Victorious!

Wa's Japanese Restaurant
1721 Centre Street N
wascalgary.exblog.jp


One of my new favourite Japanese dishes is the Katsudon. This popular Japanese dish features deep fried pork, eggs and sauteed onions over a bowl of rice. It is super tasty. My favorite rendition of this dish is at Wa's. Though to be fair, I've only had it at two places. The other being at Sumo on Tenth. So that's a pretty small sample size. They were both pretty good but Wa's was better.


The breaded pork pieces were juicy and tender. Eggs were beat and mixed in with the pork and onions to fused them together into one giant blob of deliciousness. It is then served over a bowl of rice and garnished with nori, scallions and two wedges of pickled daikon. Mmm mmm good!

What's a visit to Wa's without a plate of my favorite sashimi? Amaebi, toro, hamachi, salmon, scallop and tako oh my!

Atmosphere: 7 out of 10. Despite recent renovations, the interior is still very time worn. It does not feature fancy electric fireplace or designer decor.


Food: 9 out of 10. No. Wa's is all about the food. Tasty, scrumptious and succulent food. Fresh and full of flavour.


Presentation: 8 out of 10. Look at the cute little basket the scallops came in. Aww...


Price: 6 out of 10. A little pricier that other sushi places around town but you get what you pay for so it is well worth the money.


Service: 7 out of 10. Despite being busy, the service was attentive.


Overall: 8 out of 10. I'm jonsing for some Katsudon right now! Did you know "katsu" is a homophone to the verb "win" in Japanese? Now you do. 

More Samples Please

Welcome to the 2011 edition of F-Log for Thought's adventure at the Taste of Calgary. Click here for the entry from last year. And as always, this is posted several weeks after the event is over so you're probably jonesing for that thing that I ate and you passed on because you weren't sure if will be taste good or not but now it's too late. 

After a short relaxing 14k run with Maria on Sunday morning, I decided to check out the Taste of Calgary at Eau Claire after a quick shower. For those who have never been, Taste of Calgary occurs every year around the middle of August. Various restaurants around town congregate in the courtyard area at Eau Claire Market to serve up tasty samples of their menu. It is the perfect time to try out that restaurant you've been eyeing but couldn't commit to eating a full order of that thing they serve. All items are sold for tickets (They don't want your dirty money) ranging from 1 to 5 tickets each. Tickets can be purchased for $1 each at various booths on site. A tip from a Taste of Calgary veteran: Don't line up with the other ten thousand people at the entrance to get your tickets. There's probably a vendor around the corner twiddling their thumb longing for social interaction. Remember: time spent in line is time spent not eating delicious food. The exception to this rule is when you are lining up for delicious food. But only because they sell out sometimes. There's a variety of non food vendors but this is a food blog so we'll skip right on over to what you came here for. 

Back again this year is Nubian Express. They were sold out of many of their popular items last year so I made my way there first this time around. Small sample dishes were set out to show what was what. I had an order of coconut rice with beef and a separate order of plantain. To be completely honest, I think I enjoyed the chicken from last year better. The chicken didn't look as appetizing this year. Taste wise, the beef was decent but it was a little on the thin side. The plantain were cut up into small pieces this year rather than serving them as giant blobs of deliciousness from last year. Texture was a little crispier. For a total of seven tickets, that was a pretty significant increase from last year (40% increase). I wish my salary increased by that much. 8 stars out of 10 for both the coconut rice with beef and plantain. Photo of the chicken in the second photo below.

Pacific Hut was the next vendor I hit up. I had an order of BBQ pork skewer (Second photo, if there was any doubt about that). It was very flavourful. It may have been a tad undercooked... I'm still kicking so it was probably alright. To wash it down, I had a refreshing sago and gulaman beverage (First photo). It was sweet and syrupy. Nice and cold. Perfect for a hot summer day! Best of all? It only cost one ticket. So I doubled fisted it like a champ. 5 and 9 stars out of 10 for the pork skewer and beverage respectively. 

