Seems like Vince & I are starting up a trend.. we have to go out and eat every Friday after school for dinner before we head to work for the night! But that's a good thing for us.. we get to check out different restaurants & I get to post up more reviews! Hah :)

But first off, lets start with lunch before talking about dinner. Today Lisa and I decided to hit up Hub Mall here on campus and try out different foods that we have yet to try. You would think that in the two years I've been here already, I would have tried out most of the food there is to offer.. but that's a negative. There's a handful of places I have yet to try!

Today we headed over to La Pasta Trattoria, an Italian establishment inside the building. There are two levels to this little restaurant, in which the top floor serves beverages, sandwiches and panini's, while the bottom floor is responsible for making fresh pasta, salads, and delicious sauces to serve the pasta with.

In the downstairs portion, the walls are very white, making you feel like you almost aren't inside of a restaurant. Honestly, it gives me a bit of a eerie feeling. Like you're in a prison cafeteria or something, hahaa. I don't really know why I feel this way, but the guys that work down there are very friendly which offsets the feelings I get. The menu is written on a white board hanging on the wall, so maybe they change it up once in a while.

Downstairs sitting in the heated pans are about 4 different pasta choices, with 3 different sauce options on the side. You can choose whichever pasta you would like and pair it with any of the available sauces and see if your creation is good or not. Likely it will be, cause who can really mess up pasta and sauce?

Does this look appetizing to you? :)

I tried their baked pasta with alfredo sauce, served with a side of caesar salad. The total came out to $7 I believe? I also had a coupon for a free drink, so this place is very affordable as the portions are big and will definitely fill you up. My only complaints really would be the consistency of the salad dressing. The dressing was like water, so liquidy that it wouldn't stick to anything! It basically just pooled underneath my vegetables, and got mixed into my pasta which decided to absorb it all up! Not too happy, but the baked pasta was much better. The pasta is quite soft - likely because it is freshly made and baked, making the cooking time much longer than what you would cook pasta for to make it al dente. The pasta was cooked with tomato sauce and cheese, and what I believe was little bits of beef here and there. The beef was hardly noticeable, and in it's ground form so it was hard to tell whether or not it was meat. The server gave me a heaping spoonful of alfredo sauce, which was perfect to cover up my pasta and make it a good lunch in the end. I will be back in the future just to try out their other pastas - I want to see what the non-baked pasta is like!

Now that lunch is out of the way, let's talk dinner. So once again Vince & I found ourselves wondering what exactly we should get for dinner, and we settled on our closeby Ga Ya restaurant. It's good & nearby, so why not?

Being a fan of soup noodles, I ordered the Jjam Pong to warm up my tummy & Vince picked the kim bap on my recommendation.


Jjam Pong at Ga Ya :)

The Jjam Pong was good as usual, loaded with seafood and vegetables! I always order this soup mild, and go from there to adjust the soup to my liking. I do prefer the Jjam Pong at Lee House to the one here at Ga Ya, because the noodles here do not have the elasticity of the noodles used at Lee House. The ones here are softer, but the difference obviously isn't enough for me to stop ordering this dish!


Korean Sushi!

When the kim bap arrived, it was so cute and neatly arranged. Kim bap is basically the korean version of sushi, in which the rice encases bulgogi beef, egg, carrots, cucumbers, and picked radish. It can be eaten alone or served with different banchan dishes, but I find that by itself, it's already sufficiently flavoured. This dish is very affordable and filling - the one pictured above is $6 I believe. Go check it out, I love it!

La Pasta Trattoria
9008 112 St.
Edmonton AB

Ga Ya Korean Restaurant
11147 87 Avenue NW
Edmonton AB

How excited was I when I got the Facebook invitation titled "FREE BURRITO DAY!"? SUPER EXCITED.

Today was the first time I headed over to Burrito Libre right by the U of A campus. I know this place opened up last year, and on their first day they gave out free burritos as well. Only that day it was very cold and in the middle of winter!

Today was a great day to walk over to the little establishment, with the sun out & a slight breeze. Despite being fall, the weather was actually really nice - I'm liking this Indian summer!

Burrito Day Pass

Burrito Libre was actually giving out free burritos today to help fundraise for the U of A Campus Food Bank. The Campus Food Bank provides food and toiletries to students in need on campus, because they "believe that University is a place where one should hunger for knowledge, not food". In order to receive a large burrito, bowl, or salad, you had to bring one non-perishable food donation, or donate $1. Pretty good deal if you ask me, and I think others would say so as well based on the length of the line they had wrapping around the building!


Woop Woop Free Burrito Day

Lisa and I headed over to the little restaurant right after class, and waiting in line did not take long at all. There were maybe 20-25 people ahead of us in line when we got there, but we were up at the front ordering what we wanted all within 5 minutes. What I think was even more impressive was that I got my burrito in less than a minute! Talk about efficiency.


