eating out

Back in July, Julie mentioned the amazing salted caramel ice cream she had had at Village Ice Cream.  Located in Victoria Park, Village Ice Cream offers hand-crafted all natural ice cream. Of course we had to go to and check it out for ourselves and she was right.  The salted caramel ice cream was amazing!

This evening, we went back for more, and took our friends!  We enjoyed some ice cream and took over their outside seating area.

I decided to try something different this time, the toasted coconut, and it was amazing.  The shreds of coconut provided a great texture in the creamy ice cream. This time, I made sure to try the homemade waffle cones, which I regretted not trying the first time, and I’m so glad I did!  The cones were crisp and fresh and so delicious!  Hubby tried the cardamom ice cream which he throughly enjoyed, especially since it reminded him of chai.

Q decided to try the Guide’s Mint and he loved it. Of course I had to have a taste. The minty ice cream with chunks of chocolate cookies was amazing, no wonder he loved it. His taste is totally like his mamma’s!

It was a great evening with friends and some yummy ice cream. Looking forward to going back before summer ends.

It’s always bittersweet when friends you love move away.  You’re happy for them for their great opportunity but know it will be sad to not have them around all the time.  We went out for dinner with D, who was moving to The Emerald Isle.  Our outings with D are usually for sushi or thai and this time, it was one of our faves, Thai Boat.

Since Q had skipped his nap, we wanted to keep him happy for the short time before his bedtime.  We ordered his favourites, vegetarian spring rolls and calamari.  The spring rolls were great, full of veggies, and he finished off the plate.

The calamari was not your traditional calamari, but boy was it good!  The squid was coated in a thick batter, almost onion ring-like.  The best part was the sweet and tangy sauce that it was served with.

My favourite dish of the night was the Panang Curry.  We ordered it with chicken and shrimp and it was so tasty!  The curry was fragrant and so satisfying.  I could have eaten this dish by myself.

Our second curry was the Beef in Red Curry. This was a mild curry, so perfect for me, and full of flavour. We have had this dish before with chicken and we all agreed that the red curry tasted better with it rather than the beef.  We ordered coconut rice to absorb the curry which added even more flavour.

We rounded up the meal with our usual, Pad Thai with chicken.  It was a good noodle dish, and would satisfy any craving.  We did have Pad Thai a few days earlier elsewhere though, and unfortunately, it didn’t compare.

It was a good meal with an awesome friend.  Good luck in Ireland D!  You will be missed!

Hubby and I were able to take some time a couple of weekends ago for date night.  We had a voucher for Tango Bistro and, after hearing so much about their “small plates”, was excited to try something new.  Tango Bistro is part of the Smuggler’s group and in the same complex as Smuggler’s Inn, Bolero and Open Sesame. 

We had a super friendly waiter who was happy to make recommendations and help us choose what to eat.  We started out with the Wonton Crusted Prawns.  These were served on top of some Togarashi Mayo and were delicious!

The next item that was brought out was the trio of dips. The dips included an olive tapenade, a sesame lime hummus and a goat cheese with sundried tomatoes in olive oil.  The goat cheese was my favourite!  The dips were served with a nice soft flatbread that was perfect for scooping.

I am so happy that our server recommended the Seared Sea Bass.  This was my favourite meal of the night and was served with a roasted garlic risotto and mushrooms.  The fish was cooked to perfection and the sauce that was on top was light and flavourful.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Our last dish was the Mixed Grill.  This dish contained a few pork items but the restaurant was happy to make some substitutions and accomodate us.  Venison smokies and an Alberta tenderloin served with some potatoes on the side.  Just looking at this dish, you can tell that this was hubby’s favourite.

We were incredibly stuffed from our meal and had no room for dessert.  With all the tasty offerings though, we are sure to be eating there again.

This past Monday, I dragged my mom with me to Banff to try and get in to a taping of Live with Kelly.  We weren’t fortunate enough to get tickets but after hearing that people in the stand by line were getting in the day before, I knew I had to go. 

When we reached the Banff Centre, they just let us right in, no waiting in line!  It was a great show and it was nice to see it live.  Kelly was even more tiny in real life and, with her co-host Peter Facinelli, they made a beautiful hosting team. 

We even got to see the infamous Gelman who spent some time with the audience teaching us all how to clap.  Did you know clapping at double time makes it sound louder?  Guests of the show included Johnny Galecki from the Big Bang Theory and Juno award winning Melanie Fiona.  The episode that was taped on Monday was shown today, April 4th.

After the show, I wanted to take my mom to my favourite place in Banff, Barpa Bill’s Souvlaki.  Hubby and I had discovered it a few years ago and we always make a stop there when in the area.  Located on Bear Street, it’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.  A tiny little place located beside the Home Hardware, this place is always busy.

