LUNCH AT FIASCO GELATO CAFE - Marlborough

Fiasco Gelato has been a staple for me when I go to conventions and shows at the BMO. I like to try their different flavours of gelato and sorbetto. I keep forgetting that this place is close to my house. I remember their old place before they moved was slightly farther. Their new HQ/cafe is big, bright, and modern. They are located a block from Centre Avenue on 19 Street in the Northeast. They are close to Barlow C-Train Station and the Calgary Herald building. The dining area in the front is small, but I think people don't usually dine in or stay that long. I like how you can see into the kitchen area. They also have an academy which they run in the evenings to teach people how their gelato are made. It looks very hands-on and you get to bring all the gelato home. The price is a little steep, but I think it would be worth it. I just need some friends to do this with me.

Just a few flavours I have bought so far: Frozen Hot Chocolate, Mint Stracciatella, Blueberry Basil, Greeen Tea Lemonade, and Mango Pineapple

I have been to the cafe a couple of times to buy their pints. Recently, I have decided to dine in and try one of that sandwiches and take out a sundae. I went on a Saturday around lunch. They were not busy at all since all the businesses nearby were closed. There were a few random people coming in for gelato. On an interesting note, one of co-workers saw an article online from the Daily Hive, "62 Things to Eat and Drink in Calgary Before You Die", published in June of this year. Fiasco Gelato is on the list with their Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Porchetta Sandwich $9

I came in to quickly grab some gelato for my coworker, and since I didn't have any food at home, I decided to stay and try their sandwiches. The porchetta sound good. It consist of porchetta, a grainy dijon aioli, chimmichurri, and topped with arugula. Then they make it warm putting it in a panini press. The sandwich was presented on a cute little cutting board. The porchetta was a little salty but it works overall with the sandwich.

Hotlime Bling Sundae $7

I got this to-go and it traveled well. It was only a 5 minute drive so nothing melted too much. I think everything in this sundae was made right in the kitchen. The gelato is their key lime gelato and is topped with graham crackers, their house-made mallow fluff, lime curd, and whipped cream. The mallow fluff was lightly torched to give the sundae a little of caramel flavour and crunch. The lime curd was very tart which is good. The key lime gelato doesn't really have a deep lime flavour, but the flavour is their. Like most of the citrus, the key lime gelato acts like a palate cleanser.

Overall, I'm really glad that this place is open. The service is always friendly and welcoming. They are open everyday early morning to late evening. If you don't know what flavour gelato to try I recommend getting the Tasting Flight. You get 1 scoop each of 4 different flavours to try.

Fiasco Gelato Cafe
#110 - 221 19 Street SE
403-452-3150

LUNCH AT PRESS'D - Northeast

This place opened up super close to my work back in June. I usually don't order sandwiches since I can easily make them at home, but I was curious about this place. The place is quite hidden if you aren't looking for it. It is beside the new EFW Radiology place on Sunridge Blvd in the Northeast. Press'd was an idea created by two university students at the UofA up in Edmonton. They wanted a place where people can get fresh-made, high quality sandwiches at a fair price. Press'd is an alternative to all those fast food places.

So first of, this place is not Subway. You don't get to pick your ingredients. Instead, Press'd offered a wide variety of familiar sandwiches as well as a few of their own creations. You get to, however, choose the bread. They have white, whole wheat, rye, focaccia, and gluten-free options. They make their bread daily which I cannot smell from work. They don't bake the gluten-free bread at the shop. Usually we can smell the cooking from nearby restaurants but maybe the wind hasn't shifted towards our workplace yet from the bakery. I stopped in on a Monday after the lunch rush, 1:30pm. (Yes, I do tend to eat lunch late which is pretty bad.)

