Stumbling Across a "Local" Restaurant!

Entry by Raymond. (Amateur Amateur Blogger) :)

Nicole and myself were shopping around the South Common area until we got hungry. We didn't have a restaurant in mind, so we were driving around trying to spot what was around the area. We passed by the Local Public Eatery and I had no idea what this place was, so we both decided to give it a try. As we walked in the restaurant, we quickly found out that this place was a pub with an open bar, but also with a family seating area hidden in the back. This made us rethink of our decision, but we still decided to sit down and took a look at the menu. Important note: Don't expect good service at this place. The waitresses pay no attention to you unless your ordering a lot of alcohol. It took us forever to wave her down for the menus and for the bill as well.

We ordered the half nachos to start. And surprisingly, this was one of the best nachos I had for the price. As the picture shows, the nachos was fully loaded with fresh ingredients: tomatoes, olives, fresh avocado chunks , green onion, chicken, cheddar cheese and drizzled in sour cream. It was so good! And it was plenty for the two of us. 

Nicole got a Steak Sandwich with yam fries She said it was not amazing but not terrible either. The yam fries were soggy and not crisp as she would have liked. In addition, the mayo was bland and she said she could do without. 

I decided to get The Deluxe burger with fries. The burger was big compared to a regular one! I had a little difficulty eating the burger... but the small bites tasted very good! The burger was juicy, and tomatoes and lettuce was fresh. The beef patty was not completely well done, the center of the patty was pink throughout even though the waitress said it would be. This made me a little disappointed and also made me question whether it was safe to eat or not... However, I am writing this post now which means I am fine haha! On the other hand, the fries were amazing and I could definitely say that they are one of the best fries I have ever eaten! They were salted perfectly and were extra crispy but not overcooked!

Overall, if you are looking for a noisy place to go have a couple of drinks with friends this would be it. Service is only there if you are ordering drinks and the waitresses are definitely willing to put in a lot of "effort" to make extra tips if you do (hit or miss). Other than that, the food was surprisingly decent for a pub environment (way better than hudsons). Will definitely be back for a guys night out filled with beer and food!

Cafe Amore with the girlfriends!

It has been so long since I have been able to catch up with my girlfriends. Since we are all busy with our own studies or with work, finding time and being able to reconnect with close friends is so very dear to me! We decided to settle for something central and for a restaurant none of us have been to. A friend suggested Cafe Amore for good quality Italian food. Yum! I am always up for pasta - with this event occurring right after finals, pasta is my number one go to comfort food. As we walked in, the restaurant was small but super cozy expected since it is more of a cafe style. With nice atmosphere, I can only imagine what this place would be like buzzing with conversations and excitement. Our waitress was super kind and helpful, recommending us different dishes as well as reminding us of the special pasta of the day.

I thought the centerpiece was a really cool design! Even though it looks messy, the wax flowing from the candle makes a nice touch.

The special of the day was a clam type pasta for $14, unfortunately for me I dislike seafood. But for those who like seafood this place offers a wide variety of seafood infused pasta! I settled for the specialty chicken, cream, marsala. mushroom and habenero pasta. When our pastas came out, I was shocked and knew immediately I would need a take out box at the end because the portions were huge! There was quite a bit of penne pasta though, and the other ingredients such as the chicken and mushrooms were hidden. The pasta was cooked al dente! The cream sauce was amazing with the mushrooms and habenero adding a hint of spice to it.

Overall, this is a great Italian food spot to satisfy all your pasta needs. The pasta is well done, portions are great, quality of the food is amazing and the atmosphere of the place is very relaxed yet welcoming. This place is a little hidden, near grant mac university and the parking is limited on a busy night. But it is well worth the drive here!

Best Pho in Edmonton?

I have been craving some pho for a long time! I've been to many Vietnamese restaurants and have tried a variety of phos' from them all. There are a couple of really good pho restaurants in Edmonton (Tau Bay, Xu Hue...etc), and I got an opportunity to try yet another Vietnamese restaurant! The restaurant is called Pho Hoan Pasteur, and I can definitely add this place to the short list of good pho restaurants in Edmonton! I've heard many good things, and could not wait to set my foot in the door! A friend and I arrived at the restaurant pretty late, around an hour before closing and we could tell the servers were not too pleased about that. The expression on their faces were less than welcoming...but I wanted my Pho. We were seated quickly and the server was quick to ask us what we wanted. Luckily, we both knew already and ordered right away.

I ordered my usual, a pho dac biet, and I was excited to see how the pho tasted! One of the many reasons why I love Vietnamese food is because the food is quick to make/deliver! When the waitress brought our food out, I was surprised to see the portions. There was so much meat compared to other Vietnamese restaurants! The soup base had a very distinctive and strong pho smell and tasted delicious. The noodles were cooked well (al dente to be exact). Not overcooked and under cooked, perfect consistency of chewiness.

If you live far from downtown, like myself, it is definitely worth the drive to this restaurant and give it a try!

Bi-Bim-Baab (Yet another odd location)

I am a huge fan of Korean cuisine, so far I have tried places such as: Bulgolgi house, wing chicx, ga-ya, and lee house. Here is another restaurant to add on the list! I have been hearing good things about this restaurant but never had the opportunity to try it out until recently! Another strange location, hidden away among the industrial businesses between 91 street and 99 street. For some reason, quite a few Korean restaurants have settled into odd locations where you wouldn't expect to find a place to eat.

