Merry Christmas 2013

OH MAN, it's been so long since I posted, but good thing not much happened except for a long vacation.  But this holiday has been nice.  I've been a homebody and feeling anti-social.  Before going home B and I had two nice dinners.  Reason we had two was because he really wanted to try The Parlour because of the praises it got from the radio, while I wanted to go to the Red Ox Inn to enjoy some fine dining with my year-end bonus.  So here are the stuff we tried:

The Parlour
10334 108 Street

Appetizer - Risotto balls; shared

I didn't like it because it tasted somewhat bland, since risotto is rice.  The skin was crispy and that was about it.  I enjoyed eating the 'green embellishments' more.  B liked it though.

B's Entree - lasagna (I had a bite or two)

Now this was a good lasagna.  Instead of ground beef, they used chunks of meat.  And the lasagna had tons of compacted layers.  It was better than what I ordered...

My Entree - squid ink seafood linguini

Guess I didn't learn my squid ink paella lesson from Spain.  'Exotic' squid ink doesn't mean it's better than traditional stuff.  Sigh.  I'm not saying this dish was bad.  Typically I like all linguine pescatore.  However, this steer from the traditional was just no on par.  The lemon helped, but still no traditional linguine pescatore.  Maybe because I had such a good one a few months ago in Mykonos.  OMG.

Dessert - tiramisu; shared

Another non-traditional tiramisu, but good.  I enjoyed the mascarpone and the (chocolate cookie?) crumbs on the bottom.  Whatever was in between was a blur.

Overall, it was ok.  The taste of the food does not match the big prices.  The big question: would I go back?  No.  Would B go back?  No.

The Red Ox Inn
9420 91 Street, Edmonton

B's appetizer - pork belly (I had a bite)

This tasted like Chinese roast pork, but SOOOOO much better.  B savored it as long as he could.  

My appetizer - corn lobster chowder

A good soup, but not as good as that pork belly.  However, they 'embellished' the soup with this gigantic scallop and that scallop was so meaty and yummy.  Doesn't matter, I enjoy almost all soups!

B's entree - duck breast

At first he was skeptical about his duck but after a few bites, he enjoyed it more and more  I love duck. I thought it was good after the first bite.

My entree - was black cod, but became sablefish with mushrooms and scallops on quinoa

I'm a little disappointed that they ran out of black cod.  I love this rare fish.  However, the sablefish was cooked very well.  The top surface was crispy and seasoned well.   The quinoa was better than what I tried to make.  Overall, everything was good with this dish, despite the change in fish.

Dessert - "Chocolate", a chocolate mousse covered chocolate brownie - we both had one

Good thing we didn't want to share our dessert.  This was soooooo good.  B tried to go on a 'no refined sugar' diet (not me... no chocolate, are you kidding me?!), but he had to leave that thought at home when he saw this on the menu.  I kept trying to remind him of it, so that I could also eat his (yes, it was that good that I had to try to eat more than one), but failed.  It made it to B's best dessert ever tasted list.
Great place.  B thought initially thought it would be another pretty place with high prices and bad food.  I thought it would be another pretty place with high prices and decent food.  It turned out to be a cute little place with great food that matches the semi-high prices.  Would we come back again (not casual dinner of course, but for special events, such as bdays, anniversaries, etc.)?  Absolutely.  Hope they will still have that "Chocolate" dessert!

Shanghai Grill

Tonight B and I went to try the Shanghainese restaurant that is closer to our home: Shanghai Grill.  When we first entered the place, my feeling was this is not a typical Chinese restaurant.  It was likely a saloon/bar before.  First of all, what Chinese restaurant has a patio?!  We Chinese people don't eat on patios!  Second of all, the finishes.  Rugged wood floors, thick wood columns, and wood wheel light fixtures?  B later pointed out that the bathroom signs said "Outhouses".  Yeah, my feeling was right.  Decor is decor.  Restaurant is all about food, right?!

When I opened up the menu, to my disappointment, it was more of a Chinese restaurant than a Shanghainese restaurant.  They had mostly typical Chinese dishes and a few Shanghainese dishes.  I ordered the dumplings:

The skin was a bit thick, but the meat was tasty.  Better than Calgary restaurants, there's soup in it, but not enough.  Let's say there's better in Edmonton...

For the rest of dinner, we ordered:

Fat Choy and Siu Choy

Ok, on the menu, it said it has 瑤柱 (dried scallop) in it.  I couldn't find any.  But what I really wanted was the fat choy.  As you can see in the picture, there was less than a pinch of fat choy.  For the price I paid, I could hve bought about six heads of siu choy.  Disappointed, and felt ripped off.

