Restaurant Review: Roy’s Korean Kitchen

Location: 2024 4 Street SW
Website: https://www.royskoreankitchen.com/

Once again, it is YYC Food and Drink Exp! I think I’ve participated in this since 2020. In 2020, I went to Booker’s and that was not great. And I can’t remember if I went in 2021 or 2022 (pretty sure it was 2021), but I know it was at Cucina. This year I wanted to try somewhere new and hopefully more than one place. I made a list…of 24 restaurants. Little unrealistic, I know, but we narrowed it down to top three and from there Mackenzie picked the final “winner”.

It was something of an early birthday dinner and honestly, I was surprised Mackenzie went with a Korean restaurant because usually that’s not his top pick. Regardless, I was excited to try it because Roy’s Korean Kitchen is brought to you by the same head chef as Anju, which I loved! It was one of the first few restaurants I started reviewing. I’m kinda sad it closed due to renovations, but now we have Roy’s!

Roy’s is located next to Shokunin, a restaurant I’ve been meaning to try and still have a gift card for three years down the road. It’s a fairly small space, cozy is how I’d describe it, cramped is probably how most other people would describe it. I guess they have a point as trying to get into the booth side seating involves me having to scoot in between the tables and my butt is pressed up right against the tables.

Roy had two menus for us to choose from and unfortunately it requires the whole table to participate on the same menu. We had hoped that we could do one of each so that we could try more dishes, but alas. The three course menu for $45 was a Sesame Zucchini Salad, Spicy Baby Back Ribs Korean BBQ, and a choice of dessert. The five course menu (the Gourmet menu), which is what we went with, was Albacore Tuna Tataki, Kimchi Caesar Salad, Tteokbokki Bolognese, Rosemary Galbi Ribeye Korean BBQ, and a choice of dessert for $65.

I’m pretty sure that we were actually served by the chef owner of the place for several of these dishes because after coming home from the restaurant I was pretty sure there was some kind of story behind the place because I’m just very interested in the culinary scene in Calgary and make it my business to know some of the “celebrity” chefs in our city. I was pretty sure he was the chef at a different restaurant before opening Roy’s and as mentioned above, he was the chef behind Anju. In looking him up, we, of course, found a photo and was like “wait, wasn’t he the guy who brought us several of the dishes?” Like HOW COOL IS THAT?! Can you tell I’m fangirling just a little.

Our first course was the Albacore Tuna Tataki and it was visually stunning. The tuna was encrusted in a mix of black and white sesame and seared. It was served with a yujacha vinaiagrette, perilla oil and topped with orange segments, perilla leaves, and thai chilis. I’ve never had yujacha before and actually had to look up what it was. For those who don’t know, it’s a Korean citrus fruit tea. Perilla, also known as shiso in Japanese and sometimes called Japanese mint, has a minty herby flavour. I am most familiar with the purple variety of the perilla (aptly named purple perilla, or in Chinese, 紫蘇), which I had growing up in Vietnamese food (usually vermicelli but we also had other things like rice rolls we’d put them on top of). Perilla can have a fairly strong taste for those unfamiliar and it can be a little offputting. I really enjoyed it though. The orange and yujacha helped with any fishiness the tuna may have had (though I did not detect any). It also provided a bright flavour to the whole dish. This was definitely a good choice for a first course as it truly whet my appetite for what was next to come.

The Tuna was followed by the Kimchi Caesar Salad. This was the dish I was most apprehensive about, but it ended up being a delightful surprise. I was worried that there would be actual pieces of kimchi in the salad, but instead, it was just the seasonings used in making kimchi mixed into the salad dressing (homemade by the way it was described) and poured over full leaves of romaine. If I had ordered this on my own, I think it would’ve been a lot easier to eat, but since Mackenzie and I were sharing, we had to constantly pass the knife back and forth, which made things a little inconvenient. That said, I really loved this salad. It was fresh and different. You don’t need me to tell you, but I do love a good spicy kick to things and though the kimchi spice wasn’t that spicy, it did provide a slight kick in a salad where you normally would find none. The Salad was dressed and garnished the way you’d expect a Caesar to be: garlic croutons and shaved grana padano cheese. However, they chose to add grape tomatoes which I actually liked. It provided additional freshness (and juiciness, if I can describe it that way) that really worked with the dish.