Golden Bear Sandwich (reg.) $6.59

I ordered this hot sandwich on whole wheat since it sounded appealing and unique. Although, I'm pretty sure I have eaten this sandwich before on Europe somewhere. I'm guessing this sandwich is their (maybe of many) signature sandwich since it is named after the UofA sport teams. Again, I don't know why but they left out an ingredient - the spinach. I ordered the same sandwich for my co-worker and they missed it on that sandwich as well. I know for a fact that we are not on a spinach shortage in this city. I digress. The Golden Bear consist of roasted chicken, Brie cheese, roasted apples, spinach, and sweet fig jam. The sandwich was sweet due to the apples and fig jam. I agreed with the other review saying that they should use granny smith apples instead. Overall, I enjoyed this sandwich for lunch since it was quick.

Ginger Slush with Mango (small) $2.99

This is a very small size. I initially ordered a citrus base but she gave me spicy ginger. I had a full blast of ginger flavour, but I have to admit it was pretty good mixed with mango. This slush is all natural. There are two base flavours to chose from, spicy ginger or tangy citrus. Then you get to chose the syrup - raspberry, mango, white peach, chopped basil, or chopped mint. This is a nice refreshing drink. If I get sick, I know where to get my ginger drink from :)

Overall, this is a cute little shop, and they have places to sit so you can dine in. They also have salads on their menu if sandwiches aren't your thing. The people working there were very friendly. I don't know if I will be back since I usually bring lunch to work, and I can make my own salads and sandwiches. I do recommend this place for everyone to try. Press'd is open everyday from 11am to 8pm except for Sunday where they open from 11am to 7pm.

Press'd
#101 - 2851 Sunridge Blvd NE

DINNER AT ENERJE CAFE - Northeast

This review is for two separate visits to Enerje Cafe.

First Visit:
My co-worker wanted to come to Enerje Cafe for their All-You-Can-Eat Wings. So we gather as many co-workers, significant others, and friends as possible, bought advance tickets, and headed over there. This was Enerje's third AYCE wings night in as many months. I was hesitant to go at first because I heard that they were totally disorganized. However, after much thinking and telling everyone this, we decided that maybe third time is the charm, and everything will go smoothly. I called for reservations and got the low-down on how the AYCE will work. Basically, the nice girl on the phone told me that we reserve in one hour increments and we are suppose to order everything within the one hour limit but we can stay there as long as we want. Somehow, this didn't sound organize to me.

So, the Friday came and I reserved for 7pm. The AYCE event was from 6-11pm. Advance tickets are $15 and $20 at the door. In addition to the wings, you get two bubble tea drinks as well. There were six bubble tea flavours to choose from. So all of us made it to the restaurant before 7pm. I entered first to tell the person that our whole party was here. I was met by a girl sitting by the front door with the reservation sheets. She told us that the place was full, and we would need to wait. She kept saying that it was her fault for letting walk-ins in at 6:30 and that the kitchen was a bit slow. This did not instill confidence in me. So we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes. During this time, I could see all the people with 7pm reservations were getting angry and impatient. Finally, they opened up the little room on the side, and two parties got to sit in there. My party was one of them. Once we got settled and got in our bubble tea and wings order, there was quite a wait. There were lots of people standing around waiting for a table, and I keep hearing the girl at the table say that there were no refunds for the tickets. So people would either lose money or wait.

Pic: Our first round of wings.
The two bubble tea flavours I ordered were milk tea and mango. The milk tea was okay and really sweet. The mango was very good and tasty. They use fresh mango in it. I heard the avocado was good as well. For wings, there were 14 different flavours on their menu. We can order anything but the lemongrass flavour, as they didn't have any. So as a group, we just ordered one of each kind. At this place, you don't order per wing, you order per basket which is 1 lb. Each basket comes with 8 or 9 wings. By the time the wings came, we were starving. I don't think we got one of each flavour, and I don't think anyone cared. I didn't try all the wings as about half of them were spicy. The ones that I did try were very good, and the wings were big. Our second round, we ordered the same thing, one of each kind.

