Single Serving Friends

Borgo Trattoria
818 16th Ave SW
borgo.ca


Another post from this past summer. Checked out Borgo Trattoria. Located on the trendy 17th avenue, Borgo Trattoria specializes in Italian cuisine in full size plates and the ever popular tapas style. The front face feature beige block and black window mullions with "Borgo" in giant cursive across the middle. The semi open patio is packed with hungry patrons. A very lively atmosphere.


Unlike other tapa places where dishes are generally offered in a serving of unknown size (typically small, but how small?!?!), Borgo Trattoria offers many of their items in single piece servings. Two meatballs. Too many? How about one? You got it. This offers diners the opportunity to try a variety of different dishes (especially the small eaters, I'm an eating machine so it wasn't a big deal). Dishes are brought out when they are hot and ready. Except the cold dishes. Those are brought out cold. 

To start, we ordered two pieces of focaccia bread. Some of you may know of my unhealthy obsession with foamy focaccia bread. It makes Gollum's ring obsession look like a weekend hobby. So where does Borgo's bread rank among Calgary's restaurants? In my humble opinion, it is up there with the best. Though not as squishy as Charcut or Bonterra Trattoria, Borgo's focaccia bread is tasty in it's own way. Toasted to a golden crispy state, the bread is topped with caramelized onions. Forget the balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil, the bread is heavenly on it's own. Ordered initially to soak up all the sauces, it was definitely tough to not gobble it all up before the other tasty dishes arrived. 

The classic bruschetta was the first to arrive. There aren't many Italian restaurants that don't serve bruschettas. It's like going to a Chinese restaurant and not being able to order some sort of rice dish. Not gonna happen. Cherry tomatoes were halved and served on a toasted piece of bread with watercress garnished on top. Flavours were light and refreshing. 

The next to arrive was the feature frittata. This little wedge of omelet is stuffed with cheese (I forget which kind) and potatoes. The pie is then topped with watercress. Borgo really likes the watercress. 

More stuff began arriving. Next up, the eggplant frites. Deep fried to order, the outside batter was light and crispy while the inside was moist and juicy. It is served with a fennel yogurt for your dipping pleasure. Really good! 

The prawn were the next to arrive. Served with a sprig of rosemary, the prawns were seared to a golden brown. Perfection! 

The next to arrive was the arancino of risotto. These little balls of rice are stuffed with cheese and served in a tomato paste. 

This next dish, which looks sort of like the risotto balls before, is the meatballs. Served in a tomato paste, the meatballs were firm and meaty. 

Also served in a tomato paste is the calamari. Not deep fried, it was a refreshing way of presenting the ingredient. The meat was surprisingly not very chewy but rather tender. Strange. 

The most disappointing dish of the day was the beef skewer. Beef skewers, in my mind, entails large chunks of meat (in this case, beef) speared together with a medieval claymore and served over a raging fire with sweet cow juice dripping off the oh-so-very-tender medium rare bovine flesh. This was not the case at Borgo. I can live without the raging fire but the toothpick size (exaggeration) brochette featured a small film of beef wrapped along its length and served on a plate that was 10 sizes too big. It was a little disappointing. Taste wise, the beef skewers were pretty good. I think the trick is to eat it with your eyes closed. Some of you are probably wondering 'But David, that's dangerous! What if I poke my eye out with the skewer?!' Fear not loyal reader! This item is no longer served at Borgo (Not surprised). The world is at peace once again! 

The last savory dish to arrive was the sautéed mushrooms in a wine sauce. The dish was very fragrant and tasted equally delicious. The sauce was rich and creamy. It came with two slices of bread which was definitely not enough to scoop up all the sauce. I dipped the last remnant of my focaccia bread to soak up the remaining creamy goodness. 

We finished off our tapa dishes with an americano and the dessert combo. Served on a silver platter (why aren't more things handed to me like this?), we have the quartet of tasty dessert. 

In the top centre, we have the classic cannelloni. One of the ends is dipped in chocolate and coated with pistachio. It is finished off by dusting it with icing sugar. Working in a clockwise direction we have the rum baba. This yeast cake is soaked with liquor and served with whipped cream and strawberries. The cake is soft, moist and most definitely melted in my mouth. Rum oozed out of the cake as it is compressed. Heavenly. In the bottom left, we have the almond tart with gelato. The tart had very rich almond flavours. The gelato was smooth and creamy. Delish! The final dessert was the mix berry semifreddo. This frozen "half cold" dessert is made with whipped egg whites and whipping cream folded into it. As a result, when frozen, it does not get as hard as ice cream. Though described last, we ate the semifreddo first so it didn't melt into a sloppy mess. 

