eathishit 101

[Calgary] District- 2nd

2010-06-13T21:34:00.001-07:00

June 1, 2010
District
607 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0E1
(403) 233-2433
http://enjoydistrict.com/

So this is our second time and this time we wanted to try some of their other foodies :)

Provence Rooibos Tea rooibos with a fruity and floral flavor of provence: rose hip, black current, etc.
I can really taste the fruit and floral in the tea and since its caffeine-free means I can take an extra sip without worrying about staying up all night (although I do anyways cause I'm asian :D).

Crab and Asparagus Mac n Cheese with side salad
The mac and cheese was absolutely delicious as it was creamy and cheesy. However it was very hard to find or taste any crab . The side salad was also delicious as it was fresh and the sherry vinaigrette made the salad very light and appetizing.

Escargot baked in pastry and veal sauce
The escargot was just normal and was not very flavorful but the pastry was delicious as it was very flaky and buttery.

[Calgary] Distrist

2010-06-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2010
District
607 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0E1
(403) 233-2433
http://enjoydistrict.com/

We decided to visit this place after my sister came here and told me about their jalapeño bacon cheddar flavor for chicken wings. After adding them to my twitter, I found out they also had fiddleheads and we both wanted to try and see what they taste like. The first time we've seen fiddleheads was at the Calgary's Farmers Market.

Fiddleheads with truffle oil, sea salt and butter
They tasted alot like asparagus but instead in a rolled up curly shape and alot thinner. Definitely would love to try this vegetable again.

Jalapeño bacon cheddar wings
These were delicious as they were slightly spicy and salty at the same time. Here at district their wing special (15 cents) is from Monday to Thursday from 4pm to close.
UPDATE: They are no longer 15 cents anymore and the wing special days have changed as well

Blue Cheese Hot Wings
These wings did not have a very strong blue cheese taste and I thought it was basically just hot wings. Although it was very juicy on the side and very flavorful and crispy on the outside.

Guinness Barbecue Wings
These were delicious and what we absolutely love about the wings at district is that they do not just deep fry these wings and then mix it in the sauce (BBQ, honey garlic, etc) after but rather you can tell that they were marinated before-hand. These BBQ flavored wings did not taste like the other generic BBQ sauce and therefore made these wings extra special and delicious.

Truffled Duck Paté (top left in the jar) and chorizo (sliced on the bottom right)
The duck paté was good but did not have any truffle taste to it and the chorizo were just like chorizo.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Vanilla Gelato
The stout cake was not a big hit at our table (maybe we were looking for something richer) and we thought that it was a bit on the dry side but the vanilla gelato was good.

Service: 3/10- I am not big on service but on a weekday there were only 2 waiter/waitress working and it was difficult trying to get them to take our order
Food: 8/10- Most of the food were good except for some
Return: Yes! Check out our second visit :D

[Calgary] Yann Boutique

2010-06-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2010
Yann Boutique
329, 23rd Avenue SW
Calgary T2S 0J3
403-244-8091
http://yannboutique.com/

Yann Boutique is one of those cute little bakeries by 4th street that sells french macarons and many other delicious treats. Even though it was a rainy afternoon, we both decided to stop by and try out some of their stuff. Yann Boutique was originally a house and they transformed it into a small little place (see pictures below).

Picture taken from their facebook website here

Rolled up moist bun (left) and a bite-size canelé (right)
They were both very delicious as they were nice and moist and we can taste some of the ingredients inside.

French Macarons
(top row from left to right) Orange blossom and Gran Marnier, blackcurrent violet, and cherry
(middle row from left to right) Irish Coffee, passion fruit and tarte tatin
(bottom row from left to right) Roselitchi, PBJ and coconut chocolate
We both preferred to get the fruit-flavored macarons from Yann as they tasted exactly how they were suppose to. I especially like the Irish coffee as it was very strong and it has a nice bitter taste to it. The roselitchi had an initial taste of the lychee fruit flavored and a slight rose aftertaste.