Chilli fish

Another disappointment.  Indeed this dish was 'spicy'.  Mostly because it was so salty that it really stings the tongue which gives you the fake impression that it's spicy.  I think the saltiness of this dish beat my dad's extreme salty wings (it was by accident, since he's not a very good cook...).  Ouch.

Beef brisket and tendon hot pot

This was by far the best dish, but that's because I love beef tendons.  The fattiness.  Mmm mmm mmm. However, compared to other places, it's ok.

Would I come back again?  No.  For the taste, dish sizes, and price paid, so not worth it.  I could think of two other Chinese restaurants in the west for better food and value.  And I would definitely drive further for those Shanghainese dumplings.  

Family Day Long Weekend - Pt 5: Last Day

Great long weekends always feel short.  They just have to end.  Boo.

I started my "last day" staring at this around 10 am in the morning.

Sleepy boys

Can we say, lookalikes?!   Poor Roshi though.  He probably didn't have that much fun this weekend.  I barely mentioned him in any of the earlier parts because we were mostly out and he was trapped in his crate.  However, I know his tummy enjoyed his weekend in Calgary.  The grandparents kept feeding him treats.

B dropped me off to see Joni and  Hannah later in the morning.  They made pizza for me, and they were good.  Massive too.  Really, I don't know why and how they think I can eat that much?!   Yeah, I get hungry, and I eat.  Normal.  However, I don't think that's how they see me.

After the pizza, we had a tabletop campfire (made by Ms. Handy Hannah) and roasted marshmallows and made smores.  As ridiculous as it looks, it's a pretty cool idea.  Most of all, it works!  I think I will need to make one myself!  Haha.

Tabletop campfire

It was great to catch up.  I miss travelling with these girls.  Such great times.  Gotta do it again sometime (catching up and travelling together).

Family Day Long Weekend - Pt 4: Family Dinner

On Sunday, I spent a good afternoon with my mom shopping at Chinook.  Surprisingly, I wasn't too into it, but I did enjoy walking around with my mom.  I did however found a sparkly sweater at Banana Republic for $6.28 after taxes.  It was originally $95.  If they're still profiting at $6, the mark up is nuts. Hence, DON'T BUY ANYTHING AT REGULAR PRICE.  I really don't think the majority of the population cares if one is wearing something a few years old.  I don't.  Plus, most of the stuff I get are 'classics'.  They never go out of style!

So to make up for the Chinese New Year dinner, we went out to eat.  Tired of the usual south end Asian restaurants, I looked up a new place:  Li Ao Sushi in Bridlewood.  Look at this massiveness!!!!

Look at those salmon and tuna pieces!!!

I ordered one for each of us, and luckily for me, B doesn't like large pieces of sushi like this.  More for me.  They also had some special rolls and they tasted very good as well.

Lobster Shrimp Roll

Salmon Mango Roll

Caterpillar Roll (I think)

We had two other rolls too, but these were the pretty ones.  A big sushi meal for just $90 bucks.  Not bad at all.  Again, the massive fish.  So good.  I will be back for sure!!!

Family Day Long Weekend - Pt 2: Family Lunch

So I've been doing restaurant searches in Calgary too.  I like to try good food, especially holes in the wall.  So one of the popular ones I found was Olive Chicken, a little corner store that sold Korean fried chicken.

Half and Half (2 pieces of hot and sweet chicken,  and 3 pieces of crispy chicken)

Before it was just going to be B and I, but it became a family outing   My parents wanted to hang out with us more, so despite the fact they don't like fried food, they also gave it a try.  By the expression of my dad, I don't think they will come back again:

Dad: Mmm, it's ok. Not.

However, B's expression is always the same - good, bad, ugly, pretty.  However, he said he will definitely eat it again.  Who doesn't like fried chicken?

"I like."

I just had the crispy chicken, but had a bite of B's hot and sweet chicken.  I liked that more.  The crispy one just tasted too dry after the saucy one.  Besides it tasting less fatty and less salty than the 'franchise' fried chicken, it's still fried chicken.  And like my parents, I'm not a big fan of fried foods, so I won't volunteer to come back again.  However, if B wants to, I'll eat it with him, of course.