This was followed by the dish that made me the most excited and in fact, the reason I really wanted to come here. Teokbokki Bolognese. For this we were served separate bowls. It made sense because this would’ve been hard to dish out and get a good bite of cheese, sauce, and teokbokki. The teokbokki was shaped into what I can only describe as little snowmen. They were so cute! Chicken was an interesting choice in the bolognese, but it did come across as being lighter than pork. The only thing I didn’t love was the processed slice of mozzarella on top of it all. I would’ve preferred real mozzarella, but I do know that processed cheese is used in a lot of those trending TikTok recipes and maybe that’s the inspiration. I don’t know enough about Korean food to know if that is typically the cheese of choice. The sauce was great – it was a rose sauce with a bit of gochujang mixed in. There was a time I didn’t like gochujang, but now I enjoy it in certain things (aka the things it’s supposed to be on).

Turns out the thing I was most excited for actually came second to the next dish. What is a Korean restaurant without some form of KBBQ? The Rosemary Galbi Ribeye was served with lettuce (as wraps), a variety of condiments (some kind of gochugang based condiment and Montreal steak spice with sesame oil – which I’ll be stealing to put on my steaks next time), and banchan – which are side dishes (garlic chips, jalapenos, some kind of starchy vegetable, pickled asparagus and carrots, and of course, kimchi). Though the pieces of meat I got were really quite chewy and the wraps were a total mess, I was not the least bit upset. It was well flavoured, kinda interactive and fun, and did I mention, delicious?

After a quick break to wash my hands, it was onto dessert. They don’t appear to have a dessert menu, but honestly, when you only have two options, it doesn’t really feel necessary. Since there was two of us, we ordered one of each. The first was at its core mini doughnuts and ice cream, but wait, there’s more. The mini doughnuts were tossed in cinnamon sugar (I think) and had a beautiful crunchy on the exterior and a soft fluffy warm interior. But that ice cream. That ice cream stole the show. It was a Vietnamese iced coffee ice cream. Oh my God. I could’ve eaten an entire tub of that stuff. I shouldn’t, but I want to. The second dessert was a Misugaru Crème Brûlée. I had never heard of misugaru before nor had I ever eaten it. All I heard when the waitress was listing out our options was the first half of the word and thought she had said “miso”. I’ve seen miso in desserts before, often paired with a caramel which is essentially a salted caramel, but when we dug into the dessert (which had beautifully brûléed sugar by the way), the consistency reminded me of a Sweet Potato Panna Cotta I had when we were at Big Catch which is obviously not the consistency of miso caramel. The only reason I figured it out was because I combed through all of Roy’s Korean Kitchen’s Instagram posts until I found a Valentine’s menu that had it on there. Thank God for that menu or I never would’ve figured that out. For those, like me, who had no idea what misugaru is, it’s a multigrain powder that is often mixed as a drink and is described as having a cereal, malty, nutty flavour.

I had a great time here and the way I see it, YYC Food and Drink Exp is a great teaser to what the restaurant could offer. We did also get to see the regular menu and there are things I’d love to try off of there so I’d definitely come back.

Based solely on this experience I think I would give this place an 8.75/10.

Albacore Tuna Tataki

Kimchi Caesar Salad

Teokbokki Bolognese

Ribeye KBBQ

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream and Doughnuts

Misugaru Crème Brûlée

Restaurant Review: Blackfoot Truckstop Diner

Location: 1840 9 Avenue SE
Website: https://www.blackfootdiner.com/

This place is known as a Calgary staple, an iconic landmark since it’s open in 1956. Despite being born and raised in Calgary, I had never been here. It might have largely been because it wasn’t really the kind of food my family was much interested in. In the last couple of years since being with Mackenzie, I’ve been to a lot more pubs and tried a lot of greasy comfort food that I have come to love. Sure, not every pub we go to has been a win, but part of being a food/restaurant reviewer is keeping an open mind. And that’s what I am. Sure “restaurant reviewer” is more proper, but I am first and foremost a food reviewer. Atmosphere, price, service, all those things are secondary to the food. That said, I haven’t officially reviewed the pubs we did go to – Shotz, Gallagher’s, and Gally’s. Maybe I will, but more likely I won’t. It’s not that the food wasn’t good (although the last one on that list wasn’t), it’s more like the comfort food we know and love and there’s nothing I can say without sounding pretentious. It’s the food of parties, of group gatherings, of drinks out with friends. It’s the things we crave when we shouldn’t. This is also how I would describe the food at the Blackfoot Truckstop Diner.