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Beautifully decorated interior. The restaurant was busy the whole time we were there. Very lively. 


Food: 8 out of 10. The food was very good. Some better than others. 


Presentation: 7 out of 10. Above average presentation overall. 

Price: 7 out of 10. Many items are offered per piece but adds up quite quickly. So keep that in mind when you order. The menu is fairly straight forward. But if in doubt, inquire with your server. Which brings us to the next point. 


Service: 9 out of 10. Incredible service. Our server was very knowledgeable of all the dishes. Very friendly and attentive to our needs. Our waters were consistently topped up that my mom complained that I never drank any water. I swear I drank lots! 


Overall: 8 out of 10. Good food, warm inviting atmosphere and amazing service. Borgo Trattoria. Check it out! Bring your friends.

10 Days of Yeeehaw!

Calgary Stampede

1410 Olympic Way SE

calgarystampede.com

Stampede 2011 is here and F-Log For Thought is on hand to taste the all delicious “food”. Just like last year, I hit the grounds solo because I have no friends. : (

For those that have been in years past, you'd know what to expect - sketchy rides, impossible-to-win prizes, country music galore, drunk people stumbling around town regardless of time of day, angry animal rights activists making a big fuss about how the animals are treated and, of course, over priced foods. There is a mystical obsession with things on a stick. It's ridiculous. Pizza on a stick, bacon on a stick; You can put anything on a stick and people will buy it for a premium. Bananas - 59 cents per pound at your local grocery store. On a stick? $4. But the talk of the town this year is the donut burger.

Having no regard for my personal health, I decided to give the donut burger a try. The vendor is located beside the Pizza on a Stick shop near the Lammle's Western Wear tent. 

Sandwiched between a glazed donut (The burger is made from a single donut that is sliced in half and not 2 donuts as I was lead to believe), is a juicy beef patty, bacon and processed cheddar cheese (I paid an extra $1 for each of these items, $10 total). It was interesting. It's sweet until you hit the burger part. Then it's savory. Kinda like chocolate cover pretzels but with a donut and a burger. 

A weird combination for sure. It sounds really disgusting but it's surprisingly edible. Plus you get this sweet sticker. That's right, I survived the Donut Burger. But I'm pretty sure my life expectancy went down by at least 5 years.

Just down the way is La Poutinerie where I got the Steak Poutine. For a whopping $12. These guys have a pretty confusing setup. So basically you order from the inconspicuous side window AND then pick up your order from the front window with the giant lineup. There's no signs or anything. You just gotta know... So the steak poutine was pretty decent. Crispy fries, cheese curds and small pieces of cooked steak filled a Chinese takeout container and is finished with a gravy. The steak was pretty tender, maybe a tad on the soggy side. It came from a giant tub in the back. Don't expect it to be grilled when you order it.

After a short break, I headed over to another vendor to get some deep fried Oreos. For a modest $5, you get a tray of 4 Oreos. Battered and deep fried, the cookies are finished with a rather generous sprinkle of icing sugar. A word of warning, do not eat this while walking into the wind. Inhaling icing sugar is not exactly the most pleasant feeling. The Oreos were all melted and gooey (Read: Soggy). Kind of like a s'more but deep fried. This marks the first time I've had something that is deep fried that is not crispy and crunchy.

To wash it all down, I had a lemonade which I also had last year. It was really refreshing. A small was only $3.

I walked around aimlessly for a bit and finished off the day with a berry blast slushy. It's like Jugo Juice but with a different name. It was super hot and anything made with ice would have tasted amazing. I'm sure if they some how put it on a stick, they could sell it for an extra $5.

I opted to not go on any crazy rides as I'm fairly certain the donut burger-poutine-deep fried Oreo combo would not have sat well in my stomach. But I probably deserved that one. So thank you Calgary Stampede for yet another 10 days filled with tasty "food" and scantly clad women. Till next year!

Also, I've got some great ideas for snacks next year like deep fried potato sticks. Or deep fried hot dog on a stick. Wait a minute...

The Big Eight-Five

South West Seafood

8012 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

It was my Grandma's 85th birthday a couple of weeks ago and all family headed to Vancouver for a huge party! We ordered the classic fancy set dinner which features a large variety of communal dishes. First up was the cold platter which features jellyfish in sesame oil, soy and chili sauce; marinated baby octopus; thinly sliced pieces of beef shank and smoked pig feet and a bean curd wrap. The cold platter is probably one of my favorite Asian dishes of all time. I thoroughly enjoy stuffing my face with the various tasty appetizer things. So good. Unfortunately, I always over stuff myself and never have enough room for the remaining dishes.

