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.

Saturated

Koiji Restolounge

40 Country Hills Landing NW

www.koijilounge.com

Traditionally located in or near the core, Japanese restaurants have recently been popping up in the north west like pimples on a pubescent teen. Taiyo, Ajisai and now Koiji Restolounge. My latest food adventure (From this summer, I have a huge backlog) takes me to Koiji Restolounge up in Country Hills. Located across the street from the T&T market, it has arguably the best location out of the three that I mentioned above. Asian people love sushi. Ironically, when we arrived that Sunday, the space was mostly occupied by white people. Which, I guess explains the restolounge part.

We were quickly seated upon arriving. The space was beautifully decorated complete with a trendy faux fireplace along the elevated seating area which I never got a picture of.

Browsing through the menu reveals a solid selection of hot and cold appetizers. Those who know me will no doubt tell you that I love appetizers. In fact, I love appetizers so much that I can skip the entree altogether. In addition to the appetizers, there are a bunch of other stuff you can order; tempura, grilled fishes and what not (but no zaru soba, katsudon or tonkotsu ramen).

Oh, and then there's the sushi list.

But that's a given. Except maybe at Ajisai.

The sushi list was decent too; offering a solid lineup of raw seafood, including three types of salmon, the presumably-wild-sockeye-salmon, the no-doubt-farmed-atlantic-salmon and the for-the-people-who-pretend-they-eat-sushi-smoked-salmon. No fancy exotic fishes though. Unfortunately. We ordered our usual favorites plus some; salmon of the sockeye variety, hamachi, scallops, octopus, toro, amaebi (sweet prawn) and botan ebi (Canadian sport prawn). 

The waiter returned shortly after we placed our order to inform us that they had run out of toro. I don't know what everyone’s experiences are, but I don't think I've ever had toro north of 20th Ave. Do they not swim this far beyond of the Bow? But I digress. Koiji Restolounge offers two types of shrimps. Nay! Three types! Amaebi, botan ebi and ebi. Besides being ordered alphabetically, the preceding list is also ordered based on awesomeness. Amaebi is a true prawn served raw. The flavours are sweet. So if you can stomach it, I highly recommend it. What I like most about Koiji is that they pre deep fry the head so you can nibble on the little claws when you please. Points for saving me the trouble of having to ask the server afterwards. Next on the list is the botan ebi. This dinky little shrimp is also served raw and comes as a pair. Flavours are sweet but it's too little and does not come with a deep fried head. And lastly, we have the ebi. Which I never order individually. This oversized cocktail shrimp is typically served cooked and cold. Lame.

Moving on. Sockeye salmon was the preferred choice of the three available. Generally more flavourful, the sockeye salmons exhibit flesh that is typically redder in colour, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the food they eat. The scallops could have been a little fresher. A little too mushy. Nothing special about the hamachi or octopus. 

Oh and we also ordered the "Stampeder" roll. Also known as the rainbow roll at other sushi establishments, this roll consist of a bunch of fish rolled up in rice with strips of avocado, ebi and salmon layered on top. It's missing quite a few hues of the rainbow so many places have opted to rename it the "Stampeder" roll to avoid the confusion. Not sure how that one works elsewhere though as I believe it is named after the Calgary Stampeders. If it's not, then it makes even less sense. How about Truncated Colour Spectrum Roll™. I guess it doesn't have the same ring to it.

The seafood miso soup was the first to arrive. This hearty bowl of soup consisted of shrimp, scallops, crab, mushroom, tofu, wakame and a bunch of other stuff (It was a long time ago). It was really flavourful. Sweet from the plethora of seafood. Very tasty and only 3 dollars more than the regular miso soup… Sorry, organic miso soup. The seafood one is organic too. Definitely worth the money. Regardless of whether they used organic miso or not.

We also ordered two appetizers. After yammering on for a full paragraph about how much I love appetizers, how could I not? The first to arrive was the salmon yukke. Korean inspired, this dish is the tasty offspring of a steak tartare and bruschetta; except it's made with salmon and not beef. This dish basically consist of diced salmon and avocado marinated in a tangy special sauce. This is then served over a slice of garlic toast. This is one of those restolounge-fusion dishes I was talking about.