Is it the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life? No. Is it cheap and affordable? Yes. Does it have a unique atmosphere? Yes.

Even though I just said above that my focus is primarily on food, it doesn’t exist in a bubble, just like this world doesn’t exist in a bubble. Atmosphere, price, service, etc. inevitable influence the experience of the food. Those have to be taken into consideration to better interpret the food. If I came here, seeing the decor, expecting high class French cuisine, that would have been completely ridiculous.

Excitingly, this is the community we have bought our new house in so we wanted to see what dining experiences were in the area, so how could we not try out this iconic diner.

Mackenzie ordered a basic burger – the Cheeseburger Deluxe. It was cheap and delicious. Everything you’d expect from a burger. The fries left a little to be desired, but it didn’t make or break the meal.

I decided to go with the special which was incredibly well priced. For $17, I got a choice between two soups (I chose the Cream of Potato and Sausage), Chicken Fettucine Alfredo, and a dessert (small soft serve ice cream). Like where else can you get a three course meal for $17. The soup also came with a slice of bread, butter, and 4 or 5 crackers. It was more than enough food for one person. Plus that Alfredo was huge! I packed it away for my lunch the next day!

Overall, it was not the best food I’ve had but it was good and cheap and I’m starting to appreciate that a lot more haha. I would definitely come back here and try other stuff on their menu, but I think I’d have to give this place a 7.5/10.

Restaurant Interior – LOOOK it’s a TRAIN! Noisy like one too LOL

Cream of Potato and Sausage Soup

Bread and Crackers Accompanying Soup

Front: Chicken Fettucine Alfredo Back: Cheeseburger Deluxe with Fries and Gravy

Soft Serve Vanilla Ice Cream

Restaurant Review: Shibuya Izakaya

Location: 449 16 Avenue NE
Website: https://www.qooway.com/olo/en?ShibuyaIzakaya

This is another restaurant that goes way back for me. I remember seeing their advertisements in a Chinese magazine. Though I wasn’t really into Japanese food at the time, I remember the colours and plating of the dishes caught my eye and for a long time after, I wanted to visit here. As time went on, it just was a place I’d mention when we drove past, but I never really tried to make an effort to go. Given where I lived over the years and my choice not to drive, this really limited the places I could go. Most of the places I visit involve either getting a ride there or being in my local areas or easily accessible by transit.

Well, today it finally happened. After years of pining, we made it.

The parking situation left a lot to be desired, but since we were there early, there were plenty of places to park. Also, considering the season, the parking lot was pretty iced over which can make it tricky to safely navigate to the door.

Like Big Catch, Shibuya had an online ordering system. You would scan the QR code on your table and it would link your order to that table. I was clearly craving Japanese this weekend because I definitely ordered WAYYYYYY too much food for two people.

Mackenzie wasn’t really in the mood for Japanese so he settled for a Tonkotsu Ramen. I ordered two Tamago Nigiri, Two Inari, Spicy Salmon Roll (6 piece), Creamy Yaki Udon, Geso Calamari, Unagi Melody Roll (10 piece), and Tempura Sampler. Like I said…a LOT of food.

The food actually came out of the kitchen extremely quickly. First came the Ramen. It was good, but not mind blowingly so. I’ve definitely had better, but for a basic Tonkotsu, it was good. I do appreciate that they torched/seared the chasu.

It was the Inari I was craving that drove me to want to go for Japanese food in the first place. I had actually considered just ordering from Pocket Holic in Kensington, but ultimately decided trying out a new restaurant and going out would be better. Especially since I hadn’t left the house in like two weeks due to getting COVID for the first time in my life. Like I’ve said in past reviews on Japanese restaurants, the standard rolls are generally all the same, so the Inari, Tamago, and Spicy Salmon were exactly what I expected and they hit the spot for the craving I had.

