Chicken on the Way – McKenzie Towne Calgary

I was bummed out when Blockbusters closed on High Street in McKenzie Towne, but to my excitement, Chicken on the Way opened a new location there! They’re a little shop that takes take-out only, and often, the line is out the door (rain or shine)!

The first time I ate there, I purchased their daily special – and on that day, it was 3 piece chicken, fries and a fritter with gravy! The wait time wasn’t bad at all, and it comes in their famous yellow box that smells so good just holding the hot contents.

The chicken was perfectly fried and perfectly seasoned! Their pieces of chicken are actually larger than some other places that serves fried chicken. These large pieces of chicken has super crispy skin and really juicy chicken meat! It’s a perfect fried chicken in my opinion. The fries and fritter during my first visit was over fried and over salted, but all other times I’ve revisited the location, they’ve fixed that problem and made it better!

I really enjoyed their fritters – even though it was a little over fried, the sweet batter was excellent. With a super crispy exterior and a soft interior, the fritter is something I will always get when I visit Chicken on the Way.

When I don’t make a big enough for dinner or just want an awesome snack, Chicken on the Way is where I like to go now! It’s close to home and the prices aren’t completely ridiculous, making this a great option! I would recommend trying it out if you haven’t done so yet!

Chicken on the Way on Urbanspoon

Chicken on the Way

27 McKenzie Towne Avenue SE
Calgary, AB T2Z3S7
(403) 720-2367

Swiss Chalet – Calgary, Alberta

Over the weekend, we wanted to eat out but didn’t know where to go. I remembered that someone gave me some gift cards to Swiss Chalet, so we decided to stop by the one on 130th Ave SE. We went in during the late afternoon, and oddly, no one was around to greet us or seat us. We were a little confused, but that’s alright!

We started our lunch with Seasoned Dry Ribs and it came with 9 pieces of ribs for about $5.99 which wasn’t the best deal, but still within reason when you eat appetizers out. These lightly seasoned ribs was exploding with flavour and tasted great on it’s own. The pieces weren’t too big, but it was tender and juicy. The sweet chili dipping sauce was really good and tasted good – and just as it was described you get the sweetness and then a nice kick of heat followed!

With our meal, we also ordered a Chalet Chicken Soup which tasted like a regular chicken noodle soup. The consistency was thick and it was really hearty. It appears that the soup is made with their white chicken meat, simmered with vegetables and noodles in a savoury chicken broth.

I ordered their new menu item of Hickory Rotisserie Chicken Flatbread Rotisserie Chicken served hot with Hickory Mesquite BBQ sauce, Monterey Jack cheese, crispy bacon and mayo folded in a Panini grilled flatbread. I ordered this with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. The smokey barbeque sauce was delicious and the main flavour of the flatbread. This was delicious and the cheese was perfectly melted. The mashed potatoes was gritty and cold, but I didn’t need to eat it since we had some delicious starters, I didn’t need to fill up on that!

Then, from their signature menu, we ordered a Classic Hot Chicken Sandwich – hot Rotisserie Chicken smothered in home-style gravy. This arrived and we looked confused because the actually sandwich was drenched in gravy! It was interesting as nothing could taste bad with gravy all over, however, the chicken meat was cold, and the gravy was really salty. The best thing on the plate was actually the medley of fresh vegetables… even the fries was cold and soggy. It was quite a disappointment as it was what they called a signature dish!

Overall, this was a fantastic lunch – of course not considering the signature dish of classic hot chicken sandwich. I’m really tempted to return to try their actual rotisserie chicken meals as well as their chicken is quite delicious!

Swiss Chalet

4916 130 Ave SE, Unit 300
Calgary, AB T2Z0B2
(403) 216-2557

Karma Fine Indian Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

When the weather is cold outside, and after being what seems to be stuck at home, spice is always something I crave. Whether it’s Thai curry, Indian Curry, Szechuan spices or whatever, I need the heat of the spice! This time, I went for Indian Curry not too far from home off 130th Ave Southeast to Karma Fine Indian Cuisine. The location of Karma is just off Deerfoot Trail and 130th Eastbound – and you turn in towards Canadian Tire and Superstore.

I was going to enjoy a nice hot cup of Chai Tea, but opted out for something a tad different. I had a glass of Mango Lassi which is a very common Indian and Pakistani drink which is yoghurt based (lassi). Basically it’s made of pureed mango, yoghurt and water – and depending on how much water/ice they put it would depend on how thick it is. Sometimes, some places have it so thick that you suck so hard to only get a little drop. The consistency here was really good, as it was thinner than a milkshake, but definitely thicker of a drink. One thing I like about this drink from Karma is the fact they don’t use ice! It never separated which is something I like about my drinks!