More macarons (top left is pistachio and bottom right is mint chocolate)
During the Lilac Festival on 4th street, we stopped by Yann and got two new macarons that we had never tried before. The pistachio was kind of a disappointment as we did not get any pistachio taste and for the mint chocolate macaron, we thought the Bakery @ the Market had a better mint chocolate macaron than Yann.

[Calgary] Embarcadero

2010-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2010
Embarcadero
208 17th Ave SE
Calgary AB
(403) 263-0848
http://www.edsrestaurant.com/embarcad/emb.htm

We were both super excited to try Embarcadero as it was out first time trying out this place even though we pass by it all the time during high school when we walk to school from the train station.

Asiago and herb roasted mushroom risotto balls with slow roasted tomato mayo and basil oil
These were actually very dry and the tomato mayo was the only thing that helped make these eatable.

The inside of the fried risotto balls

First round of oysters: (from bottom left and going clockwise)
2 Royal Miyagi (Cortes Island, BC-Mild, smooth texture, kiwi-like finish)
2 Kumamoto (Washington-Small deep-cupped, sweet plump meat)
2 Kusshi (Baynes Sound, BC-Smooth round shell, sweet finish)
1 Village Bay (Richibucto, New Brunswick-Suspension grown, salty with clean finish)
1 Chef Creek (Baynes Bay, Vancouver Island-Salty-sweet flavour)
The oysters that we both love were the royal miyagi and the kumamoto. The kumamoto has a distinctive small deep-cupped shell to hold onto the clean and sweet plump meat. However the kusshi was our least favourite as it has a fishy taste or as Sam stated, a "farm-like" taste to it.

Second round of oysters: (from bottom left and going clockwise)
1 Chef Creek (Baynes Bay, Vancouver Island-Salty-sweet flavour)
1 Fanny Bay (Baynes Sound, British Columbia)
1 Kumamoto (Washington-Small deep-cupped, sweet plump meat)
2 Little Wing (Okeover Inlet, BC-Plump meat with cleany salty finish)
2 Effingham (Effingham Inlet, Barkley Sound, BC-Plump meat, briny with lettuce-like finish)
1 Malpeque (Malpeque Bay, PEI-The world famous Canadian oyster, salty with a slightly bitter lettuce-like flavour)
Our favourite in the second round of oysters include the fanny bay, kumamoto, little wing and also the effingham. The fanny bay were meaty but not a mouthful. Of course the kumamoto was our favourite from the first round of oysters. The little wing had a very clean taste that we both enjoyed. The malpeque were ok and they can sometimes be found at superstore.

[Calgary] Calgary's Farmers Market

2010-06-13T19:29:00.001-07:00

May 2010
Calgary's Farmers Market
H6, 4421 Quesnay Wood Drive SW
Calgary, Alberta T3E 7K4
(403) 244-4548
http://www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca/

Macarons from the Bakery @ the Market
We got 6 macarons and they are: (top row from left to right) mint chocolate, chocolate hazelnut and passion fruit (bottom row from left to right) pomegranate, pistachio and blueberry.

Chocolate Hazelnut macaron
The outer shell was very chewy and these were not overly sweet.

Mint Chocolate
These were minty with a hint of chocolate, they were very good.

Pistachio
The pistachio macaron did not taste like pistachio except for the little bits of pistachio.

Passion Fruit
Generally, we found that the non-fruit flavored macarons at The Bakery @ the Market were better than the fruit ones. I personally like the fruit macarons from Yann Boutique instead (You can check out our review on Yann here).

Pomegranate macaron
This was another one of the fruit macaron (along with the blueberry) that we did not like as much as the non-fruit flavors. It did not taste very much like pomegranate and it just tasted sweet.

Frulibeer Strawberry flavored beer
These are Belgian fruit beers and Sam got this one to try. It was definitely strong in terms of the strawberry flavor since it was almost like drinking strawberry juice with a hint of beer to it. For more information, you can visit their website here.