The Creamy Yaki Udon was the star of the show. As the name implies, it is a cream sauce mixed with udon. It is mixed with tobiko and topped with thinly sliced/shredded seaweed. God this was good! Yeah, it was kinda gross the next day when I heated it up and oodles of oil came seeping out of it, but I just avoided the oil and the noodles were still great the next day. That said, tobiko and microwaves do not mix. It’s not bad, but cooking the eggs gives it a milky colour and it loses a lot of its crunch. I would definitely order this again and/or make it at home. It was just amazing.

I don’t know what it is but Geso Calamari is so much more superior than regular calamari. The tentacles have way more of a crunch to them than body and the seasoning is also better? So maybe I do know what makes it superior haha. This dish was served with a sweet chili sauce, which is probably the most common sauce, but honestly, it’s a good pairing. The sweet, tangy, spicy sauce is a good contrast to the deep fried oily nature of the calamari.

Now the rolls worth reviewing are the ones specific/special to the restaurant. For this meal, it was the Unagi Melody. I was originally going to order some Unagi Nigiri, but since I decided on this, I took off the nigiri because it would be too much food. It was still too much because this roll comes with 10 pieces. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a roll with 10 pieces in it! There were actually a lot of rolls I wanted to try, but I am but one person…I wish there was an option to order an assorted plate where you could get one or two pieces of each of the rolls to try. Because there are way more pieces, this is probably the most expensive roll ($19) I’ve seen, though I’m not great at remembering prices on things. The Roll contains Crispy Tempura Crunch (Tenkasu), mayo and cucumber and was topped with unagi, avocado and tobiko. I didn’t notice it when I was ordering, but upon eating it found that to be a weird filling for the roll, but even so, it was a very good roll but it did take me like 3 days to finish.

This brings us to the last dish, the Tempura Sampler. Obviously the tempura batter on the shrimp and veggies here is the same as the tenkatsu in the roll and neither were very great. I’ve mentioned in past reviews that it’s hard to notice the quality of certain items like sushi or tempura or sashimi unless there is one very good or very bad one to contrast. Very might be stretching it as this was not VERY bad, but it was noticeably worse than the standard tempura. For one, the batter was very grainy tasting. It kind of just crumbled like sand in my mouth, leaving it kind of feeling chalky.

There were definite highs and lows with this place, but that wouldn’t prevent me from coming back here to try some more of their rolls. I may just avoid certain dishes the next time I come here. It was pretty pricy, but given everything I ordered and how many meals I ended up getting out of it, I don’t think it was that bad. I’d give this place a 7.75/10.

Restaurant Interior

Tonkotsu Ramen

Inari Nigiri, Tamago Nigiri, and Spicy Salmon Roll

Creamy Yaki Udon

Geso Calamari

Unagi Melody Roll

Tempura Sampler

Restaurant Review: Lambo Noodle Bar

Location: #7, 222 – 16 Avenue NE
Instagram: @lambonoodlebar

Day 3 in a row eating out. I’m actually really surprised that I didn’t gain as much weight as I thought I would. For those who don’t know me, I’m trying to lose a significant amount of weight and though I believe that eating out or getting takeout can be worked into one’s diet (not diet as in a plan for eating, diet as in what we eat), but that doesn’t mean that we can just eat out all day every day. There is such a thing as moderation and takeout/eating out tends to contain things beyond our control (too much sodium, sugar and/or oil). And I strongly believe that there shouldn’t be anything labelled as taboo or “bad food” because. as I learned in the past, doing so makes me crave it more and when I get my hands on whatever I happen to be craving, I tend to overdo it.

Anyways, getting back to the matter at hand. Having grown up in Calgary, I was very familiar with the strip mall where Lambo Noodle Bar was located. One of my favourite restaurants as a kid was located here: Giang Nam. They served my favourite type of noodles, Cambodian style noodles, and the owner of the restaurant spoke the same dialect of Chinese that I did, which is pretty rare. Unfortunately, this place eventually closed down, but I never quite forgot. So every once in a while when I find myself along 16th Avenue, I look at this plaza and see how things have changed. I’ve been to Marco’s Kitchen in the strip mall with mine and Mackenzie’s families over Christmas, but didn’t write a review because those tend to be hard in large groups and for Chinese food. However, Lambo has been here for a while now and being a noodle lover, I knew that one day I had to try this place out.