The final dish to arrive was the chicken karaage. Chicken wings, stuffed with fish roe, is deep fried to the max and served with a dipping sauce. It was ok. The lack of bones in the mid wing section was nice. 

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Beautiful interiors. It's hip. It's trendy. It's the little details. But the fireplace was definitely a contributing factor. Everyone loves fireplaces right?

Food: 7 out of 10. Food was good. It's definitely more Japanese fusion than traditional Japanese. Especially the none sashimi items. So just keep that in mind when you make a trip out. Don't go leaving angry comments when you find weird sauces on your food.

Presentation: 6 out of 10. My cup was dirty and stained. At the time of visit, they were opened for maybe a couple of weeks? Time to ask for a refund on that dishwasher. A replacement cup was provided with no fuss. Presentation of the food was good. The cup dragged it down.

Price: 7 out of 10. Above average prices. Not sure what everyone is complaining about. I don't think I've ever had "cheap" Japanese food. 

Service: 6 out of 10. Average service. Nothing to email home about. 

Overall: 7 out of 10. Good overall. It is interesting to note that Koiji claims they are the first Japanese restaurant to serve "Japanese burgers" which I’ve coined Jurger™ (Sounds like I have a slur). Not sure what that means. I don't believe the Japanese were known for their burgers. It's probably another one of those fusion things. Maybe they're trying to be the next JapaDog… I may give that a try on my next visit. 

Market Fresh

Cassis Bistro
2505 17 Ave SW
www.thecassisbistro.ca


Checked out Cassis Bistro a couple of weeks ago. Located on the main floor of the new Casel condo building on 17th near Crowchild, Cassis Bistro features a market next door similar to Mercato, except French cuisine is served instead of Italian... The decor is simple and tasteful; Lightly coloured walls contrasted the dark furnishings. We were promptly seated upon arriving. Only a few tables were occupied when we arrived. The menu offers wide variety of dishes so there is always something for everyone.


To start, we had the sautéed shrimp. It came on a bed of zucchini and arugula. I was super impressed with the uniformity of the julienned zucchini. It looked like a plate of spaghetti. The sautéed shrimps were cooked to perfection. Sautéed in butter and garlic, the meat was firm and most definitely delicious. My only complaint was that it was a tad oily. 

For my main, I had the lamb skewers. Solid sized cubes of tasty marinated lamb were speared with a brochette and alternated with onions and peppers. Each order came with two skewers. The meat was very tender and flavourful. A baked tomato provencal (Tomato stuffed with bread crumbs) accompanied the skewers with a bed of gnocchi underneath. So good! 

My mom had the salmon which featured skin that was crispier than the leading brand of potato chips. Not even exaggerating. Ok. Maybe a little bit. But super crispy nonetheless. More testimonials here. Not only did it have super crispy skin, it also featured super moist flesh. A very solid dish. As for the side, this dish featured a tomato, zucchini and eggplant tian and salad. A tian, in a F-Log For Thought style description (Basically one giant run-on sentence), consists of paper thin slices of vegetables layered over each other and baked into a strip of glorious crusty awesomeness. What's so great about it is that the flavours of each ingredient is melted into the next. Heaven!

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. The interiors was simple and clean. Large windows let in ample natural light to keep things nice and bright. 
Food: 8 out of 10. Food was pretty amazing. Ingredients were fresh. Extra points for potato chip-esque salmon skin.
Presentation: 7 out of 10. Above average presentation.
Price: 6.5 out of 10. A tad on the expensive side but well worth the money.
Service: 8 out of 10. Friendly and attentive service. Our server was very knowledgable of the dishes. 
Overall: 7.5 out of 10. A great little place.

