Good Food You've Eaten Lately

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Minnie

Read a recent Herald online article about some restaurants - one mentioned was Boxwood/Boxwood Cafe? Anyone been there?

It's decent, but not extraordinary. I like lunch there more than dinner honestly. Prices are good and atmosphere is pretty cool too. Never been on the patio, but I can imagine it's nice to be eating in a park setting like that.

Edit: deserts there are extraordinary. Particularly the sticky toffee pudding.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Spinoff90

Shark finning complete ignorance rant.

Cows are not being driven to extinction by being butchered for their meat. Sharks are being driven to extinction and certain species are all but doomed now because of Chinese people demanding to eat this tasteless goo to impress their neighbours. This planet would do just fine without cows, not so much if you take apex predators out of the ocean. Cows suffer a pretty much immediate death, sharks are forced to suffer a limbless death which depending on the depth, may take hours.

People that eat shark fin soup are selfish, bad, narcissistic people.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by troutman

Nice patio, good eatin'.

Originally Posted by _Q_

It's decent, but not extraordinary. I like lunch there more than dinner honestly. Prices are good and atmosphere is pretty cool too. Never been on the patio, but I can imagine it's nice to be eating in a park setting like that.

Edit: deserts there are extraordinary. Particularly the sticky toffee pudding.

Thanks! Looking for somewhere new to go with a friend - and if the food is decent and there's a patio, sounds good.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Teh_Bandwagoner

I think the only thing they usually slap on a fried egg is the stone pot rice. If you want to play it safe, do Korean BBQ. Bulgogi sauce is the best marinade in the world. Ever.

When you go to a Korean restaurant, do they serve something similar to the BBQ you get at Koryo in the food court? I could eat that stuff all day. I tried another Korean fast food BBQ place (Fifth and Fifth I believe), and it was completely different -- want to avoid that if possible.

P.S. Tried Olive Chicken today -- pretty solid meal. Ordered the "Half and Half" -- the Crispy was nice and crunchy without being greasy. Decent flavour. The Hot and Sweet was pretty good as well, but it seemed like it was swimming in sauce, which made it a little too soggy (I'm sure the extended drive home didn't help). Still, the parts of the batter that were still crunchy were very tasty. Sauce had an okay flavor -- similar to a Thai sweet chili.

P.P.S. Can we keep the shark fin soup debate to the shark fin soup thread?

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by To Be Quite Honest

I've been looking for a nice peanut sate soup for awhile because it seems most Vietnamese places make the clear broth style, and I found one at Tango on McKnight and 4th NE. I had the chicken sate soup. It twas tasty.

Have you tried the Pho Sate at Vietnamese Village (a block North of Deerfoot)? Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but it's not the clear broth that you get at other places but more of a "buttery" broth (if I can use that term). Very tasty.

Originally Posted by jofillips

went to Pho Van Vietnamese place in country hills the other day - their beef noodle mix looked stunning (sorry don't know the proper name) but the rest was just 'meh', I think we were given what they wanted not what we ordered.
One had a thin pork chop with the obligatory fried egg plopped on top of rice - oh and I love the anger of the service in these places when you ask for a fork...I seem to have the worst luck with Vietnamese food, everytime I find it has no flavour and leaves me wondering what people really eat in Vietnam.

I've never had a bad meal at Vietnamese Village. Prices have steadily gone up, but the flavour is top notch, and portions are good. Customer service is nothing special but never had any problems -- it's the food that brings me back.

[_Q_]

Had the miso ramen, while my brother had the chili goma ramen at Shikiji. Both were exceptionally good. If you like satay pho, you'll probably love this stuff. I urge everyone to give it a try.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by troutman

I avoid Korean food because each time I've tried it they slap a fried egg on top of my food. Barf.

What can I order without getting the fried egg?

Ummm the only dish where they do that is the bimbimbap. everything else doesn't have a fried egg. but damn is it yummy! i just did that last nite on top of my ichiban.

Oh if you are in the hood you also have to try Insadong. In the strip mall across from pacific place.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by fotze

Troutman
Likes: Music of all kinds
Hates: Fried eggs, bottled water and qtips!

Fixed!

Hmmm good thing you didn't get flooded Trout! bottle water will save you! hehe

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

When you go to a Korean restaurant, do they serve something similar to the BBQ you get at Koryo in the food court? I could eat that stuff all day. I tried another Korean fast food BBQ place (Fifth and Fifth I believe), and it was completely different -- want to avoid that if possible.

P.S. Tried Olive Chicken today -- pretty solid meal. Ordered the "Half and Half" -- the Crispy was nice and crunchy without being greasy. Decent flavour. The Hot and Sweet was pretty good as well, but it seemed like it was swimming in sauce, which made it a little too soggy (I'm sure the extended drive home didn't help). Still, the parts of the batter that were still crunchy were very tasty. Sauce had an okay flavor -- similar to a Thai sweet chili.

P.P.S. Can we keep the shark fin soup debate to the shark fin soup thread?

The way Koryo prepares the meat is kinda similar, in the fact that I think they use Bulgogi marinade. Generally at the full-blown restaurants, they just bring you the meat and have you BBQ it yourselves on a gas burner at your table. And don't get me wrong, it's delicious, which is why I recommend it for the Korean Food amateur, but man... doesn't come close to comparison to the BBQ they do in Seoul. The thing that stood our to me in Korea by far was the food. A distant second would be the Starcraft tourneys lol.

As for Viet sate, my favourite in the whole city is Pho Hoai in Chinatown. It's in that little strip mall across the street from the Harry Hays. So tasty and peanutty. Sunny's downtown is pretty good if you like it more coconutty.

P.S. Not sure if peanutty and coconutty are actual words. Making up words on the fly here!

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

If you haven't tried Anju out before, you're out of luck because Anju has closed and will be relocating to a new location sometime in the next year or so.

I just saw this, and I hope it is a cruel joke of some sort. Anju is bomb and everyone loves it. It is my pick for most under rated resto in Calgary by a mile.

I went to the Toronto Momofuku tasting at Model Milk a few months back at it sucked. It had nothing on Anju, and Momofuku (well the original NYC) is some amazing stuff, guess Toronto got the sizzle no steak version.

Anyways, back to Anju, if what you say is true, it is a sad sad day in Calgary food. Just an amazing restaurant. I've watched a few Flames game there at that small bar, chowing on Hite and Korean style chicken and waffles (Sorry Trout it has a fried egg on it).

Well, I look forward to whatever they come up with next and will be first in line.

[tete]

Went to Kanpai for supper tonight - I'm still a bit of a newcomer to sushi (only will eat rolls), so I"m far from an expert, but we enjoyed it. Service was a bit slow and the food arrived in bits and pieces, which kinda sucked, but we'll gladly go back again.

Re: Boxwood - we ate there on Mother's Day and had a very poor experience - teeny portions and a very stale dessert. We were disappointed and let them know via email that night. Got a response back and they sent us a gift certificate to cover our meal. We'll go back and try them again, but I'm not too optimistic, to be honest.