Well, I got the chance on a Sunday in February. The long weekend to be precise. I came here with a couple of friends to do some wedding planning.

We ordered the Cold Shredded Chicken, Sesame Cold Noodles, Pork Soup Dumplings, Wonton Noodle Soup, and Beef Noodle with Tripe, Tendon, and Beef. The first three we shared as a table.

The Cold Shredded Chicken is exactly what it says on the tin. It is very reminiscent of a cold chicken salad my dad makes. A very simple dish, but still very delicious. The dish consists of shredded chicken and julienned (if you can call it that) cucumber seasoned with sesame oil and what I assume is oyster sauce and a little bit of chili to give it a kick, and then it’s topped with sesame seeds. I found it a little salty, but who am I to talk. This week I’ve been oversalting all my food to the point I don’t want to eat what I make anymore. It’s a problem. Overall, the flavour is great. It’s something I’d happily mix into noodles or eat as a salad. Given that it is cold, it’s a great for summer, but obviously, can be eaten all year round.

This was followed by the Pork Soup Dumplings. Originally Adrian had tried to get the Crab and Pork Soup Dumplings but they were out. That would’ve been really good! That’s not to say that the original pork was bad, but crab would have added a sweetness and depth of flavour to the dumplings. These were so good! The wrapper was sufficiently thin, but not so thin that it broke easily when picking up the dumpling, the soup was flavourful and well developed, and the meat was well seasoned.

I didn’t get a picture of the Sesame Cold Noodles, and it being so long ago, I can’t totally remember exactly what was all in it. I think the noodles came with julienned carrots, cucumber, and egg. It was dressed in a creamy sesame sauce (tahini and sesame oil, I think) and seasoned also with what I assume is oyster sauce. It was really good and I would have no qualms about mixing the Cold Shredded Chicken with the Sesame Cold Noodles to make the ultimate meal.

Adrian and I both ordered the Beef Noodle with Tripe, Tendon, and Beef while Cindy had the Wonton Soup. The Beef Noodle had a little heat, but I ended up adding a bit more of the chili sauce that was offered on the side. The noodles were soft, the soup was light but also very flavourful. I never thought to put whole bok choy into the soup, but it works. It’s not a new or novel idea, I just usually break it apart before eating it, but usually that’s more because I need to clean it. My only gripe is that there was only like one piece of tripe, tendon, and beef, albeit big pieces. Honestly, I don’t know what I prefer: one large piece or several small ones. Just feels like more with small pieces…As for the Wonton Soup, Cindy said she enjoyed it and it looked pretty good, but I didn’t try any or manage to grab a picture of it.

I would definitely come back again and try the other things on their menu like the Crab and Pork Soup Dumpling, but also would love to try a ton more stuff on their menu. The service was pretty good, pretty typical of Chinese eateries which is to say they largely leave you alone, which is totally fine with me. Overall, I’d give this place an 8/10.

Restaurant Interior

Cold Shredded Chicken

Pork Soup Dumplings

Beef Noodle (Tripe, Tendon, Beef)

Restaurant Review: Sho Sushi Bar & Kitchen

Location: #110, 7212 Macleod Trail SE
Website:https://shosushi.ca/

I remember coming here with my family when this place first opened. This is when I was just getting into sushi and wasn’t huge on raw fish. I don’t remember much of that experience, only that my dad found it outrageously expensive and refused to go back.

Well now I’m an *adult* and I can choose how to spend my money! And food is truly my weakness. It’s rare that I refuse to go back to somewhere simply because of the price. For me, the food is the priority and if that’s not good and the service is poor and the price is high, all those things together would influence whether or not I go back, but it’s not just one thing.

We came here for a bachelorette party and ended up order a TON of food, which is great when you’re trying to write a review. I’ll start with the list of everything we ordered and slowly make my way through. Some of it will be pretty standard sushi items, and I may just skip over them. We ordered:

Gomae
Gyoza
Assorted Tempura
Fire Scallops
Beef Tongue
Edamame (I won’t be going into this one into detail as it’s literally soy beans with salt)
BBQ Pork Buns
Monkey’s Palm
Pressed Salmon Sushi (I think)
Seafood Asian Food Wrap
Fire Dragon Roll (I think)
Avocado Roll
California Roll
Dynamite Roll
Spicy Tuna Roll
Assorted Nigiri
Chef’s Choice Assorted Sashimi
Special Scallop Crispy Sushi

It goes without saying we ordered A LOT of food. My sister was also in attendance and I don’t wanna say she’s an enabler, but she’s definitely an enabler lol. And she’s good at convincing people they need things. Doesn’t help that my eyes are bigger than my stomach either. The above is not the order the food came out in, but I’ve organized it basically by appetizers and then everything else.