Next up - Delicious Thai. We hit the lines as I was finishing my tasty drink. The line was fairly long. When I got to the front, I placed my order. "One Pad Thai please!" The lady opened the tray to reveal a couple pieces of scraps left. That should have been my cue to order something else. But I wanted my Pad Thai. And to be honest, I am most definitely regretting it. My bowl consisted of mostly tofu, a couple of pieces of noodles, sprouts and a nice garnish of crushed peanuts (that was all me though). It was a little on the dry side. I was expecting it to be a bit more moist. Taste wise, it was ok. I think it was mostly because I had the bottom of the barrel scraps. : ( 6 stars out of 10. 

Coconut curry chicken was one of many dishes offered by La Jawab (I got a weird warning message when I checked out their website but it's totally legit). Upon ordering, a spoon full of the orange gobbly goop was slapped onto a styrofoam plate. I know what you are all thinking "Sick David! That looks like a plate of your own vomit!" But I can assure you that it was in fact sweet tasty coconut curry chicken! The meat was tender and the sauce was super fragrant and delicious. I wish there was rice so I could soak up all the tastiness. Wouldn't do that if it was vomit, that's for sure! 8 stars out of 10. 

I've been to loungeburger a few times in the past and despite the massive lineup, I decided to check out their curry lamb meatballs. Each little meatball cost 2 tickets. Although it was pretty delicious, I thought it was a bit overpriced. Served over a mango chutney, the goat cheese stuffed meatball is finished off with a tandoori aioli and a fancy cocktail stick (The kind I didn't want to throw on the BBQ). The meat was firm but not hard. 6 stars out of 10. 

My last stop of the day (for savory items anyway) was Pegasus Greek Restaurant. I had the Spanakopita with tsatziki. This savory pastry features a flaky shell. Taking a bite revealed the tasty spinach and feta cheese stuffing. So good! 7 stars out of 10. 

I finished off Taste of Calgary 2011 with a moijto from Soho Bar and Grill. After an sizzling afternoon of greasy foods, my bevy was extra refreshing. Mmmmm... So good! 10 out of 10. 

Taste of Calgary 2011 was decent. There was a lot of repeat vendors from previous years serving similar, if not the same, items from before. Like Ric's Grill. I'm fairly certain this is the third year in a row that they've served the peppercorn New York Strip. It's not bad... But some new dishes would be nice... *hint hint*

A Four Hour Affair

Quay

Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney

www.quay.com.au

Nothing on my trip was set in stone except our lunch at Quay, followed by a ballet performance at the Sydney Opera House (Unfortunately, Opera season ended in April and doesn't start till June... Impeccable timing I know).

Coming in at number 26 in the S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurant (A one spot jump from 2010), Quay has been steadily climbing the charts in recent years and is a 'Three Hats' status award recipient for 9 consecutive years. Helmed by chef Peter Gilmore, Quay has been offering nature inspired dishes before it became the hot new thing. Two menu options were available; A 3 or 4 course menu with multiple choices for each course or the 8 course tasting menu. Searching through the Urbanspoon you will no doubt find several posts on the former. Though it all looks amazing and is very much drool inducing, I decided to go for the latter. As a wise friend told me (not in exact words) 'Go big or go home'.

So without further ado, I present to you the ever elegant tasting menu.

Situated at the end of the Overseas Passenger Terminal at The Rocks, Quay offers one of the best views of Sydney's most iconic landmarks- the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Upon arriving, we were seated by the window overlooking the Opera House. It was such an amazing view.

We were quickly presented with a seaweed pudding hors d'oeuvre upon ordering. Served on a shell plate, the pudding is garnished with sturgeon roe and leaves of baby arugula (rockets) and fennel. The combination was so flavourful yet very refreshing. If only the portions were bigger.

The first course to arrive featured thinly sliced pieces of Hiramasa kingfish sashimi with pickled kohlrabi, octopus, nasturtiums and white dashi jelly presented in a very tasteful manner. The little balls of dashi jelly have little leaves solidified inside. Biting into the jelly balls unleashed a flavour explosion unlike anything I've ever experienced. The kingfish was fresh and sweet. So good.

Course 2 features black lipped abalone and shiitake mushrooms braised in seaweed and oyster juice. It is served with a ginger milk curd and purslane. The abalone and mushroom were pretty amazing as it had absorbed all the tasty flavours of it's accompanying ingredients. The ginger milk curd was super smooth and not too gingery. A perfect mix in my mind. My dad used to make it at home but he always use too much ginger juice. I think the secret is to not boil the milk directly, provide passive heating over water instead.

