Poached Breakfast Bistro, Saskatoon SK

I went here on a whim on a Sunday morning. It was the only breakfast place we could really find that was open on a Sunday morning in the downtown area. We were told a 40 minute wait... I was starting to assume it might just be one of those "current" restaurants that don't actually have food worth waiting for. We were all pretty hungry and didn't feel like waiting forty minutes.. especially since there was no where to wait except a open Starbucks a couple blocks down. I do wish they were able to put a bench out or something, but I guess that's up to the city.

We decided to go to drive around Saskatoon in search of another open restaurant but actually ended up getting lost and ended up close to downtown. By that time, the forty minutes would have been up by the time we parked and walked back to Poached so we decided on that. One thing is, I do appreciate they call the wait list customers when their table is ready. I've been to a couple popular breakfast joints in Calgary where they just take your name and they expect you to wait around in the crowd outside the door for your name to be called... many asian restaurants follow that concept as well. 

They have good food set at a pretty reasonably price. We had the Blueberry Bagel French Toast which was served with whipped yogurt, I believe. Rhubarb crepe with whipped yogurt and poached eggs on crab cakes with a side of Potato Croquettes. Don't quote me on these dishes, I couldn't find their latest menu online.. I do believe it changes per season!

Overall each dish was pretty good, all very well balance! The potato Croquette's were delicious, it had a nice crunchy outside with a creamy potato center.
The Blueberry Bagel french toast was an alright dish... nothing special personally. The whipped yogurt was a good touch, with some fresh blackberries on top. Good balanced plate, nice tartness with the fresh blackberries and sweetness with the whipped yogurt.
If you like crab, the poached eggs on top of the crab cakes with a side salad, I'm sure you will enjoy. Like the potato corquette's it has a nice crunchy outside and the side salad provides a good balance to the seafood. 

I am glad we ended up getting lost and got a chance to try this bistro. Expect a long wait time especially the later you arrive (While we were dining around 10:30 there was around an hour wait time), it is a small restaurant with really only three front of house staff. One host, one server for the front of the restaurant and one of the back. The service itself is alright, not really sociable or attentive but not unpleasant either. 

I would highly recommend this as a breakfast choice for anyone in the area to give it a try. I wouldn't mind eating here again and try many of there other appetizing items on their menu. Just got to be ready for the wait time and not mad hungry.

Famoso - Red Deer, AB

Oh Famoso, everyone in town was super excited when you were opening a year ago. A year later and I'm still not a fan.  I've had a few bad experiences, chalked up to the first month or so they were open and no business will run smoothly without any mistakes when they first open.

In the beginning, I found that they were overstaffed and there was a lack of communication between the staff. I have many examples of what i find demonstrates this but that was then.. this is now. And the most important aspect of a business is of course, the food.
Everytime I go here, I always find my pizza a little burnt... I understand that its flat bread and its pretty hard to cook/keep it consistent. But because of the couple burnt pizza's I've had, I'm not really a big fan. Overall, the apps, the pizzas and the dessert's I've had aren't anything special to me...
The desserts, most of them are overwhelming sweet. Definitely can only handle a couple bites, but they are pretty good to look at and good to share... especially with other women when its a certain time of the month ;)

Overall, I'm not a big fan of Famoso, on a recent trip there was hair in the pizza. Working in the restaurant industry, I know these things happen but personally just from when they first opened and the mishaps I've had with them... it's not a place I frequent when I'm dining out. Side note, other then the first month or so of opening, the service is consistently friendly and the owner is usually always there and is very genuine in knowing how your meal went.

SKINNY TEATOX - 7 Day Review

I've been curious about these tea detoxes for a while and have been researching the many companies out there. I kept a relatively good diet for the week to see if it helped the results at all.
I must say, this fad on tea detoxes is just a fad. One of those diet fads like those who are straying from gluten in their diet because they believe it will help them lose weight.
I weighed myself before and after the 7 days and there was no change. I personally purchased the 7 days for around $35/cad because I knew I wouldn't stick to a 14 day commitment. It came in a simple white bubbled mailing envelope. I took the tea mainly for the detox purposes, to see if there was a difference in my body that I would notice with detoxing. And I was hoping there would be some weight loss benefits since I'm hitting a wall at the moment.