Visible Improvement

Home Tasting Room

110 - 8th Ave S.W.

www.hometastingroom.ca

My first visit to Home at the beginning of the year did not not produce the most favourable review, with flavours and colours lacking in the dishes that I tried. The dishes that I ordered this time around were much more vibrant in colour and significantly more flavourful; But not a "I need to drink a gallon of water because I just ate a spoonful of salt" flavourful. Definitely a step up from the subtle, "blink and you’ll miss it" taste from last time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The restaurant was literally empty when we arrived. Everyone was seated in the patio. We ordered a few tasting plates to start. I wanted to try the rock lobster ravioli, but unfortunately, they ran out. Crushed, we quickly found a replacement dish. The first to arrive is the albacore tuna Niçoise salad. Originating from the Côte d'Azur, the salad features anchovies and tuna with heirloom tomatoes, fingerling potatoes and pickled asparagus and a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg on the side. The golden yellow egg yolk had just solidified and melted in your mouth. The tuna was seared to a golden brown around the edges, so tasty. The salad is finished off with an olive vinaigrette.

The next dish to arrive was the scallops. Seared to a golden brown, the scallops were served with a cauliflower purée and anchovy paste. The scallops were so succulent and sweet, a nice contrast to the crispy cured bacon. Despite the "just woke up in the morning" look, this was probably one of my favorite dishes of the day.

My single west coast oyster arrived next. Served in a half shelf over a bed of coarse salt, the oyster was firm with a sweet taste. Not quite as tasty as the ones I had in Sydney but considering Calgary is landlocked, this may be the next best thing.

The remaining dishes were brought out for us. The first of which was the high country bison tartare. Slices of baguettes with a truffle aioli spread was arranged like a flower around the jar of tartare spread. The tartare, made with minced raw bison meat and onions, was very flavourful. The dish features an excellent bread to sauce ratio. For a while, I thought I was going to run out of bread. Though, my last piece was smothered with a mountain of delicious tartare. The mushy bison tartare contrasted the tough baguette slices.

The last dish we ordered was the Salt Spring Island mussels. The tasty shellfish were served in a delicious white wine sauce. From the get go, it was quite evident that the two slices of baguette the dish came with was not sufficient to absorb the all the sauce. Despite being really tasty, I was not about to sacrifice the bread from the bison tartare for it.

So what did I think of it the second time?

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. I had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy my surrounding this time rather than shoveling my food down like I normally do. The interior was quite nice. Gone were the Christmas decorations and replaced with tasteful western trimmings in the spirit of the Stampede (This post is probably 3 weeks old...).

Food: 8.5 out of 10. The dishes were much more flavourful than my previous experience.

Presentation: 8 out of 10. Colourful dishes were presented. Looks much more appetizing (Not that it was bad last time), but the white on white didn't do it for me.

Price: 7 out of 10. Prices are similar to other tapas type places around town.

Service: 6.5 out of 10. Average service.

Overall: 8 out of 10. Signifiant improvements have been made to the dishes. I thoroughly enjoyed the dishes we ordered.

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.

Something Fishy

Sydney Fish Market

Bank Street, Pyrmont, Sydney

www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au

One of the largest seafood markets in the world, Sydney Fish Market features wholesale auctions, several seafood retailers, a wine shop, fruit and vegetable market, a cafe and a couple of restaurant, even a bakery all under one roof. A one stop shop for seafood lovers. We arrived early Saturday morning to check out all the tasty fresh seafood SFM has to offer.

Arriving with an empty stomach, we stopped by the first eatery we saw - The Fish Market Cafe. We ordered the mountainous seafood platter. Piled high to the sky, this platter featured baked oysters, scallops, baby octopus, calamari, battered fish and fries. A lot of fries. Perhaps too much fries. Everything was deep fried or super greasy. I can't say I was super impressed with it. It seemed like a waste of super fresh seafood.

Learning from our mistakes, we strolled through the entire market before stopping for lunch. All the seafood retailers offered similar things. Fresh oysters sold in dozens, sashimi bar, fresh seafood not for raw consumption and a small kitchen with more deep fried products. We finally settled on Nicholas Seafood. Serving a selection of dishes that were not deep fried, Nicholas Seafood even offer the option of cooking the food how you want it. We weren't feeling too creative so we opted for the steamed lobster and prawns with a half dozen of fresh oyster combo instead. All the shops offered fresh oysters but the thought of pounding back a dozen oysters in one sitting didn't seem like a brilliant idea to me at the time. Even though they were fairly small, extra oysters in my stomach = less room in my stomach for other tasty food. I must say though that they were super amazing! Shucked and cleaned on site, the oysters are flavoured with salty seawater and lemon juice, the meat was sweet and creamy and went down smooth. Mmm. Mmm good. I almost wanted to buy a tray and devour them on the spot. The lobster and prawns were pretty amazing as well. The meat was sweet and cooked just right.