Overall, the AYCE was very disorganized. We finished at around 9:30 with two rounds of wing orders. We didn't order everything within the hour limit. The server was very busy. When she did get back to us we were ready to order our second rounds of drinks and wings When we left, there were still a couple people waiting. I think they need to set a two hour time limit for each reservation like they do for AYCE sushi. They also need to either limit their advance tickets so they can include walk-ins or not have walk-ins at all. I hope if they continue to have this event, they will learn to organize better. If anyone does want to do this event, I recommend the first seating unless you don't mind waiting.

Second Visit:

I came back here last Sunday at around 4pm for late lunch/early dinner since I was near the area visiting my friends and their new baby. Naturally, at this time, it was not busy. There was only one other table that was occupied. I got to sit anywhere I like. The service was good since the server only had two tables. There were some people that had come in and ordered bubble tea to go. I came here with the intention to try their Filipino items. To my disappointment, they didn't have a lot of stuff on the menu available as they were out of pork belly, oxtail, lemongrass wings, Enerje fried rice. They had ramen there - spicy miso - but I didn't want to try it.

Mango Bubble Tea $5

Since I like their mango bubble tea so much last time, I decide to order it again. I didn't order any 'toppings' since I'm not a big fan of them and they cost $0.50 extra. I was delighted to find that the bubble tea was the same as before. They use fresh mango, and I watch the bartender put it in. However, I don't know if it is me, but the bubble tea was a little overly sweet. I got my drink in a to-go cup since I know I wouldn't be able to finish it. If you dine-in, the bubble tea usually comes in a cute little carafe.

Japizza $7

This is dish is on the Large Plate section of the menu. The dish is good for sharing as it was sliced into 8 pieces. The based of the 'pizza' is sushi rice patted flat and deep fried. On the pizza they added a teriyaki/masago mayo sauce, spam, bonito flakes, and masago. The menu said that there was suppose to have nori (seaweed) as well, but they didn't put any on this pizza. This was a little disappointing that they forgot to put on an item that was listed. Every slice had a piece of spam on it with a little masago. The base had a wonderful crunch. The sauce was unique and messy as they over-sauced the pizza. The bonito flakes gave the pizza a little fishy taste, and the spam was fried and salty as usually. If you let the pizza sit for long, the base does get a little soggy.

Sticky Rice $7

This dish is also on the Large Plate section of the menu, and this is certainly not a large plate. This is enough for one person. I was a bit disappointed since I saw the other Zomato picture of this dish, it looked big. I really hope that they did not adjust portion size according to people eating the dish and charge the same price. This dish was really good, and I like the sauce. It does remind me of the sticky rice dumpling they serve at dim sum. This dish is sticky rice topped with shiitake mushroom, chicken, Chinese sausage, and supposedly green onions. I didn't get any green onions :(. Also, the menu said this dish has roti sauce. I don't know what or where the roti sauce was.

All in all, this place is confusing to me. I don't know if I can recommend it to people since not all the items on their menu are available at all time. However, if you are in the area, I would recommend coming here for their bubble tea. For me personally, I would come here again to try their Filipino dishes but I will call them first to see if they have it. So far, this place isn't high on my list for my go-to bubble tea/hang-out place.

Enerje Cafe
1075 Falconridge Drive NE
403-454-4744

LUNCH AT RISTORANTE PULCINELLA - Kensington

I went down to Kensington for the Harry Potter/Diagon Alley event. I arrived early, 9:15-ish, and there were only a line-up at Pages. After 10am, when the event started, it was crazy busy. My friend arrived late and was having trouble finding parking. We tried to walk around a bit but gave up. We just ended up at Pulcinella. I was curious about their gelato that they had for the event, but my friend was hungry. We decided just to have lunch in the restaurant since she love their pizza.

Pulcinella is a nice modern Italian restaurant with a gelato display case by the front door and a wood-burning stone oven near the back were you can watch the pizza masters do their work. Since we chose this place randomly, I didn't have time to do any research so I have no idea of what to expect. The server was very nice and attentive. Every time he stopped by the table to check up on us, he would refill our water from the carafe on our table. I wasn't really hungry so I decided to just order an appie. However, my friend also talked me into sharing a pizza as well.

