April 2016 - Eat Your Broccoli!

April 23, 2016

Spaghetti Cafe Prairie

I keep a low profile as a food blogger. Only because I don’t have much time these days to pursue my passion. I was surprised to receive an invite from the restaurant owner to visit his cafe. I couldn’t visit in person, so I ordered from Skip The Dishes.

Food trends come and go all the time. Some have staying power, like ramen. Noodles for me are always a classic, never out of style. Asian cuisines doing a take on western cuisine is not new. But this is the first that I have heard of Japanese spaghetti. Intriguing. I’m all for fast, good quality and affordable food.

I ordered the Japanese chicken spaghetti, with a salad and the carrot and lemon zest soup. The spaghetti tasted like roasted chicken with a slightly asian style soy sauce flavour. Like home cooked food. The carrot and lemon zest soup had vibrant flavours and color. Pasta was done al dente. Hubby had the spaghetti carbonara. I had a taste, it was good. The portions are really generous and it is good value for the price.

I could see my old, super active self hitting this place after a session at the climbing gym or day out in the mountains. Now I can see myself halving the portion and saving it for lunch the next day.

I like it. I’ll be back. Thanks for the invite, Takeshi!

Japanese Chicken Spaghetti, Carrot and Orange Zest Soup, Salad

April 17, 2016

Adobo Experience

Fact. I’ve never tried Filipino food. Ok, maybe once, when a friend brought over some cassava cake. Neither have three of my friends. So we all went down to Adobo Experience to give it a try.

We went early, around quarter to 6. The place wasn’t busy and our server was eager to take our order. We needed more time. To explore this exotic to us cuisine. We finally went with his suggestion of crispy pata which is deep fried pork hock to share as an appetizer. Mmmm, crispy pork skin. Three of us choose different versions of adobo, which is a meat stew. Hubby was the odd one out and went with the kare kare which is a peanut sauce based stew. The food was tasty. They also have a meal for a large group called Boodle Fight Experience. Google it. It’s now on my bucket list.

The food came reasonably quickly. But after that, the service fell down. The restaurant got really busy and it turned into Chinese style service. Where you play hail the waiter. If they see you. We decided to share the halo halo dessert which is more than enough for the four of us. It was pretty tasty. But it took a long time to order and then to arrive. Food is good, service not so much.

April 17, 2016

Red’s in Ramsay

Feeling hungry after a session at the climbing gym, hubby and I decided to check out Red’s in Ramsay. It is really hard to find a brunch spot on weekends in Calgary, but Red’s uses the NoWait app which piqued my interest. It worked out really well for us. We arrived; we were seated ahead of a few other parties that were waiting. I wish that busy restaurants would use this more often. You don’t have to be at the restaurant to reserve your place in line. It’s real time, unlike Open Table.

I dug into one of the specials of the day, turkey and bacon on marble rye with creamy chicken and vegetable soup. I found the food pretty average, but it was enough to satisfy a climbing appetite. Service was friendly, but a little spotty as they were busy. Nice location and definitely a neighborhood eatery.

Turkey and bacon sandwich with creamy chicken and vegetable soup