On the first day of school this week, Vince and I had a mandatory meeting to attend for work at 6:15 pm. The meeting was near the university area, so there was no point in heading home after class since we finished at 4. We did need a quick dinner fix, and I had chosen to go to the closeby Korean restaurant, Ga Ya. Unforunately, the restaurant was closed due to a family emergency (my condolences for your loss), so we headed over to Phobulous.

A lot of my friends always think I'm gross for liking the food at Phobulous. Why??? It still puzzles me to this day. I think their food is good. It isn't the best pho you can find in the city, but it's decent, flavourful, and awesome for being so close to the university campus. Say all you want, I love this place! And YES, familiar faces this time when we were there - our waitress was great!

Hu Tieu Original

I was feeling a little adventurous and ordered something different today - Original Hu Tieu. It's just like what Vince got last time. So, pho noodles cooked with pork, and served in a pork based broth, garnished with chives and shallots. I actually really like the broth, because it's clearer than the beef soup and has what seems like a richer flavour base in it. This might be my new 'go-to' food at Phobulous, just because my favourite pho is down at Basil Leaf!


Vermicelli bowl with beef, shrimp & spring rolls

Vince had a vermicelli bowl today - served with shrimp, beef skewers and deep fried spring rolls. This dish was also really yummy - I like that the fish sauce it is served with isn't too sweet. I remember a terrible trip to Doan's one time (the only time I EVER went), and I ordered the vermicelli bowl. The sauce was loaded with sugar, I had to ask for concentrated fish sauce to mix the right proportions myself. And ever since then I have always been wary of ordering vermicelli... Gee, you wonder why. Anyways! The beef was a little overcooked for my liking, but otherwise the bowl was great. I especially liked the spring rolls! Very crisp and they had a generous amount of stuffing inside them.


Deep fried icecream!

To finish off, we ordered the deep fried ice cream to see what it was all about! It was definitely different from the deep fried ice creams I've had before. It seemed like they coated the ice cream with a very thick batter - when I bit into it, it compacted in my mouth (somewhat like putting a ton of cotton candy into your mouth and having it compact into a ball of sugar), and I knew instantly that the batter was full of sugar! I'm thinking it was dipped into batter, coated with sugar, and the process repeated once or twice. Not to say it wasn't satisfying, but I prefer a lighter coat of batter. Next time I might check out the deep fried bananas :)

On Friday we headed over to Original Joe's on the south side of the city for Philippe's 19th birthday. Phil is like my little brother - we met back in high school and we always look out for each other. Love this kid. Anyway, Vince and I were CRAZY hungry, and we don't really like lounge type food. We settled for their tractor nachos that everyone was raving about.


Tractor Nachos

The half order was supposed to be enough for both of us, and they definitely were! The plate was loaded generously with toppings, but the chips were heated to a crisp! You know how you can bake chips and heat them so much that they're almost burnt? They're really hard when you bite into them and you can kind of pick out a burnt taste. Well yeah, that's what the chips were like for the most part. The chips beneath the exposed top layer were spared and weren't terrible, but I was hoping they would be better. ALSO, here's a tip. For the full sized nachos, I think you pay maybe $3-4 extra dollars and you get double the amount of food, so order that if you're a big nacho fan! Original Joe's isn't a place I would go out of my way to eat at, but if it happens to be nearby when I'm hungry, maybe I'll check out some of their other options in the future!

Phobulous
8701 109 Street
Edmonton AB

Original Joe's
9246 Ellerslie Rd SW
Edmonton AB

School is starting tomorrow, and the thought of it is slightly depressing. I can honestly say that I really didn't have a summer this year. Most of it was spent studying for MCAT, and even though I wasn't taking a Spring/Summer course or even a prep course on campus, it was like I was in school all summer prepping for the MCAT! I really only had 4 days of summer including today, so I'm feeling kinda gypped! But I guess this will be good in the long run.. I'm used to studying all the time so it might boost my marks this year! :)

This morning, Vince and I headed over to Cora's for breakfast to celebrate our last day of summer. I got my usual eggs benedict, while he just HAD to try something weird and random! It was his first time at Cora's too, so I really didn't think it was a good idea. He has a part time job serving brunch at one of the hotels here in Edmonton, so he complains that he's super sick of breakfast foods! But he came with me for breakfast anyway :) Such a good boyfriend.

Spinach & cheddar crepe with fresh fruit

He ended up picking the Spinach & Cheddar crepe and the presentation just made me LAUGH. It was so bare looking, I didn't know what to make of it! While the crepe was still warm it wasn't bad, but rather dry. Combining the crepe with the little cheese slice on top made it a little better in terms of taste, but did not do a thing to solve the dryness. When the crepe turned cold, he ended up combining it with ketchup - solving the dryness and flavour issues. BUT this totally compromised the intended taste of the crepe, so we really wouldn't recommend ordering this one!