I ordered my favorite, Lamb Souvlaki.  The lamb was flavourful and moist and stuffed into a pita wrap.  Filled with veggies and a garlicky tzatziki, it was so tasty and filling.  We also ordered a side of fries.  Crispy and seasoned perfectly, they were a great accompaniment to the souvlaki.

Next time you’re in Banff, definitely check out this family-run gem.  Keep in mind that they are cash only.

My cousin had been raving about a sushi place near her house for quite some time. Located in the NW at the Creekside mall, Taiyo Sushi is a favourite place for dinner for her and her family.  

We finally made it over there last month for a quick bite.  We got there at 12:15pm on a Saturday and the place was already full of people having lunch just 15 minutes after opening.  Definitely a good sign.

We started with the ebi gyoza, little dumplings that were filled with shrimp and vegetables.  These were delicious!  Served with soy, this was a great way to begin our meal.

We ordered the Taiyo Combo so that we could sample a few of what the restaurant had to offer.  The platter came with salmon, tuna, prawns sushi as well as some sashimi.  The rolls included california, cucumber as well as their house roll. 

The presentation was great but the taste was even better.  The sushi was fresh and delicious and the salmon and tuna sashimi was melt in your mouth amazing.  I thought for sure there would be leftovers but we managed to polish off all the food!

Overall the service was great and the sushi was high quality.  Will definitely be back!

It’s been weeks since we visited Raw Bar but I’m still thinking about the amazing food we had that night.  Tucked away in Hotel Arts, we were lucky to get a reservation.  The place was packed and we soon discovered why.

It was hard to decide which appetizer, everything looked so good.  We decided to share the BC Spot Prawn and Papaya Salad Roll.  This was a really pretty dish to look at.  Eight mini rolls were served on a long platter on top of strips of cucumber, carrot and daikon.  It was really tasty and left us wanting more.

Seafood prevailed in our main course with both of us choosing fish dishes (and splitting them of course).  We settled on the Miso Black Cod Donburi which was served with king oyster mushrooms, sticky rice and teriyaki sauce.  This was such a great fish and I really loved the Asian flavours.

The other dish we had was the Salmon.  This came with lemon ricotta tortellini, spring vegetables in a shellfish broth.  The salmon was prepared perfectly and hubby was happy that it was paired with the pasta.

As full as we were, we ordered dessert.    We had a white chocolate cheesecake which was served with a strawberry sorbet.  I was looking forward to the coconut lime sorbet it was supposed to come with but this was still delicious and satisfying.

All in all, it was a great evening and I look forward to going back!

Last month, we finally had a chance to check out Anju, a Korean-inspired tapas restaurant.  It seemed that everyone on twitter was talking about this place and raving about the great food, and I couldn’t wait to try it.

Anju is located in a cute little house converted into a restaurant in downtown Calgary.  It was a good thing we had made reservations because the place was packed.

I had heard amazing things about their gochujang chicken wings, and knew we definitely needed to try them.  The reviews did not disappoint and this was our favorite dish of the night.  The sticky sauce was spicy but I couldn’t get enough.  I’m hungry just thinking about these wings. 

We also tried the oxtail tortellini which I loved!  This was finished with truffle oil and cheese.

The spicy salmon tacos were great!  A little messy to eat but incredibly tasty.  They had just the right amount of heat and Q loved the crisp wontons.

Our server recommended the stone rice bowl which we had with beef.  It was good but after the flavour we experienced in our tapas, this seemed a little bland.  We asked for a side of the gochujang sauce and it perked up the dish tremendously. We really enjoyed it after the addition of the sauce.  Q, who can eat eggs every day for every meal, was very happy that the dish had one.

All in all, it was a great experience.  I would definitely go back to enjoy a flavourful meal of appetizers.

My 2 year old loves sushi.  So much so, that when any of the various websites featuring daily deals has a sushi deal, I grab a few.  We all felt like sushi last weekend so I turned to the vouchers to help us decide where to go.  We headed to Fuji Yama on 17th Avenue.

We were greeted with a familiar face – a sushi chef who used to work at Kinjo, one of our favorites!  He started off our meal with an orange, segmented and turned into a great little creature.  Q loved it!

Because there were four of us, we were able to use two of our vouchers ($40 for $80 worth of food…yay!).  We started with shrimp tempura which was really good.  The batter was light and crispy and it was a great way to begin our feast of sushi.

Some of the nigiri sushi that we sampled was the salmon, tuna, scallops and unagi.  All were very fresh and tasted great.  We also had many rolls – spicy salmon, california, dynamite and yam tempura.  All of them were so delicious.  We definitely got a lot for our money and Q had a lot of california rolls to take home for lunch the next day.

Service is huge for me and I was very pleased that it was amazing.  Our server checked on us often and made sure we always had our drinks refilled.

We really enjoyed our meal at Fujiyama and look forward to our next visit.