Family Day Long Weekend - Pt 1: Post Valentine's Day Dinner

Work on Friday was somewhat a drag.  Nothing turned out the way I wanted it to be.  I didn't even eat lunch.  However, it did end earlier than what I'd planned.  In that way, it's good.  No matter what, it wasn't going to ruin what was going to come after work.  A great way to start a long weekend: a dinner date with my hubby!

To celebrate our (late) Valentine's Day dinner, B took me out of the west end and onto Whyte Ave's Packrat Louie.  I dressed up a bit because this is somewhat a big deal since B doesn't like leaving the west end.  Traveling more than 15 minutes away from home is HUGE for him.  Sad, I know.

After parking a few blocks away and me teetering on ice with my 4" pumps, we finally got to the restaurant.  I'm so sure I've been here for an office lunch once, but I don't remember the inside or type of food.  Maybe it was just not a memorable lunch.  Anyways...

I was starving.  We ordered two appetizers, an entree, and a dessert.  First, the appetizers, an expensive pair of meatballs and a 8" pizza.  The meatball was a bit too salty for my liking, but the quality of the meat was good.  Overall, it was ok.

Black Truffle Meatballs

The second appetizer was the Spicy Hawaiian pizza.  I love Hawaiian pizza.  Maybe because I love pineapples!  The pizza was good.  For sure way better than a "franchise" pizza.

8" Spicy Hawaiian pizza

I ordered a beef tenderloin for my entree, while B ordered pork chops.  Oh sweet beef, it was great!  I don't know if it was good steak, or because the last steak I had was in Vancouver and it was bad steak.  However, B had a bite, and he thought it was good steak.  I had a bite of his pork chop and it was well marinated and very juicy.  I give both the meaty entrees - two thumbs up!

Sterling Silver Beef Tenderloin

To finish the meal off, we ordered a chocolate platter that consisted of chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie, and chocolate gelato/ice cream inside a cookie crust cup (sorry, no photo - like the Hardware Grill, I see chocolate I just dig in!).  It was a little disappointing to me, but I did enjoy the ice cream in the little cookie cup.  The mousse was too 'dark chocolate' for me, and I had better brownie (koodos to the caterers at my Vancouver office work conference.  SO good!).

Overall, it was a good dinner date, and for the final question: Will I come back?  No.  It's not a bad place, but I think I rather try something else.  However, if someone asks me for a place to take their date or to try a not-too-expensive fine dining place, I would recommend this place.

And now... off to Calgary!

The Burger Joint

I'm a little behind with everything.  Ok, I'm behind with everything!  Oh well, as long as I get it done one day...

So this post is about my burger adventure with B.  We went to the Burger Joint here in Edmonton on some Saturday last month.  Honestly, nothing can beat the taste of my favorite Banzai Burger at Red Robin.  Look at this beauty:

Anyways, back to the Burger Joint.  I tried to create my own version of the Banzai with a twist.  It was no Banzai, but it's pretty good.  However, my creation looked somewhat sad compared to the others shown on Urbanspoon.  Will I go there again?  Yep.  B would too!

7 oz all beef, BBQ sauce, mayo, lettuce, grilled tomato, grilled mushrooms, grilled pineapple, marble cheese

New Year's Dinner @ Hardware Grill

It will be our first 'New Year' as husband and wife.  So to celebrate, I, the wife, took B out for some fine dining experience in Edmonton.  Although it's not quite new year's yet, we had plans near downtown today, so it was best to 'celebrate' today.

Since I had an awesome lunch at Hardware Grill a while ago, I decided to take B there and also try the dinner experience.  B often criticizes that we only pay the extra money for the environment setting and not for great food.  This time I believe I proved him wrong.

To start, B ordered a crispy duck leg.  He already took a big bite out of it before I remembered to take a photo of it.  He loved it.  It took him a long time to eat it because he just didn't want to finish the experience.  He shared a bite with me, and yes, it was very good!

I had a soup of yesterday - something with bacon in it (more like that's the only thing I remembered!).  The reason why it's called soup of yesterday is because the soup was made yesterday, and this allows the soup to sit overnight and soak in all the flavours.  It was very flavourful and good.

Soup of Yesterday - a flavourful bacon soup.

For the mains, B had bacon wrapped elk and beef short ribs and I had sea bass with lobster-truffled potato crepes.  His elk was good (I almost ordered it), but my sea bass and crepes were awesome.  The crepes were filled with chunks (not shreds) of lobster meat.  The filling was also very creamy.  So good.

My sea bass and lobster crepe. 