In addition to the platter, we each got an abalone. 'cause that's how Asians roll. We can't turn down abalone. Cooked with ginger and scallions, the abalone was a bit over cooked. A little disappointed but decent overall.

We headed to De Costi Seafood next to pick up some sashimi. They appeared to have the freshest and offered the most variety of sashimi that day. We ordered approximately 100g of salmon, tuna, yellowtail and snapper. Upon ordering, the fillet is cut into super tiny slices. Perhaps too small of a slice. I grabbed at least three pieces at a time. It was so good. Mmmmm...

The only issue we had was trying to find a table. Since it was a beautiful weekend, the place was packed. All the picnic tables were filled. I guess the lesson here is eat early, or eat late but don't eat at noon. Sydney Fish Market, if you love seafood, check it out! You won't be disappointed!

Awesome Ish

Cafe Ish

82 Campbell St, Sydney

www.cafeish.com.au

For our second last night in Sydney, we went to Cafe Ish for some dinner. Located in Surrey Hills, Cafe Ish is a Japanese Tapas Ish place serving up Japanese inspired cuisines (not sushi). I crept the urbanspoon earlier and found many favorable reviews. They also served kangaroo and crocodiles meat and I was like "Sweet! let's go there!"

We arrived super early like we always do and walked around the block a million time. To work up an appetite. Obviously. Under the recommendation of our server, we started with 4 tapas. The first to arrive was the crocodile skewers. Battered and deep fried, the crocodile meat tasted like chicken ish. The panko crusted skewer is then served with a Japanese curry and a bunch of watercress leaves.

The next item to arrive was the kangaroo sausage. Topped with feta cheese, it did not taste like chicken. The meat was a little tougher than typical farm animals.

Tuna salad arrived shortly after. Arugula, avocado were mixed together with seared tuna in a tasty dressing. So good.

The last of our initial tapas to arrive was the soft shell crab omelette. This dish is literally featured on every single blog post about Cafe Ish on urbanspoon. And rightfully so! Crispy soft shell crab was wrapped up in a fluffy egg omelet with avocado, shallot and garlic. The dish is finished with a sweet chili ginger soy sauce and watercress leaves. So insanely good. The favour was tangy, a little spicy and generally amazing overall. The texture of the eggs and the soft shell crab contrasted each other. So good. Love it.

We decided to order two more tapas after our initial round. The cucumbers "salad" (because my mother was complaining we were not getting our daily serving of vegetables) and wagyu beef skewers. The cucumber salad was probably one of the weaker dishes of the night so I'm just gonna move on. The wagyu beef was much better. The small cubes of tender wagyu beef were perfectly cooked and super juicy.

Because I'm an eating machine, I ordered an extra round of lamb cutlets.

More panko crusted meat. Mmmmm...

Points as follows:

Atmosphere: 7.5 out of 10. Cute little place. A nice collection of sake bottles on the window.

Food: 9 out of 10. Amazing! Get the soft shell crab omelet. Unless you're allergic to seafood. Or eggs. There's a reason why it's featured on every blog post.

Presentation: 7 out of 10. Above average presentation.

Price: 6 out of 10. Average prices. Prices range from a few dollars to high teens per dish. Of course, all the dishes you want are the pricey ones. Don't underestimate tapa places. Things add up quite quickly.

Service: 7.5 out of 10. Our server was very knowledgable of the dishes, offering her recommendations as needed. Water was constantly topped up and dishes cleared despite having a full house.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10. Very good overall. I highly recommend it for groups as you can try many things. This place was definitely awesome. Not awesome ish. 

Check out this photo of the Kardashian sisters, I mean the Three Sisters, I took earlier in the day!