western – Elsie Hui

October 17, 2014October 17, 2014

High River Inn Restaurant – High River, Alberta

We were actually trying to find some dinner in Longview where the place of choice didn’t have space for us. We started our journey home when we decided to make a stop in High River – where we found High River Inn Restaurant and it was a neat place. The owner was really pleased we were there, and she kept explaining to us that the food she has here caters to small town people. No problem – I know and I love it!

Although the place appears small, it’s actually very spacious inside with a decent size buffet. This place got pretty busy in here as well, but I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about making reservations as there’s lots of tables and chairs. The chef constantly puts out fresh food, so the smorg doesn’t go empty.

As this was our dinner, I allowed myself to help myself! Serving after serving, I really enjoyed the food here. I especially enjoyed the little conversations with the owner and she enjoyed talking to us in Cantonese as she doesn’t get a lot of Chinese speaking people at her place.

Overall, the place was really clean, the staff was really friendly, the food was really good! There’s nothing to complain about! It was an enjoyable dinner and I really like their eggroll. Most places have spring rolls, so this was a nice treat!

High River Inn Restaurant

503 1 St Southwest
High River, AB
(403) 652-7733

October 7, 2014

H & K Restaurant & Alleycat Lounge – Brooks, Alberta

We ventured to Brooks to look at the Brooks Aqueduct this one afternoon where we found ourselves a little hungry. At an odd hour, and just driving down what looks like their downtown, we found H & K Restaurant where we popped in for a snack.

I’ve been looking for some really awesome Dry Ribs as we use to have a family friend who owned a restaurant in a small town and I loved their dry ribs – so we gave the ones here a shot. They called it Dry Garlic Ribs, but it’s basically more or less what I was looking for. The portion was huge and the price was reasonable! It came pretty close to what I’m looking for, but I guess childhood memory food is hard to find – unless I go to the source and get them to make it for me. These ribs had tons of flavour and lots of meat on the bones. It’s fried really nicely and seasoned well too!

Then, we got a bowl of Wor Wonton to share as it’s something I use to get in our family restaurant when I didn’t feel like eating anything else. Here, the bowl and portion was huge and the wontons were quite good!

Overall, it was a great experience here. The owner was really nice to us and very sociable and hospitable. It was a fun experience and really reminded me of our old family restaurant.

H & K Restaurant & Alleycat Lounge

123 2 St W
Brooks, AB
(403) 362-8836

August 12, 2014

Peace River Garden Restaurant – Peace River, AB

Another long trip means we were craving food at odd times. This time was around 4pm when we made it into Peace River and basically the only thing opened was Peace River Garden Restaurant which dishes out Chinese/Western food.

I felt like something light and soupy yet filling so I decided to order Wor Wonton and yes the bowl was as full as it looked! Complete with tons of veggies and at least 10 wontons, this was an awesome choice!

I’ve also been talking about Veal Cutlets lately and I guess I made my husband crave it. He was really excited that he saw it on the menu and ordered it. The waitress even giggled and asked why he’s not ordering Chinese food! His story is that I use to eat it in our old family restaurant… which is true, and has absolutely nothing to do with him. Oh well! 🙂

I gotta say, food and service was not bad! There were a few other tables that came in to eat during our odd hour visit. The owners knew a lot of their guests as well, so they got some loyal customers and that makes me happy!

Peace River Garden Restaurant

10016 100 Street
Peace River, AB
(780) 624-1048

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014

Starlight Chinese Restaurant‎ – Airdrie, Alberta

We found another small town restaurant that offers Chinese & Western buffet so we didn’t give up the oppertunity to try them out. This time, we found ourselves in Airdrie at the Starlight Chinese Restaurant located in a strip plaza off Yankee Valley Blvd with tons of parking, it’s a great location!

The buffet was a pretty decent sized buffet, with delicious options, but one thing that stood up for me was the quality of the food. Even with soups, they had both wonton soup and hot & sour soup!

The food here was really good and it actually got quite busy around the noon hour! It was a fabulous experience!

Overall, we loved the experience here and we know we’ll be back!

Starlight Chinese Restaurant‎

960 Yankee Valley Blvd SE
Airdrie, AB
(403) 912-7887

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014

Cochrane Palace Restaurant – Cochrane, Alberta

There’s something satisfying about small time Chinese/Western buffets which I know it as smorgs as we use to have a family restaurant in Medicine Hat. Now, as it’s not available to me, I find myself craving it, so we’re been driving around Alberta small towns looking for smorgs where we found one in Cochrane called Cochrane Palace near their downtown. Tons of parking and the space is large!

Once we were inside, we were seated for buffet and basically they release you to the buffet! There are tons of options at this buffet and their food was simple – which is how it’s suppose to be!

We had a few plates of food, tried their wonton soups and we left satisfied. The dim sum didn’t have a lot, but it’s something unique here as dim sum’s are not normally in Chinese/Western buffets!

We enjoyed the selection of food here as they offered some roast, some dim sum, and their fried foods was really well fried! I did find the food to be a little on the bland side, but a dallop of hot sauce can go a long way!

Cochrane Palace Restaurant
22 Westside Drive
Cochrane AB Canada
403-932-199