The Gomae was pretty standard. It was good, but still not the best I’ve ever had. Other than the one my sister made (and she says cannot replicate), the only other one that is the best gomae I’ve ever had is the one from Kabuku.

I don’t normally get Gyoza when I go to Japanese restaurants because I prefer the Chinese style dumplings a lot more. My favourite is actually a pork and veggie dumpling from Costco. The wrapper is just the right thickness so the ratio of filing to carb is perfect…not like a lot of places where the wrapper is so thick that the rest of the dish is no longer enjoyable. With gyoza, I don’t typically have an issue with the thickness of the wrapper, but rather with the amount of filing. It’s been a while, but I don’t remember having any issues with these gyoza.

For me, assorted tempura is most definitely a staple when having Japanese food. The crunchy, deep friedness really pairs well with the sushi, in my opinion. Of course there is such as thing as it being too greasy, but I didn’t find that to be the case here. When it comes to tempura, I don’t really notice a huge difference from one restaurant to another unless it is particularly bad. For the most part, they seem very standard across the board. The only time you can really notice the difference with tempura is when it’s bad.

I honestly did not know what to expect when we ordered the Fire Scallops. Maybe they were on fire? Maybe they were like raw scallops that were seared? It was some of those things and none of those things all at the same time. The scallops were cooked, lightly seared, in a scallop shell with soy sauce and green onions, atop a rack above a bowl that had a flame in it. There was supposedly garlic and butter, but I didn’t really taste or see it in the dish. It was pretty good, but I’m not sure it was worth $16.

The beef tongue was another good one. The raw beef was plated so that we could cook the beef on a hot stone ourselves. It was served with two dipping sauces that I can’t quite remember now. I just love the texture of beef tongue. It’s not often I can describe meat as crunchy, but there is a definite crunch to it. I find beef tongue is best served rather plainly. A bit of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon is often all it needs. I wouldn’t say no to pairing it with a good dipping sauce, but it’s not necessary either. This item doesn’t appear to be on the online menu, but they do have something similar: beef tongue skewer.

In recent years, there has been a bit of a craze surrounding bao buns. I personally love them, but sometimes I feel like restaurants put it on their menu to cater to that and it’s not prepared particularly well. I wouldn’t say that these were bad bao buns, but they’re not the best either. I recently just made my own and really enjoyed it, so like I said, I do like them when they’re done well. I just didn’t find these all that special. I found the pork belly to be a little under seasoned and very pale. I love the layers of fat and meat on pork belly but when it’s fairly unrendered, it can be kind of gross.

On first glance the Monkey’s Palm looks like it’s gonna be a really weird dish. After having ordered it, I can confirm it’s a really weird dish. First off, I keep almost calling it a monkey’s paw…which is something completely different, but secondly: deep fried avocado stuffed with spicy tuna and spicy mayo…that’s like a sushi roll trying to be keto friendly. Now, I’m not saying I have anything against the keto diet or adjusting menu items to accommodate, but I feel like there are some things, like sushi, that aren’t meant to be keto. It just takes away from the spirit of it by doing so. I also don’t like deep fried avocado because crunchy exterior and mushy interior is not a textural combination that I’m particularly fond of.

By this point, we had had a lot of food and there was so much more. We also had ordered a beer tower so…we had to get through that with only like 3 of 11 people drinking.

Onto rolls (and things)!