Course 3 features native freshwater marron. Marron is a freshwater crayfish and, as such, exhibit a less salty and sweeter taste than their oceanic cousins. De-shelled and cooked to perfection, the flesh was sweet and succulent and the flavour was rich yet not overpowering. The dish is served with organic pink turnips, jamon de bellota cream, oloroso caramel, almonds and society garlic flower. I have no idea what half of those things are but it tasted super amazing. And that's all that matters right? 

A tea type drink was brought out for us to clean our palates after the marron in preparation for more tasty non seafood dishes. Slices of freshly baked sourdough bread were also brought out for us to savor as the remaining dishes were prepared.

Course 4 is the butter poached coturnix quail breast. Served over a pumpernickel and ethical foie gras pudding and truffle custard, the quail meat is then finished with crushed walnuts, quinoa and milk skin flakes. The flavour is much richer than the previous dishes. The quail breast was very tender which contrasted the crunchy walnuts and quinoa.

Pig jowl was the focus of course 5. Jowl is the lower part of a pig's cheek. Think bacon... But better. We were advised to pause and immerse ourselves in the rich aromas of the dish. The smell of pig fat and caramel filled the air, taking us to a whole new world of ecstasy. The meat was slow braised to an otherworldly state of tenderness. It would literally melt in your mouth when you take a bite. Topped with a layer of crispy maltose crackling (which also melted in your mouth) over a bed of cauliflower cream and prunes, it was simply amazing just like all the previous dishes.

Don't be fooled by the picture, course 6 was not the start of the desserts. It is in fact a giant chunk of wagyu beef poached in an oxtail and morel reduction and coated with farro and ezekiel crumbs over a pool of molé (chocolate) purée. It's a nice transition though. The beef was cooked to a medium rare. The molé sauce had a very strong cocoa taste but did not taste all sugary like a chocolate bar. It was pretty tasty but pales in comparison to the pig jowls and the quail breast in terms of flavours.

The start of the dessert began with the arrival of course 7. Under the recommendation of our hostess, we switched our first dessert from the jewel in the snow to the famous snow egg. Check out this sweet YouTube video on how it's prepared. He makes it look so easy. The meringue ball features a maltose biscuit melted around like an egg shell. This sphere of awesomeness is then placed on a bed of strawberry and guava granita (shaved ice). Cracking the shell reveals a sweet gooey custard. The meringue was so smooth and light. Words cannot describe how amazing the snow egg is.

Course 8 featured a caramelized white chocolate walnut palm blossom sugar brioche with a prune sorbet. It was decent but the snow egg was definitely the star of the show. They should have swapped the order.

Upon completion of our meal, we were offered a cup of coffee and a couple of bite size pieces of chocolate. The light brown ball was stuffed with a whole hazelnut with a hazelnut cream. It was pretty amazing. I forget what the other one was but it had a really rich cocoa taste.

This was by far the most amazingest meal I’ve ever taste in my life. It was also the longest. We arrived at noon and walked out shortly after 4. The staff was preparing for dinner service as we left. Speaking of the staff, the service was amazing! Water was consistently topped up, I don’t even recall my glass being less than half full. Ever. A brief description of the featured ingredients were presented to us as each dish was brought out. Annnd there was a mini vacuum like contraption that they used to clear the bread crumbs between courses. I’m a sloppy eater. Don’t hate. 

So what did I think of it?

Atmosphere: 10 out of 10. Amazing view! The interior was warm and inviting. The plush purple carpet was a nice touch. Do note - Dress for success at Quay. You will feel underdress in a golf shirt and chino pants. So if you plan on rolling in with a wife-beater and MC hammer pants. Don’t. Just sayin’. 

Food: A million out of 10. Delicious. Heavenly. Scrumptious! Soooo good! I would eat here everyday if I can afford to.

Presentation: 10 out of 10. Beautiful presentation. It looks too pretty to eat. So I captured the moment and chowed down. I'm not paying the big bucks to look at it.

Price: 10* out of 10. This is a very ambiguous category. If you look at the price, it is extremely pricey. But if you consider what you get, I thought it was worth every penny. All 22000 of them. Per person. It is really dependent on what you value more. If you are eating to not be hungry, then Quay is probably not for you. Would I do it again? That would seem unlikely. I would probably try the 3 or 4 course menus. But I will no doubt remember and cherish this experience for the rest of my life. 

