[Quick Bite] Calgary: Milestones Grill + Bar December 30, 2012

Every time. I get sucked in to the stupid hype. And end up wasting money, time, and meals at crappy, mediocre restaurants like Milestones…

Every frigging time.

Because of Top Chef Canada, I decided I really wanted to go try the Top Chef desserts at Milestones. The apple bacon tart with walnut crust and blue cheese cream sounded so delicious. Should have known better than to think that a chain restaurant like Milestones could even remotely come close to replicating anything that those chefs can do on the show.

Le sigh.

At least I had an alcoholic beverage to ease the pain.

Lavender Rain

I wanted to try its Lavender Rain because I love mint, and it has mint in it. I am easily persuaded. The drink consists of Tanqueray Gin, Blue Curaçao, lavender syrup, fresh lime juice, POM juice, and mint.

It was okay…mostly just tasted of lavender, very florally.

In addition to the Top Chef dessert, we also ordered its Caramel Gingered Apple Crisp. Meh, mediocrity.

Vanilla gelato, caramel, and walnut crumble served atop of slivered apples stewed in brown sugar, ginger, and spices. Expensive. Not spectacular. Grocery store bought pie would have satisfied in the same way that this did.

The mint leave is a nice touch though

Annnd the reason we were here…Trevor’s apple bacon tart:

Awful

Oh. My. God. Was this ever bad. The tart was obviously pre-made and shipped in (no surprise there) BUT was Milestones so lazy that it couldn’t be bothered to even heat the damn tart up? Yes, yes it is. Straight from whatever box it was shipped in onto the plate. Couldn’t even bother to stick it in the microwave like it does with everything else. Soggy dried apple rings, cold tart filling with greasy, slick wee little pieces of bacon.

Just…not…good.

Like, at all.

I will try so hard to not get suckered into the stupid Milestones/Top Chef collaboration next year. Someone remind me to never step foot in a Milestones ever again. Please.

MILESTONES GRILL + BAR
107 8 Avenue Southeast
Calgary, AB T2G 0K7
(403) 410-9521

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Village Ice Cream December 23, 2012

First of all, two scoops of ice cream = way too much ice cream. Was being way too gluttonous, wanted to try all the awesome flavours…

sdfsdf

Village Ice Cream is awesome, hand crafted ice cream, batch by batch, with seasonal and local ingredients. A little bit out of the way, but waaayy worth it.

The bf got maple pecan (top) and salted caramel.

He demolished this baby in record time

I got guide’s mint (top) and salted caramel as well.

Oh my gosh, chunks of minty cookie goodness!

I usually get my ice cream in a bowl. But, fresh made waffle cones?

Swoon.

VILLAGE ICE CREAM
431 10 Avenue Southeast
Calgary, AB T2G 0W3
(403) 261-7950

[Dine-Out] Seattle: Mashiko Seattle Sushi October 21, 2012

Saving the best meal we had in Seattle for last: Our ridiculously delicious omakase. For a unbelievably reasonable price (everything compared to Calgary prices is a steal, HEY-OH), we were treated to, by far, the best food we had in Seattle.

We sat at the bar so we could watch the chefs hard at work.

Munchies

We got a lovely little bowl of Japanese Arare to snack on while we patiently waited for our sustainable sea-feast.

Gorgeous fish on display

We started off with some bundles of Pacific Smelt with Pickled Carrots & Daikon Sprouts:

Salty and Briny and Deliciouuuus

Gorgeous close up:

To Die For

More fish:

So many different types!

Scallop Sashimi with Yuzu Tobiko:

Cute presentation!

The yuzu tobiko added a nice hint of citrus to the melt-in-your-mouth scallops.

Next was Sake Poached Oysters Marinated in Olive Oil:

So Smooth…

This is probably tie for my favourite preparation for oysters. Obviously this takes a lot more skill than shucking a raw oyster. So I guess raw oysters are my favourite in terms of ease of preparation, but this, man, if I could eat this everyday, I would.

Black Alaskan Rockfish Sashimi with Ponzu and Shiso Oil:

First time having Black Rockfish, and let me tell you, it won’t be my last

Fresh Oregon Based Shrimp & Cherry Tomato Salad:

If only I could have a salad like this everyday, sigh…

This shrimp was unbelievably sweet. Like the sweetest (in a good way) shrimp I think I will ever have in my life. Don’t even know how that’s possible.

Poached Hawaiian Abaloni with Dried Kelp & Stomach:

Love the in shell presentation

First of all, I love abalone. And second of all, the inclusion of the stomach just made this dish that much more delicious. The kelp and the stomach gave the whole dish a very lovely seaweed-y, slightly bitter taste. Very complex flavours.