Assembly line of workers

They had a little assembly line formed, with one person at each ingredient. They would ask you whether or not you wanted an item, and pass it on to the next person, assembling the food very quickly. Unfortunately, it was very loud inside, and hard to hear what the person was asking you. I wasn't always able to hear what she was asking me, but I said yes anyways, hah! From what I can remember, there was a choice of meat (chicken, pork, beef), lettuce, tomatoes, rice, black beans, corn, peppers and onions, salsa and sour cream. The restaurant also handed out little cards inviting you back for a burrito in the near future, and the card entitled you to a free serving of chips with salsa. Great way to drive business and help the community!


Look at the filling in there!

Sitting down to eat the burrito, it was so big, just by looking at it I knew I wouldn't be able to finish - but that didn't stop me from trying. The first bite in was just like any normal burrito, lots of tortilla and not much flavour. But upon my second bite I was quite surprised! I got a bite of the rice, which was soft, fragrant, and flavourful. The salsa gave it a mild kick, and the vegetables a nice crunch. There was one thing I wasn't too fond of in my burrito though, and that was the chicken. I had chosen to try the chipotle chicken as the protein in my burrito, and it was a bit too sweet for my liking. I added in some hot sauce to try to mask the flavour, but I could still tell it was there. If you're like me and like your chipotle sauce to be more on the salty side, stay away from this one! Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed eating the burrito and will likely go back in the future when I'm close by & hunger is calling!


Next Up: Free Burger Day!!

HEADS UP! Rodeo Burger, which is right next door to Burrito Libre here on campus, is having ... FREE BURGER DAY next week, on October 5th. They will require a non-perishable food item or a $1 donation to get a burger! All donations will support The Salvation Army. Make sure to check it out to get some free food & support a great cause!

Burrito Libre
8525A 112 Street NW
Edmonton AB

I always like when friends' birthdays come up on my calendar.. its a good excuse to get dressed up and eat some good food! This weekend was Jason's birthday, so I was excited to go out to Cactus Club for dinner with everyone!

Excited to eat!

I've been to the Cactus Club Cafe here in Edmonton a couple times already, and I always get the same thing.. beef carpaccio to start, jambalaya rice bowl as my main, and finish off with the chocolate peanut butter crunch bar! Once I find something good.. I stick with it! :)


Beef carpaccio!

Vince wasn't feeling too great that night, so we shared everything like a real couple, haha. I always love the beef carpaccio because I find it so flavourful! And I like building it the way I like it! The herbed crostini it is served with comes soft, with the edges slightly crisp, making it a great bed for the rare peppercorn crusted tenderloin. Garnish with aioli, shallots, capers & parmesan, and you got yourself a delicious appy! However, I think I would enjoy this dish even more if the beef slices were a tad thicker!


My carpaccio masterpiece :)


Jamabalaya rice bowl!

Now, are you wondering why on earth I would order a bowl of jambalaya at a place like Cactus Club? The first time I saw it on the menu, it was really intriguing for me! I've always loved jambalaya, and I wanted to know what it would taste like at a place like Cactus. It's not like its a recommended dish from their menu, but I actually really like this rice bowl! Sometimes the jamabalaya I try has the sauce completely saturating the rice, making it soggy, or the rice isn't cooked well enough and is covered in sauce. Surprisingly enough, here at Cactus club, the sauce is thicker and sits on top of a bed of rice that is perfectly cooked. The grains of rice aren't clumped together, and are actually somewhat separate from one another - I love rice like this! The sauce isn't too spicy, and packed with lots of veg, chicken, shrimp & sausage. Also, the rice bowl stays HOT for a very long time!


super delicious dessert!

There's always leftover space in my stomach for the chocolate peanut butter crunch bar! I'm not a peanut butter lover, but in this dessert, I find the peanut butter taste isn't too strong, and the saltiness actually compliments the sweetness of the dessert very well. The bar is served warm, and when you take a bite of it, there is a layer of chocolate mousse and peanut butter atop of crunchy chocolate pearls. The pearls remind me of rice krispies, but in their round form (like in real crunch chocolate bars!) Pair it with the ice cream and it's like pure bliss in your mouth!


Vince, myself & the birthday boy!


Everyone at dinner!

After dinner, we headed over to Ed's Rec Room for some neon bowling. Despite looking ridiculous in my dress it was lots of fun trying to beat the boys (which I didn't unfortunately...!) The bowling alley also looks really cool under the lights - it's blue, and music videos are playing on the screens in the back!


Neon bowling :)


I'm only going to show you my feet, cause the shoes & my dress looked terrible!


And this is what happens when you bowl with Vince's buddies!

Our night ended with an unfortunate puke fest from Jason, but hey, that's what birthdays are for, right? Hah! Happy Birthday, bud.