Anyways, straight in to the food! After 15 mins of pondering about what to eat we settled for the dol-sot bi bim baap, goon mandus (dumplings), galbee (beef short ribs), dak galbee (marinated chicken) and the seafood pancake! 

The bibimbaap was delicious- lots of fresh ingredients cucumber, carrot, bean sprout, spinach, beef, egg etc! And the waitress mixed everything together for us. After a while, if you leave the rice long enough inside the stone bowl it becomes crispy giving a nice crunch.

Mandus! I love dumplings! I'm sure the majority of the Asian population love dumplings as well. They are just so delicious, with a yummy meat and vegetable filling. The mandus were shaped differently compared to Chinese dumplings and were steamed. Unfortunately, the dumpling skins were under cook/raw and it was hard to chew. Especially the parts of the dumplings where the skin was thicker? But the inside filling was satisfying. Juicy, tender and flavorful blend of minced pork and vegetables.

Next up is the galbee (beef short ribs)! Short ribs are generally expensive, but if cooked right it is super juicy and tender. The galbee at this restaurant was dry and overcooked...making the meat quite difficult to chew through. What a waste!

Dak galbee was the marinated chicken dish. It contained a lot of vegetables and chicken in a sweet but spicy sauce. It was delicious, flavorful and went well with rice. I would recommend this dish to those wanting to try something other than beef.

Lastly, was the seafood pancake. I have tried Korean seafood pancake at Wing Chicx before and this pancake was a lot bigger!! It contained squid, lots of green onion and peppers. It was delicious, I think this place also mixed in egg with the rice flour which was great for texture!

Overall, this place is moderately priced and serves quality traditional Korean food. Service was good, waitress was attentive and suggested several dishes for us to try! I would definitely come back to this place with friends whenever I have a craving for Korean food! Also, I saw they have a lunch buffet from Mondays to Fridays...interesting. Not sure what a Korean buffet would offer but I would love to try it out!

Dining Week at The Common!

Whew. It has been a long time since my last post due to my final exams at the University. I wish I manged my time properly so I could have this post up since it is long due! As I mentioned in the last post, from the week of March 15 to 24th, Edmonton held it's annual dining week. For those that had no idea, I encourage you to check this event out next year! It is a great opportunity to enjoy new creative dishes offered by many restaurants in Edmonton. When I mentioned this event to my parents, they were quite intrigued because they rarely venture out away from home when it comes to eating out. I wanted to go to the Common because their $25 dinner menu was very enticing and offered two different dining choices! But....I forgot to mention to them it was more of a lounge setting than it was an actual restaurant.. Did I mention, it would not be a place you would normally take your parents to? Oh boy... it was honestly quite embarrassing for me at the beginning and it involved a lot of explanation on what lounges are, what they serve and why everyone is not around their age etc.

For drinks, I went with the classic Crabbie's Ginger Beer! I am not a huge fan of beer but I absolutely love Crabbie's. It is light and tastes great in comparison to the other beers that I have tried.

On to the food: I decided to go with what the $25 dining week special of three courses. To start, I had the shrimp with gnocchi. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of it, but this is what it consisted of. This was amazing! From the tender flavorful shrimp to the soft, chewy gnocchi to the creamy tantalizing sauce. Everything just came together so well. If you can see from the picture, the shrimp was in a different sauce, it was sweet and complimented the well seasoned shrimp.

My mom went with the poached egg, bbq pork salad with lentils, She didn't care too much for the lentils since they were undercooked, but the small amount of bbq pork tasted exactly like the chinese bbq pork we love!

For the mains, I went with the veal and potatoes, coated in a creamy dill sauce. Where to start.. I wish I could say that I love this dish but...everything came out so wrong. The veal was cooked well done and it was extremely dry and tough. It was awful! I never had a steak cooked until the juices inside evaporated.. It was so dry the meat was flaky and on top of that there was no steak knife. They expected us to cut this tough piece of meat with a butter knife? I don't think that is going to happen. The dill sauce was alright... but that was about all you can taste with this meal. Without the sauce, this dish would be extremely bland! Good thing they do not offer this on their actual dinner menu!

After our meals, my dessert came: chocolate sformato with whip cream. This was so amazing! The sformato was so rich, thick and extremely chocolaty. Well done! Within minutes, I had this plate entirely cleaned!

Overall, it was a nice dining experience for my family and I. I was super disappointed with the main dish, but I am super glad the appetizer and dessert made up for it. This is a great place to hang out and socialize after a long day of work or school. I will definitely be hitting up this popular spot very soon with a couple of girlfriends and is looking forward to try dishes from their dining menu!

Carnivore feast at Pampa's Brazilian Steakhouse!

The title says it all. When I mean carnivore I mean it! At Pampa's Brazilian Steakhouse, the amount of meat offered will be enough meat to last you a week long! Upon walking in and leaving, the thing that was on my mind constantly was meat... If you are a vegetarian or not a fan of beef, chicken or pork, don't bother setting foot in this restaurant. You wouldn't want to be in there and they probably wouldn't want you in there complaining about the lack of vegetables offered minus the salad bar. I'm writing this post way late because I forgot about my trip here! For my birthday (in January), Raymond decided to take me to Pampa's. I personally LOVE meat, so this was a great choice on his part (after the big dinner...I don't recall having the same enthusiasm for meat..). I heard many cool things about this restaurant and did a quick Google search on the restaurant. This restaurant was actually featured on the food network show: The Opener.