The meals come out a little slow, but it looks like a family owned and ran restaurant – which they’re doing an amazing job! The food was quite good, no better or worse, but it was a fun environment. We had fun and we left happy and satisfied. What more do you need/want!?

John’s Breakfast & Lunch

A-2614 4 Street NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 277-0255

October 27, 2013October 27, 2013

Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We’ve heard really good things about a Vietnamese Restaurant named Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant which is located at the intersection of Elbow Drive and Heritage Drive. At first, we thought it as the larger strip mall complex at this intersection, but it is actually located on the main floor of the building across the street. Parking is quite limited, but we were lucky enough to have grabbed a parking spot.

The interior of the restaurant looks more like a Chinese restaurant, but it was fine. It looks like an authentic restaurant, as it feels like you’re eating at home with their dining room chair selection.

We started with their Shrimp Salad Rolls which was surprisingly better than it looks! We’ve been to so many places where they premake their salad rolls, and I’m quite confident these are made to order.

I normally order my usual – no matter where I go for a first time Vietnamese restaurant. If it’s good, then I will go back and try something different! So, back to my Rare Beef with Beef Ball Pho and this was really good. Although not a lot of beef balls, it had a ton of beef. The broth had tons of flavour and it was even better enhanced with other sauces.

My other half had ordered his usual as well, the Rare Beef Pho and he really enjoyed it. They were basically the same thing, but we like to think it’s different! The size of the orders were quite large and we were quite stuffed after this wonderful lunch!

Overall, we were pleased with this restaurant. The service was a little slow, as they weren’t busy in the house. They did have a lot of take out orders, so they must’ve been running behind from it.

Bow River Vietnamese Restaurant

8408 Elbow Drive
Calgary, AB
(403) 259-6099