Eggs Benedict with fresh fruit

My eggs benedict was fantastic as usual, and is probably what I'll always order from this restaurant. I got the eggs with asparagus & swiss, so delish. Once I find something good, it's hard for me to break the habit and try something new - but maybe I'll venture the next time I'm here, who knows!

Also, Cora will be opening a couple different locations in the city within the next two months or so. One will be in the North side of Edmonton (12520 137 Avenue) and another in the West end (9977 178 Street). Check out the locations when you're nearby, whether for breakfast or lunch!

Cora Breakfast & Lunch
2920 Calgary Trail NW
Edmonton AB

So.. three days ago was the dreaded MCAT exam day, and I felt TERRIBLE after writing the exam. And I will leave it at that.

However, I have the best boyfriend in the world who decided to take me out and cheer me up after the exam, seeing as I was a wreck. We headed over to Mikado in the west end to eat some of my favourite things!

At Mikado it was insanely busy, especially because it was a Friday night at 730 pm! Lucky for us, we were seated within 20 minutes because it was just the two of us. We ordered my favourites from Mikado - beef tataki & dragon eyes.

mm beef!

Beef tataki arrived very quickly, and the presentation was beautiful. If you compare Mikado's version to the one served at Ichiban (one post down) - you can really tell which restaurant puts in more effort in terms of aesthetics! I'm always pleased with the service at Mikado, and their food tastes great! The ponzu sauce in this dish was on point - not too sour & not too salty, making the beef taste fresh & delicious!

As for the dragon eyes, Mikado is the restaurant that makes it the BEST. Out of all the places that I've tried that attempts to make this dish, Mikado wins the award hands down. Andrew & I previously speculated, thinking maybe Mikado is the place that started up dragon eyes in Edmonton. I know there's such a thing as a dragon roll, but I haven't really seen dragon eyes anywhere but in Edmonton. This is just what we think since we like Mikado the best! If anyone knows anything about this, let me know!


dragon eyes are soo yum

Anyways, the dragon eyes are my favourite dish, since the fish is fully cooked! The fish is still nice and tender, but I think my favourite part of this dish is the rice! The rice is very warm and soft, being the perfect contrast to the crisp outer layer. With the delicious sauce on top, this is my ideal sushi roll!

After our light 'dinner', we headed over to The Melting Pot for some dessert. I can never pass up dessert, even after a very filling meal! There's always that little extra space my stomach can make for a sweet treat :) I was actually pretty surprised that night, because it was our first visit to this fondue restaurant. From the outside, it seems to be a pretty small space, somewhat like a small, cozy restaurant. But, when the hostess led us to our table, we were taken along dimly lit hallways, passing by multiple tables and even party rooms before arriving at our small little table! The place is HUGE! But it's a very nice environment to be in on a romantic night, or just even on a date. Our table was relatively secluded so we were given our privacy and time to indulge in the delicious dessert!


I love the Yin-Yang presentation in the pot

For the night, we chose to go with the passion fruit Yin & Yang chocolate fondue. The small size ($18) was the perfect portion size for the two of us to share. We were instructed on how to use the equipment and the different ways to dip our sides into the chocolate - but there was one thing that really bothered me! All the fondue sticks seemed to be FILTHY and weren't even washed! There was all this residue on every single one of our sticks, so we chose to use the ones that looked least disgusting.. Otherwise, it was good :)


Perfect assortment of dippers!

For the dippers, we were given an assortment of: fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, pineapple, oreo covered marshmallow, graham cracker covered marshmallow, pound cake, and brownies. They were great with the chocolate, but I found that the brownies and marshmallows were a little too sweet when combined with the chocolate. But my favourites would have to be the cheesecake and poundcake dipped in the chocolate!

Our Yin & Yang fondue was very delicious! But it seemed that the passion fruit white chocolate portion was much smaller than the side with dark chocolate. It was a great combination of the two chocolates together, with the different chocolates making the sides taste different! Once we were finished, it was a little difficult to navigate through the dark maze of the restaurant, but we made it out, with our tummies satisfied! I definitely want to come back to the Melting Pot in the near future to try out their full four course meal, especially the cheese and broth based fondue. They're currently featuring a new menu, entitled "Big Night out France" so definitely head over and check it out!

Mikado Restaurant
9942 170 Street
Edmonton AB

The Melting Pot
2920 Calgary Trail
Edmonton AB