#40 out of sight, out of mind

it took me awhile to finally get this going once again. i just went to calgary for a winter conference not long ago so everything was hectic after i came back, especially since school has started and i’m currently taking 6 courses this semester and working 6.5 hours per week. gone are my carefree days, whereby i can have food and movie marathons all in one day. gone are the days that i’m so involved in church and such. xmas came and left and it taught me something important – that my heart is not really in the worship team but is and has always been in the compassion ministry though i still enjoy doing ushering and media.

anyways, i went to calgary with low expectations because franklin used to stay there and he told me that there are not much good restaurants at the area we are living close to. of course, there are decent restaurants but there is a price to pay for that. we stayed at hyatt hotel for 4 nights and it is located near chinatown.

p/s: please take note that this entry is unlike my other entries on food because the conference was so intensive that i was too lethargic to take much notice of the service, ambiance and taste of each dish.

that’s the asian mall for you ! it has a variety of restaurants such as kingfisher sushi bar and sushi tokoyo but i have only tried the food at y2k saigon and regency palace.

y2k saigon
310 Centre Street South,
Calgary, AB T2G 2B8
(403) 265-3035

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since we were part of the winter conference for campus for christ, we had a 10% discount for consuming food at y2k saigon so i decided to give it the benefit of doubt even though i heard many critics about the restaurant being dirty and such from the other students.

there were about 13 of us that wanted to dine at y2k saigon and we were served immediately. the server is very friendly and even though he was very busy during that period of time, he managed to snap some group shots for us. he also served us the wrong order once but apologized immediately when we notify him and managed to serve us the right one. it took awhile for us to make payment as there were some confusion between the receipts and orders and the fact that we forgot to show them our name tags for taking off 10%. overall, it was all good !

lily and i shared a cup of vietnamese ice coffee and a bowl of pho with the meat combination. the pho is decent but i must admit that the pho served in y2k saigon, calgary is a far fetched from many pho restaurants at vancouver. it was my first time trying the vietnamese ice coffee though so it is really refreshing to have it on a freezing cold day. alison and cherisse love their fried rice with spring rolls though.

the total bill for lily and i came up to CAN$12+ inclusive of tips and tax.

METHODS OF PAYMENT AVAILABLE: CASH/CREDIT CARD/DEBIT CARD

ambiance: 4.5/10
service: 7/10
food (taste & appearance): 5.5/10
value: 7.5/10

total: 6.13/10★

in conclusion, y2k saigon is a restaurant for casual dine outs but don’t get your expectations too high !

regency palace
328 Centre Street South
Calgary, AB
(403) 777-2288

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nicki hosted a formal dinner event for students from ubc and sfu on the last day of our calgary trip and about 40+ of us showed up at regency palace because that was practically the only restaurant that can cater to a vast number of people. there was a misunderstanding that we wanted buffet when what we wanted was just ala carte so we were kinda asked to pay more. it was all good at the end though. the restaurant has nice interiors with mini bridges and such that is so welcoming to customers. i did not get a chance to communicate with the servers as the other people on our table ate at the restaurant before and thus, they knew what to order so i cannot give a rating for their service.

our table had 12 of us but we only ordered about 7 dishes. we could not finish the 7 dishes as each dish is such a huge serving size. the food is pretty decent – just like any other chinese restaurants in vancouver that serves chinese food with M.S.G (think HONS, #9, etc). i did not check out the total cost for our table but each of us paid CAN$10 inclusive of tips and tax so the food must be value for money.

METHODS OF PAYMENT AVAILABLE: CASH/CREDIT CARD/DEBIT CARD

ambiance: 8/10
service: nil
food (taste & appearance): 6.5/10
value: 8.5/10

total: 7.67/10★

in conclusion, regency palace is a decent restaurant for catering to large groups and average chinese food.

baraka cafe
EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts,
205 8 Avenue Southeast,
Calgary, AB
(403) 237-7832

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i forgot to mention that after lunch at y2k saigon, i went to the olympia plaza with the girls to check out sam, yoshi and bernice ice-skating. the walk there was really cold and staying at the ice rink was even more unbearable. coming from sunny singapore, i could not tolerate any further so i decided to head to EPCOR cafe nearby for the washroom. i was surprised that we needed a code to access the washroom so i asked the barista if it is possible to let me know the code and i will definitely be coming back later to make an order for their drinks. without any questions or doubts, the barista gave me the code immediately. such services makes me want to come back to the cafe even more. i came back after for a cup of hot chocolate before heading back to the freezing ice rink. the hot chocolate was like any ordinary hot chocolate but it remains hot even after 30 minutes at the ice rink and it kept me really warm inside out.

METHODS OF PAYMENT AVAILABLE: CASH/CREDIT CARD/DEBIT CARD

ambiance: 7.5/10
service: 10/10
food (taste & appearance): 6/10
value: 6.5/10

total: 7.5/10★

in conclusion, everyone should give baraka cafe a try !!

+ + + +

east side mario’s
Aberdeen Mall
1320 W Trans Canada Hwy, Kamloops, BC V1S 1J2
(250) 374-7174

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on the way back from calgary to vancouver, we dropped by at aberdeen mall, kamloops. as we had a half an hour break, i decided to order my lunch to go at east side mario’s while the rest went to the food court. not like the food court is bad or anything but i needed to find a restaurant that cannot be found in vancouver. as you can see from the pictures, the restaurant is really huge as there is an area for the bar and another area for family dining. i asked the server if the food could be ready in 15 minutes because we had to leave by then and he managed to give me everything in 7 minutes. samantha and i shared the orecchiette genovese alfredo, which cost a total of CAN$20 inclusive of tips and tax. the portion of the pasta is really huge and the pasta has the right amount of pesto alfredo sauce in it.  the freshly seasoned chicken breast is complimented with button mushrooms, roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. i give a huge thumbs up for their fast paced service and delicious food.

METHODS OF PAYMENT AVAILABLE: CASH/CREDIT CARD/DEBIT CARD

ambiance: 9/10
service: 9.5/10
food (taste & appearance): 8.5/10
value: 6/10

total: 8.25/10★

in conclusion, this restaurant is definitely recommended for all to keep !

swisscheese*

Tags: baraka cafe, east side mario's, hot chocolate, orecchiette genovese alfredo, regency palace, saigon y2k, vietnamese ice coffee