Arancini $14

Arancini is one of my favourite Italian dishes. When I ordered it, I was under the impression of just getting one ball. I was pleasantly surprise that three big balls came in this appetizer. So I was quickly rethinking my saying yes to a shared pizza. Arancini is a stuffed rice ball coated with bread crumbs and deep-fried. The arancini I ordered was stuffed with mozzerella, and the rice was infused with saffron. The balls were topped with a nice light tomato sauce and a fried basil leaf. The appetizer was warm when I got the dish so when I cut into one of the arancini, the cheese was all nice and melted. The arancini also had a nice light crunch to it from the deep fried outer layer. The balls were a little bit salty for my taste but overall it was very good.

Verdure Grigliate $18

Pulcinella is known for their authentic Neapolitan pizza with the chef being a member of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN). My friend and I decided to order a 'light' pizza which means not overloaded with meat. So, we were looking at all the veggies ones, and they have a good selection of those. I think I counted ten different vegetarian pizza. The pizza we chose, verdure grigliate - translated to grilled vegetables - was loaded with vegetables. This pizza consist of tomato sauce, grilled aubergine, peppers, zucchini, mozzarella, parmigiano, basil, and fresh tomato. All the vegetables were grilled except for the tomatoes. The crust was thin and bubbly. Neapolitan pizza has to be cooked in a wood-fire stone oven. Everything was fresh and delicious on the pizza. The only problem I had was I think I took a bite of crust that was very charred. My mouth had an ash taste that I couldn't get rid of quickly.

Overall, this was a pleasantly surprise restaurant to visit. I'm glad we stopped by here. However, after all that food, we weren't able to get a scoop of gelato. Next time ...

Ristorante Pulcinella
1147 Kensington Crescent NW
403-283-1166

DINNER AT MARUJU SUSHI - Centre Street N

Continuing on the ramen quest, the next place to try was Maruju. This place has been here for a long time. I remember when it first open back when I was in high school, but I have never tried this place. I didn't like sushi until I went to Japan and ate it there. My two friends have decided to join me this time. We decided to go very early, 5 pm, once the place opened for dinner. Since it was Saturday, I didn't know how busy it would get so the earlier the better. We all arrived early and separately. I think we all wanted to play Pokemon Go in Crescent Heights.

Maruju is a small cute restaurant located in same building as Starbucks before going down the hill into Chinatown on Centre Street North. I heard some good things about their sushi, but we were there for the ramen. My friend is pregnant so out of respect we didn't order any sushi. She is counting down the days until she can eat sushi again, and we are all going out for all-you-can-eat. I was the first one in the restaurant as they open a little before 5pm. After that, a few people came in for take out and a couple more for dining in. It wasn't really busy as I expected but then again it was hailing and pouring out.

Large Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura

My friend decided to order this so I have no idea how much it is. You get 7 or 8 pieces of tempura shrimp and a variety of veggies - broccoli, yam, pumpkin, etc. I didn't really get a good look and only ate a couple of pieces since I wasn't that hungry. I was saving room for my ramen. The tempura was nice and light and not too overly oily. It is just the average tempura dish.

Tonkotsu Ramen with Chashu and Egg $9.95 + $1.50 + 0.75

The ramen menu is one page and seemed a little confusing at first. The main price is on the protein with additional pricing on some of the soup bases. The egg and wonton options are extra add-on as well. There are a variety of proteins to choose from - pork, seafood, deep-fried cutlet, and tempura. They also have different soup bases as well from tomato, miso, spicy miso, tom yum, shoyu, and tonkotsu. I chose tonkotsu, and it had a wonderful flavour. The soup was milky and wasn't salty at all; however, the pork flavour was a little faint. The chashu is one of the best I had so far. You get three pieces and each piece was lean with a little fat on one part of the edge. The pieces were a little charred to bring out another texture and more flavour. The egg was perfectly cook - soft enough and not runny. This ramen is one of my top favourites so far. This dish is really simple in that you only get noodles, green onions, whatever protein or extras you selected and a piece of seaweed.

