Pho Dau Bo Vietnamese Beef Noodle House – Calgary, Alberta

My coworkers and I have been talking about going to pho for awhile, and this one afternoon – we went! They brought me to Pho Dau Bo for their pho and it was so good that I brought my husband there!

I really enjoy having Salad Rolls so naturally I ordered them. I was kind of hungry so it didn’t matter. The salad rolls were really good and fresh, the skin was thin and delicate but it held the roll together.

I guess this location is known for their Pho Sate, my husband had to try it with beef! He really loved the flavour of the soup and the meat was really good. It’s like no other satay pho we’ve had! I really enjoyed the soup and he seemed to agree with me!

I ordered the weekend special, which was Bun Bo Hue and it has always been one of my favourite dishes – although not every restaurant has it. This one only has it on weekends.

Overall, the experience here was exceptional! The service was friendly and fast, the food had large portions and they were really tasty, the atmosphere was clean and comfortable – it accomplishes its purpose and there’s quite a bit of parking outside in the Little Saigon Center!

Pho Dau Bo Vietnamese Beef Noodle House on Urbanspoon

Pho Dau Bo Vietnamese Beef Noodle House

Little Saigon Centre
4909 17 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 272-5160

Pho Binh Minh – Calgary, Alberta

This one evening I was heading up closer to the North side of town when I wanted to stop for some pho. We decided we would meet up with some friends when they recommended Pho Binh Minh which was located at a strip plaza, so there was plenty of parking available.

We decided we would start with Gha Gio – Spring Rolls and they were really delicious! They’re hot and crispy with really flavourful filling. It was silly as there’s 4 of us, and we got 1 plate — not enough!

I ordered their regular noodles, Pho Tai – Medium Rare Beef Noodle Soup which was amazing! This was the bowl of pho that was recommended and I’m glad I took it! There’s nothing I can think of that I didn’t enjoy!

Originally, we were going to go to a place across the street for Pho Sate, but we ended up here – so we ordered a bowl anyway. It definitely wasn’t what we were expecting as it turned out to be a bowl of pho tai with hot sauce. It tasted fine, but it wasn’t really a nice satay soup.

Our experience here was pretty amazing, the spring rolls and the bowl of pho was almost as tasty as they come! The service was quick and they’re quite friendly even though they were packed!

Pho Binh Minh on Urbanspoon

Pho Binh Minh

4710 17 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 235-2521

Five Guys Burgers and Fries (McKenzie Towne) – Calgary, Alberta

We came home one evening looking for a good burger place and drove by Five Guys Burger and Fries off 130th Ave SE in McKenzie Towne. The place was packed for an odd time of evening to drop in, so it was a good sign.

Once inside, the line up was long and they had boxes of peanuts where you can eat and take! It’s a pretty good idea as the food did come out rather slowly – but they’re actually making it for you when you order! We had their Cheeseburger and it turns out to be a double patty – large burger and messy! It was quite delicious and greasy!

I also felt like ordering some fries, so we settled on a small Cajan Fries which was seasoned with probably cajan seasoning. It wasn’t bad and they gave lots of fries! They even poured an extra scooop of fries on the top of the bag when our order was ready! It was hot and awesome!

Overall, our experience here was actually surprisingly better than expected! We’ve tried other Five Guys locations and I think this one a better!

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

305-5155 130th Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 252-0887

Chili Island – Calgary, Alberta

This year for Christmas eve, we thought we were so smart and made reservations to a place that didn’t open. So, we were left on a scramble with a lot of other families looking for a place to eat! We found Chili Island that was opened, and luckily we found a good parking spot as it was busy!

We were seated right away and we were expecting service to be really slow as they were very busy with dine in customers as well as take out. They actually did an amazing job getting food to their hungry customers! We started with a soup, their Gar Tom Khars Soup which was their Thai Chicken and Mushroom soup with coconut milk. I like it because the coconut milk helps with the spiciness of Thai soups! It was delicious and extremely fragrant and flavourful!

Then, we got an order of their Peek Kai yod Sai which was Thai Stuffed Chicken Wings which was really quite shocking! The order had 4 wings which were super sized. The middle portion of the wing was deboned and stuffed with minced pork and other goodies, and then deep fried! It was amazing and gigantic and really quite spectacular as it was something we’ve never had before! I would highly recommend this dish/appetizer but make sure you come with a big appetite!

For the main entree, we shared an order of their Cantonese Chow Mein which is really nicely done! The fried noodles were crispy, using the thin egg noodles and topped with really fresh veggies and meat! The entire dish was cooked well, seasoned well, and priced well! We thought for sure we would have left overs for Christmas lunch, but everything tasted so good we decided to enjoy everything fresh. After you take these noodles home, it won’t be crispy, and we didn’t want it to go to waste!

Our overall experience for Chili Island was it was surprisingly delicious and not exactly overpriced for the food you get and the portions! We had a wonderful time and realized what an amazing job they did, even with such a large rush of customers! I am sure we will be back, with no hesitation!

Chili Island on Urbanspoon

Chili Island

4600 130 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 726-0733

Sunshine Vietnamese Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

We decided to have more Vietnamese food as that’s a cuisine I really like that isn’t as expensive as some other types! So, we found Sunshine Vietnamese primarily by the large amount of positive reviews for this restaurant.

We ordered some Deep Fried Chicken Wings to start, and they give you plum sauce to dip your wings into. As odd as it sounds, we just ate the wings fried with no sauce. As odd as it sounds, I think I would like it more with a sweet chili sauce instead of plum… or a spicy plum sauce would be really interesting as well! The wings itself was fried quite nicely, we enjoyed them!

I ordered their Bun as I’ve been eating a lot of noodle soups lately. I decided to go for their Lemongrass Beef with Spring Rolls and it was a large portion of vermicelli! There was 2 full spring rolls and not too much beef on the top.

My husband has this amazing ability to not get bored of eating the same thing – over and over! So, he always goes back to what he likes, the Rare Beef Noodle Soup! I guess it does make sense if you’re comparing food – you’re eating the same thing at a different place! The soup here was really good and the flavours were deep, so it was better than some places we’ve gone too!

Overall, a great experience with a lot of options on their menu! The food is quite authentic and the service is friendly as well! We enjoyed our time here and hopefully we’ll be returning!

Sunshine Vietnamese on Urbanspoon

Sunshine Vietnamese

380 Canyon Meadows Dr SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 271-2214