Service: 10 out of 10. Impeccable service. The staff was professional and knew what they were talking about. Not like that fifteen year old who brought you your quesadilla at Applebee’s. 

Overall: 10 out of 10. Experience of a life time. Check out these sweet photos I took. No, I didn’t take these photos from a postcard! 

White Man's Dim Sum

JAROblue

1314 17 Ave SW

www.jaroblue.com

I went out for dinner with some friends this week to celebrate an early birthday, a belated birthday and a 'it was your birthday three weeks ago?'. As the self appointed restaurant chooser of the group, I decided we should check out JAROblue for some tapas. Located on the trendy 17th ave, JAROblue is a comfy tapas lounge with a cute little patio that would be great to people watch on a friday afternoon in the summertime. Unfortunately for us, it was a Monday in the middle of winter. And as such, we opted to push some tables together in the lounge for our fine gathering. A soft velvety couch and coffee table was available but after a heated discussion, we decided the tables would better facilitate the shoveling of food into our mouths. The interior featured several large photographs of horses. I'm not sure if there's a special meaning behind it but it was really cool.

The menu featured a variety of mouth watering small plates for us to savor. From vegetarian friendly spicy bok choy to not-so-vegetarian-friendly roast pork tenderloin, there was something for everyone. They even had frog legs for the slightly more adventurous people. There were so many choices that we were having a tough time deciding what we wanted to try so we went with the sharing platter. 

The sharing platter consisted of three to four courses of whatever the talented chef in the back felt like making with whatever ingredients he could scour in the kitchen. Every sharing platter is unique and varied between tables, making the experience more exclusive. 

The first course consisted of a variety of appetizers. Thinly sliced memory foam-esque rye bread and crispy banana bread chips piled on a rectangular plate, while tuna tataki, salmon tartar, roasted nuts and olives each took up a quadrant of another. The salmon tartar was very light and complimented the rye bread really well. My favourite was the banana bread chips. They weren't super sweet but I really liked how they were prepared. A refreshing twist to the classic loaf style variety. Out of our group of six, Steve was the only person that didn't look at the medley of marinated olives with disgust and thus designated the olives eater. 

The second course, which I've dubbed the 'appetizers that didn't fit on the first plate', arrived shorty after we devoured everything. Everything except the olives. This course consisted of flat bread, deep fried broccolini and carpaccio topped with goat cheese. It came with a blueberry mustard emulsion and a red coloured dip not called ketchup. The broccolini were deep fried similar to that of tempura. It was super tasty, especially with the blueberry mustard emulsion. The highlight of this course for me was the carpaccio. Biting into the mushy raw meat made me feel like a man's man. It felt like I just slaughtered the poor cow at the farm with my bare hands and I'm taking a giant bite out of it's tender thighs or something. Steve agrees. I'm sure all the vegetarian readers out there just vomited. Don't hate till you try it.

Course number three was ravioli. And... more ravioli. Ravioli one consisted of crab meat filling. It is served with a cream sauce and topped with fennel. Ravioli two was stuffed with a filling made with strawberries and topped with a butternut squash puree and finished off with shrimp chips. The flavour was a little sweeter than the first one. They were both delicious but I liked the crab meat ravioli better. The dough was silky smooth. At first, I thought it was maybe the sauce but upon closer inspection, it was definitely the dough. So good!

Course number four was not for vegetarians. The final course offered a generous helping (For a tapas lounge anyway) of pork couscous; Lamb chops with purple pear and wild rice; Arctic char with endive salad and baby back ribs. The ribs were so tender and the meat separated from the bone with ease. The lamb chops were also pretty amazing. The meat was very flavourful and didn't have a gamey taste to it. The purple pear and wild rice that accompanied the lamb complimented the dish really well. That was probably one of my favourite dish of the night. 

I was initially skeptical about the portions of the tapas and doubted myself as to whether it will be enough food. But to my surprise, the portions were significant enough that we were all full at the end. In fact, there were still leftovers. In the form of olives. The sharing platter did not include dessert, but after being informed what the feature burlee was, I decided that I could squeeze a little bit more in my ever expanding stomach. The feature burlee was apple flavoured with a side of sugar cookies. A layer of sugar was caramelized over the apple flavoured custard with a blowtorch. Sooooooo good, despite of this, I shared my dessert with the rest of my friends so that I didn't feel like such a pig.