[Calgary] Bliss Cupcake

2010-06-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

May 2010
Bliss Cupcake
Unit 111 (Lower Level)
108-3rd Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 0E7
(403) 281-8821
http://www.blisscupcakes.com/

Although both of us were not cupcake fans we were curious about Bliss Cupcake. The store was in a weird location (chinatown) but we heard many good reviews on it. So when Tiffy got some one day we all took a bite :).

Tiffy got 2 cupcakes: left was the green tea cupcake and on the right was the strawberry bliss cupcake.

Strawberry Bliss Cupcake
There was a strong strawberry taste to it and it was not overly fake. I also liked how the icing was not over-the-top sweet.

Green Tea Cupcake

This cupcake had a hint of green tea although I wish it was stronger. It was also not very sweet so for those of you who are into Crave or Buttercream then these are definitely not sweet enough but I personally prefer these (in terms of sweetness).

[Calgary] Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus

2010-06-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

May 2010
Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus
2439- 54th Ave. SW Calgary
AB T3E 1M4
(403) 243-7757
http://www.pfanntasticpannenkoek.com/

They had some snacks selling in the store on the bar. Alot of the items were written in Dutch therefore we had no clue what they were.

Lamp

The bacon and cheese pannenkoek
This savory pancake was definitely different than the normal "pancake" that we have here in North America. It was delicious but next time I would opt for one without bacon because it was too salty for me.

The ice cream that we added with the sweet apple cinnamon pannenkoek

The apple and cinnamon pannenkoek
This was a delicious dessert, very similar to an apple pie except without the crust and instead on a thin layer of pancake.

[Calgary] Columbian Flavor

2010-06-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

May 2010
Columbian Flavor
7640 Blackfoot Trail SE
Calgary AB
http://www.heritagefleamarket.com/heritage_flea_market_032.htm

After reading u gonna eat that?'s blog on authentic Columbian food at the Heritage Flea Market, we decided to go and give it a try.

These were the different salsas available and they also had guacamole. Although they look really spicy they were only moderately spicy (I can handle moderate spicy).

We ordered the 5 tacos for 13$

Carnita
This was the braised pork and it was very tender but it was lacking flavor.

Beef
This one had more flavor than the carnita but not as tender.

Ground Chorizo
This was very flavorful with a slight hint of spiciness to it.

Lengua
This was the cow tongue and I never ate tongue but I gave this a try. It was very tender and it did not feel like I was eating tongue at all.

Ground Beef

This was spicier than the rest and has the most flavor out of all the other tacos. However, there was nothing particular special about this.

[Calgary] Starbucks

2010-06-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

May 9, 2010
Starbucks
Unit 178, 100 Anderson Road S.E.
Calgary, AB
Canada T2J 3V1
(403)278-1745
http://www.starbucks.ca/en-ca/

Picture taken from here

Venti No Whip (Cream) Soy Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuchino® blended beverage

With the new however-you-want-it frappuchino, Gloria and I decided to try the double chocolate chip with soy milk instead of the standard homo milk. It was just as delicious but with a hint of soy to it so the chocolatey goodness is still there :)

[Las Vegas] Ichiza

2010-06-13T01:51:00.000-07:00

May 5, 2010
Ichiza
4355 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 367-3151
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ichiza-las-vegas

Ichiza was one of the places that constantly popped up when I searched for authentic Japanese food in Las Vegas. Hence, we went and took the bus to the Las Vegas chinatown to try this place. It was different from any other Japanese restaurant as it was an izakayas-style restaurant (tapas-like) which was good because then we got to try more things :D.

Basically on top of the normal menu that you get when you sit down, they also have many special items that are posted all around in the restaurants. The papers posted filled each wall from top to bottom and it drove us nuts because we didn't want to miss out on ordering anything cool.

Aburi Namagaki
This was basically fresh oyster in ponzu sauce and they were definitely very fresh and the ponzu sauce was nice and simple so it was not too overwhelming.

Fried Shishamo
I am not a big fan of these fried tiny smelt fishes but these were acceptable.