This visit to Indian food, I really wanted to try different things, and so, instead of the usual suspect of coconut rice, this time, we got Saffron Rice which looked like a bowl of Christmas rice! It was beautiful! It didn’t have as much flavour on it’s own like coconut rice, but it was very fragrant!

Staying on the different track, I wanted to have lamb with my curry, so we ordered a Lamb Boona which they described as a Karma special made with traditional curry cooked with herbs and spices. This sounded like a wonderful choice as it’s like their “house special” and to me, those are always good! The lamb was really tender, and there were quite a few pieces of lamb in the curry too! We got the curry in mild and you definitely get the kick, but it’s a tender kick.

Now, for the twist on my naan, we normally get the garlic naan (which is fantastic from Karma), we got Keema Nan which is made with white flour bread stuffed with mildly spiced round beef. We normally don’t get the stuffed ones, but since I went to England and tried Indian Edge with their stuffed naan, I had to get it again (at least some version of it!). This was delicious and I would definitely get keema nan again, or other meat stuffed into my nan! Keema naan is just stuffed with some sort of “seasoned ground/minced meat” and varies from location to location, as Keema just means “minced meat”

Then, for my favourite dish of curry for the evening, we ordered a plate of Prawn Korma which obviously had prawns in it, but cooked in a mild curry enriched with cream, nuts and spices.

My overall experience here at Karma was a VERY positive experience, and I have no problems returning or bringing friends & family here who like eating Indian curries! I’m sure when my sister and brother-in-law come and visit me, I’ll take them here for dinner! I’m sure they’ll love it – but it’s definitely not as good as the curry where they are…

Karma Fine Indian Cuisine

4600 130 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 257-4977

Good Earth Cafe

I went to Cranston in Calgary this one afternoon to Good Earth Cafe to try one of their season drinks as I saw an ad for it in the newspaper, I finally went to try it and I was happy I did. The location was really interesting to get to, but I think it’s easier to stay on Cranston Avenue SE and making a right hand turn into the parking lot, instead of going around through the residential area. The actual cafe is really cute and it’s really bright with all the large windows from this corner bay at the strip plaza.

The drink I tried was called Toasted Coconut Chai and it definitely tasted like toasted coconuts. After drinking half of the small, I think I got use to the taste and I didn’t taste the coconut as much. I’m sure it would be better if I ordered food with my drink – so I’ll be sure to do that next time. The chai wasn’t as strong in the spices they used, but you can still tell it’s chai!

The menu at Good Earth Cafe is extensive and the selection of drinks are plenty! I didn’t try anything to eat this time, but I’m sure I will be back as it is a cute cafe – not too far away!

Good Earth Cafe on Urbanspoon

Good Earth Cafe

356 Cranston Rd SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 294-9330

The Little Cupcake Shoppe – Christmas Cupcakes

I really enjoy seasonal anything! All offerings including Christmas Cupcakes and this time, I got cupcakes from The Little Cupcake Shoppe in McKenzie Towne in Southeast Calgary. I tried only had 3 of them and they’re so good!

The Little Cupcake Shoppe - Christmas Cupcakes

My favourite would be the Spiced Rum Eggnog Cupcake. This cupcake has a denser cupcake base but it is infused with so much spice rum and eggnog flavour, it is good. It is an eggnog cupcake base with a spiced rum and eggnog buttercream. This cupcake does contain alcohol and you do taste it. It really puts you into the festive season!

The Little Cupcake Shoppe - Spiced Rum Eggnog Cupcake

They have a candy Cane Chocolate Cupcake which I find it to be very similar with their Chocolate Chip Mint Cupcake except for the decorations on the top. It’s a rich chocolate cupcake mix and a delicious mint butter cream icing! It’s the cupcake that you know it’s a holiday cupcake!

The Little Cupcake Shoppe - Peppermint Candy Cane Cupcake

The last cupcake is a Gingerbread Cupcake which is made with a gingerbread cupcake batter and gingerbread buttercream icing. At first, you’d think it will taste like nothing but gingerbread, but it’s not the case. It’s really delicious and not over powering at all.

Little Cupcake Shoppe - Gingerbread Cupcake

There’s a lot of great treats from The Little Cupcake Shoppe so it’s worth trying it out for yourself too!