 I worked out the same amount as I normally would, 3-5 days a week for around 40-60 mins a day (depending on my work schedule). Side note, I have two serving jobs at busy restaurants, so basically each shift is a work out. My appetite was honestly the same, I didn't feel any less hungry then I normally would. One thing I did notice was that I did have a boost in energy, but I can get that with almost any tea. Taste wise, it was alright. I usually drink green tea or black teas which can be on the bitter side. This loose tea (the detoxing tea) tasted a bit bitter but not as strong as green tea or not overly bitter to the point where I hated drinking it. The packed tea, basically a laxative tea (Colon cleanser), tasted alright - personally I thought it tasted worse than the loose tea. I read reviews saying how the laxative aspect had a huge affect on many of them. You only take it every other day I believe and personally only one of those times I've taken it did i actually find it having an affect on my bowels.


 To conclude, I did not notice any benefits that were listed with the skinny teatox. I most likely will not be repurchasing Skinny Teatox, they do have some new products I am curious a bit about.. but for now I'll stick to my regular green tea or my juicer.

La Casa Pergola - Red Deer, AB

Oh La Casa Pergola... the great things I've heard about you. In High school my friend and I stopped by this little place and honestly I wasn't a big fan of their lunch menu...
But I've heard from many locals that this is the place for great authentic italian food. When i mention my "Meh" previous experience, they tell me the dinner menu will be worth it.


So a couple of us stopped by to check out this hidden away restaurant in downtown red deer and my reservations about this place prior were correct.

Ordered the Calamari, personally I found it unappetizing and soggy. The sauce, I was told, base is sour cream and it was weak and tasteless... Never had tasteless sour cream. Wasn't a very special dish. I love calamari and find most restaurants make it a little too oily, it wasn't oily here... when i say soggy, i mean it was un crispy from maybe not being properly cooked or sitting there too long before it was brought out...

I had the Fettuccini Con Pollo , small portion for $17. And boy.. was it small. I could probably grab the whole portion in my small hands and cover it all.
I understand fine dining and their small portions, but this place is not exactly the real fine dining experience.
I also found this dish flavorless. The Chicken was cooked perfectly and seasoned well. But that was the only appetizing aspect of this dish.
The pasta sauce is described to be made with all these cheeses yet I honestly didn't taste anything. It just tasted like watered down white sauce with a faint faint hint of cheese.
I think those cheap side kick packages at the grocery store have more flavor then this dish.
And the price... not worth it.
(They ran out of broccoli that night and subbed mushrooms.)

Overall, my experience wasn't memorable at this joint. I love the ambiance of the place. Its quaint and sadly it would be a great restaurant if the food was more flavorable, or at least the price should not be that high for the quality of the food.
Don't see the great food that everyone else is saying so personally, I will not be returning to this restaurant.

The Coconut Room - Red Deer, AB

Cafes like these are all the fad these days. I'm not a big coffee drinker, prefer to get my caffeine fix from some good ol' green tea but I've heard from many coffee drinkers that they love going to the Coconut Room for 'Real Coffee'. I stopped by here with a friend for lunch when I  heard they have a great lunch menu! I wasn't expecting much for their lunch menu, knowing it was more of a cafe with pastries, but they really only had three meals to be served for their lunch. We had the coconut curry (Which i'm starting to think its one of their most popular dishes) and what I believe was called the burrito bowl...

Its a very open space, with a small gallery in the corner.. did i mention it on top of Sunworks? Nice to do a little shopping on your way out! Their plating is simple yet fitting for the atmosphere. A bit expensive for what you get... but you pay for the quality not quantity.
Didn't find much special about the burrito bowl, pretty generic in my opinion. The Coconut Curry on the other hand, I can see why most people mention this dish when they talk about the food there.
Its a pretty tasty dish, very sweet.. what i love about this dish, is that they put a dollop of coconut on top of the curry, so you can mix it in or add a little to each bite. Both dishes are very hearty. They offer a mason jar with cinnamon sticks and apples... Personally, I didn't like it but it's nice to see that added touch.

They do offer many soups and salads, all of which sound very tasty. And they have a large selection of home made pastries. I've seen from their facebook page that they do offer a changing dinner menu, all of which looks pretty tasty and worth the try. 

If you like coffee, a quiet atmosphere, do not want gluten in your pastries, want into that whole healthy raw food or want to try out one of those trendy cafes that are popping up everywhere than this will be your place. Or even if you just want a decent snack while you are in downtown, try their coconut curry.

It's a quaint little cafe, I'm glad I tried it out. Doubt i'll be there again soon, or often... not really my type of restaurant but It's definitely worth it to stop by and check it out. 

Blink Restaurant and Bar, Calgary Alberta

Stopped by here with a few friends a few weeks ago. First walked in and noticed the well decorated interior and was welcomed instantly by the friendly staff there.