Sushi Chazuke
The Japanese waitress told us this was sushi with a little tea taste and since we both wanted to try something different we ordered it. In the end, we just found it tasting weird.

Ikayaki
This was the grilled squid and it was good because they didn't overdo it with the grill taste.

Fried Sanma
According to Sam the fish was good and it was gone pretty fast.

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Simple enough these were fried spring rolls with mozzarella cheese inside along with a side of ketchup.

Saba Sashimi
These were mackeral sashimi and they were very fresh and thick...just look at the glossiness/shininess of the skin :)

Unimochi
We also tried the uni (sea urchin) on top of a lightly pan fried piece of mochi that was placed on top of a seaweed strip. It was an interesting combo and the uni was very fresh and the chewiness of the mochi added a different texture to this combination.

Chicken meatball skewer
These were very juicy and delicious.

Soymilk Pudding

We thought the top layer of vanilla extract was too sweet and so strong that it covered the taste of the soymilk pudding underneath. So we ended up pouring all the vanilla extract out and enjoyed the soymilk pudding by itself. The pudding was smooth and had a very slight soy taste to it.

Honey Toast
When we were researching on this place, many people recommended the honey toast. It was definitely delicious as it was a nice thick buttered slice of toast (almost a quarter of a loaf of bread) with the insides emptied and filled with vanilla ice cream that was drenched with honey. However we were both really full by this time and just ended up eating the outside crispy part of the toast along with the vanilla ice cream and honey.

[Las Vegas] The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

2010-06-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

May 4, 2010
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
3355 Las Vegas Blvd
South Las Vegas NV, 89109
http://www.coffeebean.com

Black Forest Coffee Ice Blended® Drinks cherries/chocolate covered espresso beans
This drink really did taste like the cake and was similar to the godiva chocolixir-indulgent but not too sweet. Overall delish.

[Las Vegas] Godiva Chocolate

2010-06-13T01:38:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2010
Godiva Chocolate (at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet)
875 South Grand Central Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89106
(702) 474-7500
http://www.godiva.com

Godiva Chocolixir Dark Chocolate Raspberry
The drink really allowed me to taste both the chocolate and raspberry. It wasn't too sweet but it was still indulgent. But of course if you want to indulge in this, you will need to ignore the calories COMPLETELY haha.

[Las Vegas] McDonald's

2010-06-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

May 2-6, 2010
McDonald's (on the Las Vegas Strip)
http://www.mcdonalds.com

Angus Mushroom and Swiss

A thick and juicy third-pounder with a 100% Angus beef patty. It also came with two slices of Swiss cheese and savory sautéed mushrooms. It was pretty good-not bad for McD's.

Hot n Spicy McChicken
It was the McChicken ecxept the batter on the outside of the chicken was orange and slightly spicy. It was different and of course the excessive amount of mayo made the whole sandwich good ;)

Iced Coffee from McCafe

It was actually quite bitter but really creamy. I think they just added ice and cream to their regular coffee.

McNuggets
Yes...we got the 50 mcnuggets for 10$ deal..so basically 20 cent/nugget..I mean...why not?

[Las Vegas] Jollibee

2010-06-13T00:36:00.000-07:00

May 5, 2010
Jollibee
3890 South Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas (702) 893-3005
http://www.jollibeeusa.com/

Chicken Joy Combo Crispy, tender pieces of juicy fried chicken with gravy and rice
The chicken was good but I don't know about giving up KFC for this...I'd say its a tie. But I do gotta give them credit as the chicken was not dry or as greasy as KFC. Even though it's deep fried, it was still flavorful.

Jollibee Spaghetti

Premium spaghetti noodle smothered in sweet tomato meat sauce, topped with grated cheese
The spaghetti was good but I personally found the sauce to be much too sweet for me.

Shanghai Rolls
Actually better than the typical Chinese spring rolls where they stuff a bunch of random veggies into it. It was more like..in between a Vietnamese one and a Chinese one.