Overall, this is a quaint little restaurant. I can't wait to come back here for the sushi. The servers here are nice and attentive. The food coming out of the kitchen was a bit slow but understandable since we were the first to order ramen during dinner, and we all ordered different soup bases as well. My friends ordered spicy miso and tom yum. The restaurant is open everyday but they close for a few hours between lunch and dinner.

Maruju Sushi
919 Centre St. N
403-276-8008

LUNCH AT MUKU JAPANESE RESTAURANT - Kensington

I am back to my regular foodie hunts. After a couple months of vacationing and doing a major renovation, I have finally have the funds in my foodie budget :).

My friend invited me to see the visiting Broadway show, Newsie, at the Jubilee on Sunday. I was task to finding a lunch place before the show. After excessive questioning and pondering, I had narrowed down my 2 choices a couple days before, and on that day, I would spontaneously choose. Yes, this is as spontaneously I get. Usually, I plan first before doing anything. On that day, I chose Muku as it was close to the Jubilee, and my friend only had ramen once before. Also, Muku was on my list of ramen places to "try". I have been to Muku a couple times before but it has been a while. We arrive a little before 12:30pm and had managed to snag the last table. This place, like the other ramen places in Kensington I find on the weekends, fills up pretty fast once they open, and this place is small.

Located down the hill on 10th Street in Kensington, Muku is part of Globefish. However, don't look for them to serve sushi as the signs posted everywhere in the restaurant said. Muku is one of the few original ramen places in Calgary before the ramen trend started more than a couple years ago. I haven't been to Muku in a couple of years, and it seemed that they have streamline their menu but kept their main components. They still have the butter ramen. When I was in university, all I hear about this place was the butter ramen and how it made the broth creamy and taste better - the more butter the better. I think I had it once and didn't really see what the hype was all about, but then again I'm not really a fan of butter unless it is on popcorn or corn. I don't like buttered toast and sometimes I only lightly butter my buns. Anyways, I glad they kept their basics and have their specialties as well - original and ninja soups and men (non-soup ramen).

My friend and I opt to order an appetizer and a ramen each. I wasn't really hungry but was serious debating about getting a set - where they add a small rice bowl of chashu, sukiyaki, or unagi - for an additional price. However, I didn't really want to be over-stuffed for the show. As I mentioned earlier, my friend only had ramen once before, about 2 years ago, and thought it was ok. She had it at a place that I haven't try their ramen yet so I don't know what she didn't like about it, but she was enthuse to try it again. I gave her a brief run down on all the different types of broth there were and the typical toppings that come with ramen. She played it safe and ordered what I ordered.

Shrimp Dumplings $6.50

This cute appetizer come with 8 little dumplings. They are steamed and arrived at the table while it was still a little hot. The dumpling consist of one shrimp wrapped in rice wrapper. It was very good, and the dumpling had a little bounce to it. The dipping sauce is a diluted version of soya sauce which is nice since it wasn't overly salty.

Tonkotsu Ramen with Chashu $12.60 (?)

I'm not too sure of the price but I know is it around that mark. This ramen comes with 5 extra piece of chashu in additional to the 2 pieces that usually comes with the ramen. It was chashu overload which was fine. However, out of the 7 pieces of chashu, only 1 piece was fatty and the rest was lean. The broth is not the typical tonkotsu broth where it is milky due to the fat and bone marrow. This broth is clear with small amount of fat floaties. The broth is good as you can really taste the pork flavour. It remains me of a Chinese soup from my childhood. I didn't order any extra toppings so my ramen was just the basic of noodles, green onions, baby corn, and a slice of colourful fishcake. The noodles were soft to my liking.