The next to arrive was the deep fried crab claw. Battered shrimp paste is wrapped around a crab claw and deep fried to a golden crispy state.

A flavourful consommé with shredded chicken, bean sprouts and some fin of a large marine creature arrived once the previous plates were cleared. It was pretty flavourful despite some members of the family requesting extra ground pepper.

A bunch of boring dishes arrived followed by a whole abalone. The slow braised mollusk was served with two large stalks of broccoli and a mushroom. It was a feeble attempt at fancy dish presentation. The abalone was a bit too chewy. Perhaps a bit overdone? Or is it undercooked? I’m not sure. I’ve had better.

Next up was the roasted squab (young domestic pigeon). The unfledged bird was roasted until the skin is super crispy. It is then chopped at the waist and served straight up with no sauces. If given a choice, take the bottom half. The meat is generally more tender. That and there's not a whole lot of meat on the little wing.

The next photo I took was the fook kin fried rice. It's the one with the sauce (Do not confuse it with the yuan yang fried rice which is the one with the cream and tomato sauce in the shape of a yin-yang, which I'm sure was invented by white people). It's basically a regular fried rice smothered in a delicious thick broth with various meat, seafood, chopped up veggies.

To finish off the meal, we had some tasty longevity buns. Made to look like peaches, it is stuffed with a sweet, sweet lotus paste. So soft, so squishy, sooooooo good. Om nom nom nom. My mom said they were a little dry. So there you have it.

Atmosphere: 5 out of 10. It was clean. Nothing special about it.

Food: 7 out of 10. Fancy ingredients. Average execution.

Presentation: 6 out of 10. Effort was made to make it look nice. Especially the pieces that you couldn't eat.

Price: N/A. I have no idea how much it cost. Probably two arms and a leg.

Service: 7 out of 10. Good service. Plates were cleared in a timely manner.

Overall: 6 out of 10. Decent overall. My grandma had a good time and that's all that matters.

Not a dumpling...

Din Tai Fung

Shop 3-9, GF, 68 Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

www.dintaifung.com.hk

Specializing in xiao long bao (small steamed buns), Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) is a restaurant chain that originated from Taiwan with stores located in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States. It's like the McDonalds of Chinese food.  Both locations in Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay) was awarded one Michelin Star in the Hong Kong and Macau Michelin Guide 2011. On a side note, what is up with the Michelin guy judging food? He sells tires. Though, it seems like he packing some extra junk in the trunk... But I shouldn't judge.

Anyway, Din Tai Fung features an open kitchen so that you can watch in awe as the chefs pump out little xiao long bao like an automated assembly line. There was a nice lineup going when we arrived for dinner. We browsed through the menu and selected our items on the order form as we waited for our table. The menu features photographs beside each item to aid those who can't read Chinese. Or English. Or just want to look at pretty pictures. It is interesting to note the pictures are a very close depiction of the final product. What you see is what you get. If you were secretly hoping you would get more stuff, I wouldn't hold your breath.

When we were finally seated, we put in our order. The food began to arrive shortly after. As usual, I had my camera in one hand and chopsticks in the other, stuffing my face while taking poorly composed photos at the same time. Multitasking is clearly not my forte. Also note that I had this meal over a month ago. Some of the details are a little fuzzy (Read: Really fuzzy) so I will breeze through them and throw down a blurb or two if I remember anything about it. Alright, dish one - Shanghai styled smoked fish (上海燻魚). I have no clue what type of fish. All I know is the meat was firm and it was very flavourful.

Dish two was the chilled bitter melon (冰鎮涼瓜).

Next up is the kalimeris and tofu salad (香干馬蘭頭). The ingredients were finely chopped, mixed together and served cold. Like revenge. But tastier. And everyone wins.

Wok fried green bean with minced pork and dried shrimp (干煸四季豆).

The renowned xiao long bao (特色小籠包) (top) arrived next in it's signature bamboo basket. Which was quickly followed by an order of crab meat xiao long bao (蟹粉小籠包) (bottom). Note the slightly orangey-er tone. The buns (not dumplings, despite the resemblance) are stuffed with pork (and crab meat) and aspic. Once steamed, the gelatinous aspic melts to create the tongue scorching, mouth burning soup inside the bun. Super tasty. If you were to only order one thing at Din Tai Fung, order the xiao long bao.

Next up, the vegetable and pork dumplings (菜肉蒸餃) (top?) and the vegetable and mushroom dumplings (香菇素餃) (possibly bottom). You might be thinking "Whoa David, these dumplings look exactly like the buns, what makes them different?" Well, let me tell you - The main difference is how it is prepared. Xiao long baos and buns are closed by pinching the dough at the crown so that a ring of folds is formed. Jiaozi or dumplings are form via folding the dough in half and pinching it close along the edge. There is a direct correlation between the number of ripples on the bun or dumpling and the price of the dish. The more ripples it has, the higher the complexity, the more they charge. Facts of life.