Jollibee Pies Banana Langka and Peach Mango
The banana langka (as I was told it was also known as jackfruit) was OK but the peach mango pie was just way too sweet and too thick for us. The fillings were overflowing and I just couldn't eat it anymore.

[Las Vegas] Wolfgang Puck

2010-06-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

May 4, 2010
Wolfgang Puck (at the MGM Grand Hotel)
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
(702) 891-3000

http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/wolfgang-grill-bar-restaurant.aspx

Raspberry Lemon Drop

Truffled Blue Cheese Potato Chips

maytag blue cheese, truffle oil, parsley
This was one of their signature dishes and it was delicious. However, for those of you who are not a big fan of blue cheese, you can still order this but just make sure you only grab the chips without the cheese...although that is also where all the truffle sauce is.

Wood Oven Pizza

wood oven roasted mushrooms, asparagus, leeks, thyme and taleggio

The wood oven pizza was delicious as the crust was very thin and for the first time, this pizza was completely covered with thick cheese :D.

[Las Vegas] Carl's Jr

2010-06-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

May 4, 2010
Carl's Jr (at the Las Vegas Fashion Outlet)
32100 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Primm, NV 89019
(702)874-1400
http://www.carlsjr.com/

Big Country Breakfast Burrito

Warm sausage gravy, smothered over scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, bacon bits, hash brown nuggets and shredded jack and cheddar cheeses, all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. (we had it without the gravy)
I got hungry at the outlet mall and only Carl's Jr. was next to it. I found it weird that they served the breakfast wrap with gravy...i mean REALLY??? craziness...so we just decided to do without. It was OK, tasted exactly what they listed was in there.

[Las Vegas] Serendipity 3

2010-06-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2010
Serendipity 3 (in Caesar's Palace)
3570 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(866)227-5938
http://www.serendipity3.com/food.htm

On the front of the menu, there was a long story on the history of serendipity dessert. You can find the history here.

Foot Long Hot Dog
It was definitely longgggggg but other than the length, taste-wise there was nothing spectacular about it.

Waffle Fries

included with the hot dog
They were very crispy but not much different than other waffle fries elsewhere.

Serendipitous Hot Chocolate

topped with whipped cream, grated valley orange, cinnamon, shaved French chocolate
It was good but not something that I was super crazy over. It wasn't chocolate-y enough and I think places like Starbucks could do better.

Strawberry Fields Sundae

cheesecake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry topping with whipped cream
It was HUGEEEE and we were both trying to get to the ice cream and cheesecake that was covered by the whip cream mountain.

Our mess at the end...

[Las Vegas] Japan Cafe Grill

2010-06-12T23:53:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2010
Japan Cafe Grill
875 South Grand Central Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 474-7500
http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=58

Since we were at the food court of an outlet mall, there was only fast food available. We were both hungry so we decided to try the noodles from the Japan Cafe Grill.

Typical fast food exterior and of course it was basically westernized Japanese/Chinese food.

Chicken Ramen
I appreciated that they put the chicken on a separate plate instead of leaving it in the soup to be soaked. The noodles were not very ramen at all and were a bit soggy. However, we both agreed that the picture looks better than it tasted.

[Las Vegas] Junk Food

2010-06-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

May 2-6, 2010
Junk Food
ABC store-http://www.abcstores.com
Target-http://www.target.com

The cheesecake on the lower right corner is the raspberry cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. It was absolutely delicious and we consumed it after shower in our comfy king size bed.

Doritos Late night Cheeseburger
These were so cool because they actually tasted like cheeseburger; specifically the McDonald's Big Mac.

Doritos Late Night Tacos at Midnight
These were alright but definitely not as good as the hamburger doritos

Chester Fries Flaming Hot
These were pretty spicy but they were an excellent combination with the hamburger doritos.

Zappo's Potato Chips Spicy Creole Tomato spiked with Tobasco
These chips were not as spicy as the spicy fries as they only had a hint of spiciness to it. The tobasco sauce taste was not very obvious and tasted like any other slightly spicy chips.