I’m pretty sure that the pressed sushi we had was the salmon one because the only other choice is the ebi sushi and based on the picture I took, it is decidedly not that. The picture appears to have a couple other things in there that isn’t listed on the menu, which is why I’m not sure, but other than that, it’s pretty much identical. Based on the online menu, the Pressed Salmon Sushi contains sockeye salmon, salmon roe, avocado, micro greens, olive oil chips, and a homemade creamy sauce. I don’t know about you, but “homemade creamy sauce” sounds pretty sus. Like, why can’t you just tell me what kind of sauce it is? Alternatively, that is exactly the best description for it and my brain is just disgusting haha. From my picture, it looks like it is just kewpie mayo and from what I can recollect of the taste, that is exactly what it was. So why not just say “homemade mayo”? Anyways, that’s neither here nor there. From the picture of the sushi, there was unagi sauce drizzled over it and no olive oil chips. I think the crunch would’ve been a nice addition, but overall, it was a pretty good roll. I always find it a little sad when all the “filling” is on the outside of the roll and the inside is only one thing like avocado (as it was in this case) or cucumber. I get why cucumber would be on the inside, but I’ve also seen avocado on the outside. Maybe it was a matter of it being too sad not to put something in the sushi which prompted them to put the avocado inside, but most pressed sushi I’ve had doesn’t have anything inside, so I think it would’ve been fine to just top it with avocado or do some kind of avocado sauce and drizzle it over.

The Seafood Asian Wrap…if you’ve read my review on Point Sushi and/or Sakana Grill (now closed), you’ll know about my obsession with these. I was so happy that they had these on their menu. Like the ones at Point Sushi/Sakana Grill, this one contains salmon, prawn, avocado, tobiko/masago (menu just says fish eggs, but I can’t remember which one they used, but I know it was one of those two), and cucumber wrapped in rice paper and finished with sweet soy, spicy mayo, and sesame seeds. I should really just buy these ingredients and make this at home on my own. I could probably demolish quite a few of them on my own. And it would probably cost less for me to make it at home. Honestly, these are my absolute favourite thing on any menu.

The next roll was on fire. I’m pretty sure it was the Fire Dragon Roll and the person who put this on the list had no idea it was on fire. In fact, the menu makes no mention about this being on fire, but based on what was in the roll, I’m 99% sure. Although, the menu online and in “store” could be slightly different. The roll contained spicy tuna and cucumber topped with unagi, unagi sauce, volcano sauce, and tempura crumbs. It was actually a really good roll. I’m not really sure how to qualify my judgements on what makes a really good roll and a bad roll in my books, but this roll definitely had all the things I love sushi wise so, that’s a thumbs up from me haha.

Avocado and cucumber rolls, in my opinion, are completely pointless. I don’t know why anyone would really order this. Sure it’s like cheap, but it’s also very unadventurous. If you want rice and cucumber/avocado, just eat it at home. It’s gonna cost less. I get it if you’re vegetarian and there are no other choices, but I usually find that there are other vegetarian options on sushi menus that are way more worth it like inari or tamago nigiri/sashimi. Some even have shiitake mushroom rolls on their menu or sweet potato tempura. Anyways, that’s just my opinion, but I feel rather strongly about this.

The same could be said about California rolls being a basic roll, but I think the crab meat makes it a little less boring. It’s also pretty classic. I have enjoyed my fair share of California rolls and this was my foray into sushi so it will hold a special place in my heart. Ponshu also makes a really good California roll using real crab meat. I’m sure I sound pretty hypocritical harping on avocado and cucumber rolls but saying that Cali rolls are fine, but we like what we like and sometimes are biased with absolutely no logical reasoning behind it.

Another basic roll is the Dynamite Roll. This one was a little less basic than I’m used to…an elevated Dynamite Roll if you will. This Dynamite Roll was pretty standard on the inside: tempura shrimp and mayo, but on the outside there was smoked salmon, avocado, avocado sauce, and black tobiko. I really quite enjoyed this one too.

Spicy tuna rolls are also another staple when out for sushi. These are the first rolls with raw fish I was able to stomach and for that reason, they hold a special place in my heart too. This is pretty basic and I don’t think warrants a description beyond “it’s tuna and spicy” haha.

Of the assorted nigiri, I had the unagi, inari, and tamago. Those are generally my go to items anyways and those were pretty standard.

And I didn’t have any of the last two dishes listed.

Overall, the food is better than I remembered, but as I said at the start I didn’t remember all that much and I was only just getting into sushi at that time. In terms of price, still damn expensive. The bill came to over $500 for the 11 of us, which I guess, isn’t that bad all things considered. I would come back here again. It was good food and good service. I’d rate this place a 8.25/10.