The bf and I were fighting over the stomach in the shell, believe it or not

Next, Local Albacore Tataki Salad:

Refreshing, but…

If I had to pick one, this was probably my least favourite of all the dishes. It was a very competently prepared dish, it just wasn’t nearly as exciting as the ones we’ve had leading up to it OR the ones we had following it.

Back to the exciting, White king Salmon Tartare with Avocado & Capers:

Love the little quail egg!

The quail egg acted as a nice binder and added a smoothness to the dish:

Delish

On to the SUSHI! (YAY)

From left to right, Giant Pacific Octopus, Northwest Albacore Toro, Yellow Fin Tuna:

A plate of friggin perfection

The Toro

Octo

This was the best octopus I have ever eaten. Anywhere. The stuff in Calgary just does not compare. I’ve never had octopus cooked this perfectly before, the meat wasn’t chewy, it was this nice tenderness that I did not think was possible with octopus. This probably ruined Octopus for me since I will probably never find a place in Calgary that will compare…

Yellowfin

Saba “Box” Sushi with House Marinated Ikura:

I ❤ IKURA

Ikura is my favourite type of fish eggs, I love the burst of briny-ness in your mouth when you pop ’em! Box Sushi is just a traditional form of sushi known to Osaka. The major different between Hakozushi and normal sushi is that all the ingredients used for the Hako are either cooked or brined. Saba = perfect Hakozushi ingredient.

Look at all its briny goodness…

Next course….came in the cutest serve-ware ever!

C00-coo (that’s the noise owls make, FYI)

Chawanmushi with Mushroom & Salmon:

I absolutely adore steamed egg

I wish more places in Calgary would put Chawanmushi on their menus…

Finally, we finished our ridiculous feast of a meal with Coconut Fried Brownie (from Bakery Nouveau) with Green Tea Ice Cream:

❤ the mint leaves

The brownies were a little heavy for me (keep in mind that I’m not a chocolate fan though), but the matcha ice-cream was deliciously bitter.

MASHIKO SEATTLE SUSHI
4725 California Southwest
Seattle WA 98116
(206) 935-4339

[Quick Bite] Seattle: Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop August 27, 2012

When in Seattle – go to Molly Moon’s. So, the bf and I trekked all the way to Molly Moon’s one of the days we were in town. Of course, half way there, it started to get cold and rainy. Since we had already spent 30+ minutes walking towards our destination, there was no way we weren’t going to get some ice-cream. So, even though it would have been nice to get the ice-cream and eat it in the sunshine, we ate our delicious ice-cream inside instead.

See the grey sky in the back? Sad face.

I tried the lavender flavour:

Lavender

Kind of florally, kind of mild – definitely would have picked another flavour if I was given the choice. Don’t really know what lavender is actually supposed to taste like though. It was still nice but not very exciting.

Of course, the bf never passes up the chance to get any thing that is salted caramel:

Salty Caramel

Soooo much better than the lavender – the perfect mix of salty and sweet = my cup of tea.

MOLLY MOON’S HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SHOP
1622 North 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 547-5105

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Brasserie Kensington (Big Taste 2012) August 16, 2012

Oh dear. It just dawned on me how far behind on my posts I am. I’m such an awful blogger, apologies.

Soooo…I have a couple posts I still have to do from the 2012 Big Taste Calgary. I’m so ridiculously behind now that its official website no longer has its 2012 restaurants and menus on it. And because I’m such an awful blogger, I, of course, don’t have notes on the menu items. So…the next couple of posts will be very short and sweet…and will only contain stuff I can remember. Awful, awful, awful. I will try to be more diligent from now on. Promise.

So the Big Taste Menus are usually $25 for lunch and $35 for dinner. Most menus will come with three courses. From the 2011 event, the bf and I have come to the realization that two $35 menus usually end up being too much food. So this year, for a lot of the restaurants, we would order 1 Big Taste menu and 1 regular main course, unless, of course, the menus are super good and have lots of choices that we both want. Sometimes the restaurants only offer 1 menu with no choices (like the case with Kensington Brasserie this year) and there’s really no point in both of us eating the same thing.

So the first course of the Big Taste menu was a Brome Lake duck breast pastrami:

Big Taste Menu Item – Duck Breast Pastrami

Look at the perfect doneness on that duck. So beautifully pink. This small starter came with crostini and a little bit of greens on top of the duck.

Big Taste Menu Item – Braised Alberta Beef Short Ribs

This was my entree – braised short ribs on top a bed of mustard spatzle and topped with a slice of foie gras torchon. Oh. My. God. This was heavenly. This meal was 5 months ago for me and I still remember how fork-tender the short ribs were. Some people think that foie gras is too rich, but this small little portion was a perfect compliment to the meat.