M&M's Coconut Flavor
These were different as they had a slight coconut taste in the chocolate but it was nothing I was super crazy over.

Orbit Mist Mango Surf
These were basically the same as the Excel gums we have in Canada except the little micro-bursts were kind of fun.

Stride

Mega Mystery Flavour

This tasted like...any regular gum.

Starbucks Ice Cream at Target
I did not get a chance to try this but I would love to try the mocha frappachino or the java chip frappachino ice cream next time I visit a Target.

[Las Vegas] Julian Serrano

2010-06-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2010
Julian Serrano
Aria (CityCenter)
3730 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
http://www.arialasvegas.com/dining/fine-dining.aspx

Creamy Risotto |wild mushroom|manchego|natural jus|
This was delicious as the risotto had the right al dente texture to it and there was a hint of truffle to it

Flat Calamari |lemon e.v.o.o sauce|carmelized onion|
A very different way of eating calamari as the lemon sauce emphasized the taste of the calamari.

Traditional Spanish Chicken Croquetas |chicken|bechamel|
This was the second time that we had this and we both agreed that Julian Serrano has a better chicken croqueta than Jaroblue (Calgary, 17th ave SW) since it was creamier and not as dry.

Brava Potato |spicy tomato|aioli sauce|
My absolute favourite although sam does not think its anything special :D

Tuna-raspberry skewer |ahi tuna|"molecular" raspberry|wasabi|
This was very unique and the molecular raspberry was similar to a hardened jam-like texture. Overall it was a very interesting combination.

[Calgary] Vin Room

2010-05-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

April 30, 2010
Vin Room
2310-4th 4 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2S 1X2
(403) 457-5522
http://www.vinroom.com/

Oysters

half a dozen - freshly shucked + daily mignonette (we chose the baked the oysters)

Grilled Flank Steak

confit fingerling potato salad + double smoked bacon jus (full order)

The steak were a bit too raw so they were not as tender as we had hoped. However, the potato salad was very good.

Polenta Fries

manchego cheese + olive polenta + roasted red pepper aioli
These were kind of taste-less and so the aioli sauce was somewhat mandatory.

Lobster Nachos

pickled red peppers + green onions + heirloom tomatoes + hot sauce

This nacho dish did not use the typical tortilla chips and they were more so thinly fried pieces of dough. They were extra crispy and went well with the lobster and the cheese. We will definitely get this again.

Seared Ahi Tuna

shaved fennel + chilies + pickled green been salad + seared Ahi tuna

Simple but nothing special.

Elk Salami

Canadian + 30 grams
We were interested in trying out some of the lesser common animals. These were actually delicious and were not too salty.

Beer

cocoa + marshmellow stout

This sounded interesting but tasted very bitter. Definitely not a stout lover.

[Calgary] Milk Tiger Lounge

2010-05-24T00:07:00.001-07:00

April 27, 2010
Milk Tiger Lounge
1 4 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R0Y1
(403) 261-5009
http://www.milktigerlounge.com/

Milk Tiger Lounge is a tiny place on 4th street SW and also they don't have a large sign on the outside of the restaurant so you really need to look out for it (update: They now have a metal tiger cut-out). They have a small but relaxing patio which would be ideal for summer.

House made ginger beer. The ginger taste was definitely strong as I had that spicy tingly feeling in my throat. I love it :D

Petite Bouchées

Spaghetti and meatball on a stick
This was very interesting as there were little bits of spaghetti mixed into the meatballs.

(Clockwise starting from top left) Beet salad w/ maple walnuts, goat cheese and balsalmic, Spicy pork bundle w/ tomato and garlic paste, Mini caprese salad on crostini, Flank steak wrapped in bacon w/ garlic chili lime aioli

Strawberry and brie “bubblegum”

Raspberry and Garlic Baked Brie Garnished with apple and walnut w/ bread

Spicy Chocolate Brownie Cake
I was really anticipating for this but unfortunately it did not have enough of the "spiciness" that I was hoping for. The cake was not very sweet and nothing really special about it.