I'm pretty sure this next dish is the zha jiang noodles (炸醬拌麵).

This is followed by a fried pork chop noodle soup (油炸排骨湯麵). The pork chop is served separately to preserve the crispiness of the meat. 

The next dish to arrive was the vegetable and pork won ton noodle soup (菜肉餛飩湯麵).

We finished off the savory dishes with a plate of fried rice with shrimp and shredded pork (蝦仁肉絲蛋炒飯).

We ordered a variety of desserts. The first to arrive was the almond tofu pudding (杏仁豆腐) (definitely top). Followed quickly by a fruit (cantaloupe) tapioca soup (鮮果西米露) (bottom) and a taro tapioca soup (荔芋西米露) (not shown). The taro tapioca was the highlight of the three. The aroma of taro filled the air as it was brought into the room. I was a little slow on the photo and it was half gone by the time it came around to me.

Atmosphere: 7 out of 10. I love the open kitchen concept. Unfortunately, we were seated in the VIP room upstairs.

Food: 7 out of 10. Above average. Some items were better than others.

Presentation: 7 out of 10. An impressive showing of skill in the xiao long baos and dumplings.

Price: N/A. I have no idea what the bill came to so I will not comment.

Service: 6.5 out of 10. Average service.

Overall: 7 out of 10. Good but not sure if I would wait in line for several hours for a table as noted in other blogs. I only waited 30 minutes for the rest of my party to show up.

Look at those Buns

Chefs Gallery

501 George St, Sydney

www.chefsgallery.com.au

After another long day of exploring Sydney, we stopped by Chefs Gallery for some dinner. Chefs Gallery features a semi open kitchen so that patrons can see the noodle makers roll and stretch a blob of dough into stringy thin noodle pieces. It's a pretty neat experience if you've never seen it before. Unfortunately for us, we were seated on the other side of the shop so I couldn't see much of anything. We made our order and I tried my best attempt at creeper camming the action. Clearly didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

The first to arrive was the plain grilled hand pulled noodles. Though simple, this dish presented the hand pulled noodles in it's purity. Garnished with fried shallots and served with soya sauce, the noodles was the star of the show. Rolled, folded and stretched when you order, the noodles had the perfect firmness, not too soggy, not too hard. The flavour was clean and refreshing. This was probably one of my favorite dishes of the night.

The next dish to arrive was the zha jiang hand pulled noodles. Served with minced pork and tofu in a zha jiang sauce and topped with carrots and celery, the flavour was much stronger than the first dish. I thought it was a bit too salty and was not a big fan of it.

Things began arriving quickly and I was having difficulties taking pictures between stuffing my face with the two bowls of noodles. The shredded pork and lettuce fried rice was the next to be brought out. For over $10+, the portions were looking awfully small, especially when compared to portion back in Calgary. It was decent but nothing about it stood out as spectacular.

The last non dessert item to arrive was the pan fried shrimp guotie (potstickers). I know y'all are thinking 'That doesn't look like a potstickers David...' But apparently it is. Sooo... Yeah. I was like 'WTF?' when the waitress dropped it off. I was fully expecting a dumpling looking thing. I did not expect it to look like some pan fried rice crepe. The shape totally threw me off. It was messed up I tell ya! Taste wise, it was decent so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

So the main reason I decided to check out Chefs Gallery was because I saw a picture of their steamed sesame 'piggy face' bun. A favourable review on urbanspoon also helped. But look at it! It looks so cute! And tasty! I couldn't resist.

The spongy steamed bun is stuffed with a gooey sesame paste and decorated to look like a little pig. Awwww... Taking a bite unleashes the tasty savory goop on your taste buds. It felt like a party in my mouth. So good.

This is what I thought of it in these categories.

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. There were a lot of antiquey looking decor sitting around the restaurant. If the tables weren't around, I would have thought it was a museum or something. It had a nice inviting atmosphere. Which may explain the line up outside.

Food: 7.5 out of 10. It had it's ups and downs. Pretty good over all.

Presentation: 8.5 out of 10. Above average presentation. Points mostly coming from the sesame buns.

Price: 8 out of 10. One of the cheapest meals we had in Sydney. Not including the late night McDonald's run obviously.

Service: 6 out of 10. Average service. We had to ask for everything. But it's generally in line with most Chinese restaurants so I wasn't expecting much.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10. Above average. It's definitely got more ups than downs so I'd recommend it.