Gomae

Gyoza

Assorted Tempura

Front: Monkey’s Palm
Back: Dynamite Roll

Fire Scallops

BBQ Pork Bun

Fire Dragon Roll

Left to right: Dynamite Roll, Beef Tongue, Seafood Asian Wrap

Pressed Salmon Sushi

Front plate (left front going counter clockwise): Avocado Roll, California Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, and Special Scallop Crispy Sushi.
Back: Assorted Sashimi

Assorted Nigiri

Restaurant Review: Strip Joint Chicken

Location: 312 3 Street SW
Website: https://stripjointchicken.com/

Strip Joint Chicken can be found where Booker’s BBQ Grill and Crab Shack used to be. As some of you may remember, I didn’t have the greatest experience with Booker’s. My only experience with it was during the YYC Food and Drink Exp right before the world shut down due to the pandemic.

Since Booker’s departure, two restaurants have opened up in that space; this place and a place called Fortuna’s Row. When I heard about this, I wasn’t sure given all the misleading signs and play on actual strip joints. That may largely be a combination of the social stigma surrounding strip joints and my upbringing that made me somewhat wary and reluctant to try this place. However, it is food and a quick look at the menu told me that there was something different about this place.

On the surface, chicken strips can be considered somewhat boring, so you may be wondering, how can they create an entire restaurant concept around that? I know I wondered the same thing myself.

The closest analogy I can find is a poutinerie with all its different variations on the classic poutine. In that vein, the “naked” strips are just chicken strips in a seasoned batter with your choice of dip.

We came here as a D&D group and ordered the following strips: Tso Good (x2), Chickoyaki, Peanuts be Jelly, Stadium Stripchos, and Big Parma. For sides there were a couple of spiced crinkle cuts and a funeral potatoes.

Both my friends named Alex got the Tso Good which was the General’s Sauce, Bang Bang Sauce, scallion, sesame seeds, and crispy ramen noodles. It was fun and different, but I didn’t find it that delicious either. It was mostly just sweet and soy sauce-y. The ramen did give it a nice crunch as the parts that the sauce had soaked into. It’s very much an American-Chinese flavoured dish.

I got the Chickoyaki which consists of takoyaki sauce, wasabi kewpie, black and white sesame seeds, pickled red ginger, green onion, crushed nori, and katsuobushi. Overall, it was pretty good, but not very memorable. The wasabi (luckily) wasn’t very strong and the pickled ginger was cut up and nicely distributed over the strips.

Adrian got the Peanuts be Jelly which turned out to be the best one. It was satay sauce, red pepper jam, roasted and crushed nuts, and a wonderbread aioli. I was quite apprehensive about the aioli and that was ultimately why i didn’t order it. However, I really should have. This probably was one of the best ones we had.

Sarah ended up with the Stadium Stripchos, and as the name might suggest, it’s a play on nachos. The strips are topped with queso cheese sauce, pico de gallo, pickled jalapenos, chili sauce, fresh cilantro, and crushed tortilla chips. I didn’t try this one but it looked pretty classic and solely based on knowing what nachos taste like, this would probably be pretty good.

Kaine chose the Big Parma which was San Marzano ragu, lotsa mozza, parmesan, basil pistou, and noodz. This, like the Stripchos, looked and sounded pretty standard. I would try, but did not on this evening.

In terms of sides, the spiced crinkle cuts were pretty ordinary fries with some seasoning and salt on them. In contrast, the funeral potatoes were next level. I was originally going to go with the Crispy Fried Elote but changed my mind at the last minute. I’m not sure if it was a good or bad decision, but it was delicious. They’re basically potato croquettes with truffle oil. SOOOOOOO good!

I was so full by the end of this meal I felt kinda sick to be honest. I had had a big lunch earlier in the day (big mistake) and this nearly murdered me. This also happened to be a weekend of a lot of food…so I’m actually surprised that I didn’t gain as much weight by the end of it as I thought.

Though the menu isn’t that extensive, I would definitely come back here to try the crispy fried elote, cucumber salad, and a few of their strips and dips. The staff are super friendly and I would definitely come back here again.

Based on this experience, I would give this place a 8.5/10.

Chickoyaki and Funeral Potatoes