[Dine-Out] Calgary: Black Betty Burger & Winebar December 29, 2012

The bf and I made a trip down to Black Betty to try out its grilled cheeses. We really didn’t plan on having alcoholic drinks that night, but BACON & SMOKED SALMON CAESARS? Ok, definitely have to give them a try.

The drinks were $8 each. Which, is…reasonable…

You know you live in Calgary when $8 is considered reasonable for a drink.

I got the “Bakon Caesar” which came with stripes of bacon actually in the drink. Fantastic. The bf got the Smoked Salmon one, no bacon so obviously, not as awesome. But still good.

I <3 Caesars

The bf got “The Betty”. He was intrigued by the house blend brisket patty. It was so-so. Nothing spectacular, but for $15, can’t complain too much. The burger came with mozzarella, maple peppered bacon, frizzled onion, vine-ripened tomato, butter leaf lettuce, and honey truffle Dijon.

Not too shabby

Fries were yucky though – too limp and soggy.

I got the “New Classic”, which is a brie, poached apple, maple pepper bacon, and applewood cheddar grilled cheese. Quite yummy. I love the combination of brie and apple. Plus the addition of bacon = bliss.

I got a side of the feature soup, which was a Thai soup of some sort. There was actually a couple shrimps in it, which was a welcomed surprise.

Grilled Cheese & Soup. Classic.

The restaurant itself was quite loud though. There was a live band upstairs, which, don’t get me wrong, I love live music, but it was really really LOUD. We sat downstairs right near the staircase so the sound just travelled straight down. We could barely have a conversation without shouting at each other. Probably would’ve been more enjoyable were we sat a little further in.

But all in all = pretty good, would definitely go back.

BLACK BETTY BURGER AND WINEBAR
606 1 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 3B1
(403) 265-4230

[Dine-Out] Calgary: The Libertine Public House July 26, 2012

Went and sat at The Libertine’s patio the other day. I absolutely adore the menu at the Libertine, there are so many choices and I always have a tough time picking what to eat! I couldn’t pick between the duck clubhouse or the soft shell crab…finally decided that I would be semi-healthy and avoided the deep fried crab.

Duck Clubhouse $15

The soup of the day was a roasted tomato and red pepper soup. It was really good, just the right amount of spice. The waitress had originally told us it was cream of cauliflower. I wasn’t too worried about it – I like tomatoes much better anyways. The sandwich was so filling. I had half of it, and half of the bf’s burger (below), and I was stuffed. The duck in the sandwich was cooked nicely and the combination of the ingredients (confit duck, bacon, stout cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and red pepper jelly) was very satisfying.

The Damn Good Burger $15

The bf’s burger was good, but not nearly as good as my sandwich. I think that was because the beef patty was a tad on the dry side. Other than that, I think it really would have been a damn good burger. The burger came topped with jalapeño cream cheese, fresh jalapeños, bacon, and crispy onions (and of course, lettuce and tomatoes). The jalapeño cream cheese and the fresh jalapeños added a really nice kick to the burger. The spiciness was what made me keep eating it despite the dry meat. Also, the crispy onions added a nice texture (but not enough for me to overlook the overly crumbly texture of the meat). I really wish more places in Calgary would ask how we want our burgers cooked!

THE LIBERTINE PUBLIC HOUSE
223 – 8th Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 1B9
(403) 265-3665

[Dine-Out] Calgary: The King & I January 13, 2012

So, I usually don’t post a blog right away after I eat but…I had such a bad experience at The King & I that I just…can’t wait to post…

This place is so ridiculously expensive for the calibre of food they are serving. I seriously felt so ripped off by this place.

The only thing that was remotely enjoyable was the Phuket Fisherman Soup. It’s a spicy fish broth soup that comes with some protein in it. We ordered one order for $8.50 and they split it into two dinky little bowls for us…each of us got one piece of squid, one shrimp, and one clam. The broth was okay and the seafood was okay but nothing spectacular. It definitely was not indicative of the quality of food we were about to get served though.

$8.50

We also got an order of chicken puffs. They were described as thin pancakes stuffed with ground chicken, potatoes, carrots, and peas. I thought they would be kind of like samosas but…they were definitely not as good as samosas. First of all, there was definitely no chicken in this, it was ALL potato. False advertising. The sweet and sour chili sauce was sickly sweet.

$11.00 - soooo expensive, I can get samosas for $0.50 each in the NW that taste like heaven in my mouth

This Neua Nam Dang was the most disappointing dish of my life. I compare this meal to the time I went to Sushi Tokyo and got served super vinegary rice (worst meal ever). The menu described this as “beef stir-fried with specially prepared house chili sauce served on a bed of tempura vegetables”.