[Calgary] Amato Gelato

2010-05-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

April 26, 2010
Amato Gelato
2104 Kensington Road
Northwest Calgary, AB T2N3R7
(403) 270-9733
http://www.amatogelato.com/

Raspberry Tartufo

Our favourite out of the two dessert from Amato Gelato. The chocolate was not too overwhelming and so we can taste the raspberry center as well.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Cherry Center
We thought that both the white chocolate cheesecake and cherry center were on the sweet side so we did not like this as much as the raspberry tartufo.

[Calgary] Sushi Club

2010-05-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

April 26, 2010
Sushi Club
1240 Kensington Road N.W.
Calgary, AB T2N 4X7
(403) 283-4100

Soya Sauce

Sushi: Mackeral nigiri, toro nigiri, negi-toro roll, some weird roll with cream cheese and tempera shrimp.

Sushi: one of their special roll which they identified as a "medium" roll, however to me its more like "small". The roll had avocado, mango slices, cream cheese, and some prosciutto. It was weird and definitely not really worth it.

Generally, we did not leave with hopes to return. The food was not really "authentic" Japanese but rather weird-ified :D

[Calgary] Muse Restaurant

2010-05-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2010
Muse Restaurant
107 10A Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 4M7
(403) 670-6873
http://www.muserestaurant.ca/home.htm

For my birthday this year (yay my happy 22nd) we went to Muse on Kensington after reading many good reviews about it. After checking their website, we saw that they had a 9 course tasting menu and wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, we didn't call 24 hrs in advance and therefore had to settle with a 5 course instead (sorry for our descriptions, it's kind of our first time so we didn't catch everything the waiter told us).

After sitting at our table, we were given a small bowl of organic popcorn drizzled with truffle oil and sea salt. The oil was very strong when the waiter placed it onto the table, however, the taste was not near as strong (only the bottom pieces were drenched with salty truffle-ness).

Amuse-bouche was a bacon, parmesan foam in some liquid. (Sorry for the bad photo quality!)

We were then given a bowl of bread which, if we heard correctly, were Terragon and parmesan bread. They were buttery, dense and flaky.

1st Course: The soup had shitake, roma tomatoes, sweet corn, shives, machengo and was simmered down with consomme. We thought that the soup was somewhat on the salty side. Overall, we found that it was nothing really special, or what we learned today it was missing the "wow" factor.

2nd Course: Crispy beet with scallops on roasted endives and pear puree. The scallops were the highlight of the meal. They were sweet and juicy with a little raw-ness inside.

3rd Course: Foie gras on asparagus and hedgehog mushroom and covered in an apple sauce. The foie gras was very rich and was hard for the two of us to digest after :P. The asparagus and hedgehog mushroom were somewhat on the salty side for us though.

Palate Cleanser: Raspberry and amerie banana sorbet was good, especially the banana and it definitely helped us get ready for the main course. Even though at this point, we were almost 90% full.

4th Course: Braised lamb shoulder with zucchini and roma tomatoes topped with fried wonton rolls. We both agreed that the lamb shoulder was very tender, however, since I am not a lamb lover, I did not love the slight gamey taste it had. Also the zucchini and Roma tomatoes under the lamb shoulder were covered in a very salty sauce.

5th Course: White chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries and blackberries along with raspberry coulis meringue cookies. Although at this point I was over-the-top full, I had to finish this dessert. The mousse was not overly sweet and along with the fresh fruit, the dessert was delicious and light. The raspberry coulis meringue cookies were also were light and flaky.

Overall the food was delicious, however, we found most of the food a bit too salty. But we should also note that we did have a chat with the assistant chef and found that all the chefs in the kitchen (beside the assistant chef) was a smoker and that would have affected their taste buds. In general, the dishes were nothing special-but then again, maybe we have been reading too many funky food blogs lol.