The bf got this off of their specials board (I think):

Not part of the “Big Taste Menu”

I’m pretty sure it was a boeuf bourguignon, I remember trying some and thought that the red wine taste was too dominating…

Big Taste Menu Item – Foie Gras Profiteroles

And last but not least, profiteroles piped with a foie gras and sea salt ice-cream. This was a good dessert, but I don’t think the foie gras was very apparent. It almost tasted like a normal ice-cream.

BRASSERIE KENSINGTON
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4P4
(403) 457-4148

[Quick Bite] Seattle: Ben & Jerry’s July 30, 2012

One of the crappy thing about being in Canada is that we never get any of the awesome Ben & Jerry’s flavours. And the new Greek frozen yogurt line? It’s likely we won’t ever see it up here. Ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but still, we’re constantly behind on everything. So when the bf and I were in Seattle, it began a daily routine to scope out the nearby supermarkets to see what awesome flavours of B&J were in stock.

The first one that we found was the Red Velvet Cake:

Looks promising

Oh – and so much cheaper in the states too.

Not-so-promising

So, I was really disappointed when I peeled back the lid. I was expecting that blood red colour you come to expect when ‘red velvet cake’ is mentioned. This was more of a super super SUPER pale pink. Also, the taste. The taste…was…not good. It just tasted like overly sweet icing. Yuck. I had two spoonfuls and the bf polished off the rest.

A couple nights later, we found the Late Night Snack inspired by Jimmy Fallon. This I was really excited about – it has potato chips in it!!

Potato chips = win

This is a vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl and fudge covered potato chip clusters. Salty caramel AND potato chip clusters? Oh my. I think this might be my favourite flavour of B&J. I love the juxtaposition of salty and sweet. Always.

The only downside was that after a while, the potato chip clusters got kind of soggy. But, that was probably a result of us storing ice-cream in a hotel mini-fridge. Those fridges are not meant to store frozen goodies.

Verdict: Red Velvet Cake = yucky, Late Night Snack = beyond delicious.

[Dine-Out] Seattle: Sweet Iron Waffles May 13, 2012

When we were in Seattle, I had a list of restaurants that I needed to hit. One of many on that list was: Sweet Iron. Apparently it is the real Liege waffle. I had no frame of reference at that time, still don’t, but hopefully after tomorrow I will! Woohoo, going to Liege tomorrow – Actually, no joke. I’m in Brussels right now and will probably hope off the train tomorrow at Liege on my way back to Germany. Anyways, back to Seattle…

Store Front

The bf got an espresso. He said it had a really strong olive aftertaste. Is that a thing in Seattle? A lot of his coffee/espresso from many different places had the same aftertaste.

Olive-y espresso

We decided to get one savoury and one sweet and split it. Of course, we had to get the bacon waffle. Why? Because, BACON, that’s why. It was a waffle topped with Applegate nitrate-free bacon and pure maple syrup (it better be pure! We’re Canadians!). The bf, of course, complained that there was not enough protein, but it was still pretty delicious. He agreed.

I ❤ Chives

And for the sweet, we got the feature, a Strawberry Cheesecake Liege Waffle.

Any waffle with super toppings are apparently a very touristy thing to get when you’re actually in Belgium. They prefer their waffles unadorned and without all the excessive toppings that we tourists like. But didn’t know that before, so most definitely do not feel like a bad foodie.

Anyways, according to Sweet Iron’s website, their strawberry waffle uses local Remlinger Farm’s strawberries for part of the year (but they have to import fresh strawberries during the off seasons). This was topped off with a scoop of ice cream and graham cracker chunks. This was good, but not as good as the savoury one. I’m such a sucker for cheesecake though that I ordered this one. Oh well, live and learn. I would’ve probably preferred TWO bacon ones. I didn’t like that the graham crackers were completely separate for the waffles, it didn’t feel like it was well-integrated enough. Like it was only an after-thought and was thrown across.

Meh

Together:

Om Nom Nom Nom

SWEET IRON WAFFLES
1200 3rd Ave, Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-3336

[Quick Bites] Thailand: Various April 18, 2011

These are some desserts I had while I was in Thailand.

I loooovvveee desserts in Asia, they always have such interesting toppings & ingredients. I love toppings like taro, mochi, and grass jelly, you can’t normally find that stuff at normal Western dessert places~

Yum, I love the presentation!

My uncle got this:

Borrrring

It was just a plain ‘ol chocolate sundae. Maybe it’s because he lives in Asia, he likes classic desserts. Or maybe it’s just because he’s old, and doesn’t like piling a bunch of crap on like I do. Hahaha~

Also, you can’t go to Asia without having some coconut juice in it’s shell!

Coco-coconut!

THAILAND
Various