THIS WAS TWENTY DOLLARS!!! We were so hungry by this point that we started eating, this is probably 75% of the dish.

I can’t believe I paid $20 for this plate of tasteless crap. The “specially prepared house chili sauce” tasted and looked exactly like the sauce that came with the chicken puffs. And that tasted like that sweet and sour sauce you can buy in a jar from Superstore. The beef was overcooked, the “bed” of tempura vegetables consisted of MAX 8 pieces, and those were cut to the size of a nickel.

I don’t usually ever order any type of “stir-fry” at restaurants besides Chinese restaurants. First of all, any other type of asian cuisine is super expensive where compared to Chinese restaurants, and if I wanted a crappy Chinese stir-fry, I would just go to a Chinese restaurant. I would be paying like $6-8 dollar less for a bigger portion, better made stir-fry. I still can’t believe I had to pay $20 for that plate of junk.

I’ve decided on a couple of things that will help me gauge how good a restaurant’s food will be. First of all, it’s highly unlikely that you will get phenomenal food in a very large restaurant. I’m pretty sure that The King & I could fit like 50 tables in their space. That’s waaaayy too big, they’re just trying to cater to volume, not quality.

Second, if you’re in a ethnic restaurant and you see ZERO customers of that ethnicity…it’s probably not very authentic. The King & I was just serving waves and waves of elderly, non-Thai people…should have clued in…

I definitely would not recommend this place. Rose Garden Thai on Stephen Ave and Delicious Thai in Kensington is far, far, far better. Like, no competition, in quality AND price. But most importantly, quality.

THE KING & I
822 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0E5
(403) 264-7241

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Maru Restaurant & Bar July 5, 2011

**Please note that what I’m posting below is no longer offered on the menu as a set, we stopped by the other day and learned that they had changed their menu.**

We started off the meal with some complimentary Korean Rice Tea, it can be served hot or cold. I don’t like it when places charge for tea (like most Japanese restaurants), I’m too used to free tea being Chinese and all.

Hyeonmi Cha?

One of the things I loved about eating at Maru was all the Banchan (Korean side dishes) that came with the meals:

Yum

From left to right: miyeok muchim (미역무침), kimchi (김치), and yoengeun jorim (연근조림). Miyeok is a seaweed that’s pickled with sweet vinegar and salt (one of my favourites!), kimchi is just the basic fermented napa cabbage, and yoengeun jorim (I think that’s right) is pickled lotus root. You can also see in the back that the meals came with a fried sardine (?) each.

The meals also came with a light salad:

Super refreshing

More normal kimchi and Dongchimi (동치미 - fermented vegetables in a white brine)

Now finally, on to the meal itself. Before this new current menu, you could order a protein dish that came with their signature Soon Tofu Soup for around $17.00, but alas, that’s no longer the case. The best thing about this combo was that you could pair the protein with any of the soups offered. That means for $17 – $19 (depending on your choice of protein), you could get their more expensive seafood soups too!

Soon Tofu is pretty much just a super soft, super silky, super custardy tofu, which, is how I like my tofu!

Spicy Kimchi Tofu Soup

I, of course, being Asian, had to take advantage of the combo, and got their more expensive seafood soup:

Spicy Seafood Soon Tofu Soup

Their soups are delicious and very expertly spiced. We had this in the summer months, but it would definitely hit the spot in our -30 winters.

Bf got the kimchi Dweji bulgogi, thinly sliced pork marinated in soy sauce, garlic, sugar, sesame oil, green onions and black pepper served on a charcoal plate.

불고기

And I got the normal bulgogi with beef:

more 불고기, minus the kimchi

Each meal also came with a side of rice:

Cute pot!

The way that Maru teaches you to eat the rice is, first, scoop the rice out into a metal bowl:

dfd

Second, pour boiling hot water into the stone pot and cover to make a rice soup. It’s almost kind of like 粥 (congee) but less cooked.

And lastly, later in the meal, you lift the lid, scrape the rice off the sides and, voilà, you have a rice soup!

Rice Soup

Overall I really liked Maru. It was one of my favourite Korean restaurants to go to because the food was great and the value of their combos were unbelievable. Now that they no longer offer the combo…it just seems a little pricey. Maybe if they never offered the combos in the first place, I’d be okay with paying what they charge now. But since they used to have it, I just don’t think it’s that great of a deal anymore!

Oh, and I should mention that they play a never-ending loop of K-Pop on their flat screens. While some people might find this obnoxious, I actually finds it adds to the atmosphere. Also, it’s fun to discuss their ridiculous matching outfits and equally ridiculous “story arcs” in their music videos.

MARU RESTAURANT & BAR
550 11 Avenue Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 1M7
(403) 452-6278