My one friend tried the Twice Baked Cheese Souffle to start and loved it, they thought it was well balanced while for myself it was just a little too much cheese for my liking.  We also decided to start with a beef carpaccio dish which had a great balance of flavor.

For the mains, I decided to go with the salmon for the main, cooked perfectly to my liking (then again, its hard to screw up salmon) but I didn't like the sauce it came with but again personally I prefer my salmon by itself. My other companions tried their rabbit dish. Cooked perfectly, well balanced dish. It was a very comforting dish but not too heavy like most would be.

For desert we did try a strawberry shortcake with basil ice cream. The basil ice cream was a nice refreshing palette cleanser. Was extremely satisfied with this dessert.

Overall, I had no complaints. Well balanced dishes that change with the season, nice atmosphere in a very open spaced venue.

http://blink-calgary.com/

Thai Express Review - Crossiron Mills, Balzac, Alberta

Hi there,

Was shopping with a friend at Crossirons and we were both craving some thai food!
I was feeling up for some Pad thai but wasn't a fan of the thin rice noodles they were using, I prefer the flat rice noodles though the photos did look appetizing.
We both ended up ordering curry, some spicy Green Chicken Curry for myself and mild Yellow Chicken curry (around $8-9 dollars/each) for my friend. She also ordered a salad roll for around $2.50/ 1 piece + generous amount of peanut sauce.

Yellow Curry with Salad Roll

Green Curry

The curries were pretty good, especially for their price. Personally I like a 2:1 ratio of rice to curry but many places put a ton of curry sauce and very little rice. Luckily Thai express puts just the right amount of rice & curry for this lady :) Good amount of meat and eggplant in mine, my friend's as well. Only thing was that for green curry, i expect it to be pretty spicy - clear my sinus' spicy! And i'm pretty sensitive to spice, a drop of sirachi sauce or a tiny bit of kimchi has my heart going! But the green curry there wasn't really that spicy, it was a "Oh I taste some spicy/thingly feeling on my tongue" which was a bit disappointing. As well as it wasn't .. green...
My friend's curry was mild, perfect for her liking - a good classic yellow curry. Another dislike is that I didn't really taste any coconut milk in the curry, every once in a while a hint of it..

Her salad roll was just a regular vegetarian salad roll, the peanut sauce was a pretty dark brown for what I usually see but it tasted fine. I always think salad rolls are expensive for what they are...

Overall for the price, its a good place to relish your craving for thai food!

www.thaiexpress.ca

Yum Yum Korean Chicken & BBQ Cuisine, Airdrie, Alberta

Yum Yum Chicken lives up to its name, I am addicted to their chicken.
I've heard from a few family members that the chicken there is amazing, the skin beats kfc skin (Say whaaa? I find that hard to believe, nothing beats KFC skin) and with the raving reviews on Urbanspoon my next trip to Calgary, I decided I had to stop by in Airdrie to try out this yum yum chicken.

I went in around 6pm on Wednesday night and only a couple guys were sitting down waiting for their food. The cashier worker guy was pretty helpful and very patient with us trying to decide on which chicken we wanted to try. We tried the Spicy Fried Chicken, Shallot Chicken and Yum Yum Chicken. My favorite was the Shallot Chicken, it has a little spice to it as well. On all the Chicken, the skin was crispy, crunchy, delicious. 

The Yum yum chicken is lathered in their kind of sweet and sour sauce and then deep fried again. Spicy fried Chicken was spicy but not overly where I want to drown myself in milk.
I had extra of the Shallot chicken and bought it home, I was worried that the steam would ruin the crispy outside or when I microwaved it the crispyness would become soggy. But surprisingly it held up for two days in the fridge and through the microwave. The skin was still crispy, the shallotty spice was still preserved into the chicken. It was delicious as the first day i got it fresh, even a little better since I could taste more of the spice.

Price is reasonable, around $10 for a 2 piece meal, fries and a drink.. basically the same price as KFC. I ordered a small order of fries and it was a very generous portion!

Only downside of this place is that the to go containers, we ordered a half order to go and it was a generous size but it didn't fit into the little box they provided. There should be bigger to go boxes that cover the chicken adequately.     
I love this place, Yum Yum chicken lives up to its name and I will be making more stops here in the future. KFC you have some competition.


Yum Yum Chicken & BBQ Korean Cuisine
3 Stonegate Dr NW
Airdrie, AB T4B0N2
Phone: (403) 980-8303