What made the elk fell short was the incorporated horseradish.  We are just not big fans of horseradish. Wasabi is ok on sushi (well, B doesn't like that neither), but not on meat.  However, B solved the issue by cutting off the side of the elk with the horseradish, and enjoyed the rest of the dinner.  Just look how happy he is!

Happy B with his elk.

To finish off the dinner, we had a lava chocolate cake.  Sounds simple, but it was a fine dining experience   It was not sweet at all but so chocolaty at the same time.  It was paired with caramel popcorn and peanut butter ice cream.  Odd combination, but surprisingly good.  I forgot the photo AGAIN.  Please forgive me, since all I could think about was 'chocolate cake, must eat now'.

I'm glad this place met B's high expectations of fine dining.  I really like this place.  The food is very good.  Of course, it's not going to be a place we can go often (unless we win the next 649 draw), but it will be one of those places we would want to go again when we want to do something special!

Shanghai 456

Another person I know who also enjoy eating at holes in the wall is A, a coworker of mine.  She was the one who first took me to Shanghai 456 for lunch.  This place is a little cafeteria that is located inside an airport hangar.  The place was pretty good, and so I took B to it and let him have a try.

Shanghai 456 - Building 18, 49 Airport Road in Edmonton

When you eat Shanghainese food, you have to order Xiao Long Bao (小龍包).  However, typical places that claim they make these well make them not so well.  They are usually very dry. Shanghai 456 makes them the way they should be made: a doughy pocket enclosing the meat AND the juice. Yum.  

小龍包 - there were six or seven, but I forgot to take the photo before eating them

Can you see the juice inside?

Another good dish that they had was the dumplings.  They also had juice inside.  Since I didn't want to order the same thing I had for my first lunch here, we ordered some noodles and this beef flank and tendon dish.  They were pretty good as well.  B was pretty happy and would like to go again.  However, we'll let the grease settle for a bit before coming back.

Won Jung Gak

One thing I love to do is search out local "hole in the wall" restaurants. They typically have the homemade tasty and usually, delicious food. This past weekend, I was a little tired of our neighborhood cuisine, and decided to look for another hole in the wall in Edmonton: Won Jung Gak.

I came upon this place by looking for restaurants in Edmonton and also searching "Edmonton hole in the wall", and funny, restaurant listings do come up! There were quite a number of good reviews for this place and a good warning about its MSG usage!

Anyways, this place truly defines "hole in the wall". It is hidden among blocks of semi run-down concrete blocked, light industrial buildings on the south end of the city. B was like, "Are you sure there will be a restaurant here?" because all we saw were closed car and machine shops. However, the little building came into view, and it could not be missed since it's the only building in the area with Korean and Chinese characters on it!

Won Jung Gak, a little Korean restaurant at 9655 62 Avenue 

Too bad we were not too hungry that day. So we just ordered something 'light'. I read good things about their noodles topped with black bean sauce, and their spicy soup noodles. What was great was that they had a "double bowl" serving both. It's a typical Asian noodle soup bowl, but with a divider in the middle. The brain of this restaurant is genius!

This bowl is genius!

The noodles were GLORIOUS. I just love chewy (彈牙) noodles. The black bean sauce topping was interestingly good. It's nothing like the Lee Kum Kee jar of black bean sauce in my fridge. I can't quite describe it.  It's not very salty, but just flavorful in its own way.  And damn, the spicy soup was spicy. For certain, I was chomping down mouthful of MSG. Usually when I intake MSG, I have this stingy feeling in my mouth, but here, it could also be mistaken by that spicy soup. B also ordered a noodle soup, but in a beef broth. It was pretty good, but bland compared to my dish. However, that's because my dish was on the flavorful (MSG filled) side!

Would I come back again? Oh yeah, and on an empty stomach to taste other Korean dishes - bulgogi, my favorite.

Feasting

Ulgh. I ate too much today. Well, not really. I woke up somewhat late and got lazy and decided to go out for brunch. So we crossed the river and headed to Culina Mill Creek, recommended on Urbanspoon. I ordered a Fried Egg Panini and B ordered an Ukrainian Breakfast. The service was friendly, but the food was way too slow. I was freezing because we were sitting outside on the patio and I didn't bring a jacket (of course). Eventually, we moved back inside, and our food came. It was ok. Would I go back? Maybe.

Fried egg panini with a side of fruits

Ukranian Breakfast

For tonight's dinner, I made the classic burger, sided with a small garden salad and fries. Check out the arrangement! Haha, it looks quite restaurant like. My cheap Ikea plates were perfect for this use.