Tag Archives: dim sum

Dragon Chinese Restaurant

Dragon Chinese Restaurant on UrbanspoonI and my friend went to Calgary for the long weekend, and she invited me to her family’s dim sum. Located on the second floor in a two-storey building in downtown, they said it opened less than an year ago. There aren’t any free parking (like in Vancouver) and prices are outrageously high. For the first hour, it’s $4, and any additional is $4.25.

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It was around 11am on a Friday, so it was pretty empty. (though after reading some reviews, it seems it might always be like that…could be the expensive parking). From the outside it doesn’t look like much, but inside, it was nicely decorated, and fairly clean.

Since our family was invited to my friend’s family/relative’s dim sum, I didn’t get a chance to take photos of the food as I thought it was inappropriate of taking photos of what seemed to be around 20 dishes for 10 of us. We left most of the ordering up to them, which was good since they knew more about dim sum than us.

Some of the dishes that were ordered:
Seafood Congee (was very good – I think my mom really liked it)
many different types of dumplings
Steamed Pork Dumpling (Siu Mai)
Shrimp Dumpling (Ha Gao)
Eggplant stuffed with Shrimp Mousse
xiaolongbao (didn’t have the ‘juice’ that usually explodes which was a bit of disappointment)
vegetable noodle
Shanghai noodle
Deep Fried Taro Dumpling
BBQ Pork Rice Roll
Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling was beautifully presented. Looked like a jewel.
Shrimp Rice Roll
any many more!

We were all stuffed with lots of leftovers to take home. Despite having 10 of us, two were young kids who were more interested in playing games on their phones than eating, so hence the leftovers. The food wasn’t too salty or didn’t seem to be loaded with MSG and was served hot.

Overall, the service was good, the food was very tasty. I can’t really comment on how much it cost as our family was treated, but do recall seeing the noodles were $12.95 which is a bit higher than some of the other dim sum I’ve been to, especially since they were both without meat. I would like to come back again if I’m in Calgary in the future, though cost of parking is a problem. It would be best to carpool or take transit – which isn’t that great compared to Vancouver’s.

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrotcarrot

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrotcarrot   Service:  carrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrot

Fortune City Seafood Restaurant Special for Everyone

Fortune City Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - ZomatoWow, I must say that the name already catches my attention. So long, yet so vague, it’s hilarious.

Our company went for lunch on a Friday. Tea is free on weekdays (80 cents per person on weekends) and you also get 10% off – so good incentives to go on a weekday!

The place is fairly large, but it was packed! We waited for about 10 minutes. When it was our turn, the hostess just pointed to the back of the restaurant and we wandered ourselves there to find two empty tables. One was for a larger group, so we took the smaller one for four of us. It was not set, and we wondered why we didn’t get seated at another small table that was already set.

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We pulled the table out a bit since the round table was right against the wall. My boss sat down first and the server came and pushed the table back, imprisoning my boss against her chair like a little child so they wouldn’t move. He clanked and threw the plates, cups and bowls around like he was furious. No wonder they make those things so thick. They’d have to be unbreakable.

We ordered 8 dishes.
Stir Fried Bean Tips $7.95: it had a garlic flavour, refreshing veggie and good amount of salt. I really liked this dish, but then again, I’m a huge veggie fan :P

idearabbit-fortuneseafood2Stir Fried Bean Tips $7.95 (on left) and Deep Fried Egg Tofu $6.25 (on right)

Deep Fried Egg Tofu $6.25: Hmm…deep fried….all those eggs…can’t be all too healthy…lol. It was my first time trying this dish, and I quite enjoyed it. It was interesting texture. Crispy on the outside, but super smooth inside. I’m not sure what was sprinkled on top of them. It looked nutty so I brushed them off. This dish must be consumed while it’s hot, otherwise, it’s not yummy.

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BBQ Duck Spaghetti $6.95: This was my least favourite dish. The noodles and soup were bland, and not the kind of noodles I like. Didn’t have much of the duck though I realize that is the star of the dish.

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Pork/Shrimp Crystal Noodle $12.80: Another first time trying such noodles. The flavour was good, though the shortness and oiliness of the noodles made it really difficult to eat with chopsticks hence could explain why there were so much of it left over. It was a good try, but I now know, I like my noodles to be long.

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We had two types of dumplings, Shrimp $4.50 (4 large pieces) pictured above and Pork $4.50 (4 large pieces). Both were steamy hot, really tasty and filling!

idearabbit-fortuneseafood6Fish Paste Rice Roll $4.50 was also very interesting with the different textures of the smooth rice roll, to the deep fried fish paste inside.

The four of us couldn’t finish all of it, but did a pretty good job. The rest, we had it to go.

The service wasn’t all the great. It was rude for the most part, and our male server was quite demanding like “Sit”, or “Wait” in a stern almost police like attitude. No smiles here.

Service gets no points, but the food was ok. I liked the Bean Tips and the Fried Egg was a new dish that was surprising. I think I still prefer Happy Valley instead.

 Taste: carrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrotcarrot

Atmosphere:  carrotcarrot   Service:  carrot
Location: carrotcarrot

Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant 名閣海鮮酒家

Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato I’ve been to this restaurant for lunch with my company several times. Every time, it’s always good food. They’re very consistent, and so far, I have no complaints about this restaurant. It’s cleaner than some of the Chinese restaurants I’ve been.

The plates are inexpensive for the portion, and they taste delicious!!! The interior is mostly clean, and they change the cloth on the tables for each customer like higher-end restaurants do.

My only issue is that they’re catered to Chinese customers, meaning their menu are mainly in Chinese, with brief English written in small type. But I guess you can get by it, so not a huge problem. But since we have a Chinese-speaking employee and we always leave the ordering in Cantonese for us, I can never learn the names of the dishes LOL.

In our latest visit, we had five adults, ordering 10 dishes. We could only finish 65-70 percent (the rest for take out), and the food came to a total of only $61 (before taxes and tip). We were all really stuffed and really happy with Happy Valley. Thumbs up if you like Chinese cuisine! :D

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Steamed Prawn Dumplings $4.50idearabbit_happyvalley_3

Deep Fried Squid with Peppery Salt $6.50

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Chow Mein with Mixed Vegetable $9.95idearabbit_happyvalley_5

Xiao long baoidearabbit_happyvalley_6

Pan Fried Radish Cake $5.75idearabbit_happyvalley_4

More below

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Food Taste: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Price for Value: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrotcarrot

Atmosphere: carrotcarrotcarrot   Service: carrotcarrotcarrot
Location: carrotcarrot