It is interesting to note that JAROblue does not take reservations but apparently Monday nights are the slowest (It was very quiet, we were the only table there for the longest time). So if you are concerned about getting a table or comfy couch, then Monday night is where it's at. Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this information over the internet... It could go viral and everybody be going on Mondays and making youtube videos out of it. Fo' real.

Anyway, here's my arbitrary ranking in 5 randomly chosen categories -


Atmosphere: 9 out of 10. Beautiful interiors. The oversized monochromatic photographs of the horses were random but pretty neat. My favourite was the one where it only showed the top of the horses. Reminds me of a lost cat flyer.
Food: 9 out of 10. Food was pretty amazing. Lots of variety. You could tell that a lot of thought was put into each plate; What went well with what. I highly recommend getting the sharing platter.
Presentation: 8 out of 10. Presentation could have been better.
Price: 8.5 out of 10. I thought it was a decent deal for all the food that we got.
Service: 10 out of 10. Amazing service. Our server explained what everything was, tables were cleaned after every course and drinks were consistently topped up. It could be because we were the only ones there for a majority of the night. 
Overall: 9 out of 10. Really amazing overall. The coolest thing about tapas is that you can try a billion things and people wouldn't look at you all weird. Great for groups.

YEEEHAAAAW!

Calgary Stampede
1410 Olympic Way SE
calgarystampede.com

Stampede 2010 is here in Calgary and after a week of trying to get people to come with me with no avail, I decided to venture to the cowboy western fest on my own... To try out all the "delicious" foods.

First up, was the pulled pork parfait. I took me a good 45 minutes to find the place, walking around aimlessly like hobo through the grounds. Finally decided to ask the guest services people for directions. Turns out it was only a couple of booths away, sure felt stupid after that! Barbeque pulled pork filled the plastic cup and topped with a scoop of mashed potatoes with gravy drizzled on top. The pork was tender with a hint of smokiness. For $7.50, I would say it was worth every penny. All seven hundred and fifty of them. Not that I paid with pennies. A solid 8 out of 10. I was glad I got there when I did because as I was leaving the line was about 10-15 long.



I had wandered by the waffle on a stick booth whilst searching for the pulled pork parfait. Upon chowing down the parfait, I went back over the booth to get my waffles. By comparison, the waffle place was hurtin for business. As I slowly strolled up to the window, the cashier literally jumped me. Seriously, I don't even know what I want to get yet. But luckily, there was only 4 things. Waffle on a stick, waffle in non stick form, strawberry on waffles and banana chocolate on waffles. I opted for the waffle on a stick. It was a little disappointing. I got half a strawberry, a small slice of banana, one regular sized marshmallow, a half waffle with whipped cream and sprinkles on a stick that was far too short and a price that was far too high. $6? Are you kidding me? Totally not worth it. The stupid thing was difficult to hold as there was not enough stick so I ended up sitting down at a table and ate each piece individually. Lame. 5 out of 10.



At this point, I was probably maybe 75% full. So I had to be pretty picky with my remaining selections. I wanted to stay for the rest of the day but as the dark clouds started to roll in, that would seem highly unlikely. Stopped by the mini donut place for a bag of the original mini donuts. 13 for $3.50. Pretty good deal but considering I was by myself, that was probably 12 too many. The heart stopping (not in a good way), artery clogging deep fried donuts were coated with sugary goodness. Om nom nom nom indeed. Unfortunately, I ate about 6 or 7 before throwing the rest of them out (Sorry Steph...). I can hear all you hippies out there screaming "Think of the children"! But you know what? The children deserves better. I'll drop off a box of fruit loops at the food bank. 9 out of 10 on taste alone.



To finish things off, I got a "freshly squeezed" lemonade from Lemon Heaven. Very refreshing. Would have been better if the weather was hotter but delicious nonetheless. For a mere $3, this was a much needed drink to wash down all that other stuff. 8 out of 10.



I definitely would have liked to have stayed longer as I was only there for 2 and a half hours. There was quite a few things that I wanted to try but couldn't... Maybe next year... Hopefully I can round up a few people to go with me then...