All in all, I think my friend really enjoyed her ramen, but I think she would prefer the spicier ones. The service here is ok because once we got our food, the server did not check up on us until we finished and left the bill which is understandable since it was busy. Muku has not changed one bit since I first ate there. I forgot to check on their hours since different sources say different hours. I would definitely recommend this place as they offer different types of ramen from the other places.

Muku Japanese Ramen
326 14 St NW
403-283-6555

LUNCH AT BUBBLEMANIA CAFE - Central 16th Ave N

I thought I already posted this review before I left for vacation but I guess I didn't *sad face*. So, this review is a bit late, and Bubblemania has updated their menu slightly.

I remember Bubblemania back in my high school and university days when smoking in restaurants were allowed. I didn't really like this place then but all my other friends did because of their cheap wings and bubble tea. When this place first open, it was dark with people smoking, loud from the people and music blasting, dirty sticky floors, and very sketchy. I'm glad that, over the years, Bubblemania has re-invented itself to be a clean, modern, family-friendly restaurant. My friends like to say that it grew up with us because it first became a place where us teenagers and young 20-somethings hang out to a place where these same people can take their kids to eat. I would like to see what Bubblemania will evolve to next, but I'm sure they are at a good stage now that no changes are required. Although, I did remember that at one time, they were trying to get into the breakfast/brunch thing, and it didn't work out it seemed.

My friends and I rarely hang out here as a group anymore. However, if one of us wanted bubble tea or light snacks, then we would all meet here. My friends and I came here after the Comic Expo on Sunday because the weather was hot, and we wanted some refreshing drinks. We didn't stick around the expo for the whole day since we all got the 4 day pass and already went through everything before. We arrived here a little before 2 pm without realizing that it opens at 2 pm. While we were waiting around the door, I noticed a fair number of people were waiting in their cars. We were the first ones in followed by a massive crowd behind us once we were seated. This is a very popular place during the mid-afternoon on Sunday as we gathered. My friends and I decide to order some food along with drinks. The service here is okay as it was busy.

Cold Thai Milk Tea $4.80

This is not the best Thai milk tea I had as they used a different type of tea when they made it. It had this deep roasted (maybe a little brunt) taste to it. However, I was glad that this was not overly sweet.

Curry Deep Fried Fish Balls (8) $6.70

My one friend without a doubt always order this when we come here...all the way back to our early university days. You get 8 fish balls which is dense and doesn't really have a taste. Although the fish balls are deep fried, it doesn't have the crunchy outer layer - it is just soft. To make these balls delicious, you coat the balls in as much curry as possible. The curry has a nice favour and not spicy at all. The curry is almost like Japanese curry.

Eggplant Dip with Mantou

The menu has been updated recently, and I don't see this on the menu anymore. This is a vegetarian dish, and I don't think it is popular. This dip is good but on the saltier side. There wasn't much of an eggplant taste. The mantou, Chinese steam bun, was not fluffy but good for piling the dip on. Mantou are typically plain buns, and these were no different despite their colour. You only get four little buns and lots of dip.

Spicy Stir-fried Thai Style Udon $10.60

My friends ordered this, and I had a little bit as it was very spicy for me. This dish is made with sliced chicken and fish balls, bean sprouts, onions, and green onion. They stir-fried this up with a spicy Thai red curry. This dish is very good the first few bites before my mouth was on fire. I would recommend this to everyone who loves things a little spicy.

Overall, Bubblemania, is a good place to hang out and enjoy some bubble tea if you are in the area. It is very convenient as it is just off of 16th Avenue N a block away from Edmonton Trail. Bubblemania has evolved throughout the years and seemed to stay strong as most of their competitors seem to go out of business. They are open at 2pm (except for Tuesday they open at 5pm) and stay open very late midnight, 1am or 2am. They are closed on Monday. Also, since I'm finishing this post up after a couple of months of initially writing this, I heard this is a popular place to hang out for Pokemon Go :)

Bubblemania Cafe
455 - 16 Avenue NE
403-277-9398